Some Lake County residents are concerned after county commissioners approved last week to rezone more than 9 acres of land for an adult living facility on French Road in Lady Lake.
- Adult assisted-living facility to be built in Lady Lake
- Residents who live nearby fear increase in traffic and other issues
- Facility owner says patients won't be able to drive
Barbara Morrissey, 86, and her husband say they built their house on French Road about 28 years ago because it was quiet.
"We lived in Miami for 40-something years and we knew about the traffic and how everything was, and we just wanted to retire in a nice quiet place,” she said.
Morrissey's convinced that will all change when an adult living facility gets built just a few houses down from her.
"You don’t buy a place to build to retire in and then have someone build a business next door to you. If you wanted that, you'd go in town,” she said.
The facility will be limited to 160 beds for in-patient care and will be designed to look like residential homes.
Residents also have traffic concerns, but the owner of the planned assisted living facility, Keisha Geist, says they only serve dementia patients and those patients can't drive.
"Although it would be great for them to get as many visits as folks think that they get, they really don’t. So the staff becomes their family,” said Geist.
Commissioners approved the zoning, but with additional conditions, including using the existing vegetation to provide a dense buffer between the facility and area homes, and an increased entrance width.