Can Winter Garden and Lake County Really Believe Scott Boyd and McKinnon Groves?
If you haven’t been paying attention, there’s a ferocious battle waging in southern Lake County to save a pristine area of rural old Florida lands that are now threatened by “McKinnon Groves” — a 660 home, zero-lot-line nightmare with 48 acres of commercial space being planned by former Orange County Commissioner, Scott Boyd.
Local area residents call it a “Toll Brothers Trojan Horse Hellscape” that will forever destroy the rural character of the area. The proposed development stretches 1.5 miles long from north to south beginning at Hartwood Marsh Rd and stretching south deep into the rural heart of the greater Flat Lake area of Winter Garden which borders the protected Lake Avalon Rural Settlement of western Orange County to the east.
It appears Scott Boyd wants to bring a version of The Villages to rural southern Lake County. The plan as proposed, is to tear up the very heart of the rural Flat Lake area of Winter Garden and build a “Villages style”, age-restricted, 55 + golf cart metropolis with several hundred homes on shockingly small 22-foot building pads mixed together with retail shops, restaurants, offices, entertainment and apartments. The plan would bring thousands of new residents, vehicles and golf carts to clog up the now quiet, single lane, country roads.
Many concerned area residents are fighting this development and trying to get the truth out about McKinnon Groves and how they believe Scott Boyd’s plan will forever destroy one of the most beautiful rural areas in all of Florida — simply so he can enrich himself and his family. The residents who live in the area together with thousands more throughout Lake County, are angered and outraged about the plan and how developers are seemingly given free rein throughout Lake County to destroy rural lands. Thousands of very angry active voters have signed petitions urging Lake County Commissioners to deny the project when it comes up for a final vote on September 7, 2021.
If approved, it appears the endangered Florida Panther that lives in the 120 acres of protected State Conservation Land to the west, together with all the wild turkeys, bobcats, gopher turtles, eagles, owls and countless other rare wildlife that roam this rural area — will all have to pack up and find a new home when Scott Boyd’s bulldozers and backhoes show up to tear everything up.
Area residents say they have attended all the open public meetings in good faith and have reached out to Scott Boyd directly to voice their concerns and many have even banded together to hire an Attorney to help negotiate a better plan that preserves the environment — all to no avail as Scott Boyd won’t budge on his “Villages Vision”.
Many have even said that Scott Boyd, in the very presence of Lake County District 2 Commissioner and Chairman Sean Parks, has recklessly and repeatedly disparaged the area residents at open public community meetings. Further they allege he openly attacks any and all who oppose his plan. Several residents have reported that Scott Boyd sends his citrus-grove-maintenance-goon-squads through the neighborhood to intimidate the area residents by “confiscating” the “STOP Scott Boyd McKinnon Groves” signs they purchased and placed in front of their homes to simply exercise their protected first amendment right to freedom of speech and signal to all their neighbors that they’re opposed to his plan and want to stop the development.
If it is true that Scott Boyd instructed his “brown shirt henchmen” to remove these signs, one might argue that he is seeking to silence the opposition and control the narrative to make it falsely appear that everyone in the area is in favor of his plan when in fact, that is not true. Perhaps someone should advise Scott Boyd that removing signs from private property is stealing and then posting a picture on Facebook of the removed signs sitting in the back of his own pickup truck — is not only FOOLISH (evidence) but reveals a blatant attempt to intimidate and bully honest, hard-working American citizens into silence and borders on violating their first amendment right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States which as a former Orange County Commissioner — Scott Boyd took an oath to protect and defend.
Scott Boyd makes many fantastic claims about how wonderful his McKinnon Groves development with thousands of new homes, residents and vehicles will be for this quiet rural area. At open public meetings, he does the “aw-shucks good ol’ boy shtick” pleading for the public to trust and believe him while at the same time calling honest, hard-working, area residents who oppose him “liars” for simply spreading the truth about his proposed plan.
Liar is an extremely ugly word and one that Scott Boyd shouldn’t be throwing around loosely given the fact that a WESH 2 investigation back in 2012 revealed Boyd, in his official capacity as an elected Orange County Commissioner, apparently lied to reporter Greg Fox about colluding with big business lobbyists against the interests of his very own District 1 constituents to defeat a controversial vote in this video interview on YouTube:
Boyd originally told WESH 2 news that he was not texting big business lobbyists during the actual hearing for an Orange County Commission vote on a controversial employer sick pay initiative.
The measure was voted down by Orange County Commissioners on Sept. 11, 2012 but not before several commissioners texted with lobbyists who were against the ballot initiative.
When asked directly by Greg Fox in the video interview if he was texting big business lobbyists to get advice on how he should vote, Scott Boyd responded:
“No I was not texting lobbyists”
When Greg Fox pressed further asking if he talked to anybody else to get advice or how to position his opinion, Boyd responded:
“No one was giving me any advice as far as what I was going to do”
But when text messages obtained in the investigation revealed that Scott Boyd was actually texting with at least four big business corporate lobbyists on the day of the vote on the controversial sick pay initiative, Boyd called WESH 2 and said he “misspoke” during the on-camera interview.
Whatever your opinion on whether Scott Boyd actually lied or as he says “misspoke”, there is no question this incident reveals clear corrupt collusion with big business on behalf of Orange County Commissioners who failed to serve the best interests of the people they were elected to represent.
With McKinnon Groves, many say Scott Boyd is once again bending to big business interests — this time working to help enrich himself and big business home builders like Toll Brothers — all at the expense of the rural environment and wildlife of Lake County and the local area residents who simply want to preserve the quiet, rural country character of where they live.
Scott Boyd is a very likeable and charismatic man and someone you really want to BELIEVE has your best interests at heart.
But the nagging question remains… CAN YOU?
Can you REALLY believe all of Scott Boyd’s endless promises that his grand “Villages Vision” of a 660 Unit Monster McKinnon Groves planned development will actually “help” the rural environment?
Most rational people would probably answer NO.
Because if someone is so desperate to get a fledgling, first-time home development currently on life-support approved that he would resort to “confiscating” signs from private property owners in the area in order to intimidate them and silence their voice of opposition — that someone would probably be willing to do and say just about anything in order to get your vote.
That someone might even be desperate enough to “misspoke” once again.
The final vote is on September 7, 2021 at 1:30pm before the full board of Lake County Commissioners at the Commission Chambers — 2nd Floor, 315 West Main St., Tavares, FL.
If you are angry, outraged and want to do something to STOP overdevelopment in Florida and STOP home builders from further destroying the rural character of Lake County, now is the time to make a stand.
Now is the time to let all Lake County Commissioners know how you feel.
Now is the time to let District 2 Commissioner and Chairman Sean Parks know how you feel.
Let them all know you are furious that beautiful rural lands of Lake County with teeming natural wildlife are being destroyed one planned unit development at a time.
Because if the Lake County Commissioners under Chairman Sean Parks are fooled into drinking the “aw-shucks good ol’ boy” Scott Boyd Kool-Aid and fail to act in the best interests of their Lake County constituents by approving this monster-mistake of a development…
The only thing all the local area residents will be left with is to just hope and pray McKinnon Groves is not another Scott Boyd “misspoke”.
— GhostVindex
To contact the author with an issue or assistance to expose corruption:
GhostVindex — a t — ProtonMail.com
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