Lake County Commissioners Consider $12M Loan for Enhancements to Hartwood Marsh

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Lake County authorities are getting closer to launching a road expansion project that has been on the table since the 2000s.

At Tuesday’s Lake County Commission meeting, Clermont city officials said Hartwood Marsh Road is the road that receives the most complaints.

“It’s literally every week that I’m getting a question or comment about Hartwood Marsh Road,” said Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks.

The proposal suggests using short-term loans to kickstart constructions on Hartwood Marsh Road by summer 2026 and to expedite enhancements on 44B in the county’s northern region.

“I hope we can push these projects forward,” said Parks. “This is quite significant for the northern area as well.”

The Hartwood Marsh widening project from Highway 27 to Regency Hills Drive was originally designed in the 2000s.

If the county doesn’t move forward with the short-term loan, the earliest construction could begin is 2027, when grant funding becomes available.

“We need it now,” said Clermont resident Joe Fumasi. “Not down the road. We can’t kick the can any further.”

The short-term loan Parks is proposing for Hartwood Marsh would be $12 million.

Although all commissioners acknowledged the importance, Commissioner Kirby Smith expressed the desire to explore all funding avenues before making a decision.

“If this was formally discussed, I would have personally traveled that road several times to consider other possibilities,” Smith stated. “Before deciding to simply take out a loan, we should investigate if we can reallocate some existing resources to this project.”

Clermont resident Vincent Niemiec was also at Tuesday’s meeting.

Even though commissioners didn’t commit to the loan during the meeting, he still feels like it’s a win.

“I feel a lot more confident because I felt a lot of optimism from the commissioners today,” Niemiec said.

Now, the county will move forward with consulting a financial advisor to figure out its options for a loan, should it decide to go that route.

That will be discussed at a county commission meeting at a later date. Once the date is set, we’ll update this article.