USPS is suspending mail delivery to the Citrus County area with sandbox roads

CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. – When Luann Barker and her husband moved to Citrus County three years ago, they traded the beaches of South Florida for a different type of beach on their doorstep.

“There’s more sand here than on the beach,” she said, laughing. “Yes.”

They live in Inverness Village 4, a neighborhood in Citrus County that was somehow built without a drainage system. Years of erosion have turned roads that were never paved into deeply scarred sand pits.

“We just feel like we’ve really been handed the hammer,” Barker said.

It’s so bad that neighbors at 4 Inverness Village have just lost another modern convenience: mail delivery.

In a May 3 letter to neighbors, the U.S. Postal Service described the roads as impassable.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, but the roads are not accessible to our government vehicles,” the postmaster wrote to neighbors.

USPS

On Thursday, Lecia Hall, a spokeswoman for the USPS, explained the change in a statement to ABC Action News.

Until neighborhood roads are improved, neighbors will have to pick up their mail at the Interview Post Office on the highway. 41.

“Local officials will continue to work with all parties involved to ensure the matter is resolved as quickly as possible,” Hall wrote. “We appreciate our customers’ patience as we continue to successfully resolve their concerns.”

Neighbors like Barker understand why USPS made this decision. Barker says her mail carrier’s truck got stuck several times while delivering mail to her mailbox.

Instead, she places blame on those who allowed the situation in the neighborhood to develop and worsen over the years.

What caused the situation at Inverness Village 4?

Right now there is relentless finger pointing between Citrus County government, a home builder and the person who sold many of the properties to home builders. A solution is still pending.

Although the neighborhood’s streets were open to the public, maintenance work on the rights-of-way was refused because no streets were ever built.

WFTS

Meanwhile, Chris Matser, whose Van Der Valk Construction built many of the homes in Inverness Village 4, claims this is the county’s responsibility.

“We have a district meeting every two weeks, every two weeks,” Barker said. “It’s the same questions and no answers.”

Barker hopes the mail delivery setback will help bring a solution, but she’s not holding her breath. If she actually manages to successfully sell her house, she won’t wait long to find out.

“I just don’t like being here anymore,” she said. “I just want to go somewhere else, a fresh start.”

When reached for comment Thursday, Citrus County Commission Chairwoman Holly Davis said future ideas for resolving the neighborhood standoff would not come from her.

“I’m done,” she said. “I don’t have any tools left in my toolbox.”

Weeks ago, Davis proposed a plan to allow new home development in the neighborhood if homebuilders install underground stormwater storage to offset the addition of new impervious surfaces.

For Davis, the plan would have been a neighborhood safety measure that would have prevented existing flooding and erosion problems from worsening.

However, a majority of commissioners rejected the idea because it would also apply to existing homeowners who want to pour concrete for smaller projects such as sheds, generator stations and pools.

Matser, meanwhile, said he has contacted the county in hopes of finding solutions but has not yet received a response.