LAKE SHERWOOD : Supervisors Delay Special District Vote

The County Board of Supervisors postponed action Tuesday on a plan by billionaire developer David H. Murdock to charge all Lake Sherwood homeowners, including those with houses outside his posh new country club project, about $2.6 million to buy the lake from him.

Under the Murdock proposal, which has been endorsed by the county Public Works Agency, a special district would levy about $4,000 in taxes against owners of 121 houses and 47 vacant lots near the lake, outside the club’s boundaries.

Supervisors said the proposal was premature because public works analysts had not provided full information about its financial impact on current lake-area residents.

“I am really frustrated with this whole process,” Chairwoman Madge L. Schaefer said. The matter was referred to a board committee.

Angry lake-area homeowners have said Murdock’s proposal would force them to buy a lake the developer promised to restore in exchange for their backing of his 650-residence gated community, which was approved by supervisors in 1987.

The proposal was criticized in June by the county grand jury.