LAKEWOOD RANCH -- With a price tag totaling more than $322,000, Lakewood Ranch Community Development Districts 2 and 5 each approved contracts Thursday with Ajax Paving Industries of Florida, LLC, to begin improving roadways in Lakewood Country Club.

"The area where that's most going to be affected is Master's Avenue from the Lakewood Ranch Boulevard gate all the way to Lorraine.

That will be the focus of the paving program, and there will be some paving done on Legacy Boulevard north of Masters, at least I think we're still going to do that," said Tom Green, Lakewood Ranch Community District 2 board supervisor and Inter-DistrictAuthority chairman.

District 2 is responsiblefor $170,238.56 of the cost, while District 5 will pay $152,448.03 for the $322,686.59 improvement project, according to the contracts approved Thursday.

"In the (Lakewood Ranch) Country Club, we ownthe roads, even thoughtthey're public, so we have to pay for the maintenance. We have a pavement management company that has developed a plan for keeping our infrastructure repaired and up to date. We're at the point now where we need to do some of that repaving within the country club," he said.

The main part of thework involves grinding from curb to curb and repaving the roads. Some lanes may need to be closed during the project.

"We've brought that issue up and they're going to make special efforts to be able to let the traffic get through. Town Hall will put up signs," said Tom Leavey, District Five board superintendent.

"This is simply Legacy and Masters and a little bit of Arnold Palmer Green within the Country Club," Leavey added.

"The other roads are covered by the county. It's the country club where we're responsible for the maintenance."

The contract was officially awarded at Thursday's board meetings, but some time must be allowed for the possibility of bid protests before work can begin. Ajax Paving is located in Nokomis.

Dee Graham, Herald reporter can be reached at 941-748-0411, ext. 7027, or tweet@DeeGrahamBH.