Commissioner Jim Blucher visited IslandWalk today to talk about the city and WVID issues. Although he is running for re-election in the November 2nd election, his main purpose was to listen and inform us; not to campaign. He provided the less than a dozen residents who attended with a lot of good information about what is happening in the city and our own WVID neighborhood. I was rather disappointed at the poor turn-out; guess golf, tennis, beach, etc. won out over civics today! Some highlights of his discussion were:
The Publix shopping center is still alive. Thomas Enterprises (developer) says they have two other unnamed retailers ready to build there. Publix is still waiting for some better demographics before making the final go ahead decision. Hopefully, the end of 2011 will see some hint of development here, especially if the economy and home sales improve.
Drinking water quality should improve dramatically by early 2012 in WVID. The city has set aside about $37 million for construction of a new reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment facility for all city drinking water. They should have the project out for bid very soon. This treatment process should go a long way towards reducing the water hardness and other issues related to color, odor, turbidity, and taste.
It appears Gran Paradiso is NOT dead. The developer is planning new, smaller, more affordable model homes (just like Pulte is doing now at IslandWalk). If new financial partners can be found, we should see some activity and hopefully new home sales in that WVID development by 2011. Plans call for completion of the Gran Paradiso amenities center if and when new home models can be offered.
Discussions are on-going with Fourth Quarter Properties, the city, and State College of Florida (the old MCC) about the South campus near the Hwy 41 and West Villages Parkway intersection. WVID Pattern Book development plans call for the donation of 15 acres near the campus to the city for public use. The city has offered to give that land to the college along with some city funding in return for the offering of a "work force development program" by the college. As commissioner Blucher says, "the devil is in the details". The exact location of the 15 acres and the possible annexation of the campus into the City of North Port are all issues that still need to be resolved.
When asked about the zip code change, Commissioner Blucher indicated that there probably will not be a change made at this time. He said a change was inevitable and would have to happen sooner rather than later. As the economy improves and home sales pick up, I think we will all see this issue up for discussion again.
3 comments:
Sorry to say that the Commissioners update is outdated and wrong. The Gran Paradiso situation is far worse. The plans for smaller homes was introduced over a year ago and is now dead for the time being as the developer may be ready to pull out of here for the time being. Also the resort is not tied to any plan for smaller homes, but rather to the unpaid money from the developer. Big news should be coming soon on Gran Paradiso.
WEll...so much for getting information from the horse's mouth. I was so happy to see a glimmer of hope for Gran P. next year. Now, it looks like there will probably be another default on the developers $2 million plus non-ad valorem tax payment again. Wonder if there will still be investors out there willing to buy tax certificates like last year. Otherwise, could spell gloom and doom for the WVID!
I got to believe that the investors that bought the tax certs plan on the developers not making the interest payments to them, and that they (the cert holders) plan on taking over the GP property when they do. That will be a pretty low price for such a property in a prime location...provided they got long term staying power and can continue to make the tax payments until the economy rebounds.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mike Nevinger
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