WVID Meeting - February 23, 2016

This regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held at the IslandWalk amenities center, and was well attended by residents of both IslandWalk and Gran Paradiso. During the opening public comment period audience members voiced concerns about the lack of a traffic light at the entrances to the two developments at US 41, and wanted to know who was responsible for getting the light installed. The district manager and engineer both explained that the traffic light was not within the scope of infrastructure provided by WVID, and that the developers of both developments had agreed to pay for a traffic light. The current delay is being caused by Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT) inability to date to issue a warrant for such a traffic light. It was suggested that residents of the district contact the local FDOT office to put pressure on them to make a decision (hopefully, the right one).

A few days after this meeting, WVID resident Ali Johnston created an online petition to FDOT to warrant a traffic light at the entrances to both developments. As of today, there are well over 300 signers to the petition (I am one of them) and Ali plans to seek a meeting with the local FDOT officials sometime this week to present the petition. If you haven't already signed the online petition, please do so:

Traffic Light Petition address on Change.org:
https://www.change.org/p/florida-governo...

Florida Governor: Approve Traffic Light at 41/Tamiami at the West Villages District BEFORE Someone Gets Hurt

A traffic light needs to be installed at the entrances of IslandWalk and Gran Paradiso of the West Villages along US41/Tamiami Trail before someone gets seriously hurt! It is a dangerous intersection currently with cars regularly traveling at speeds in excess of 55mph (the speed limit in that section)....

CHANGE.ORG

The public comments also were concerned with where the proposed new retail and commercial center would be built. The district manager explained that the original location on about 110 acres at the northwest corner of US 41 and West Villages Pkwy was not viable. That parcel is still owned by the original WVID master developer, Fourth Quarter Properties, and is encumbered by back taxes, assessments and foreclosure fees in excess of $40 million. The proposed location of the new center is shown in the picture at left, and hopefully will be completed by the end of 2017.

The business conducted by the WVID during this meeting was also significant:

1. A petition to form a new Unit of Development was received from the developers of the three new subdivisions planned along the north end West Villages Pkwy between US 41 and River Rd. (the East side of the parkway and extending all the way to US 41 to the south and River Rd. to the east). The board intends to respond by creating a new UNIT 4 that will encompass the boundaries of these 3 new subdivisions, and to begin the process of identifying necessary infrastructure to support this new Unit and the cost thereof. The board will also be moving forward on requesting new public bond funds to pay for this new infrastructure. This should all transpire fairly quickly over the next few months.
2. Only those home buyers living within this new Unit of Development will be obligated to repay the new bond debt incurred for creating the new infrastructure. These new home buyers will also pay into the Unit 1 plan of development which is a shared cost among all WVID property owners, thus reducing the per property cost slightly of every current resident in the district for this Unit.
3. Two appraisal reports were received for a 60 acre parcel located south of the State College of Florida and along the West Villages Pkwy in the amounts of $4.5 and $5.4 million. This tract would be a future home for a Sarasota County School Board K-8 or possbily K-12 school. The district manager stated there were no current plans by the school board to build such a school. When purchased, this land would be dedicated to the school board. Purchase of the land would be made by WVID using existing Unit 1 bond funds that were allocated for this purpose back in 2005 when the district was formed. No purchase decision was made at this time.
4. Two appraisals were also received for a small, 0.5 acre parcel that is the current access road to the State College of Florida (SCF) from US 41. A question was raised by the public as to what it was that WVID would be buying; the land only with its existing access easement to the SCF, or the land and all the improvements thereon which are owned by SCF since they paid to build and maintain the road. The matter was referred to district legal staff to review.
5. WVID now has offices in the South County Resource Center building located just off of the West Villages Pkwy. They are to be used primarily for records storage; but will also serve as the office for the District's part-time Operations Manager as well. This new lease arrangement will replace leased space in a storage trailer previously provided by Thomas Ranch.