Board Meeting, June 29, 2017

Pretty dry meeting today with no public comment. Major agenda items were related to the planned refinancing of Unit 1 and Unit 3 bond debt to take advantage of lower interest rates and to obtain additional funds (cash out refi) for planned improvements. For both bonds, the refinancing will NOT change the original term of the bonds, and it will NOT change the individual property owner assessment amounts for bond debt service.

Refinancing of Unit 1 bond debt is expected to raise between $3.4 and $3.8 M in new construction funds. No discussion was made of specific items; but, the current Plan of Improvement calls for construction of Predo St. as a new north/south road through Village C. There has been design work done for signalizing the US41 and West Villages Pkwy intersection, and there will be some road way realignment done near the new spring training facility on West Villages Pkwy. Longer term, there is still an obligation of the district to acquire land and build a police/fire/EMS station in the district, AND to equip that station with a police car, fire truck, and ambulance.

Refinancing of Unit 3 bond debt is expected to raise around $900k. The district engineer announced at today's meeting that the Southwest Florida Water Management District grant for construction of a reclaimed water line from near Rockley Blvd. and US. 41 to the existing retention pond in Gran Paradiso was approved. Design of the new line is in progress so construction should start on this before the end of the year. A representative from Lenar stated that they were about to spend $170k for a new agricultural well and piping to bring more irrigation water into the retention pond. The cost of both of these improvements should just about expend the funds received from this refinancing.

A public meeting was scheduled for July 27 at 11 am at City Hall in North Port to make public notice of the intent to refinance the Unit 1 bond debt. A similar meeting was planned for August 10th.

June 2017, Land Owner's Annual Meeting

This annual ritual meeting was held at North Port City Hall on June 8, 2017. Surprise....the two supervisor seats up for re-election were won by the two incumbents. They were the only candidates for each seat and the master developer has over 6,000 votes to cast for whomever they want to be elected. You and I only have one vote - per household - for our tiny 1/4 acre of land ownership. All above board and legal. Read the state statute if you don't believe me.

Now next year (2018) will be different. One of the five seats on the WVID board is held by someone elected by the registered voters residing in the district at a general election. That seat has been held by Bob Rossman from IslandWalk and his four year term will be expiring next year in June. Bob has told me that although he has enjoyed his time on the board and that is has been a wonderful experience, he will not be a candidate for re-election in 2018.

SO....any civic minded person interested in being a part of the future development of the West Villages should start considering running for this seat in 2018.

Contact the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office for more information. If you do not plan to solicit or accept campaign contributions then the registration process and paperwork is very minimal and the filing fee is only a few bucks. The ONLY requirement is that you be a US Citizen. One does not even need to live in or even be a registered voter in the district to qualify!!! Heck, one of my kids from North Carolina or New Jersey could run for this seat.

When can we expect to have more than one of the five supervisor seats filled by a resident (registered voter) elected person? Probably another 4 or 5 years at least. The state statute governing STD boards has a sliding scale that matches the percent of "urban development" within a district to the number of approved, publicly elected supervisors. We got our first seat when there were more than 500 registered voters living within the WVID boundaries. That was easy.

The next trigger is 25% of urban development with the district. When Bob was elected, we were at around 3% "urban development". The district Engineer estimated today that we are only around 12 to 13% "urban development" now. Search this blog for other "GENERAL ELECTION" labeled posts to get the full story on how this system works.

Board Meeting, June 8, 2017 (and 2 previous meetings)

Once again I've been tardy in posting to this blog. There have now been 3 board meetings since my last post including today's. Most of the discussion and decisions made in those 3 meetings have been related to the future Atlanta Braves spring training stadium. Suffice to say that things are moving along very quickly with attention being paid to hiring of attorneys, engineers, bond consultants, and other specialty staff for moving forward with and overseeing construction of the stadium. All parties (county, city, district, and Braves) have pretty much agreed to terms and conditions for the project. County, city, and district funding is firmed up and the only funding piece still missing is $20 million from the Florida spring training retention fund. The application for this final grant money is just about complete and will be submitted to the State very shortly. All parties are confident that this funding will be available and awarded for this project.

The construction manager has assured everyone that with a September, 2017 project start date the stadium can and will be completed by January 2019 in time for the spring training season to begin. Stadium design is being done by an architect selected by the Braves. WVID will be the responsible entity for managing and disbursing project funds during construction, and for overseeing day-to-day lease management to the Braves for the next 30 years. Upon completion, the stadium property will be dedicated to Sarasota County.

After today's meeting, Marty Black told me that the master developer has decided to fund the cost of construction for a 2 (expandable to 4) million gallon per day wastewater treatment plant. About 14 acres of land behind the radio tower at US 41 and River Rd. were purchase by the disctric earlier this year to the plant location. Thank you Mattamy Homes and partners for this most welcome decision! The preliminary design for the plant is being reviewed by the state. Final design should not take long and with no public funding being involved, the selection of a contractor to build the plant should happen very quickly. There is no urgent need for the plant; but, with the rapid pace of development, having a plant sooner rather than later is desirable. At present, all wastewater from WVID is being pumped by buried pipe along US 41 to the North Port City treatment plant. The capacity of this force main was never intended to support all of West Villages and we are slowing approaching this lines design capacity.

Also at today's meeting the budget for next fiscal year (Oct 1, 2017 to Sep 30, 2018) was approved by the board. There will be little change in WVID assessments to property owners from last years tax amounts. Again, good news for us tax payers. One question I had was concerning expenses for the new infrastructure planned for 2018; some related to the Braves stadium and other items related to the development of Village D (the 640 acre planned mixed use retail, commercial, residential development along the south side of US 41 from IslandWalk down to West Villages Parkway). The district engineer assured everyone that the remaining $8.1 million in available construction bond funds would be adequate for the tasks. Mr. Black stated that the distinct will be refinancing the Unit One bond fund sometime this summer which is expected to result in an additional $3.5 to 4 million of funds for Unit One capital improvements (can you say "cash out refi"). Planned infrastructure projects for 2017-2018 include:

• signalizing the US 41 and West Villages Parkway intersection
• realignment and some new roadway construction at the stadium intersection
• irrigation water line from Sarasota National to Gran Paradiso
• new 2-lane road (Paredo St.) from US 41 to West Villages Pky in Village D
• intersection improvements for US 41 and the new Paredo St.
• land acquisition and construction of a police/fire/EMS substation in the district (to INCLUDE purchase of police car, fire truck, ambulance, and related equipment)
• purchase and dedication to North Port or a 15 acre park parcel

Residents from Gran Paradiso have asked at two of these last three meetings for the board to reconsider its decision to NOT pursue an investigation of the cost and feasibility of constructing a pedestrian overpass to provide residents from Villages A and C with access to the proposed Village D shopping area on the south side of US 41. With the decision to site the Braves new stadium also on the south side of US 41, they feel that such an overpass is essential to provide safe, non-vehicular access to these amenities. There was no comment from the board on this request.

A question was asked about the 167 acres at the northwest corner of US 41 and West Villages Parkway regarding back taxes and district assessments being unpaid. This land is "left over" from the initial master developer's (Fourth Quarter Properties) failed ownership of the West Villages. Because of the unpaid tax burden, this land was excluded from Mattamy Homes' purchase of the West Villages. The board and board counsel stated that forcing a sale of the land for back taxes and assessments would not be an economical venture for the district costing it many dollars in legal fees with little hope of seeing any money. In an after meeting conversation I had with district counsel I was told that the district is not a true "taxing authority" and that it does not have the authority to force such a sale. A request would have to come from the Unit 2 bond holders to authorize the district to begin foreclosure proceedings on behalf of the bond holders. I believe that a taxing authority such as the city or county does have the right to move forward with seizing the property for non-payment of taxes after a 7 year period of non payment. If that is the case, then such an escheatment action could be initiated next year on or after October 1st. I intend to pursue this matter with the Sarasota County Tax Collectors office to find out what actions may be possible.

Board Meeting, March 9th, 2017

The WVID Board of Supervisors voted to accept the Braves Term Sheet and have signed a letter of intent to move forward with the project. They follow the City of North Port and Board of County Commissioners in doing so. This completes the local governments support for moving forward and the attendant funding sources from these governments. The last big hurdle will be in the State Legislature. There has been talk for many months now about doing away with the $20 million state grant for sports field developments. Everyone is now holding their breath to see what happens to the application for this money as the last piece of the funding puzzle for the Braves new spring training complex.

In response to public questions, the Board confirmed that the approximately 80 acres for the stadium complex would be donated by the master developer at no expense to tax payers. This means a $8 million plus donation for the value of that land. Thank you very much developers!!! Another question about the source of approximately $7 million in planned expenses for road and infrastructure improvements in and around the planned complex resulted in a less clear identification of that source of funds. The final answer was that the board isn't sure yet how that would be funded. Could be Unit 1 funds, or the new Unit 5 funds (see below), or more donated funding by the master developer or some combination of these.

The board approved the solicitation of an "At Risk" Project manager for the proposed complex. The intent is to get this entity in place as early as possible in the project so that they may actively participate in the the planning and permitting as well as to oversee the construction.

The board also began the process of creating a new Unit of Development for the sports complex project. It will be Unit 5.

Everything associated with this project will be on a super fast track as the current plan is for the Braves to take possession January 2019 for the spring training season. That is just 21 short months from now for a project that is still in an early design and permitting stage. For those who have any experience at all in projects of this size and complexity, you should be impressed by such a very, very aggressive schedule to be achieved.

When I was a project manager I'd always say (in private, never to a client) that a project has three major components: COST, SCHEDULE, and QUALITY........which two do you want? To achieve the January 2019 date I am fearfully that either COST or QUALITY may be compromised. The Braves I am sure will insist on QUALITY (rightfully so). I wonder what last minute COST burden the taxpayers may be asked to endure?

March 9th District Meeting Should Be Interesting

 I received the notification email yesterday from the District Manager's office confirming the next meeting of the WVID Board of Supervisors for 11 am on Thursday, March 9th in North Port City Hall. The agenda items for this meeting include discussions of the "soft gate" gated community entrance procedures, and the "Trim Sheet" for the proposed Atlanta Braves spring training facility. This same "Trim Sheet" must be reviewed and approved by Sarasota County, City of North Port, and WVID before the project can move forward. The full agenda and meeting book for this meeting can be found at http://westvillagesid.org/documents/.

It looks like IslandWalk will be the only "hard gated" community in West Villages for many years to come. Gran Paradiso and the three new Mattamy Homes subdivisions being created now are all to be "soft gated" communities. A hard gated community has roads and gate house features that where built with developer money and not using public debt financing. Soft gated communities on the other hand have roads and gate house features that were constructed using public debt money. Therefore, the gated entry and main roads in soft gated communities must be open to the public so anyone can enter these communities without restriction.

Next week is also early voting for the North Port City Commissioner Seat 4 Special Primary Election with the actual election held on March 14th. Those of us living within the West Villages and who are registered voters should have received their sample ballots by now.

I would like to take this opportunity to endorse Jill Luke for this election and recommend her to you as the next City Commissioner for District 4. Jill is a small business owner in North Port and for the 6 years that I've known her, she has been actively involved in city civic affairs and with the Chamber of Commerce. These special primaries are usually poorly attended by voters and in many cases just a few votes can swing an election one way or the other. Hence my endorsement and request that you take the time to get out and vote in this election. I believe Jill will be a strong supporter of the West Villages and a stabilizing influence on the City Commission.

District Meeting - January 12, 2017

The meeting began with public comment by residents from Gran Paradiso with questions as whether or not their community was hard gated or soft gated? As this question had been submitted by email in advance of the meeting, District counsel had the answer. Gran Paradisio is a soft gated community since public bond funds were used to construct the main entry feature and the primary road network within the community. Residents also asked about consideration of a pedestrian overpass to connect their subdivision to the new Village D retail/commercial space being planned on the south side of US41 from Gran Paradiso. Answer was, no real answer was given. WVID is not the deciding entity for this feature. It is the master developers decision to make. I would disagree with Mr. Black on this point. WVID exists to provide the necessary infrastructure that interconnects the many villages that will exist in our district. That interconnection is not just limited to roadways. It should include walkways and in this case, perhaps, a pedestrian overpass, as essential elements of a successful "village" development that has a major highway running through the middle of it.

Mr. Black stated that negotiations between the Atlanta Braves and WVID/City/County representatives were still ongoing and that no decision had been made by the Braves as to where they would located their new Spring Training facility. There may have been a wink and a nod that went with that announcement; but officially, there is no decision.

The district engineer reported that the preliminary design of the wastewater treatment plant was 50 percent complete and that they were on schedule for submitting the design to the City and State for review. The engineer also recommended that the board approve a $4.5 million contract for the construction of new infrastructure for the Village B, Oasis subdivision. This would be paid from bond money specifically obtained for Village B development and repayment of that bond money would be the responsibility of future residents owning homes within Village B.

The district engineer began a discussion with the board about the status of irrigation water for the district. Historically, there have been supply issues with amounts of reclaimed water from the Englewood Water District. In some recent years a shortage of irrigation water has reached critical levels that threatened the survival of expensive landscaping in our communities. A number of topics related to irrigation water were discussed, including:

• Status of grant request to State of Florida to fund the 1 mile extension of an existing reclaimed water main that now terminates near the entrance to the Plantation and Taylor Ranch School. Application has been made. Chances of approval are good. Grant would be awarded in October 2017 and could provide 250,000 gallons per day (gpd). Engineer asked that the board consider spending money now to complete the design and permitting necessary to extend that water main to West Villages' storage pond in anticipation of receiving the grant money to do so. Otherwise, it could take 6 to 9 month after the award to complete such work and construct the extension. Estimated cost was $75,000. Board to consider doing this at the next meeting.
• An existing agricultural well on Gran Paradiso was approved for residential irrigation use in October of last year.at a rate of 200,000 gpd; but this water has a high salt content and must be mixed with reclaimed water to make the salinity of the water used for irrigation tolerable to plants and grass.
• District engineer continues to negotiate with Englewood Water District to ensure that WVID is receiving the 600,000 gpd that was promised. Historically this supply has been highly variable and no where near that amount.

Of course, once our wastewater treatment plant is built and operating, WVID will have its own source of reclaimed water to use for irrigation. Unfortunately, irrigation water supply will be a real issue for the district for another 4 or 5 years until that plant is built.

Village D, Neighborhood Meeting, 01/10/17

Tuesday, January 10, 2017. Main Street Ranch Land Partners hosted a neighborhood meeting to present the preliminary Village Pattern Plan for the new Village D retail, commercial, residential future development. Comments from the public were received after the presentation and will be "considered" as possible revisions to the plan which is next scheduled to be presented to the North Port City Planning Board sometime in March 2017. Retail/commercial development will be done along the south side of US 41 with single family and multi-family residential development in the southern portion of this 620 acre subdivision area. Multifamily structures could run to 4 stories with a proposed maximum height limit of 120 feet. Some of the multi-family units adjacent to the retail commercial area may be built as mixed use structures with the retail/commercial space on the ground floor and residential units on the upper floors.

There were a number of constructive comments and concerns voiced by the public during this meeting. Most noteworthy were:

• Would these residential subdivisions be hard gated or soft gated? No direct answer was given.
• Residents from Gran Pardiso asked that the planners consider a pedestrian/golf cart friendly overpass or tunnel that would provide access from the north side of US 41 to the south side where the new retail/commercial development is proposed. The planners were again non-committal in there responses.
• Would the new entrances to this subdivision be regulated by new traffic lights or round-abouts? Planners stated that since the IslandWalk/Gran Paradiso intersection had just been approved for a traffic light, it was their understanding that all other intersections would also get traffic lights.
• When questioned about the timing of traffic light installation the planners said FLDOT was the decider of that question and stated that typically the FDOT wants to see traffic count data to justify a light. Many in the audience thought that installation of traffic lights should be done as part of the initial development.
• I asked about what consideration had been made for irrigation water to support this new subdivision since we are already experiencing difficulty in getting enough water now for just the two existing subdivisions (IslandWalk and Gran Paradiso). Planners response was that they were well aware of these irrigation water issues and that adequate planning was being done.

District Meeting - December 8, 2016

Very short 30 minute meeting. The Southwest Florida Water Management District has approved a daily annual average withdrawal of 2,000 gallons per day for an agricultural well owend by one of the general developer land partners for use to replenish irrigation water used for the district. As we all know this is the dry season and to make things worse, the Englewood Water district has not been able to supply the amount of treated wastewater promised during this dry period. The added water from this well can make the difference between live and dead grass and plants in the district. The board approved a contract with the land partners to receive this well water and to pay the same rate for that water as they would be paying to the Englewood Water District.

The board also tied up all the loose legal ends surrounding the Unit 4, $13 million bond issue. That money is now in the bank and will be used to pay for infrastructure improvements to the new Matemy homes subdivisions going in along the West Villages Parkway between US 41 and River Rd. The future home owners in those new subdivisions will be responsible for paying back this bond money over the next 30 years.

The next scheduled meeting is set for January 12, 2017. Recall that a few months ago the WVID board decided to move their regular meetings back to City Council Chambers at North Port City Hall, and to begin meeting on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month at 11 am.

Before the meeting adjourned, I asked the board for clarification on the methodology being used to determine the "percent of urban development" in the district. This an important issue because the State Statute that governs our district allows for more and more of the board Supervisors to be elected by the public at a general election as the percentage of urban development increases over time within the district. I was told that the Urban Development Map prepared back in February, 2014 was the one still being used.

Please see my next post for a more in depth discussion of this important issue.

District Meeting - November 10, 2016

This was a rather short but not uneventful meeting of the Board of Supervisors. Two appraisals were received by the Board for the approximately 21 acre parcel of land that is to used for construction of a wastewater treatment plant. One appraisal valued the land at $2.53 million and the other at $2.24 million, or somewhere around $105,000 an acre.

After reviewing these appraisals I came to the conclusion that the comparable properties used by both appraisers did not appear to be comparable at all. Comparables included property sold in extreme north county in and around the cities of Sarasota and Bradenton. I reasoned, how are these sales comparable to an as yet undeveloped part of south county? I also questioned why the two April 2016 sales of west villages land for the new dog park (fronting along River Rd.) and for the K-8 school site (fronting on West Villages Pkwy) were NOT used as comparable sales in these two appraisals pointing out to the Board that the average sales price of these two recent and within 1 mile of the subject property parcels were for about $35,000 an acre LESS THAN the price being justified in these appraisals. It was also pointed out to the board that there was no adjustment to property value based upon the 200 foot tall cell phone tower near the northeast corner of the property. I went so far as to read a written statement into the meeting record voicing these concerns and recommending that the Board reject both appraisals.

Although I felt much better have complained about these short comings, the Board decided in a 2-1 vote (yes, 2 Supervisors were not in attendance) that my concerns were baseless and the appraisals were both accepted. The one NAY vote came from Mr. Rossman, who is the only Supervisor on the board elected by the residents of the district in a general election. As we all know, the other 4 members of the Board are all elected (read appointed) by the master developer based upon the acreage they own. Congratulations to Mr. Rossman for standing up and being counted on this obviously developer biased and favored appraisal report acceptance vote. Thank you Bob!

From the local rumor mill:

• Atlanta Braves spring training facility deal is very close to a decision. Fingers remain crossed and hopes are high.
• Has anyone else heard that a COSTCO store might be built somewhere in West Villages. I just heard this a few days ago from a fairly knowledgeable source but there were no details about when or where.

District Meeting - September 27, 2016

Just mostly normal district business at this short meeting. No mention of any improvements to River Rd., No mention of traffic light (round-about) at IW/GP entrance on US 41. No mention of the Atlanta Braves spring training facility.

Supervisors voted to approve the District Engineer (Santec) to perform a preliminary design for a new 2 million gallon per day (MGD) waste water treatment plant to be located on land just South of the cell phone tower on the south side of US 41 near River Rd. Plant is anticipated to be needed by 2020 to safely accommodate the amount of waste water to be generated by homes in the district. The plant is to be designed as expandable to 4 MGD at some future point in time as the number of new homes and businesses in the district increases. The cost for design and land acquisition is included in the current capital budet and existing bond debt money will be used for this expense. However, the cost of building the plant will most likely be part of some new, future bond issue. I would estimate $35 to $50 million in initial construction cost.The City of North Port will take over and operate the plant once it has been built. The cost of day to day operations should be included in resident's normal water and sewer billing.

The district engineer was instructed to investigate a possible extension of an existing reclaimed waste water pipeline on US 41 near Sarasota National. A one mile extension of this line would make this Sarasota County reclaimed water available for use in GP and IW. Cost sharing with Sarasota County, SWFMD, and other interested entities might make the cost of this expansion affordable by the district. There has been a long term, historic shortage of reclaimed water from the Englewood wastewater suppliers that has resulted in past watering restrictions. With the growth of GP and the new Mattemy homes development taking place farther south on US 41 at the West Villages Parkway intersection, the availability of more reclaimed water could be extremely beneficial.

District staff was also instructed to investigate the possibility and terms of a possible bond debt refinance for units of development 1 and 3. It seems that interest rates are low now and this would be a good time to look into the possibility. Supervisors are also looking for the possibility or raising additional capital from a refinancing of the debt (read cash back mortgage).

A new landscape maintenance contractor was chosen to replace Brightview Landscaping (formerly Valley Crest). The Brightview contract expires on September 30th and competitive bids were solicited over the summer for landscape maintenance work along US 41 and West Villages Parkway. Yellowstone Landscape of Bunnell, FL was selected as the lowest responsive bidder to begin work on October 1, 2016. Yellowstone is a commercial landscape company doing work in Florida and Georgia with a proven track record of public right of way maintenance.

Board of Supervisors Meeting - April 12, 2016

I will be skipping this next meeting. Looking at the agenda, it appears to be just a lot of procedural stuff:

• formal adoption of the Unit of Development Number 4
• formal adoption of public speaking rules (seems to be just a codification of past procedures)
• formal adoption of rules of order for conducting board business. I didn't see any significant departures from past informal practice at board meetings. Guess the new legal counsel is just dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

If you want to be on the email notification list for future board meetings and other such notifications, you can send an email to Tricia Lascasas <TLascasas@sdsinc.org> at Special District Services. She is the admin person for WVID and works for our District Manager, Todd Woodroska. Please do take note that all emails, and addressees to emails are public information, so your email address will be "out there" for all to see.

The online "meeting book" for this, and any other board meeting is also made available online at http://westvillagesid.org/documents/. You can read the previous meeting minutes, the current meeting agenda, and any supporting documents from the comfort of your own office or home several days before any meeting. The meeting email notifications and availability of the online "meeting book" is usually announced on the Friday before a normal Tuesday meeting.

This next meeting, and it looks like all future meetings, will be held in the new meeting location of the Sarasota County/Englewood Sports Complex located at 1300 S. River Road, Englewood, Florida 34223.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.9758567,-82.320063,15z

Board Meeting - November 2015

Today was most likely the last board meeting for the year. The next meeting is planned for January 12, 2015.

• Re-sodding of US 41 right of way and median is progressing on schedule and should be completed by year end.
• An amended Unit 1 Plan of Development was accepted by the WVID which better defines how the remaining approximately $17 million of Unit 1 bond funds will be spent in the next few years. About $12 million of the original, 2007, $30 million bond issue has already been spent on infrastructure improvements including the West Villages Parkway, city park lands, and landscaping along the Parkway and US 41.
• An appraisal of approximately 4.5 acres of land on and along the existing entrance to the State College of Florida from US 41 was approved. This access road lies on land owned by the general developer and having an access easment for the college. Conversion of the land to WVID ownership will ensure continued maintenance of the road in perpetuity and should be in public ownership rather that private for that purpose.
• A second appraisal of approximately 60 acres of land was also approved today. In conversations with the Sarasota County School Board, WVID was informed that over the years since 2007 the anticipated need for new schools has changed and school board plans now call for a K-12 school campus to be built in WVID. The original Plan of Development called for an approximate 45 acre parcel to be located more in the interior of WVID; but  the school board asked for land it could build on in the next 2 to 5 years. So, this 60 acre parcel is located along the East side of West Villages Parkway and South of the existing State College of Florida campus.
• Supervisor Marty Black put on his developers hat briefly and explained that the new Sarasota Memorial Hostiptal (SMH) health park land will front the South side of US 41 between the entrance to State College of Florida and West Villages Parkway. This 30 acre or so parcel was recently traded to SMH by the general developer for a 120 acre or so parcel previously owned by SMH that was located more in the interior of WVID. There are no imediate plans by SMH to develop this property.
• Marty also said the the general developer had signed a contract with Sembler Retail Development to begin the first commercial/retail project in WVID. The planned new development will start at the Southeast corner of US 41 and the dirt road entrance to "The Ranch". It will eventually extend East and South to almost the West Villages Parkway in both directions. This will be a retail grocercy (Publix?) anchored shopping center, commercial, and resort development to include a hotel and 13 acre man-made recreational lake providing swimming and boating amenities. Permitting has already started, land clearing should begin early next year and construction should begin by mid to late 2016. We may very well have a neighborhood grocery store by early 2017. Maybe.

I suggested to the board that future appraisals of property should include two appraisals from different appraisers. Many residents and myself have voiced conern that the single appraisals obtained in the past were inflated and did not accurately reflect conditions that should, in our opinions, have detracted from the property's value. My logic for this was that the additional cost of a second appraisal should more than be recovered by negotiating a lower purchase price for WVID acquired property in the future. Time will tell if this is the case. The board agreed to give it a try.

To everyone reading these posts, have a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays to all.

October Board Meeting

The Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday, 10/27 in a regularly scheduled meeting at North Port City Hall. A large portion of the meeting time was devoted to interviewing law firms to be selected as the new district attorney. Hoping, Green, & Sams was selected as a first choice to negotiate price and terms with. Presson & Cohen, PA was a close second. All of the firms interviewed specialized in special district representation.

Looks like all of the required permits for the new Village A are just about completed. Land clearing is expected to begin by years end. This parcel is located along the full length of West Villages Parkway between US 41 and River Rd., and will be bordered by River Rd. to the east and US 41 to the south. This 200 plus home development probably won't be ready to start selling homes until late 2016 or early 2017.

There is also another new and smaller development already underway by Mattemy Homes. The "Preserve at the West Villages" has this nice sign at the intersection of West Villages Parkway and River Rd. Homes are to be of a larger size on large lots. Only 100 or so homes are planned for what looks like a small and exclusive enclave.

Anyone know where this development is located? I saw a short video clip on ABC, Channel 7 news a few days ago that showed land clearing operations for this development, so there is already work going on.

I think plans are to have homes for sale here before the end of 2016.

August-September 2015 Board Meetings

There will be no WVID board meeting in September. Next meeting is scheduled for Oct 13th at the City of North Port, City Hall. At September's meeting there were only a few items of interest:

1. Supervisors voted to spend about $635,000 to re-sod US 41 from the west monuments all the way down to the Thomas Ranch/Gran Paradiso construction entrance. They are replacing the current sod with St. Augustine sod which is supposed to greatly improve the look of the landscaping along 41. The contractor (Valley Crest) will also be reducing the size of planting beds along both sides of 41 by about 50%; replacing them with new sod. Purpose of this was to improve the visibility of the developer's (Pulte and Lennar) frontage landscaping. Work should begin this fall and be completed by year's end.
2. Lennar announced that a second entrance to Gran Paradiso should be open by very early 2016. It will be located at the roundabout on West Villages Parkway between US 41 and River Road.
3. The Supervisors directed the district engineer to do an "update" of the original (2005) plan of development for the West Villages. This first phase of the district's development is coming to an end. The new master developer wants some road alignment changes to match their upcoming next phase of development for the district. This next phase will also be accompanied by a new round of public bond debt obligations to pay for this next phase of development (roads, water, sewer, etc.). The good news for us "old timers" is that most of this new bond debt will be paid for by the future home owners in these new "units of development". Stay tuned for announcements about this new plan of development and its associated bond debt.
4. Supervisor Marty Black, in response to a question from the public, stated that the WVID had initiated a traffic light warrant study with the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) last summer for a traffic light at the entrances to IslandWalk and Gran Paradiso. The FDOT responded late last year that such a traffic light installation would be viewed favorably. At issue was who would do the engineering for the light and who would pay for it. Marty stated, and rightly so, that this light was NOT in the current WVID development plan and would therefore NOT be designed or paid for by the district.
5. In the IslandWalk September newsletter, an article there stated that Pulte and Lennar had jointly agreed to the design and installation of a traffic light at the development entrances. The stated time frame for this to happen was late 2016. This is good news for residents in these two developmnets as crossing the divider can be a hair raising experience at certain times of the day; expecially in-season when traffic volumes are much higher than normal.

June-July 2015 Board Meetings

Yet again, another apology for not posting timely information. In June, the supervisors awarded the District Engineer contract to Santec engineering after a competitive bid process and presentations made by each bidder. Santec is well known nationally and in Florida for their municipal and infrastructure engineering expertise.

After obtaining an independent commercial appraiser's report in June, the supervisors decided to purchase a 32 acre tract of land along the West side of River Rd. and North of US 41 for dedication to the City of North Port as a public park area. The Sale and Purchase agreement for this purchase was negotiated in June and at the July meeting the supervisors voted to purchase this land for approximately $1.9 million ($60,000/acre). At the request of members of the public in June, the district staff discussed the possible use of this land as a "paw park" with the City of North Port. The city was receptive to this concept.

This land purchase is a required element of the overall district development plan and past agreements. In 2009 the district purchased 63 acres along the East side of River Rd. South of US 41 for around $3.5 million. That land has since been dedicated to the City of North Port for a public park. Future land purchases are also required for a police and fire/rescue station, two other smaller park areas, and a waste water treatment plant. These locations are yet to be sited by the master developer who will attempt to integrate these locations into the overall master plan for development of the district.

Also in June, the supervisors approved solicitation of bids for the resodding of US 41 from the West monument to the Thomas Ranch entrance road with St. Augustine grass. Of the 4 invited bidders, ONLY ONE bid was received from Valley Crest in the amount of approximately $660,000. As only one bid was received, and it was considerably higher that a similar quote provided in 2014 by Valley Crest, the supervisors decided to enter into negotiation with Valley Crest before deciding to award a contract for this work. Another option considered by the supervisors was to rebid the work. This option was tabled since it could easily delay start of the project by 6 months or more, and the supervisors are interested in having this work done before the winter months turn the existing sod back its historic brown and bare spot appearance.

April and May Meetings, 2015

This will be a late post for the Meeting held on April 28th. It is also my apology for not being able to attend the next Meeting on May 26th, assuming a quorum can be obtained. As of this writing, we don't know yet if there will be a meeting; but I will be in Miami for a long Memorial Day weekend.

At the April meeting the District Engineer position was narrowed down to just two candidates and negotiations were to begin with the desired firm.

The Supervisors also decided to re-sod US41 using Saint Augustine grass and authorized new price quotes to be obtained for awarding that work.

I visited the City Planner's office last week and obtained some clean copies of documents that were discussed during the April meeting. Looks like we will soon have a new Village B being built along the East side of the West Villages Parkway between River Rd. and US 41. Here's the proposed site plan filed with the City of North Port. The final public meeting and City Commission vote on this proposal will be held soon.

The City Planner's office also had the following document on file which delineates which of the various partners to the West Villages land will own and develop which parts of the land:

Latest Information

Its has been awhile since my last post. But then very little has been happening either. Our new master developer is taking its time in announcing any new plans for the district. There have only been a few meetings in the last six months what with the holidays and all. So today's meeting was refreshing.

The current district engineer reported that in conversations with FDOT he had learned that the FDOT might look favorably on a request for a new traffic light between the IslandWalk and Gran Paradiso entrances. He also discovered that both developers had agreed to pay for a light at such time as it became necessary as a condition of getting their original permit for the current entry area and turn lanes. Our district manager will be sending a letter to Devosta and Lennar notifying them that a favorable review of a traffic light request by FDOT may now be possible, if they are willing to design and fund it. Looks like this ball will be in those two developers hands now!

At the next meeting on April 28th, the 3 finalists for the position of new district engineer will make 15 minute presentations to the Supervisors after which a contact will be offered to one of them. What happened to the old district engineer? Well, it seems they are now doing a lot of work for our new general developer who is represented by a majority of the current Board of Supervisor's, so it was decided last year to rebid the position and eliminate any possible conflict of interests.

Mr. Rossmann made a request that the board once again take up the issue of sod condition along US 41. All members kind of agreed that a sod replacement might be needed. Our new Operations Manager was tasked to coordinate with Devosta, Lennar, and Valley Crest to come up with the recommend sod variety, replacement locations, and cost. He will present options to the Supervisors at next month's meeting. It appears there is now a will to replace the sod with this new Board of Supervisors.

Todd Wodraska stated that the annual Land Owners meeting would be held on June 23rd. Seat 4 of the Board of Supervisors is up for re-election to a new 4 year term. Any interested US citizen may make written notice to Mr. Woodraska's office of their intention to be a candidate for this open seat. Such request must be made at least 30 days before the scheduled election date to be considered. The new supervisor will be elected by majority vote of the landowners, which means the current general developer who owns a majority of the land in the district!

I asked specifically about the Publix shopping center. Mr. Black said the original proposed location land was still owned by Fourth Quarter Properties and encumbered by debt and taxes. Our new general developer hopes to get approval for a 100 acre or so shopping center, along the North side of US 41, near the old proposed location. Time frame on that project is at least 18 months from now and still subject to approvals and permitting. So....don't hold your breath on this one just yet!

Next month's meeting should be interesting too with the presentations by the new district engineer candidates, and hopefully, a final decision on what to do with the grass along US 41.

August WVID Meeting

Long meeting...also included the Official "Public Meeting" for the 2011-2012 non ad-valorem tax assessments. Board made no changes to the proposed TRIM budget from June. District is still about $6 million short for 2010 tax revenue...there have been no new tax certificate sales since the end of June. There is about $1.5 million in accumulated surplus operating funds but it was decided to not use these funds. The feeling was that next years tax revenue would most likely parallel this years, and that those surplus funds would be needed then more than now. IslandWalk residents should see about $50 increase in taxes for 2011 and Gran Paradiso residents should expect to see about $100 increase.

Four bids were received for the new annual district landscape contract ranging from $600k to $800k. One bidder, Artistree was judged non-responsive. Board decided to hold meetings with the three remaining bidders to clarify some issues regarding man power and level of effort. They approved spending an additional $8k in September for temporary lawn care, and expect to make an award decision at their September meeting.

Various law suits against City of North Port and Sam Rogers are progressing; both have hearings scheduled for the September/October time period. Board approved spending up to $2500 for access controls at Gran Paradiso and for neighborhood watch signs in GP and along West Villages Parkway. No signs will be placed along US 41 (FDOT permitting issues) or in IW (developer requested restriction) or on Thomas Ranch (owner request).

WVID August Meeting

Don't forget to remember that the August meeting will be on the 30th. THERE IS NO MEETING ON THE 23rd.

July 26th Meeting Notes

Must be summer time. Another short meeting. District Manager welcomed the newly elected supervisor, Rande Britt, to the board. District Engineer discussed some security issues concerning Gran Paradiso access roads. Board approved $650 payment to the North Port Neighborhood Watch for starting a district watch program with resident volunteers patrolling district road ways. The bond holders are considering requesting a change in how assessments for Units 2 and 3 are collected. Currently collections are made through the County Tax Collectors office. A change to direct billing from the district to property owners may be proposed in the future. The board approved about one-half million dollars in "routine" expenditures for the month, and they also authorized a future payment of $1.8 million to Sarasota County for the district's share of the River Rd. - Hwy 41 intersection improvements. That project should be going out for bids in the near future with construction starting in mid-2012.

The next meeting will be August 30th, the last Tuesday in the month. This is a change from the normal 4th Tuesday schedule. This meeting will also be the mandated Public Meeting to approve the district's 2011-2012 operating budget and the proposed non ad-valorem tax rates for next year.