West Villages ID 12.13.2018 Board Meeting Information - Unit 7 Bonds

Feedback from the 11.15.2018 Board Meeting

 by Victor Dobrin

   At the beginning of the meeting, I was sworn in for Seat 5 - the only one (from a total of five seats) that freeholders in the West Villages can elect as their representative, at this time. The other four seats are nominated by Mattamy, the landowner of approximately 9,000 acres, and are currently occupied by its employees.
   A few questions from the attending public pertained to the back road access to Island Walk, the request to close the construction gate on US41 for Gran Paradiso and  the District entry monument signage.  The back road access in Island Walk is still closed due to Braves' stadium construction traffic and Marty Black, the district chairman, considers it unsafe to be reopened yet to resident traffic, frustrating the residents.  The Gran Paradiso US41 construction traffic gate will potentially close, after proper engagement with Lennar. The entry monuments will undergo a redesign and the West Villages lettering will be addressed.

   Major items on the agenda that were discussed by the Board were:

• Approved the amended budget, with overruns of 30% in maintenance, mainly for Unit 1, and double the legal fees driven by Unit 5 (stadium) due to contractor changes.
• Passed work authorization for the multimodal path from Island Walk to West Villages Blvd., concurrent with keyhole elimination on the south side of US 41 intersections with Preto and WV Blvds - the US41 north side is not affected.
• Passed Video Signage Agreement funded by Unit 5, but to be maintained by the District. (I advocated that it would be fair that Unit 5 be assessed for this and, to recover costs, to establish a usage fee for advertisers.)
• Approved Resolution 2018-21 for  "Rules Relating to the Provision and Suspension of Irrigation Water" and other irrigation conservation measures: "These restrictions include lawn and landscape irrigation limited to 2 days per week. Even number addresses will be watered on Thursdays and/or Sundays. Odd number addresses will be watered on Wednesdays and/or Saturdays. Common areas will be watered on Tuesdays and/or Fridays. These irrigation events will only occur between 4 pm and 10 am the following day." 
• Approved Irrigation Water Supply Agreement - although I opposed it, as it burdens the homeowners for one hundred years (2117) with an unjustified well-availability fee of approximately $11/quarter, that will increase yearly with 5.5% or CPI, whichever is greater.  This fee is collected by an entity owned by WVID developer. 
• Approved the petition to establish Unit 7 - Wastewater Treatment Facility.

   The new dog park, Blue Heron Park, with access from River road (between West Villages Parkway and US41) will open on December 1, 2018 (see image below).