From the Past to the Future

From the Past to the Future - The Rise of the West Villages

 by Victor Dobrin, West Villages, FL 34293

     Many of us who live in the West Villages today are still learning about our neighborhood and surrounding areas.  Following is my attempt to capture some of the notable events in the life of what we know now as West Villages Improvement District (WVID), as mentioned in the press, or other public documentation.         

     In 1982, one of the Forbes’s 400 wealthiest Americans, Jack Berry Sr., bought 16,000 acres for $23.8 million, between Venice, Englewood and North Port, and he used them mainly to grow citrus trees, sod and raise cattle – establishing the Berry Ranch.

     As for Berry Ranch’s neighboring lands, we know that the City of Venice was incorporated in 1927; it became connected to Tampa and Miami in 1923 by a two lane road that came to be known as “Tampa to Miami”, or Tamiami Trail. The City of North Port was incorporated in 1959 and Englewood still remains in unincorporated Sarasota County, which acts as a mega city.

     The ultimate goal for Berry Ranch was to see residential developments, and, as a first step toward that goal, Jack Berry started by selling 100 acres to Manatee Community College, currently the State College of Florida, which is still in the unincorporated Sarasota county. In 1984, Jack Berry proposed a mixed-use development, with a marina on the Myakka River, 14,350 homes and 8 commercial areas, but Sarasota County and Southwest Florida Development Council rejected his plans.  Later, Berry’s attempt for another development with more than 10,000 homes, a satellite university campus and a medical research park failed again to get the county government’s approval.

     To attract residential developments, in 1988, Berry’s daughter, Ruth Ellen Berry Taylor, donated 24 acres for a public elementary school, where today is the Taylor Ranch School.

     In 1993, the county rezoned 39 acres of Berry Ranch, SE of US41 and Jacaranda Blvd, to commercial development, with Walmart being the major anchor.  This started the development clock for Berry’s Ranch land.  After his death in 1997, the ranch was renamed after his daughter, Taylor Ranch.

     In 2002, an Atlanta-based developer of retail hubs, Stanley Thomas, bought the Taylor Ranch for $78.1 million – and renamed it Thomas Ranch. Thomas’ development intentions collided with Sarasota County 2050 managed development plan (predominantly east of I75), but the county agreed to work with Thomas’ Fourth Quarter Properties to allow development in the NW corner of the ranch, of what went to become Sarasota National, south of US41.  Also, Thomas found a development friendly government in the City of North Port, and petitioned for incorporation into the city.

      In the 2002 time frame, due to different views on land development in south Sarasota county, the working relationship between the county government and the City of North Port was rocky, but it was agreed to allow approximately 7800 acres of the Thomas Ranch to be incorporated within the city limits. In 2003 the City Commission twice rejected the plans for the West Villages Improvement District (WVID), as a special independent district, but gave it a green light in January 2004, and then, the Florida Legislature enacted it House Bill No. 2004-456 and Governor Jeb Bush signed it into law, the same year.   That was the beginning of West Villages. WVID was created for the planning, construction, maintenance, operation, financing and improving of the systems, facilities and services necessary to meet the infrastructure needs of the District. The District is classified as an independent special district under Chapter 189, Florida Statutes., as it spans across the boundaries of a single municipality, being mostly in North Port and partially in unincorporated Sarasota County. This Bill gives powers to the district to raise money and levy assessment on the landowners and homeowners.  It stipulated that water and sewage treatment plants will be built, a school, police and fire station, etc. Once built, most of these facilities will be turned over to the City of North Port, who will provide the services. As an independent district, it can only be ended through an act of the Florida Legislature.  At the beginning, the big landowners, by law, are in control of the governing body called Board of Supervisors.  Four of the members are nominated by majority landowner, and the seat 5 is elected by freeholder residents of the district.  When urbanization rate (contiguous the land that has developed infrastructure) is between 25% and 50% of the land, two seats are elected by the freeholder residents; when the urbanization rate is between 50% and 75%, three seats are elected by the residents and when it is between 75% and 90%, four seats are elected by the residents. 

      In 2005, Thomas’ Fourth Quarter Properties filed with the city the Village Development Pattern Plans, that detailed infrastructure and development plans for a few villages, with more than 15,000 living units.

     WVID devised the incremental development of the District in units of development. At its inception, it had 3 units, as depicted in the adjacent table.

      The first development to start in 2006 was Island Walk by DiVosta/Pulte.  Gran Paradiso was started soon after by developer/builder Sam Rodgers (with his franchise Alan Rutenberg) and builder Lee Wetherington.  About the same time, the US economy collapsed - the Great Recession - and Island Walk weathered the rough times better than Gran Paradiso. In 2009, Sam Rodgers stopped paying assessments to WVID, and the District not only defaulted on its bonds, but virtually provided no maintenance of the land it owned in Gran Paradiso – about 60% of the total. The District and Sam Rogers sued each other, and Sam Rodgers got more than $3 million from the District.  A 2013 article in the Herald Tribune quoted Eddie Wadsworth, one of the earlier buyers in Gran Paradiso: “no one is living up to their obligations except the homeowners”, as the homeowners were afraid that by not paying the assessments, the liens on their property will create more problems.   As a smart investor, Lennar corporation bought millions in devalued bonds on the open market and cancelled about $15 million worth of them and paid delinquent taxes and assessments.  Lennar acquired 370 acres for 26.6 million which included the unfinished clubhouse ($7.1 million paid to the district in cancelled bonds). The builder also paid Lee Wetherington Homes $4 million for its 164 lots, but chose to not include the 26 original owners in the redemption of some West Villages bonds, action that lowered the assessment fee for new buyers, but not for the first buyers.

     In 2007, as a result of City of North Port, via its North Port Road and Drainage District (NPRDD), imposing a drainage assessment on the District, while the WVID manages its public roads and the water flow/drainage in its lands, a lawsuit was filed that went up to the Florida Supreme Court which ruled in 2012 in favor of the District: “NPRDD cannot lawfully impose the special assessments on West Villages' real property. It is so ordered.”

     In 2014, Mattamy Homes, the largest Canadian private builder, purchased 9,650 acre of Thomas Ranch property for $86.25 million (about $9,000/acre on average). Vanguard Land, a Sarasota real estate development and investment firm, became a minority partner, and continues to provide strategic planning.  Due to the non-payment of the Unit 1, 2, and 3 assessments, the District made draws on its debt service reserve fund for the Original Bonds starting in 2009 and failed to fully and timely pay debt service, including both principal and interest. The situation changed when Lennar paid the Unit 1 Bond delinquencies in 2013; the same was done by Mattamy for Unit 1, in 2014, bringing principal and interest payments current for Unit 1 and Unit 3.  But, as of August 2018, a 106 acre parcel within Unit No. 2 (between Gran Pardiso and West Villages Blvd.), that is zoned for commercial use, had approximately $15 million of delinquent taxes and assessments. The defaulted Commercial Property is currently owned by Thomas 167, LLC, one of the Stan Thomas’ Ranch entities.

      Since taking over in 2014, Mattamy, via its holdings -Thomas Ranch Land Partners (TRLP) and Affiliates - engaged Pulte and Lennar for comprehensive development of the ranch lands.  Three new developments were started in 2017, under the newly created Unit 4 development, comprising Renaissance by Mattamy Homes, Oasis by M/I Homes and Preserve by DR Horton.

     In 2015, Mattamy offered to swap land with the Sarasota Memorial hospital, trading the 128-acre parcel it owned about a mile south of Us41 for the 30-acre parcel with frontage on U.S. 41 and much more visibility for a future hospital building. Because Sarasota Memorial ended up with a smaller parcel as part of the trade, Mattamy paid the hospital the difference in value, about $3.25 million, according to hospital records. Since the size of the parcel cannot accommodate a full-fledged hospital, most likely an urgent care with additional medical practices will be erected on the site.

     Mattamy via its holdings sold in 2016 to the WVID a 5 acres parcel for a dog park along River Road, for $2 million and a parcel of more bout 60 acres for $7 million.  These acquisitions for public usage were paid from Unit 1 Bonds proceeds that homeowners repay through 2037.  In addition, Mattamy received $3.65 million in impact fee credits.  The school site land ownership was transferred to Sarasota School Board in 2017 and there are ongoing discussions for future schools plans once the urbanization increases or nearby schools are at capacity.

      The City of North Port Commission attempted to change the WVID ZIP code from Venice to North Port, in 2009, petitioning not only to the United States Postal Service (USPS), but also the US Congress representative. This issue was raised again by the City Commission in November of 2017, as it singled out the WVID from other parts of the city, since most of the city is covered by four zip codes that belong to the neighboring cities or unincorporated zones.  A majority of WVID residents (approximately 2300 signatures) petitioned to the USPS and to Congressman Thomas Rooney to maintain their ZIP code. The response from the USPS stated that “Postal Service has no pending plans to make any changes in this area at this time” and that the petition “will be kept on file for future reference should this issue arise again”.  Since 2018, the USPS allows West Villages as an alternate name to Venice for our ZIP 34293.

     Mr. Berry and Thomas always looked for a more regional development in this area.  Too late for them, but those dreams came closer to reality in September of 2017, when a stadium funding and operation agreement was finalized by the Atlanta Braves, WVID, City of North Port, Sarasota County and the State of Florida,  for an almost $100 million project. This spring training facility will include 6,200 fixed and 1,000 berm seats and it is slated to have the first game in March 2019.  It is mentioned the potential for concerts and movies to be scheduled at the stadium’s facility along with a farmer’s market. It is estimated that this development will create more than 170 local jobs and will inject $1.7 billion in the local economy over the span of 30 years. The WVID Board approved the creation of the Unit 5 of development that includes the Breve’s stadium.  In 2017, the marketing of Gran Palm and Sarasota National (which are in unincorporated area of the county) together with the residential developments in WVID, put West Villages on the top five planned communities in the USA.

      In May 2018, WVID broke ground for Wastewater Treatment Plant, a $40 million project that will be paid by developer (Mattamy) and that is targeted to open in January 2020, with a capacity of treating 2 million gallons of sewage per day. It will be operated by the City of North Port and the reclaimed water will be used for irrigation purposes within the District.  In the agreement with the WVID, the developer has the option to ask (up to five years later) WVID for reimbursement, but, at that point, only the future units of development will be assessed if such a debt is assumed by the district. To manage this project, the WVID Board created the Unit 7 for waste water treatment facility.  Unit 6 – Master Irrigation, including all Unit 1 lands with the exception of Island Walk, was created in 2018 to serve the irrigation needs of the District and potentially for surrounding communities, such as Sarasota National.

     Also in May 2018, the Diocese of Venice confirmed a WVID land swap and purchase deal with Mattamy that more than doubled the amount it owns to 46 acres along the River Road, just south of US41, where it plans to build a new church campus.

     In June 2018, Winchester Florida Ranch. LLLC, part of Mattamy’s land entities, filed with the Sarasota County a Critical Area Plan for the 3,600 acres of WVID that are in the unincorporated area of the county, consistent with “Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan and will ensure that development will occur in an orderly manner and provide for an orderly transition from rural to urban land uses through a planning process that couples a build-out vision with the proper timing and location of adequate public facilities.”

     Another development, the Marketplace, a joint venture between West Villages and the Sembler Co. broke ground in the fall of 2018, at the SW corner of US41 with West Villages Pkwy.  Its estimated opening is around Thanksgiving in 2019 and it will be a 105,000 square foot Publix -anchored shopping center, offering a complementary mix of services of local, and national service providers and restaurants. It is just the precursor of what Mattamy envisions for the Town Center, at the same intersection, now in the design phase, which will combine retail, dining and entertainment with public spaces, high density dwellings and waterfront activities. Town Center development is several years away, while Mattamy is engaging Army Corps of Engineers for permitting to create a 60 acre lake.  The road infrastructure now under construction includes Preto and Playmore Roads. West Villages Parkway will extend south of the Braves stadium. Playmore Road, which runs east-west, will connect with West Villages Parkway at the ballpark intersection. Preto Rd. will connect the Town Center to Playmore Rd. and down south to the Manasota Beach Road.

      On December 1, 2018, the new dog park, named Blue Heron Park, and located on the River Road side, north of US 41, is planned to open for business.

     With increased development, the traffic challenge on the North River Road will become more stressful.  In May 2018, county commissioners reached agreement with the state to take over two state roads in North County, and in return, the state agreed to take over River Road, from U.S. 41 to Interstate 75. As part of the agreement, the state and county agreed to provide $7 million, split evenly, to update existing plans regarding the road.  The final plans are still pending, but the first construction phase would start in 2021, from U.S. 41 to just north of West Villages Parkway and this segment will be county’s responsibility. Starting in 2024, the state will complete the road improvements to the intersection with I-75.

      As the WVID part in unincorporated Sarasota County area is just in the infancy of planning, when fully developed, the West Villages, will potentially include about 25 000 living units, with around 50,000 inhabitants.  This will take more than two decades of development, but major WVID inroads are made…