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Old 07-06-2019, 06:56 AM
OrangeBlossomBaby OrangeBlossomBaby is offline
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Nitpicking on a word. Fine then. There is nothing from stopping the CDD from voting to implement extra charges and fees for amenities. The country clubs have their own version of VIP "status" for value-added amenities. All they need to do is decide a) is it legal under the local, state, and federal jurisdiction? b) is it possible? c) can they get a majority vote from the board members/officers? If the answer to all 3 is yes, then they can do it.

They supposedly work in the interests of what's best for the Villages from a governmental perspective (rather than who owns the trademark of the name) but if THEY are the legal representation of the Villages from a governmental perspective, then yes they absolutely can make those changes to government policy, since they ARE the government of the community. They can change the deed restrictions on a going-forward basis, they can even tell everyone currently living here, that everyone who moves in after tomorrow afternoon, will be given a free pink plastic flamingo to put on their front lawn, and are allowed to put up privacy fencing anywhere they like so long as it doesn't violate county zoning ordinances. They can change the restrictions to allow people to paint their house any color they want, they can put out crosses, rebel flags, fairy statues and halloween decorations all year round, lift pick-up trucks on cinder blocks in their own driveway, and they can add to the lawn maintenance rule an extra clause that requires you to keep and maintain a vegetable garden in your front yard. They can even change the entire district to be energy-efficient and order all new construction to have solar panels, and anyone wanting to replace the roof on their existing home required to add solar panels.

They can do all these things, as long as they are within the actual law (not merely a covenant of a housing development).

They CAN do these things, and the more it gets done within the Villages by the Developer, the more precedence they have to prove their right and reason if the time comes for them to make such a decision. That doesn't mean they will, but don't think for a moment that they can't. What do you think will happen when the NEXT generation of Morses decide they don't want to be "the Developer" anymore, and go into some other business entirely? What happens if the people who become the next batch of CDD officers decide they want to make the Villages look more natural and less planned? What if they simply don't actually care about the Villages and just want to make enough money to skip out and move to the Keys?

They CAN do all these things. The Villages is, for all intents and purposes, owned and managed by benevolent dictators. We choose to accept this when we move in. Don't think for a moment that they "can't" decide to stop being benevolent, or that their replacements upon retirement "can't" be less than benevolent. They certainly can.