[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by sallybowron

You are correct, the infrastructure cannot handle all the new homes. Going up and down Morse Blvd is a nightmare at certain times of the day, because that is where most of the docs and the hospital are. They are starting to build some further down but it will take awhile. When we moved here in 2010 they told us the Villages would end at 466A and you see how that went.

Originally Posted by billethkid

In 2003/2004 TV population was around 30,000+.
Buena Vista was only open heading South to the circle where Arnold Palmer is (then, going to be!).

I wonder what our reactions then would have been if we saw information that TV was going to add 100,000 new residents.
Fast forward to today we can happily say it only got better. Our daily world and how we navigated in it did not change much at all as TV expanded RAPIDLY toward 466A......then onto to CR 44.....and now points south (and more).....

Yes there is more traffic in some places at times. One learns alternative times and routes.

And yes we would do it again today.

CDDs 9 & 10 were both established on September 28, 2004. Anyone shocked or surprised of growth down to SR44 was either uninformed, not paying attention, or didn't do their due diligence to find out what was happening around them. This didn't just happen overnight, it took years of planning.

Brownwood and Rohan Rec Center being built at the very southern edge of the know growth didn't bother to ask WHY? Why would you put a primary commercial property on the far edge away from most of the customers and not in a location surrounded by potential customers? Brownwood was planned in the late 90's, HS and GM were involved and knew exactly what they were doing.

Listen to the next 2 minutes of this video on the Making of Brownwood with Tracy Mathews and Mike Pape. The Building of Brownwood - Exciting Construction Plans - YouTube

This long term planning reflects decades of work and effort by HS, GM, and the entire development team. Did they know they would be developing the land south of SR44 like they are now? Of course they did, they knew exactly what they were doing long before most of us had even heard of The Villages.

If there was any surprises along the way, it was probably gaining control of the Wildwood Springs development that had most of the development planning and agreements in place. This allowed movement on development to happen quickly and probably ahead of schedule. As it turned out, it was an incredible success but it resulted in some problems they are now aggressively trying to address, connectivity. Wildwood Springs is a development that most have not heard of, but everyone knows the new monikers it took on, the Village of Fenney and the Village of DeSoto. The rest is pretty much history and some current events.

Has The Villages changed and does the current generation have different vision of the future, absolutely! Travel to the areas south of SR44 and you see a different kind of Villages, one more environmentally friendly, one more focused on being active, with more green spaces and preservation of the natural resources that were present before the first shovel of dirt was ever moved moved. A strong vision of environmental stewardship now exists. Nowhere else in The Villages is there this large an effort to maintain the environment and beauty of the land, simply look at a map of all the areas and you will see a profound difference, for the better.

The vocal few complain of "too big", "too crowded", "not in my back yard", "greedy", and "I want" with their digital courage from behind the keyboard. The typical, "I've got mine, now it's too big, they need to stop building" crowd. I say the "vocal few" because the vast majority of us our too busy out having fun, enjoying our retirements, and living to be sitting on the couch complaining on social media, I raise my glass to this silent majority! As for me now, the winds are a little too high to fly this afternoon, so I'm off to the golf course...