Deed Compliance Fines For Violations

[Bryan]

Today's issue of The Villages Daily Sun (Sat, 7-10-2010), on Page C4, has an article about the Village Community Development Districts (VCDD's) issuing fines for the first time ever for violations of the Deed Compliance Restrictions here in TV. The paper says they issued "guilty" findings in the first round of cases, most for lack of lawn maintenance.

First, good for them! Way past time for some definitive action to be taken.

Second, what is the process? "Guilty" implies some sort of court-like hearing where the accused has a chance to confront their accusers, defend themselves, etc. I would like to know what that process is, where, when, etc., and are they open to the public?

Third, how enforceable are these fines? You can't just declare someone guilty of something and take their money - that usually involves courts and something called a "judgment" in civil cases, or "jail" in criminal cases. How do the CDD's collect these "fines" or can they even collect them?

Fourth, how do I, or anyone else, find out who has been fined, how much, and other details of the cases? CDD's are a form of government and we have lots of "open government" laws here in beautiful Florida so where is that info? Inquiring minds want to know.

Overall, I think it is a good move. We should start enforcing our own rules and make the "miscreants" pay for all the trouble and aggravation they cause. BUT...it is just a process that is very subject to abuse if not monitored carefully so I want to know all I can about the entire process, especially who is watching the watchers.

Is Community Watch involved at all in issuing the "tickets"? If so, that may be their first baby step towards becoming a real enforcement agency for TV instead of a friendly drive-by, hand-wave agency.

[villages07]

Bryan,

Actually, all the answers to your questions are on the CDD website.

Community Standards:

http://www.districtgov.org/departments/Community-Standards/community-standards.aspx

(you may have to copy/paste the link since TOTV can't link there directly).

Describes the process and fines. This only applies to CDDs north of 466 and in Lake County.

There was a detailed article not too long ago about the process... 1st notice, 2nd notice, etc. I also recall reading about a recent legal process whereby ability to levy fines was empowered.

You can look at the agenda for CDD meetings and it shows the agenda items where each 'case' is reviewed for action. I checked out CDD4 agenda for July 9th and it listed the individuals/locations being cited.

http://www.districtgov.org/yourdistrict/meetings.aspx?district=4

I have to credit the CDD/government with substantial improvements to their websites over the last couple of years. There is a tremendous amount of information available. It doesn't seem to me that anything is being hidden...you may have to go look for it, but, it is there.

[mulligan]

It's probably the same as a HOA, where the board has the right (and duty) to issue fines, which can become liens on the property if not paid in a timely manner. There is some legal recourse, but a loss in that battle can be expensive. Take a look at the "CYBER CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE" website for a bunch of related news articles.

[zcaveman]

Todays Recreation News section of the Daily Sun has an article on how deed compliance is administrated. Its posted on districtgov.org under the recreation department.

Here is the link.

http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/app/files/recnews.pdf

This was posted last Friday about the article.

[The Shadow]

December 21, 2009
Lady Lake to allow Villages board to enforce deed restrictions
District will now decide when your grass is too long
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-villages-deed-restrictions-20091222,0,5851154.story

[zcaveman]

I had posted this back in March of this year for another post of deed restrictions:


http://www.districtgov.org/departments/Community-Standards/community-standards.aspx

[lefty]

I guess it depends on who you are to get a ticket. There has been a car parked wilth 2 flat tires over a week at the Alhambra Postal Station. There a a couple of notes on the car but it hasn't moved. I did talk to a neighborhood watch supervisor and was told that he passed the channel to his boss, but that car remains . Seems that someone could get an identity on the owner( or maybe they did) and get is out of the area.:(