The Villages Construction Update 2-9-2021
 

Here’s another construction update for The Villages area. This was shot over the weekend. It shows the progress at the new Starbuck, Magnolia Plaza, both sides of the Water Lily bridge, the areas north of DeLuna and west of the Red Fox and Grey Fox golf courses, the St. Catherine and Hawkins areas, and the Southern Oaks golf course.

The Villages Construction Update 2-9-21 - YouTube

Thanks Don.

Those multi story plywood apartments look like fire traps.

Thanks to your videos I'm actually starting to get to know my way around. Thanks for your continued dedication in getting these videos out.

Great video, Don. I might have missed this before but, why did they not build dedicated/separated cart paths when building the Warm Springs Bridge over the Turnpike?

:ohdear:

Do you know where the water used to fill the new ponds comes from?

Same construction as the Lofts at Brownwood. The only things masonry are elevator shafts and stairwells

Informative and entertaining
 

Well done. Another great update. Thank you.

Storm drains.

Thank you sir for another excellent video.
Although I live in The Villages, I just sometimes
become very lazy to step outside my house and view
for myself the unbelievable growth occurring in
The Villages. :bigbow:

I enjoy looking at your videos.

I enjoy them more when they are free of politics.

Pointing out facts are not politics. Is he lying?

These videos are about the growth of The Villages and the businesses in the surrounding areas, the road impact fee was a significant impact on this growth process. It's important for everyone to realize that the 3 Stooges goal of "screw the developer" will affect all of us. The amount I show in the video are to give everyone an idea of what this impact is. Take for example the carwash, if they have to recover these higher costs it will mean higher prices for every carwash.

Remember, businesses don't pay taxes, they merely collect them and pass them on to the government that levies the taxes, it is a very inefficient process. In the end it is the consumer that pays all taxes and loses.

These videos are so informative, takes out much of the rumor mill gossip. The impact fee highlights are an eye opener and scary! Impressive video on every level, thank you.

Only if demand is inelastic does the consumer absorb all costs. That is basic macroeconomics.

Interesting video but it reinforces the need for higher impact fees to offset all the infrastructure costs. The commissioners goal is to rescind the 25% property tax increase the puppets passed as a sweetheart deal for the developer. You might not want to acknowledge that but the overwhelming majority of voters did.

wondering what is travel time by cart between ezell rec center and brownwood square ?

:clap2:

If not via impact fees, how do you propose the county should raise funds to pay for offsite road improvements that are needed to support the additional traffic generated by businesses?

And now the residents expect the newly elected commissioners to be THEIR puppets. Quite an outcry when they did not immediately do what everyone wanted them to. Turns out, maybe the former commissioners were not so wrong. The near future will be interesting to watch.

"Three stooges". :1rotfl:

Maybe they forgot about fire codes when they started building them. :1rotfl:

And maybe reclaimed water

My question is where does the huge volume of water used to fill NEW lakes come from?

New lakes fill almost over night the water is being transferred from someplace.

The lakes are interconnected by sections. I doubt there is a connection under the Turnpike but could be wrong.

The building of the second span over the Turnpike for CR468 (Warm Springs Ave) was in the planning for many years to support a new turnpike exit. I move to Fl in 2006 to work a project on the Turnpike for my company and we were discussing the exit regularly at project meetings with the Florida Turnpike Enterprise. At the time of planning and construction there was no requirement for a golf cart crossing at this location since expansion plans by The Villages were kept very very quiet. The "they" to build the cart path lanes would have been the FTE/FDOT and the state, without a need or mandate there was no reason to consider these lane(s).

In theory there is room for a cart path on the north span (my video on this My Connectivity Theory 3-9-20 - YouTube) but it's unlikely now that it will ever occur. Perhaps when the south span is replaced/renovated in the future additional capacity for a cart path could be added but the cost for this would have to be paid for from either county or private (developer/CDD) funds, so it is also unlikely to happen.

Water is being moved from other retention ponds in the Bradford/Hawkins/Chitty Chatty/StC area by the storm water management system that exists as well as drainage from the areas under construction. The demand for the reclaimed water is still relatively low in this area so it is a viable source. The other retention pond levels will drop for a while but recover naturally over a short period of time.

No, there is no connection to the south side of the Turnpike or to the systems north of SR44.

water
 

Must be coming from the Summerhill ponds which are WAY down.

I am neither agreeing or disagreeing as to the opinions.

It is your effort alone and the videos are very well done. This is the first I've seen that spoke to anything except the actual building and growth. I look forward to more of that type.

You haven't been listening...............he has a brain and an opinion and shares both all the time.

I have been listening and, of course, everyone is entitled to opinions. I share mine quite often.

This is the first time I have seen political opinion within the "new construction" videos.

Not political opinion, just facts on how it all works. Have you ever lived anywhere where business's didn't pass their costs to the consumer? Have you ever lived anywhere where a business chose not to locate because the cost took their business plan to the negative and they didn't come in. If Lake and Marion can provide a better economic climate than Sumter, business will go there and still have the benefit of the residents in Sumter without the expense. Then we will see how the triad reacts to that when they need the revenue.

Very good point.

Florida Impact Fee law requires developers to pay a fair share of infrastructure costs. The study which the commissioners paid $69,000 for set the fee at $2,430. But the puppet commissioners ignored the study and gave the developer a sweetheart deal of only $972 which required residents to pay the rest. Thus the 25% property tax increase. The puppet commissioners were overwhelmingly defeated in the last election.

Now the developer and his minions are trying to scare residents that construction will grind to a halt unless the sweetheart deal is retained, residents pickup the difference in higher property taxes and the developer pocket the extra profit.

This was not a political opinion on my part other than to point out the deception of the county road assessment fee that has been the propaganda of the newly elected county commissioners to make it fit their agenda of hate and contempt for the developer of The Villages.

Let's be clear about the road impact fee, 100% of the impact fee is collected. The amount is determined by an impact fee study done by a 3rd party entity, Tindal Oliver of Tampa FL, for the county. In the impact fee study T-O identifies the not only the cost and financial impact of new construction projects on the road systems of Sumter County, but also the revenue source of revenue that is used to offset these costs. The 40% that everyone is focused on is the builder's share of these costs. T-O identifies the revenue sources that supply the remining 60% of the funding. Specifically, the majority of these funds, which are called "credits" in the report, come from state and local fees/taxes that area assessed.

In Sumter County, as in all other counties, there is the ability to tax fuel sales on a per gallon basis. The State of Florida assess 2 cents and another 8 cents are levied through other provisions that are allowed for impact fee recovery. The State returns the 2 cents + or - back to the county based on statewide determinations. The local fees collected are applied directly towards the impact costs. Again both of these are considered Credits in the report.

The fuel tax levies are a good thing for Sumter County because of 2 things - The Florida Turnpike and I-75. The Okahumpaka service plaza and the gas stations and trucks tops at the various I-75 exits provide the vast majority of the taxes collected. Translated more simply, the people passing through Sumter County pay the majority of these fees, not the residents.

Florida law requires that if the impact fees are collected through other means (i.e. raising the % charged to the builders) then any relief must be immediately provided to the other sources of revenue. So if the rate is raised on the builders, the gas tax charged must, by law, be reduced. It cannot be returned to the counties general funds or used for other uses.

The residents are not paying the impact fees out of the county general funds (property taxes), it is all coming from the impact fees directly charged builders and from the credits received. The developer is not making or saving a single dollar on the impact fees. Any fee charged the developer is included in the cost of the houses they sell. The developer does not receive any portion of the "credits" collected for the impact fee.

The purpose of the numbers in the video was to show the monetary impact the proposed 100% assessment would have on other construction project. The fee on a single family or retirement community home is relatively small. For retail establishments the impact is much greater. So many complain they want a Costco here in The Villages, what is the impact of the proposed 100% assessment to building a Costco, the current rate is $3,774 and the 100% rate is $9,436 - PER 1000 Square Feet. These building are typically 125,000 SqFt or larger, the difference is (9436-3774)x125=$707,750 or more to just open the doors. That cost is passed on to the customers because again, business don't pay taxes, they collect them.

You can believe the propaganda of these newly elected commissioners or you can read the impact study for yourself as I have. Agenda - 01/05/2021

The only sweetheart deal being had is by all of the residents of Sumter County, and the relief they receive from these fees by those that transit through our county.

All of this information was made known to the county commissioners on January 5th, at least 2 either failed to grasp the facts or chose not to because it didn't fit their agenda and hyperbole.

The road impact fee had zero impact on the county property taxes and the increases we had 2 years ago.

I look at things from a business perspective and deal with the FACTS not the hype, hysteria, and half-truths that are being raised, and too many have come to believe as truth. What I put is my videos and post on-line is carefully researched for accuracy.

Again, I'm not offering an opinion on this because I'm not well informed on the matter.

However, LOL, this (and the data in the video) are most definitely political opinion. Just go ahead and own it.

Businesses get to write off EVERY SINGLE LITTLE EXPENSE that we homeowners never can!
 

Clueless.
If businesses don't write off expenses, your product costs go up.
:faint:

Yes developer has to get his fake message out through his puppets any way he can.

Not sure what you considering as a "write off", wages, utilities, vehicle expenses, etc. are not something that just goes away, it is calculated into the cost of doing business and the product sold.

I run a business and I have to calculate everything into the price I charge and can't just "write off" anything. I have to consider my equipment cost (drones, batteries, maintenance, and repairs), my fuel costs wear and tear for my truck, insurance cost, electricity for my home office to turn the computers I used for editing and charging the batteries. All these are calculated into the rates I charge, anything left over is considered profit that I have to pay taxes on. What's left after taxes is the fruits of my labor, my wages for all my work, based on the last year's numbers I'm making about $4/hr.

The nice thing about owning your own business is that you only have to work half days, the other 12 hours are yours to do with as you wish.

Prove your statement! What FACTS do you have to support such a statement. Back your statement up with proof that I am the developer's or anyone else's puppet.

You can't, you don't know me, don't know anything about me, have never met me, and yet you make such a statement.

You keep saying this, yet you provide no evidence in rebuttal. You are of the mindset that no matter what, the developer is evil.

Provide some legitimate data and maybe someone will take you seriously.

Not a Political Video. LOL
Alice in Wonderland Explanation Why 25% tax increase is good.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
Yours truly,
The puppet commissioners

Again.. Just more NOTHING. Show us some numbers. Show us where the funding comes from. Show us where the money goes. GoldWingnut has done all of those things and all you can do is spout Alice In Wonderland. You can hardly complete a sentence without using the terms "Puppets" or Sweetheart Deal".. Try expanding your vocabulary.