brownwood ,tear down windmill and water tower
 

its going to cost us .... $225k to tear down and replace the water tower and windmill in brownwood. the wood is all rotten. just tear it down . somebodys brother inlaw is making a lot of money.

And why do The Villagers need to pay for it?

#1- if homeowners were to pay for it, it would cost like $1 each.

$2 - i am pretty sure the developer owns the squares, not amenity authorities.

Oh we're going to pay!
“ The Project Wide Advisory Committee will be asked to consider an emergency budget resolution to fund the demolition and restoration of the windmill and the water tower, which have no useful function and are purely decorative.


The windmill and water tower at Brownwood Paddock Square will have to be torn down and rebuilt at a cost of $225,000.
The amount of the demolition and restoration of the windmill and water tower is estimated at $225,000. The money would come from maintenance assessment fees paid by residents of The Villages living south of County Road 466.”

Dreamer...............$225k sounds like a lot in your life, but it is costing you nothing extra.

Breath and enjoy the wonderful square.

If $225K is the actual cost to replace both structures, it sounds like a bargain to me. Decoration at a square is a useful function. What's the big deal?

If you read the article, linked in the original, about the $63K to rebuild the entrance, when the PWAC objected to paying for a structure in Brownwood Square they were informed that the PWAC "owned" the maintenance of it.

Not sure if that applies to everything in the square or only the non-commercial structures. I cynically suspect that the PWAC "owns" the expenses and the BCDD "owns" the income.

$225K extra on top of $700K extra for the new trail on top of whatever is being paid to repair the sinkholes both north and south of 44... I may be getting some of my funding mixed but the point is, a couple hundred thousand here and a few hundred thousand there and it begins to add up.

maybe we should extend happy hour , take the profits for the tower and windmill. then everyones happy.:MOJE_whot::MOJE_whot::MOJE_whot:

I worked in Federal construction. Looking at the photos of those two structures, I'm thinking millions, not thousands. LOL.

Oh, I misunderstood your point. That would make sense. The trail ballooned to five times the original estimate, why not this too?

For someone who lived through the Big Dig in Boston, things do add up.

Of course if they just take them down the next post will be, look what else the Morse family took away from us, I can see the end of Brownwood coming…

$225,000 is not much in this day and age and things need to be maintained or replaced as needed.

The Developer is under such financial distress maybe we should all pitch in to help.

Yep, just like the walking trail. 225 will turn into 850……

So who actually does own the squares? If the developer why are they not responsible for maintenance?

The Villages did not use treated wood and then did not periodically spray the structures with preservative. The structures helped them sell homes so they should be willing to pay at least half the cost. Also, phone companies and companies that build and then lease antennas should be asked if they would like to build an antenna disguised as a windmill or water tower.

It hard to believe that no one realized an outdoor structure built with non pressure treated lumber wouldn’t last more than a few years in the Florida heat and humidity? Whoever designed the original structure should be fired for total incompetence.

High tower apt for sale
 

i agree. They can keep the tower but install an apartment within it a la the spanish springs economic model.

I have a piece of treated 2 x 4 in my garage can we donate it to the rebuilding campaign?

Personally I think you should add a toll booth at the entrance and let all the easy pass SunPass people pay

Are you kidding me? They are the ones making the money . We are the retired ones living on a fixed income. They use a shoddy company to lay in the piping under the roads in the villas and we have to pay for it. They are making money from the businesses in the squares- not only from the rents but additional money from a percentage of what they sell and we have to pay for the upkeep. They keep trying to taking parking spaces from the squares for their rental apartments and who loses out - the people who visit the squares to keep the businesses running because during snowbird season there is no parking. Movie Theaters disappeared during COVID because people couldn’t go and movies weren’t being made so they closed 2 of them! Their plan - to make more apartments and lose more parking on the squares. Mark my words - their plan is to close the squares so they don’t have to pay for the entertainment. They already refused to renew the contract with the police so there will be no police presence in the squares- another thing we are losing. They don’t care about the people - all they care about is lining their pockets with the green stuff

always more than the original estimate and always longer than what is first stated

Tear them down & put in more seating

How about any seating.

They don’t pay for the entertainment the merchants in the square does.

Both are owned by the Brownwood CDD (a unit of local government not a private entity - aka the developer) and are included in Exhibit A of the Project Wide Agreement as are most of the public/entertainment areas in both LSL and BW. So, under the terms of the Project Wide Agreement the maintenance will fall to the Project Wide Fund. They are no different than many other structures and facilities in the community owned by all the CDDs that fall under the agreement, the key difference in my mind is that these are purely ornamental and have no functional need or requirement.

Knowing well the current PWF budget and having seen the proposed budget that is still being worked for next fiscal year I'm still on the fence with this "emergency?" budget item. How did they get in this condition so fast? Why are we only just now seeing the problem? How does a real windmill last decades on a farm but just 10 years in the town square? What will be lost if both are just raised and not rebuilt? How many residents have ever noticed they even existed? What are the legal responsibilities for the Project Wide Agreement to keep/replace the feature? These and many more unanswered questions need to be answered.

that makes far too much sense..... rethink that LOL.

How did they get in this condition so fast? Poor expectations, design, build, cheap materials.
Why are we only just now seeing the problem? Come on you've watched the federal government haven't you? same thing.
How does a real windmill last decades on a farm but just 10 years in the town square? Better everything, and not cheap.
What will be lost if both are just raised and not rebuilt? Absolutely nothing at all
How many residents have ever noticed they even existed? not until now, actually the entire outside decor while I understand goes with the theme, is actually somewhat ugly and over the top.

Monthly amen. fees will go up. Residents are also responsible for all these
bridges.

heard they used brown wood

Brownwood Teardown
 

We have a multimillion dollar woodshop. Let's have those guys do all the work

Wow, just Wow! Enjoy your retirement. Go do something useful with your time. Thankfully they caught it before someone got hurt. Not many things have a ten year warranty. Repairing stuff around here is the reason it’s still beautiful after all these years.

They're concentrating on phasing out Spanish Springs now. I don't see Brownwood going anywhere anytime soon.

Top gun
 

we need some global hawk and predators to buzz that tower so we can see what's going on.

It’s a reasonable price for a landmark feature. Lighten up.

You can build a three bedroom house for $225,000.00, how can a windmill and water tower base cost that much?

Well, since this is the adult Disneyland... Tear it down, put in a Tower of Doom ride. Sell tickets. Problem solved.

I encourage all the chronic complainers to sell their "shoddily built" homes immediately. Since people want to move here you will make a huge profit (that evil thing the developer seeks).

Risk all your money, start your own village, and be happy. You are obviously much smarter than the developer. But you might find people will bitch and complain about your every move.

(Sorry for being so salty... I've been sick for a week)

Not really.

Don, thanks for your knowledgeable, and non-snarky, answer. However, I'm still confused. What part of the square does the developer own and maintain, and what part do we as Villagers own and maintain? (And who reaps any profit derived?) Since every inch of the squares is available to non- Villagers, why are residents (through their amenity fees) required to pay for maintenance of this property?