Morse Island Revetment Project
 

This information came from The District:

"As you know, the Project Wide Advisory Committee and Sumter Landing Community Development District approved the contract for the Morse Island Revetment Project.

This project involves clearing the shoreline area of all vegetation and trees, installing a mesh fabric with a rock layer and then installing rip-rap around the entire shoreline. The project also requires restoration of landscaping, trees, irrigation and any Golf Cart paths. The main staging area for this project is Sunset Park, which will be closed for the duration of this project.

The contractor mobilized today (29 Jan), and will primarily start at the rock quarry in the Southern area of The Villages to prepare, size, sort and stage the rip-rap material before starting site clearing at Sunset Park. Once the contractor mobilizes at Sunset Park (Mid-February), there will be impacts to both Golf Cart Path and Morse Boulevard Traffic.

Flaggers will be in place to direct traffic and/or close traffic lanes in the work zone, in particular when construction vehicles are commuting the bridge and island area. Construction is scheduled to take up to 240 calendar days (September 2024). Work hours will be 7AM to 7PM from Monday to Friday. Again, lane closures on the bridge will likely begin starting in early to mid-February. Flaggers will be onsite and visible to coordinate golf, pedestrian and vehicular traffic through the work zone for the duration of this project.

We appreciate your patience as we work with the contractor to ensure this project is completed in a safe and timely manner. Thank you in advance for your understanding. If you have any questions, please call District Property Management at 352-753-4022."

Hope they can get enough rip rap material.

The developer is donating it from the stone they gather in clearing the new areas.

More like the Developer has rock to get rid of and found someone to remove the excess for him.

Stone/rock has minimal value, the cost of stone/rock is in sorting, processing and transportation.

As usual, the Developer has come with a self-serving plan and it looks suspiciously like the District circumvented procurement standards, by "accepting a donation" of materials (without the normal public process) and then forcing the project Contractor to process, sort and transport those materials as part of his bid. Clever.

(Yes, I read the entire 60 page Bidding Documents. It is REQUIRED that the Contractor use the "free rock" that was "donated" by the Developer, regardless of the Contractor's potential to obtain the specified material at a lower cost. The bid also leaves open the question, if the donated rock/stone is suitable and can be processed to meet FDOT standards.)

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

How much is the Developer valuing this donated rock, for their tax deduction?

The value of the rock is a public issue, when the CDC accepts a "donation" and then requires a Contractor to sort, process, transport and use that rock.

Some "rock" has a negative value.

Then again, this could have been an completely selfless and magnanimous donation by the Developer.

Is it? Is it really? Wouldn't "the contractor" have to do that anyway if he bought the rock, or pay more for rock that was already sorted, transported and transported????

Then again, I am not an expert on tax law.

Not necessarily.

The best analogy I can think of, it's like the folks you see advertising "free palm trees" ... come take it out of ground, do it neatly, refill the hole and re-seed my lawn".

Does it work for both parties? Sometimes, I suppose it does.

In the case of the free stone, the Contractor has to move it 25 miles. That's a lot of transportation.

& not to put too fine a point on it, but the Developer is not known for his largesse.

I agree. But the question at hand is: If the person who "donates" the free palm tree claims it as a deduction on their tax return, is the "public" entitled to know for how much, or is it between the donor and the IRS?

Ya mean like the brand spanking new, top of the line, massive new schools?

Where the heck is Morse Island?

Probably 99% of residents and thousands of employed workers might disagree with your negative "point".

I agree but would like to add that most of the other 1% are newly arrived residents that are experts on the Villages. :rolleyes:

sunset park

Under the "John E. Parker Bridge" :ohdear:

Write-off
 

Hey, it’s a solid business decision. I wouldn’t go as far as to use a hyperbole like”donated”. Some pro Developer politicians have to spoon it on thick though. I sold 100 acres after I logged it too. It was just good business sense. I’m sure no benevolent innuendo was intended.

What’s wrong about the new school? Asking for a friend.

I think you missed the tongue-in-cheek comment, BS

I guess I did, again.

I don't think tax implications are anyone's business, but the IRS and the filer. As far as I'm concerned, the Tax Code is such a quagmire of nonsense, if someone can navigate around it to their benefit, good for them.

Absolutely a solid business decision by the Developer.

The hyperbole of "donated" was used by one of the Developer's insiders and most ardent supporters.

Sorry, poor contextual clues. The person to whom I was responding seemed to indicate that The Developer had no "largesse" and I disagreed. While The Developer certainly has a horse in the race and hopes to make a winning choice, their building the new schools without taxpayer burden is certainly both a business move and generous "largesse." They could have otherwise built commercial space for pure profit, but they opted for less monetary return in order to provide more needed (and hopefully attractive to new home buyers) infrastructure in the way of schools - usually a government pursuit. Why usually a government pursuit usually? Because they do not have much of an ROI. While The Developer is indeed doing this for long term strength and sustainability, it will not produce much cash flow, especially in the short term.

Thanks, for correcting my misunderstanding.:smiley:

I still remember The Villages advertisements and infomercials back in the '80s. There was no direct ROI from those but there was the hope that it would sell more homes.

If all the new school did was to sell more homes then it would have some ROI but that is not all it does. In addition to selling homes it attracts employees who would like to have their children eligible for the school, and better still if the employee also buys a home in Middleton. Plus, there is a direct ROI with the lease money collected from Sumter County each year.

The new school *may* not be as profitable as retail (I don't know) but it probably will not result in a loss.

The Developer has not been in business this long by doing things that lose money. Whether it is finding a less expensive means of discarding waste or building a school to attract employees and homeowners, there is usually a good business reason for the things he does. There is nothing at all wrong with that, it has worked well for him for many years now. Just because he is making money doesn't mean it is not good for the community. Likewise, just because something is good for the community doesn't mean there is no money to be made. There seems to still be a pretty good balance at the moment.

I find it rather funny that those who do not spend their time complaining are accused of being 'Kool-Aide Drinkers', 'Developer Minions', and 'Stepford Wives'. I am very happy living here in The Villages. To suggest that I believe that I live in a utopia is laughable.

I like Kool-Aide, cherry please. And I believe that this is as close to Utopia as I'm going to get in what time I have left. Sometimes I like to complain or argue just for the mental stimulation. But TV is filled with wonderful people, some of whom I agree with and some I don't. Friend to all, even those who sometimes frustrate me. Yep! As close to Utopia as I'm going to get!

Sorry, now I'm confused----which is it, public or private?????

Well said.