Future Wildwood
 

I love that little agricultural town ripped to shreds by major highways. and that ugly industrial stuff and Amtrak, and us.
Really, 301 isn't small and zoom, there goes I-75 and the turnpike.
thoughts? commercial ideas? preservation notions?
I wish I knew what folks there think, hafta find out.

about 1993 my husband and i took a wrong turn looking for inverness and ended up in wildwood...it was such a cute little town then, charming. we eventually bought a home in inverness and my husband would be happy that i am now living near wildwood! i hope the income into sumter county from our taxes will prove beneficial to restore the town a bit.

hello cha! happy to see you.

Hi Kitty,

Like you, I grew up in Florida. From age 12, my family have lived here. From Lakeland, Miami, Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Chipley, Cottondale, Orlando-

To name a few. I adore Florida and in the 12 yrs I spent in the US Navy- I Always requested to be stationed here.

Now to respond about Wildwood. I remember so many times on my way to Lake City to see Aunt Mary- we would get off the Turnpike and get on I-75. That was the ONLY reason coming to Wildwood.

I live here now (since 1999) and I have not seen Wildwood change much. In fact, truth be told, it is not moving forward. Yes, a few new restaurants here and there BUT-

Hubby and I have always had ideas for Wildwood for years. One is to bring the Amtrak Auto-Train to Wildwood. Can you believe how many Village residents would use it?? Now it's in Sanford, I believe.

don't know, but let's meet soon, like next week, lunch and I'll buy and you give me a tour?. so happy to hear from you.
Kitty aka kittygilchrist@gmail.com

I would love to meet you. I forgot that I also lived in Jacksonville and Clearwater. I know, I know- crazy- right? Daddy was a hotel/ motel mgr.Sheraton, HoJo's, Day's Inn.

I have great story of The Ormond Hotel. I used to live there when I was 15. Daddy got a job there as the Mgr and we lived in a big room with a reefer. Room and board was included. Mom and Dad were 43 and my sis was 3 yrs old. She was a pain in the butt for the residents there cause she would RUN in front of them and almost trip people. It was considered an 'Old Folks Home' and we had to eat in the main dining room 3 x a day. mostly- creamed eggs on toast. YUCK.

I'll PM you Kitty. :)

I remember when Wildwood was a major train station. That was before Amtrak. I think it was the Baltimore and Ohio RR. Anyone remember?

No, I looked it up. It was the Seaboard Air Line RR and the train from up north to Tampa and St. Pete was the Silver Star. It was a mighty nice train.

Don't think this song had anything to do with the town although the Orange Blossom Special, the subject of another song, did pass through there. Wildwood Flower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_..._Special_(song)

In any case that town has a lot of history to it.

I would love to see Wildwood become an area of boutiques. It would be a great addition to this area. It is positioned to draw from both north and south and I can imagine stores with crafts, jewelry, FOOD - specialty items, art, decorating, beauty, clothes, home items, dog/cat services/stuff, etc. Who is the mayor there? Chamber of Commerce. Surely there is enough business and creative talent in TV that we could put together a strategic plan to attract change? It can only help the area and TV in general.

YES! I have visions too. Strategic plan is exactly right.
I'd love to hear more ideas from everybody..
Kitty

I would like to think with all the new people moving to south of 466 a and all the way to 44,that business will spring up and good things will happen to wildwood. I hope so.

When did Wildwood ever ask our opinion of them or ask for any help changing?

Wildwood/Sumter Co. Seminole History
 

Sumter County, FL - Official Website - History of Sumter County

First Wildwood City Hall, 1908
Don't I wish this building had been preserved..

I agree......in order to have successful change and community development, the people who live there need to want it and embrace it. You absolutely need their buy-in.

of course. unkh.

that was grunt by the way, possibly Cherokee in origin.

When we first came to the area to visit friends who had moved to TV, we came through Wildwood and there were small shops and craft stores. Being a tole painter at the time, I was truly interested to see this small little Florida town having something inviting since at the time we didn't realize TV would have all that it has now. The town leaders just have to have some input of ideas and clean up some of the rough places. I don't understand either why there is no train stop in Wildwood. If I remember, the Amtrak stops in Gainesville and then someplace south and you have to ride a bus back to Wildwood in order to get off here. A car train would certainly bring some interest IMHO.

goes without saying that local collaboration is everything. that's why it was not mentioned as it does go without saying.
I love the train. agree. I go over and watch it.

why make a post about wildwood? it will develop bc of TV, inevitably.
I grew up rural florida, where nothing ever happened, but tv happened to wildwood.
the op,who is me, was fishing to see who cares in TV besides me and who might have energy to work to help the community.

sorry if this was misunderstood as an effort to command local direction. backlash is understandable, but misplaced.

I bet Wildwood is not so backward that they don't already have an economic development plan.........

Economic Development Plan
 

Like this 2010 plan for the county you mean? only one I can find...
It appears from the language and references to TV that Sumter's economic plan welcomes tourism and new business.
Wildwood is said to be "aggressively expanding."
"The Villages has become Sumter County’s
prime public relations and economic engine...
.. the positive economic impact of The Villages impacts every Sumter resident and enterprise"
http://www.sumterbusiness.com/.html/...lan_122711.pdf...

I've been everywhere on the city website. I don't see anything for economic development planning, but maybe I'm missing it.

They probably didn't ever ask our opinion of what they should do to bring a vibrant economic recovery from the continued decline. But it isn't a stretch to see the area could use a face lift which would benefit those who live in the community. Most people are enthusiastic about bettering their environment and reaping the benefit of a thriving town. It would be nice to try to help the local communities with the considerable talent that is living next door.

Interesting.... I hadn't seen this before:

From Sumter County Economic Plan 2010

Industrial Parks
Sumter County has a limited number of industrial
parks across the county. Future plans involve Wildwood housing a 4 million sq. ft. industrial warehouse park development of regional impact
(DRI). The industrial park would be at the Morse Boulevard interchange along the Florida Turnpike.

hm, not sure why the above post reposted itself..

to kittygilchrist
I don't believe wildwood really needs your help maybe you can find something in TV that you could devote your time to and maybe your helpers could assist you. Your post tend to struss that wildwood is in bad need of help from the villages do you know wildwood was here a long time before the build up of the villages. And there were many shops that have left when the villages began to expand.
Please don't push an agenda where it is not wanted the libaray was located in town across from the school where the kids could use it now look where it is not very accessible for the kids.
There also was a craftt store, clothing, store, serveral restaurants, a gas station in the middle of town,jewelry store, an iga, and others. So most of the blame goes to the mayor who thinks the villages
Will handle everything. And for the trains several years ago the rail system was changed freight on the west and passenger on the east that includes auto train. Help TV wildwood is OK.

Several posters have said that Wildwood is fine and doesn't want any collaboration from TV. I'm curious if anyone from Wildwood is posting that? My impression from websites for Sumter county is that the governance is entirely grateful for revenue from The Villages and hired a TV located company to assist in developing an economic plan.

The Sumter co. economic dev plan of 2010 calls TV the economic engine of the county and is replete with language inviting collaborative efforts to promote tourism, health care, education and entrepreneurism.

I intend to learn to my own satisfaction what Wildwood officials think of "help" from TV in economic development. Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone in TV without Wildwood connections would presume to speak for them.

The following is not exactly on-point but is offered for information purposes.

Brownwood/Paddock Square is located within Wildwood city limits. Consequently, Wildwood derives revenue through fees, permits, licenses, taxes related to that enterprise.

I haven't researched what Wildwood's actual city limits are. I am, however, assuming that the commercial construction project at 466a and Powell and the residential construction parallel with Powell Road and along the north side of 44 might also fall within Wildwood city limits. Again, more revenue generation.

The city could use that revenue for a variety of purposes, including community development and economic development initiatives and creative public-private partnerships. That type of activity could attract a variety of investors and developers.

Thank you..helpful and informative post, I had been trying to figure out "where's Wildwood".
This is where Wildwood is. I am not making this up...
http://www.wildwood-fl.gov/vertical/..._Map_11x17.pdf

That map (Thanks for posting!) shows that the City of Wildwood is fairly geographically large and rather disjointed.

Who knew?!

I don't know if this will work. It is a link to a Wildwood P&Z (planning and zoning) Agenda that includes a basic boundary map at the end.

http://www.wildwood-fl.gov/vertical/...EA77FF4%7D.PDF

it works, great document as well. best yet. Worthy of note is that the Planning and Zoning Board was given Special Magistrate to act as Local Planning Agent.
I think that means they did not have a planning agency, and none is listed currently on the city website that I find.

I think that is precisely the point. TV development with its extensive resources, economic capital as well as human capital, is in many cases the reason Wildwood has lost so many of its little stores like the craft store, clothing, restaurants, jewelry etc. TV took the business. Wildwood couldn't compete.

If Wildwood wants to continue with the town the way it is, that's fine. But I have yet to meet anyone in Wildwood or who works in Wildwood that thinks it has a future on its current track. I have spoken to people in five or six establishments there, a couple people who live nearby, none of whom
show the least excitement about the future of Wildwood to put it mildly.

Every time I go down 301, I look at what could be a really charming area. There are small inklings with Cotillion, Decades, a Butcher shop, etc. But most of the businesses are not thriving. Most are hanging on. Wouldn't it be nice for the people who live in Wildwood to feel proud that their town is successful as
is TV instead of watching it slowly decay because TV sucks all the business their way? They need to become a destination not the road to get to the Turnpike.

Having said this, I will be signing off from this thread because it has become
contentious and there is no point. Those that want to help will find a way to do so and those view the spirit of volunteering to help their neighbor a bad idea don't need to do anything.

Do you think that golf cart accessibility would help in revitalizing Wildwood?

This may be of interest.
http://www.wildwood-fl.gov/vertical/...ch_11_2013.pdf
and

http://wildwood-fl.gov/vertical/Site...10-2011%29.pdf

You may reach the Wildwood Development Services Department at 352.330.1330 ext. 118

Or contact one of the Wildwood Citizens Advisory Task Force members. You can get their contact number by calling the above number:
Gwen Lewis-Brown
Cynthia Brunette
Kenneth Chase

My suggestion would be to join the Wildwood Area Historical Association, attend their meetings and educate yourself. Their mission statement is: The WAHA is a group of volunteers from Wildwood and surrounding areas, interested in the history and future of our community. We are funded through our membership fees and fundraisers. Anyone can be a member. Yearly membership dues are $10.00 for an individual and $100 for a business. Please JOIN US in our mission to preserve the priceless history of our town & outlying areas. We will be accepting donations of historical artifacts & documents, as well as written or recorded testimonies & memories of long time area residents. Membership will be an option, as well as opportunities for service & fun.

http://www.wildwood-fl.gov/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={75A7B449-93F9-454E-97D9-CB69D532EA94}

Yes

Do you mean golf cart accessibility?

When I first visited The Villages on a Lifestyle Visit in 2006, I got off the Turnpike and drove through Wildwood on 301 to 466. I had never been to The Villages before and never had imagined that such a dilapidated town such as Wildwood would be so close.

Those posters who believe that Wildwood is a charming rural community should go there and volunteer with the Wildwood Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry. It is an eye-opener to see all this poverty within a few miles of our beautiful community. They are always in need of volunteers.

I like to go walking either at night here in The Villages or early in the morning. No way I would consider that in Wildwood in the dark.

I saw a posting on this forum about a new bakery that is going to open in Wildwood and the excitement posted about the need for a good bakery. I am a realist. Unfortunately, most restaurants and bakeries close within a year of opening. If you really are excited about this new bakery, make it a success by going to it a few times a week and buying more than a bagel or a couple of cinnamon rolls. Businesses need a lot of repeat customers buying good quantities in order to survive when there are easier ways such as going to Winn-Dixie or Publix.

BK, I love you. :kiss: