[justjim]

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

The Villages was going to develop the Trailwinds parcel with lots of new houses, a rec center, and an executive golf course. The plans were near completion after many meetings with Wildwood officials. At the last minute the City of Wildwood took over the project saying they wanted more commercial uses and greater density of the residential portions and no age restrictions on new home buyers in the new community. There is only one small area on the far west side of the large parcel, 7 acres as I recall, that is devoted as a small city park.

At the time another reason may have been the expectation of the elected and appointed Wildwood officials that they would be out of their jobs once all the new residents in the Wildwood portion of The Villages moved in and registered to vote.

So when the Wildwood city fathers pulled the rug so abruptly from under The Villages’ development plans, the reaction by Developer was predictable. They were not going to permit access directly from The Villages so residents could drive into Trailwinds in their golf carts to shop at businesses which would be in competition with businesses which were tenants in all the surrounding shopping centers which they own.

Similarly, why would the Developer extend the benefits of golf cart access to and through The Villages to buyers of homes in the Trailwinds complex that would be sold in competition with their own new and preowned homes sold by their own real estate sales subsidiary?

The reaction by the Developer was predictable and from a business standpoint point not unreasonable.

You are spot on...

[Mleeja]

Originally Posted by DaleDivine

NUPE, haven't seen one in there.

Maybe I just thought the building by the third tee on Palmetto would be a great place to put a Starbucks. Grab a latte while waiting on the tee!

[rogerk]

Originally Posted by Oregon-Flyer

That's too bad. That also means the new Starbucks won't be accessible either.

I can't help but think there will be a solution to this.

The development includes apartment homes. If you really want the residents to have golf cart access to our community, roads run in both directions, I suggest you contact the developer of the shopping center about building a tunnel or a bridge.

[Ben Franklin]

Originally Posted by ken.yotz

There are two apparent issues here:
1. The Villages gets no rental revenue from businesses in the Trailwinds, so why would they want to provide access to them?
2. The speed limit on 466A is 45 mph, so one mistake and we have a splattered Villager if we allow access at the traffic light.

What would be the difference between a cart and a bike? Is a bicycle allowed to cross at that intersection?

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Ben Franklin

What would be the difference between a cart and a bike? Is a bicycle allowed to cross at that intersection?

Florida Law makes a difference.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by Oregon-Flyer

That's too bad. That also means the new Starbucks won't be accessible either.

I can't help but think there will be a solution to this.

I doubt it. Those of us north of 27/441 would love to be able to cross 27/441. CVS is about a quarter mile from my house but it's a two mile golf cart ride. Residents of Stonecrest are allowed to cross 27/441 at the lights but we're not.

We'd also love to have golf cart access to Home Depot. Sam's Club, Texas Roadhouse, Best Buy, Kohls, Bed Bath and Beyond.

I've looked into this before and was told that there was no way it was ever going to happen. It seems that there should be a pretty simple, safe and low cost way to make these things happen but I was told that the developer would never allow it.

[Ben Franklin]

"Similarly, why would the Developer extend the benefits of golf cart access to and through The Villages to buyers of homes in the Trailwinds complex that would be sold in competition with their own new and preowned homes sold by their own real estate sales subsidiary?"

Looks like their plan didn't work. We still take cars to shop there. Making it golf cart accessible, even if just at the intersection of Pinellas & 466, would probably reduce car traffic on the roads.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Ben Franklin

"Similarly, why would the Developer extend the benefits of golf cart access to and through The Villages to buyers of homes in the Trailwinds complex that would be sold in competition with their own new and preowned homes sold by their own real estate sales subsidiary?"

Looks like their plan didn't work. We still take cars to shop there. Making it golf cart accessible, even if just at the intersection of Pinellas & 466, would probably reduce car traffic on the roads.

Can assume reduced by at least one.

[Goldwingnut]

Let's be clear on one point, this would not be a decision made at by the developer. This decision would have to be made by the CDDs and more specifically the PWAC. All of the property involved is either CDD or Amenity property.

This has been discussed several times at PWAC meetings, not many people realize this because few get involved with the local government except to complain about something (a tree blocking their view, dog poop - I don't want to get into that topic, etc.). In the PWAC discussions the topic was fully vetted and some of the takeaways were:

The path would be 2-way and impossible to control, therefore non-residents could/would have much easier access.

Where to put it, either through one of the bordering neighborhoods and have to deal with resident complaints about the traffic that they didn't buy into when they bought thier home, or along the Sandhill golf course where it would have to take amenity property away from the course because of existing right-of-way's.

The remainder of the pathway would have to be built by the developer of the Trailwinds and Beaumont properties, which would involve in interlocal government agreement with their CDD, an unknown quantity.

There was also concern for the crossing from the south side of CR466A and the round necessary to use the path for these residents - up and around the Turtle Mound course.

The cost of building the path.

Bottom line was there was only one real positive and that was ease of access for the few residents (unknown quantity) that may have wanted access to the area.


The unspoken part of the discussion was that SLCDD would have to concede some amenity property to make this happen and all the board members of SLCDD are directly associated with the developer. The developer has no interest in funneling business away from the businesses that are leasing from them and would likely get a lot of pushback from their tenants on the matter.


Of course, at the time Wildwood shot down the Villages expansion on this area they didn't realize that the bulk of their growth and income for the next 30 years would be from The Villages, they just considered it getting in bed with the devil at the time. All a very short sighted approach at the time.

Bottom line is, it will probably never happen.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Bottom line is, it will probably never happen.

Good! No GC's to have to deal with in the lot and a lot less people standing in line saying to the cashier .... "WAIT! I know I have that 2 pennies somewhere! Let me look." for 10 minutes.

[Marathon Man]

Originally Posted by Ben Franklin

"Similarly, why would the Developer extend the benefits of golf cart access to and through The Villages to buyers of homes in the Trailwinds complex that would be sold in competition with their own new and preowned homes sold by their own real estate sales subsidiary?"

Looks like their plan didn't work. We still take cars to shop there. Making it golf cart accessible, even if just at the intersection of Pinellas & 466, would probably reduce car traffic on the roads.

What plan is that? Is there actually a belief that "The Developer" works to prevent our legal movement to other areas of the world?

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Marathon Man

What plan is that? Is there actually a belief that "The Developer" works to prevent our legal movement to other areas of the world?

Now there's a stretch

[Stu from NYC]

Another reason we do not see ourselves ever getting a GC.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Another reason we do not see ourselves ever getting a GC.

Are there GC paths in the Village of Stu????

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Are there GC paths in the Village of Stu????

We are going to have a meeting to decide this topic sooner or later. Some members of the board would prefer rickshaws.