The Villages and Fruitland Park have inked a letter of agreement that would allow the proposed construction of more than 2,000 new homes on County Road 466A at the Pine Ridge Dairy site.
Villages Vice President of Development Gary Moyer spoke briefly Thursday evening before the Fruitland City Commission thanking them for working cooperatively with The Villages.
The commission vote was unanimous. The Villages developer had signed the agreement prior to Thursday’s meeting.
This letter of agreement takes the place of a memorandum of understanding agreed to by the two parties two weeks ago.
The letter allows The Villages to continue to move ahead with the project which calls for 2,038 houses, including Premier class homes priced from $750,000, more than 1,700 Designer homes priced from $500,000, and 189 Villas priced from $220,000. It is estimated the homes will generate $1 billion in sales.
Of course, this is one step in a long process. There are still many procedural matters and public hearings ahead. However, Moyer said actual construction could begin by mid-2014.
Change to city charter?
The commission also agreed to explore the idea of revising the city charter and changing the commission from at-large to district representation.
If the city commission moves ahead with the idea, the change could be made to the city charter and the commission could be readjusted either by special election or by the election of 2014
“One of the things that becomes difficult is drawing those lines and setting up those districts, with the goal of coming up with districts that are evenly divided,” said city attorney Scott Gerken.
