To the Editor:
In response to the recent article wherein Stone, et al provide an opinion as to the coverage question concerning the Developer’s announcement of an increase in the prevalent amenity rate I offer the following. An old law admonition is “contracts were made to be broken” and it has far-reaching implications here.
I find it interesting that the Developer (TVLSI) who was suppose to, and eventually will, relinquish control of the Community Development Districts still has say and interest in amenity fees which are paid exclusively by residents and should be used exclusively for residents’ amenities. Perhaps, one possibility here for this increase is that eventually when the Developer (TVLSI) relinquishes control of the remaining facilities to the District it is paid based on the calculated stream of income arising from said amenities.
I wished the District, Amenity Authority Committee and Project Wide Advisory Committee had asked for an expanded study on the subject of amenities as to any restrictions, limitations on their use, entitlements, etc. I still wonder how and why our amenities fees were used to defend two lawsuits? Are lawsuits amenities? One wonders if the term amenities should be re-labeled? Clearly the definition of amenities fees in a resident’s villages handbook is not expansive enough as it appears that it does not coincide with the application of said amenity fees.
Even to the coverage question submitted by Stone, et al they state that the new rates applies to new homes and resales, but leaves absent if amenities fees increase if a resident’s home passes through his/her estate? I pose this question because the Developer (TVLSI) allowed homeowners to transfer their amenity rights to renters. My hope is that the above referenced leadership stop reacting to one flashpoint at a time and expand on these questions related to amenities and more because the Developer (TVLSI) seems to have invented rights that benefited it, at the expense of residents, as it continued its expansion of this community.
Dennis Petrucelli
Village of Bonnybrook