A Community Development District 2 supervisor contends residents are feeling “betrayed” after a deal to provide the Developer with nearly 300 amenity contracts for future apartment dwellers at the former site of Hacienda Hills Country Club.
Supervisor Bill Schikora had let it be known prior to Friday’s CDD 2 meeting that he was hoping to get some answers on behalf of residents about the Hacienda amenity deal.
An overflow crowd of Villagers was furious Aug. 12 when the AAC voted 4-1 in favor of the Developer using Villages-wide amenities for the future apartment dwellers. The AAC also handed the Developer the potential revenue stream of $500,000 per year in connection with the amenities.
“I don’t question the Developer’s right to build apartments on private property,” Schikora said.
However, he questioned the decision to direct the amenity money to the Developer and the “unannounced semi-secret meetings” between the District manager, The Villages Vice President for Community Relations Gary Lester and each of the AAC members. In those meetings, AAC members were reportedly told to accept the apartments or see a parking garage built at the site.
District Manager Richard Baier and legal counsel Mark Brionez defended the private meetings as a normal course of handling business and conveying information to the committee members. Brionez called it a “common practice” in government.
In May, Baier and Lester met individually with the AAC members, whose members would be prohibited from meeting as a group without notifying members of the public in advance and opening the meeting to them.
“Maybe legally, to the technicalities, it meets the requirement. But this isn’t the way it was meant to be,” Schikora said.
CDD 2 Chairman Bryan Lifsey agreed with Schikora’s assessment of the private meetings.
“The board members had a warning ahead of time. The residents didn’t,” he said.
Schikora said of the entire Hacienda process was a blow to the residents, particularly those in the Village of Santo Domingo which is near the Hacienda site. It’s also where Schikora resides.
“This was a betrayal of promises made to people 20 years ago,” Schikora said.
“All of a sudden, everything is up in the air.”