Officials in The Villages are growing increasingly suspicious about the Developer’s motive for wanting to hand off enforcement of age restriction rules to the community development districts.
One by one, community development district officials have been mulling over this “opportunity” offered by the Developer. Last week, the conversations began with CDDs 1, 2, 3, 4, 12 and 13. This week, the offer has been rolled out to the remaining CDD boards.
The CDD boards would gain new powers to investigate and enforce the rules which forbid anyone under age 19 from residing in The Villages for more than 30 days and requiring that at least one member of the household be 55 years old.
It’s already stirring plenty of discussion in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
CDD 5 Board Chairman Gary Kadow joked that taking on the “opportunity” would probably make officials very unpopular.
“It’s like the ‘opportunity’ to get the Black Plague. Thank you, very much,” Kadow joked.
All kidding aside, he and other CDD supervisors said they realize that residents want the age-restriction rules enforced, particularly the ones forbidding children from taking up permanent residence in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
“My personal opinion is it is worth learning more about it,” Kadow said. “But, I am not thrilled with being the bad guy.”
Fellow CDD 5 Supervisor Mark Schweikert agreed that taking on the responsibility is something that should be considered.
“I would like to see us investigate this and see what we can do. People come here expecting an age-restricted community,” said Schweikert, who previously served as the director of the Ohio Judicial Conference.
CDD supervisors are suspicious as to why the Developer wants to delegate this responsibility to them. They predict that the responsibility will come with a sizable price tag, to be funded by residents. Many in The Villages agree that the Developer has not lived up to his responsibility with regard to the deed restriction prohibiting children in the home.
In CDD 8, Supervisor Larry McMurry said he was apprehensive about taking on the responsibility.
“My first reaction is I don’t want to go there,” McMurry said.
However, he was outnumbered by those who wanted to move ahead with investigating the idea.
“We need to hear from the District 8 residents to see if they think there is an issue,” said Supervisor Duane Johnson.
The CDD 6 board decided on Friday that it is not interested in moving forward with the idea.
Do you think the CDDs should examine taking on the enforcement on age related restrictions? Share your thoughts at [email protected]