Dear Gran Paradiso Neighbors,
We intend to populate this website with reference information about our Gran Paradiso (GP) development and West Villages Improvement District (WVID). The goal is to help each other until we, the homeowners, take control over the Property Owners Association affairs.
Grand Paradiso (GP), also known as Village A (or Unit 3), is one of a few neighborhoods, currently under development in the West Villages Improvement District (WVID), along with Island Walk, Renaissance, Oasis, Preserve and others that will follow. At full development, the West Villages (about 11,000 acres) will have over 30,000 living units, with a main street commercial and entertaining neighborhood. West Villages was created in 2004 by Florida Legislature’s HB No. 1567 Chapter 2004-456. The land of WVID, mostly Taylor Ranch, was annexed by the City Of North Port in 2002.
GP (about 1,000 acres) had a rough start in 2006 when Sam Rodgers and Lee Wetherington started to build it as a luxurious neighborhood. Due to last recession (2007), the development was under distress until Lennar acquired it in 2013. Until 90% of the 1935 living units approved for GP are sold, the Property Owners Association (POA) Board is fully controlled by the builder Lennar. At the beginning of 2018, the total sold units was 1001 and it is estimated that the POA turnover to GP homeowners will happen in 2020 timeframe.
WVID has a unique identity, as it is in the proximity of SW Florida beaches, Venice and Sarasota. About 30% of its land is within the unincorporated Sarasota County, with the remainder of land that includes the current major developments (inclusive GP), being within North Port City boundaries, but having a Venice Zip code (34293). Other neighborhoods, such as Sarasota National, Grand Palm, Plantation, etc. are part of unincorporated Sarasota County and not WVID, but they are marketed together as West Villages.
WVID, as a local unit of special purpose government, is authorized to finance, via bond type debt, the acquisition, construction and operation of infrastructure improvements, such as water and sewage infrastructure (which were turned over to City of North Port), all collector roads, entry monuments, and other facilities. The WVID yearly assessments for GP homeowners are raised to pay off the bonds for UNIT 1 (a majority of WVID land), Unit 2 (Island Walk and GP), and Unit 3 (solely GP). In addition, there is a yearly maintenance fee for certain common areas and WVID operation, which together with the bond repayment assessments are collected via the non-ad valorem part of the tax bill. Unit 1 and Unit 3 Bonds were refinanced in September 2017 and new improvements plans were issued.
In 2014, GP POA entered into a maintenance agreement with WVID for all common areas and collector roads built with WVID Unit 3 bond proceeds within the GP boundaries (drainage, lakes, preserves, collector roads, multi modal paths, gate house, etc). It is essential that our GP will be in a good condition, such that we do not face substantial special assessments after turn over.
It can be concluded that the financial burden of the homeowners is complex and that they need to show interest and participate in the efforts of understanding and planning the future turnover of the GP property to a homeowners-controlled POA Board.