The Villages

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The Villages is a 55+ retirement community in central Florida in the United States. It is located about 20 miles south of Ocala and 60 miles northwest of Orlando, spanning parts of Lake, Marion, and Sumter Counties. The current population is approaching 30,000 households and is expected to grow to 50,000 households in the next 5-7 years.

The 18th green of one of the golf courses at The Villages

The Villages is a golf cart community, meaning golf carts may be safely and legally driven on the special transportion trails built especially for carts and along many roads 24 hours a day. A golf cart overpass was built across US 441 in the center of The Villages to connect the original neighborhood to the new areas because a tunnel could not be constructed to provide safe passage across this major highway. Tunnels serve this purpose throughout the rest of the community where a highway must be crossed.

The Villages has its own daily paper *The Villages Daily Sun, its own radio station (WVLG - 640 AM) and a cable channel (VNN - The Villages News Network). These media properties are owned and operated by The Villages. While they are excellent resources for residents of The Villages, they tend to focus on the positive aspects of life in this community.

The Villages also has its own online guide, *The Villages Guide.com. This site was developed by a resident of The Villages. It is an excellent resource for residents of The Villages and those looking for businesses, services, and information before they arrive in the community. Viewers can find entertainment, print coupons, buy tickets, and more.

The Villages is developed and maintained using Florida's special purpose local government known as the Community Development District (CDD). There are more than 200 communities in Florida that are currently using this form of government. In The Villages, there are 2 classes of CDDs. One class of CDD covers the areas where residents own homes. These CDDs provide and maintain the roads and transportation paths, storm water systems and structures, underground utilities, curb and gutter and street lights. The costs of building and maintaining this infrastructure are paid for by special assessments, a once-a-year charge which is included on the annual property tax bill. Residents elect the members of the Board of Supervisors for the District in which they reside. There are currently 8 districts.

The other class of CDD is the special central Community Development Districts: the Village Center Community Development District (VCCDD) and the Sumter Landing Community Development District (SLCDD). Recreation centers and executive golf courses are owned by these districts. Residents pay monthly amenities fees to these districts in exchange for the use of these facilities. Even though the recreation centers and the executive golf courses may be located in the CDD in which residents live, the facilities are owned by the special central CDDs, and not the residents. No residents live in these special CDDs, and in both of these CDDs the developer holds the majority of the votes. This means that the developer runs these special CDDs and the properties that they maintain.

After building the recreation centers and the executive golf courses, the developer transfers ownership of these facilities to the 2 special central CDDs at a price agreed upon by the developer and the developer-selected supervisors of the special CDDs.

A point of contention in The Villages is that the special CDDs pay the developer an inflated value for the recreation centers and the executive golf courses. Approximately 60% of the monthly amenity fees paid by the residents are used to fulfill the bond obligations issued by the 2 special central CDDs to pay the developer for these facilities. The argument in favor of this procedure is that the developer pays for, builds and completely finishes these facilities before the houses in an area constructed. This allows residents to begin using the recreation areas the day they move into their new neighborhood, unlike many other developments in the state that build homes first and then recreation centers (sometimes years) afterwards.

There are 2 homeowners associations in The Villages. The Property Owners Association (POA) is the original homeowner association. The Villages Homeowners Association (VHA) was started by the developer after the developer became dissatisfied with the developer's relationship with the Property Owners Association (POA).

The development includes more than thirty recreation centers, over twenty executive golf courses, eight championship golf courses with country clubs, a golf academy, a polo field, two fitness centers, a woodworking shop and community garden, an archery range, two libraries and more than forty heated pools.

The Villages is home to a family of charter schools, encompassing grades K-12. Their mascot is the buffalo. These schools are funded by the builder and are for the children of employees of The Villages and the surrounding area.