The High Springs City Commission spent the majority of a meeting on Thursday discussing a controversial proposal to add a community development district, or CDD, to a Bridlewood subdivision.
Around 30 area residents were in attendance as were High Springs officials. City commissioners addressed other issues, but the discussion on the proposed ordinance to allow developers to create a community development district for the 688-acre development took up nearly two hours of the two-and-a-half-hour meeting.
A community development district functions as a small local government focused on maintaining infrastructure and community services. It functions like a homeowners association (HOA).
However, district costs are added to annual property taxes, and the amount is set by community development district officials, who are elected by residents. Residents of community development districts are still responsible for smaller HOA payments.
Opponents of the proposal, including Bryan Buescher, a High Springs resident and former community development district board member for 21 years, raised concerns about the financial burden a development district would place on future homeowners.
“All the profit goes to the developer and all the expense to the consumer,” Buescher said.
Chris Potts, vice president of LGA Engineering and the person who led the community development district proposal, acknowledged this concern, admitting that developers benefit from community development districts.
But he said the Bridlewood developer wouldn’t misuse these benefits. Potts said Bridlewood wanted to give back and be involved in the community, and his contracts reflect this. This remark drew a few groans and chuckles from the crowd.
Potts also vouched for community development districts, citing their success in Gainesville and their potential to improve city infrastructure.
He said that roads in High Springs would benefit from community development district implementation through more frequent maintenance. Potts emphasized how a community development district would increase property values.
He also said community development districts would cater to different economic classes by focusing on selling in volume rather than creating a luxury market, comparing it to a mid-level car dealership.
“We want to show that we can achieve in this market,” Potts said.
Attendees repeatedly expressed disapproval of the proposal. At one point, after Potts addressed the cost concerns behind a community development district by comparing it to a family buying a Mercedes rather than a Toyota, Rebecca Burns, a local real estate broker and business owner raised her arms in discontentment.
She said her past experiences with community development districts in St. Augustine were negative, adding that buyers may not be aware of them and that some realtors don’t disclose them on home listings.
Commissioner Katherine Weitz led the opposition on the city commission, questioning Potts and his lawyer extensively. She also voiced concerns that a community development district could price out middle- and lower-income residents in High Springs.
She said she has seen people like her older brother struggle to buy homes with community development districts.
Weitz introduced a motion to dismiss the ordinance. The motion narrowly passed, blocking the implementation of the CDD ordinance. Weitz, Vice Mayor Andrew Miller and Commissioner Wayne Bloodsworth Jr. voted yes. Mayor Tristan Gruder and Commissioner Chad Howell were the two to vote no on the dismissal.
“It would cause a lot of restriction on who could move to High Springs,” Weitz said. “It’s a business model that just does not fit with who we are here.”