Developer shuts off irrigation to Wellen Park subdivision. Growing corporate power over homeowners reflects a Florida trend.
By Derek Gilliam/Suncoast Searchlight
Original Air Date: April 23, 2025
Host: Here’s one more hidden cost of buying a suburban home in Florida: Developer-controlled “special purpose government.” Homeowners at an upscale gated community in south Sarasota County have learned it the hard way. Suncoast Searchlight reporter Derek Gilliam has that story. This abbreviated version of a longer article reported and written by Gilliam was AI-generated.
Derek Gilliam: On the surface, Gran Paradiso looks like a Florida paradise. Manicured lawns stretch across acres of greenery, royal palms frame a Mediterranean-style guardhouse and hundreds of trees shade the sidewalks of this upscale neighborhood in south Sarasota County’s Wellen Park.
But beneath the postcard-perfect image, a bitter legal battle is underway—one that’s dividing neighbors, threatening property values, and offering a rare look at the power developers can wield long after a community is built.
At the heart of the dispute is a 100-year irrigation water agreement. Residents say they never agreed to it, yet they’re being forced to pay steep fees they fear could add up to billions over time.
The water deal was approved in 2018 by the West Villages Improvement District—a special-purpose government run not by local officials or homeowners but by the Toronto-based developer Mattamy Homes. That board controls construction and maintenance in Wellen Park, including in Gran Paradiso.
Last month, that same board shut off irrigation water to the neighborhood, jeopardizing over a million dollars’ worth of tropical landscaping and leaving homeowners stunned.
The developer-controlled district says residents were overusing their share of water. But residents say it’s because they challenged the steep rate hike.
What’s playing out in Gran Paradiso isn’t just a neighborhood water dispute. It’s a warning sign about how power works in some of Florida’s fastest-growing communities.
Across the state, developers are increasingly using special-purpose governments—sometimes called community development districts—to finance and control infrastructure. These quasi-public entities can issue municipal bonds, collect assessments, and make decisions that affect thousands of residents. And they often remain under developer control for years, even decades, after people move in.
There are now more than 2,000 such districts in Florida—up from just 600 in 2010.
In Gran Paradiso, residents tried to challenge the irrigation fees. But when the district refused to renegotiate, they took it to court. The judge in the case called the water deal “obscene,” and compared it to a $2.8 billion annuity for the developer.
Soon after, Mattamy Homes attempted to have that judge removed from the case. When that failed, the district spent over $100,000 hiring a lobbyist in Tallahassee to push new legislation that could delay the timeline for residents to take control of the district’s board.
And through it all, homeowners are footing the bill, paying legal fees on both sides of the lawsuit and for the district’s lobbying efforts through assessments.
Pam Kantola, a resident and board member in Gran Paradiso, put it plainly:
Pam Kantola: We’re paying to defend ourselves, and we’re paying to fight ourselves. And now, we’re paying to hire a lobbyist so we can’t get these additional seats on the board.
DG: Mattamy and the district say the irrigation restrictions are necessary to protect the state-issued water permit and that residents were exceeding their limit. But Florida’s water management agency declined to confirm that claim, citing ongoing litigation.
In the meantime, the lawns are drying out.
For the full report, go to suncoastsearchlight.org/gran-paradiso-wellen-west-villages-developer-mattamy-water.
Reporting for Suncoast Searchlight, Derek Gilliam.
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