What is a CDD

General Information

A Community Development District ("CDD" or "District") is a local unit of special-purpose government created primarily for the purpose of providing infrastructure for new communities and limited to the performance of those specialized functions authorized by Chapter 190, Florida Statutes (the "Act"). The Act was enacted in 1980 to provide a uniform method for the establishment of Community Development Districts to manage and finance basic community development services, including capital infrastructure required for community developments throughout the State of Florida. The Act provides legal authority for CDDs, such as Vista Lakes, to finance the acquisition, construction, operations and maintenance of the major infrastructure for community development pursuant to its general law charter (Sections 190.006 through 190.041, Florida Statutes).

Among other provisions, the Act gives the District's Board of Supervisors the authority to (a) plan, establish, acquire, construct or reconstruct, enlarge or extend, equip, operate and maintain: (i) water management and control for lands within the District and to connect any of such facilities with roads and bridges and (ii) water supply, sewer and wastewater management systems or any combination thereof and to construct and operate connecting intercept or outlet sewers and sewer mains and pipes and water mains, conduits, or pipelines in, along, and under any street, alley, highway, or other public place or ways, and to dispose of any effluent, residue, or other byproducts of such system or sewer system; (b) borrow money and issue bonds of the District; (c) impose and enforce special assessments liens as provided in the Act; and (d) exercise all other powers necessary, convenient, incidental or proper in connection with any of the powers or duties of the District stated in the Act.

The Act does not empower the District to adopt and enforce any land use plans or zoning ordinances and the Act does not empower the District to grant building permits; these functions are to be performed by general-purpose local governments having jurisdiction over the lands within the District.

Vista Lakes

The Vista Lakes CDD was established February 7, 2000, pursuant to an Ordinance duly enacted by the City Council of the City of Orlando, Florida. Click here for the Ordinance establishing the District.

Vista Lakes CDD is a 948-gross-acre, mixed-use master-planned community located within the City of Orlando in Orange County, Florida. This CDD has been approved as a Planned Development through the City of Orlando and is expected to be developed with 1,575 single-family units, 727 multi-family units, 190,000 square feet of commercial development, 20,000 square feet of office space, a middle school site, an elementary school site, and a recreation center known as the Residents' Club. Vista Lakes will follow the developer's highly successful Hunter's Creek project in south Orlando.

Vista Lakes is a community designed around having a "fun" life. The centerpiece of the development is a seven-acre Residents' Club featuring a "super pool" complex including a lap pool, water slide and kiddie pool, tennis courts, boat docks and open playfields. The development also features several miles of bicycle/pedestrian walkways, as well as linear parks, neighborhood parks, and a community park adjacent to the elementary school that will be shared by the community association and the school. There will be two large lakes (80 and 20 acres), as well as other smaller lakes, 26.8 acres of parks and 215.2 acres of preserves. The main boulevards feature brick walls, upgraded landscaping, and custom signage, with major entrance features at the entry points to the community. Click here for a maintenance area map of Vista Lakes.

The community is located within minutes from the Orlando International Airport and other major employment centers, 20 minutes of two major shopping malls, and 20-30 minutes of numerous area attractions and east coast beaches.

The District is governed by a five-member Board whose members are charged with the operational decisions for the District and those benefited by its infrastructure.