October 25 – 31, 2020

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I continue to track all the latest news and updates as it relates to coronavirus in The Villages.

You can read this week’s coronavirus updates here.

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The topic of apartments once again dominated the news this week.

In advance of the Sumter County Commission vote on whether or not the apartment plans could move forward, The Villages put on the full-court press, publishing this article in The Villages Daily Sun:

Merchants at town squares support apartment homes (The Villages Daily Sun)

The group that was recently formed to fight The Villages' efforts to move forward with various apartment projects hired an attorney of their own to try to stop the Sumter County Commission from approving the projects:

Attorney for Villagers fighting apartments wants Tuesday’s hearing delayed (Villages-News)

The Villages VP of Sales Jennifer Parr even phoned the leader of the apartment opposition group the night before the vote to try to smooth things over.

Jennifer Parr phones head of group fighting apartments in The Villages (Villages-News)

The hearing went ahead as planned though, and the apartments at the site of the former site of the Hacienda Hills Country Club, as well as some second floor apartments in Lake Sumter Landing were approved.

Opponents of apartments in The Villages try to stop crucial vote (Villages-News)

The next day, this article appeared in The Villages Daily Sun touting the benefits the apartments will bring to the community and local area:

Sumter, Villages move partnership forward (The Villages Daily Sun)

One bright spot however, is that the vote on whether or not to allow apartments in Spanish Springs was tabled until January:

Vote on Spanish Springs apartments pushed back until January (Villages-News)

I've been following a thread on the Talk of The Villages forum this week asking for feedback from residents of The Lofts at Brownwood and what their thoughts were and how they liked living there.

I've yet to read a response from an actual resident of the Lofts, but there is some decent second and third hand insight. But as with most forums, try to take everything you read with a grain of salt.

The Lofts: Any feedback from those who have moved in? (Talk of The Villages)

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I think we can all agree, 2020 has been scary enough.

But one resident is using his Halloween decorations to help raise money and donations for Toys for Tots:

https://www.facebook.com/thevillages/posts/3688924274485937

If you've got time to kill, here's a longer-ish video of the display:

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you back here next week!

– Ryan