Update on Fort Improvements- with photos!

[des1954]

Reedy Creek is both a city and the name of the Improvement district. There are actually two cities on Disney Property, the other being Lake Buena Vista. As any other city in FL., they have a commission and mayor. The only official function of these bodies is to vote one a year the "contract" all services form the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

The "residents" in the two cities are all Disney employees who rent the homes from Disney.

As tot eh earlier point, RCID still handles all permitting for Disney property. They follow all state laws, but have their own building/zoning laws which differ from the two counties the property sits in.

Tim... I'm not sure where you are getting your info from, but this page on the RCID website does not tout it as a "city", but rather a "district" that contains the cities of Lake Buena Vista & Bay Lake. Under their list of administrators, there is no mention of a mayor. My curiosity has been pequed now, because I've always wondered just what the RCID was.

Here's the web link to RCID:

http://www.rcid.org/AboutUS_main.cfm

Edit to add: In digging a little deeper on the history of RCID, it looks like it was formed by the Florida State Legislature in 1967 as a separate entity to govern the development of WDW. Now the next question would be... Do the people who sit on the administrative board also appear on the Disney payroll?? Hmmmm....

 

[DisCamper]

I love the renaming of thing
1. Wetlands= swamp
2. Certified Pre-owned = used
3. Land fill= Dump

 

[DisCamper]

I’m sorry I made a mistake the houses in the pic are the houses from the city of Lake Buena Vista not Reedy Creek.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Interesting information about The Reedy Creek Improvement District.

The blue sign got me to wondering. I wonder whose phone numbers are listed on the sign.

I did a reverse phone search on the numbers. The first one comes back as unlisted.

The second number shows the following:

So, this RCID is who I call if someone is damaging the wetlands? Interesting, as it appears that this is the same entity that is supervising the work going on there now.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Deb-

Thank you for the link to the RCID website. Fascinating information there!

Anyway, I found a map in the 2008 Comprehensive Plan that shows the area where I took the photo of the blue sign. If I am interpreting this right, it looks like it is just the wooded area adjacent to the 1800 and 1900 loops which is a designated wetland, and not the loops themselves.

I put an orange circle around the area of the Fort, and a little red arrow pointing toward the wetlands in this particular area:

This would seem to put a lid on any rumors of expansion of campsites into this area. I also see that the areas to the west of the cabin loops, and west of the 700 and 800 loops are designated wetlands- which also would restrict expansion there.

This comprehensive plan is a pretty amazing document, and confirms that the RCID is subject to state and federal regulations.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

To further illustrate things, here is an aerial photo of the Fort. I have marked the approximate area of the designated wetlands (according the the RCID map) with orange:

TCD

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Well, so much for developing the fort into that area between FW and WL.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Well, so much for developing the fort into that area between FW and WL.

I would think that the WDW could ask to un-designate some areas as wetlands, and substitute other areas to be designated as wetlands, should the need ever arise.

That is probably easier said than done, but with as much undeveloped land as they still have, I think it could be done.

TCD

 

[Shan-man]

Approximate area?! Where's your pride, man! (just joking TCD!) Here is an overlay of the RCID Wetlands map on a Google Earth composite.

Note: the dark green areas are a higher-level on conservancy than the bright green. Also, the wetlands PDF this map comes from does talk about mitigation should alterations to the bright green wetlands be "unavoidable". I think that adding super-premium waterfront sites between RC and WL is unavoidable, don't you?

 

[tim5055]

Tim... I'm not sure where you are getting your info from, but this page on the RCID website does not tout it as a "city", but rather a "district" that contains the cities of Lake Buena Vista & Bay Lake. Under their list of administrators, there is no mention of a mayor. My curiosity has been pequed now, because I've always wondered just what the RCID was.

Here's the web link to RCID:

http://www.rcid.org/AboutUS_main.cfm

Edit to add: In digging a little deeper on the history of RCID, it looks like it was formed by the Florida State Legislature in 1967 as a separate entity to govern the development of WDW. Now the next question would be... Do the people who sit on the administrative board also appear on the Disney payroll?? Hmmmm....

If it appeared that I said that the RCID was a city I was unclear. The name "Reedy Creek was shared by two entities:

Reedy Creek Improvement District and the City of Reedy Creek.

Now, I went back and did a little more research... The city of Reedy Creek changed is name to the City of Lake Buena Vista. The second city is the City of Bay Lake. They do in fact have city councils and mayors who are residents of their respective cities. As all properties within the boundaries of the cities are owned by Disney and/or wholly owned subsidiaries, Disney gets to pick who lives in the cities - and there by gets to pick who can vote in the city elections.

More information can be found at these sites:

Wikipedia City of Lake Buena Vista

Wikipedia City of Bay Lake

US Census Lake Buena Vista, Florida

US Census Bay Lake Florida

So, as of 2000 the city of Bay Lake had 23 residents and the City of Lake Buena Vista had 16

And to your question, "Do the people who sit on the administrative board also appear on the Disney payroll?? Hmmmm...." The folks who sit on the RCID board are appointed by the landowners in the district. As Disney is the only private landowner in the district (you don't count state rods), they appoint the boards. These are the reasons why when Disney built Celebration they had to "de-annex" the Celebration land out of the RCID. Had they not then there would be other private landowners who could have a say in the board of RCID.

The 2 cities have elected councils and mayors, but as I said the only thing they do is contract all city services from RCID.

If you look around on the census data you will find that each city consists of 10 mobile homes each.

 

[LarryJ]

Reedy Creek is both a city and the name of the Improvement district. There are actually two cities on Disney Property, the other being Lake Buena Vista. As any other city in FL., they have a commission and mayor. The only official function of these bodies is to vote one a year the "contract" all services form the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

The "residents" in the two cities are all Disney employees who rent the homes from Disney.

As tot eh earlier point, RCID still handles all permitting for Disney property. They follow all state laws, but have their own building/zoning laws which differ from the two counties the property sits in.

That's what I thought when I made my post and they assume the responsibility both engineering wise and liability wise to defend their decisions if legal proceedings occur. I thought this was something Walt had to address before he started WDW since normal zoning laws and the approval process would have prevented him developing WDW.

Larry

 

[jdg345]

The TCD crew made a visit to WDW over the past weekend. Didn't stay at the Fort, but I did make a surprise inspection visit on Saturday morning, September 6. These photos were all taken between 7:30 and 8:30 am:
TCD

Excellent Pictures! Thank you for sharing!

But I'm confused ... how exactly are these 'improvements' ? No room for tents, screened areas, or BBQ's ... more concrete, less 'outdoorsy', and less privacy.

 

[des1954]

TCD, I can't wait to converse with you someday! Thanks for all the "digging" you did that I am too impatient to do myself!! I glance and browse for information - but you mine!

Tim- I didn't mean to pick a fight with you (and still don't), but any person (even you or I) can go into a wikepedia site & change information. It is not a reliable source. Now, the US Census reports I do trust!

As far as re-zoning wetlands are concerned... there was a HUGE parcel of land to the east of the development we used to live in, in Bradenton. I don't recall the exact size of the parcel, but 1800 acres would be close. Not only was it a designated wetland, but it also sat on an environmentally protected section of the Manatee River (mangroves and all). The owner of this land (Rutledge Corporation) tried to have it zoned to sell as one to five acre housing tracts. A density regulation was approved by the voters of Manatee County in 1997 limiting housing density to one home per acre on all land east of I-75 in the county. When Rutledge applied for re-zoning, SW Fla Water Management stepped in an blocked the re-zoning as did other agencies who protected the ecosystem of the Manatee River. So, Rutledge did what any red-blooded American would do. They sold the entire parcel to US Homes. Magically... the entire property was re-zoned and a development the size of a small city now sits there, complete with a 300 slip marina that extremely violates the ecosystem of the river. The density? 5 single-family units per acre and many, many condos & villas. If you travel I-75 south to Sarasota, you can look to the left(east)of exit 269 and see this for yourself. The residents of the county were outraged that the re-zoning was allowed to violate not only wetland preservation, but violate the density regulations that the voters mandated. So my point? Anything is possible if the right company greases the right hands. I have many circumstances such as this I can site you - just from Manatee & Sarasota counties alone....but you get the point.

 

[des1954]

I would think that the WDW could ask to un-designate some areas as wetlands, and substitute other areas to be designated as wetlands, should the need ever arise.

That is probably easier said than done, but with as much undeveloped land as they still have, I think it could be done.

TCD

Right you are, as usual.

The Disney Wilderness Preserve south of Kissemmee would probably cover all the building on wetlands at WDW. The only part I don't get about filling in 1800 & 1900 is, why didn't they engineer a proper drainage system for stormwater run-off? The obvious answer is cost, but just plopping down a bunch of fill dirt without proper drainage is a little short-sighted in my opinion.

 

[BradyBz12]

Fantastic job getting all this great insider info and photos! We're heading back to FW in Dec. and I've been trying to find as much info as I can on all the planned renovations. This has been the most informative by far!!

Looking forward to the new dog park (traveling with our 2 border collies as always). Anyone got any news to share there? I've seen pics but not many reports of anyone that's actually used it.

Now if only they'd start work on the pool..... <sigh>

 

[2goofycampers]

We used the dog park in Jan 08, the pups had lots of fun. On the other hand there have been reports of people bringing in unsocialized dogs and causing a ruckus and sometimes even great harm to other dogs. Be careful to make sure any pups in there aren't mean before letting your pups in.

 

[BradyBz12]

We used the dog park in Jan 08, the pups had lots of fun. On the other hand there have been reports of people bringing in unsocialized dogs and causing a ruckus and sometimes even great harm to other dogs. Be careful to make sure any pups in there aren't mean before letting your pups in.

Thanks for the info! I expect it will be like dog parks everywhere, with a small number of clueless people that really just don't "get it," don't really understand dog behavior, or simply don't pay attention to what their dogs are up to. Not much we can do about that. <sigh>

Both my dogs are rescued border collies (not the easiest breed in the world to begin with), and one (Brady-6) came with a whole host of issues we've been dealing with for a long time now. He's come miles from where he started, but one thing we're still working on is that he can be a total idiot meeting new dogs. It's all bluster with nothing truly aggressive behind it (he was not at all socialized when we first got him), but it's not fair to subject someone else's dog to his obnoxious behavior.

Our plan is to stake out the park when not in use, and if anyone else shows up, we'll just politely ask them to wait a second while we clear out and let them have the place to themselves.

Oh yeah, and have a pocket full of steak to make sure *I'm* the focus of his attention! He's a smart boy, and steak pretty much trumps everything.

 

[lucy_love]

This post has gone way over my head

but...

this makes me really miss the fort

 

[jdg345]

We used the dog park in Jan 08, the pups had lots of fun. On the other hand there have been reports of people bringing in unsocialized dogs and causing a ruckus and sometimes even great harm to other dogs. Be careful to make sure any pups in there aren't mean before letting your pups in.

Where is the dog park located?

 

[jdg345]

btw, does anyone know if the 1800 loop has since re-opened? Did it get the same 'extended slab' treatment of the other loops?