Market Spotlight: Sumter County 'It Takes a Village'

Sumter County Advances Projects To Accommodate Record Growth

By Thomas Ehlers, Staff WriterPhotos courtesy of City of Wildwood

Sumter County sits in the heart of Central Florida, and the area also serves as the center of growth in the state.

Fueled greatly by the growth of The Villages – a census-designated place and master-planned retirement community partially located in the county – Sumter County was the fastest-growing county in the U.S. from 2011-2020 and posted a 7.5% year-over-year growth rate to lead the state in growth.

With private stakeholders and different levels of government working together, it takes collaborative effort from everyone to ensure this growth is combatted, including Sumter County Economic Development Director Kristy Russell.

“We work closely with our city municipalities to kind of be progressive to manage this growth,” she said.

Attracting The Young For The Old

Sumter County’s median age of 68.4 reflects the presence of a 55+ community, but it also serves as a new area for growth.

With railroad corridors in the county lines, Sumter has long promoted industry in manufacturing, distribution and agribusinesses, but the growth of The Villages caused a need to recruit a workforce to support it. Middleton, a community support district adjacent to The Villages, offers just that. With family-friendly housing, recreation and a downtown, Middleton is only a portion of the workforce-minded development in the area.

“It’s designed to attract workers that can serve the retirement community, so it is considered workforce housing,” Russell said. “Towards the north end of the county, there has been a drastic increase in multi-family developments. We’re working to bridge that gap for housing for our workers.”

The Villages declined to comment for this story.

Russell also noted the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant the county received to fund water line expansion in Bushnell, county-wide broadband internet expansion and a few smaller utility projects in the county’s Southern end.

Wildwood: More Than Doubling

Bushnell might be the Sumter County seat, but the city of Wildwood is one of the area’s fastest-growing communities.

In fact, 7,252 citizens called the municipality home in 2014, but that number stood at 30,237 in 2023, including a near-6,000 person jump from 2022 estimates. With people coming in droves, the city had to address concerns about water.

Wildwood’s existing wastewater treatment plant was designed and permitted to treat 3.55 million gallons per day (MGD), but hydraulic issues slowed output to 2.8 MGD.

In 2022, the city hired PC Construction to address those deficiencies, and it led to a full 3.55 MGD output after the phase’s completion. Wildwood is in the process of designing and building a second treatment plant that will bring total outputs to an estimated 5.5 MGD, solving current and future water concerns.

The city received a $9.5 million state grant to help fund the near-$150 million project, which rising costs have affected. Wildwood City Manager Jason McHugh spoke to the importance of the project to not only citizens but also local industry.

“Our water system is in good shape,” McHugh said. “We were fortunate to have some major water projects that were done before the pandemic when costs were more reasonable from that standpoint.

“For us, our bread and butter is water and wastewater, making sure we are providing that to the business communities, so they are able to be prosperous, grow and respond to market demands.”

On top of the new facility, Wildwood is updating its utility master plan with Kimley-Horn to overcome challenges with the interface of old and new infrastructure. The updated plan will emphasize phasing out older, galvanized piping for updated piping to prevent discoloration that can happen with time.

In January, the city broke ground on a 125-space, multistory parking garage to provide parking for existing and future downtown businesses. Projected to open in Fall 2024, the project is the first phase of revitalization in the city’s downtown area.

Sitting at the corner of U.S. 301 and Oxford Street, the garage’s location will allow easy access to the downtown without clogging important roadways. With revitalization and downtown redevelopment at the forefront, the garage will support future projects, including new commercial space a block away.

Phase Two of this project features the construction of this 8,000-square foot commercial space that will allow businesses and restaurants to lease and operate in downtown Wildwood. Scheduled to break ground in mid-2024, the project owned and operated by G3 Development is focused on creating a more productive and aesthetically-pleasing use.

Wildwood adopted a downtown master plan in 2021 that took resident and local business feedback and addressed some of the community needs and wants. The process looked a bit different for the municipality –which has a mix of older generations that rely on more traditional media and younger generations that lean more on technology – to complete. The city launched a multifaceted campaign with mailers, websites and boots on the ground with faith-based organizations, community leaders and other individuals.

Despite the wide demographic, the citizens shared similar sentiments.

“For us, we have a very diverse citizenry and diverse public,” McHugh said. “What we were able to see is a lot of folks are vastly for the same things – reinvest in the community, improve the downtown, continue to focus on infrastructure and let growth carry the way.”

Part of that community reinvestment is happening in terms of recreation. With underutilized spaces, the city is focusing on revamping its parks with water/sewer, utilities, lighting, stormwater ponds, traffic circulation and more.

In addition to a $400,000 boat ramp and pier rehabilitation project at Lake Deaton Park, the city is starting a $12.9 million project at the 80-acre Millennium Park and an additional project at the 30-acre Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. The latter project, now in the design phase, calls for a recreation center with basketball courts and meeting rooms.

“We’re spending some time planning, going around and getting the basics down,” McHugh said. “Prior to The Villages, prior to this growth, we really didn’t have the resources to pull that off.”

All Roads Lead To Sumter

With the growth boom that Sumter County and its cities are experiencing, there is no shortage of traffic and pedestrian concerns. The area’s central location to I-75, the Florida Turnpike, U.S. 301 and a handful of important state routes make it a ground transportation hub, and several infrastructure projects are easing some issues and creating new opportunities in the process.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is wrapping up a $5.6 million roadway resurfacing project of U.S. 301, adding asphalt to several locations where side roads and driveways remain unpaved. In addition to resurfacing, the project widened the shoulders of several segments, added roadway lighting and signage, introduced signals for the entrance and exit to the Florida Turnpike and realigned the S.R. 91 exit ramp to U.S. 301. Nearly 800 feet of sidewalk were added for pedestrian traffic.

Additionally, FDOT started an $8.4 million South Sumter Trail project in August 2023, which will pave 4.1 miles of pedestrian and bike trails alongside S.R. 471 while adding drainage improvements, lighting, signage and markings. Projected to finish this fall, the project will expand the portion to a 10-foot-wide shared-use path, and it will connect to the larger Florida Coast-to-Coast Trail, which extends approximately 250 miles from St. Petersburg to the Canaveral National Seashore.

Closer to The Villages, two state-funded projects are dealing with traffic from the community’s growth. Ranger Construction and FDOT are milling and resurfacing U.S. 441 in this $8.2 million project, which will construct 1.3 miles of new sidewalk, widen roadway shoulders and improve drainage.

A separate S.R. 44 project is resurfacing the roadway, adding sidewalks and unmarked bicycle lanes while making safety enhancements at the intersection of S.R. 44 and U.S. 301 at a projected cost of $16.4 million.

As The Villages and the area continue to grow, so, too, will the list of projects McHugh and other community leaders will have to lead. He’ll lean on those strong connections he’s made through the current growth process to promote future success, no matter how many more citizens enter the city limits.

“All in all, it takes a village,” McHugh said. “It takes a lot of different partners to collaborate to get the job done. I think for the most part, we’ve got a really successful relationship and history of getting things done in Sumter County that are a little bit different than other places.”