Sunbridge Shows How Special Districts Are Powering Florida’s Next Wave of Growth 

Community development districts (CDDs) and stewardship districts are presented as a “hidden engine” of Florida’s suburban growth, allowing developers to issue tax‑exempt bonds to build roads, utilities, parks and other city‑scale infrastructure, with costs repaid over time through special assessments on homeowners’ tax bills. Through the example of Lakewood Ranch, the piece shows how this quasi‑governmental financing model emerged in the 1970s and 1980s to solve local funding gaps, enabled large master‑planned communities to take shape, and remains powerful but controversial due to its exposure to real estate boom‑bust cycles, questions about transparency and accountability, and differing attitudes among developers and local officials about its impact on residents.

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