Article Courtesy of Channel 9, Orlando

By Nancy Alvarez  

Published July 6, 2015

OSCEOLA COUNTY -- A battle over amenities in the Cypress Woods neighborhood is brewing in Poinciana.
 
Residents in the community on Marigold Avenue near State Road 580 are vowing to fight for improvements they said they've paid for in homeowners association fees, but never received.

After almost 20 years in Cypress Woods, Geraldine Bailey is fed up.
 

“They stomped on us and that’s why we want change,” she said. She said it all boils down to the red areas on a map of her neighborhood. “These are supposed to be filled with either parks or rec centers or something for the community. But after 18 years, we never got anything. My grandchildren grew up and we got nothing,” Bailey said.

Like all residents in Poinciana, Bailey pays the homeowners association $250 a year.

But people in the 600-plus homes that make up Cypress Woods have been paying the county another $250 since 2007 for extra amenities like upgraded lighting and landscaping.

Bailey and others said the agreement fell short.

They said the back of their community was supposed to be closed, but now a public road runs through it.

Val Ramos, who was the assistant manager of the homeowners association in the late 1990s when the homes were being built, said the homeowners were misled.

“I think their sales people were selling it one way but it was being submitted to the county another way,” Ramos said.

A vice president for AV Homes, the developer of Poinciana, said residents were never promised the amenities they’re demanding now.