Ecovillage Dunedin

[laurenjoseph]

Originally Posted by dothetwist

We retired from DC-Metro at age 50. Our retirement has been (and will continue to be) a series of Five Year Plans. For my career and my partner's business, we were forced to stay in DC-Metro a lot longer than we wanted to....when we retired we said, let's not get into another 30 year rut.

We had always like the American West and funky artsy towns and traveling...we moved to Bisbee AZ in 2003 and lived there 5 years while we traveled all around the West, western Canada and Hawaii.

In 2008 we moved full-time to Central Mexico; bought a house just south of Guadalajara. We used it as a base to tour the rest of Mexico.

In 2013, eldercare issues in DC-Metro required us to be could be closer to this relative to help him remain in his home. We sold our Mexican home; but we certainly weren't moving back to DC. We needed to be close enough to fly up to DC often and at a moment's notice. After 10 years in warm climates, we figured FL was our best bet and more research led us to find that Tampa Airport has regular inexpensive non-stops to DCA or IAD (up to 9 a day). Then we drew a circle around TPA to limit our new home to a 30 minute drive to TPA.

Things are working out great and we love it here in Gulfport; we'll be 62 this year but are very active and in good health. We expect to stay here as long as our eldercare issues remain in DC Metro, but are already thinking of another expat adventure for our next Five Year Plan.

We golf at a local CC and have made friends there; we go to (and host) cookouts, neighborhood parties, etc. This past winter/spring had us in DC Metro about 1/2 the time overseeing health care for our elderly parent, but that has stabilized and we are planning a trip to Spain (our 4th) to investigate it more in depth as a future home for us.

Good luck with your retirement and be open to alternate plans and lifestyles in your retirement...enjoy!

Dothetwist- What an inspiration you are! I admire your sense of adventure and your willingness to take risks, with that wonderful "5 year plan" that you and your partner have going! Wow, Mexico, and then perhaps Spain coming up! Love it. Coming from a situation where I have been giving myself a little "talk" every day about how I need to venture outside of this extremely powerful "zone of comfort" that both my husband and I are in, here in our current home, (and rather content in it, I might say), this came at a perfect time. Even though we are considering FL and a few other places, the "doing it" will not be easy. Sometimes the easiest thing is to just do nothing, and my fear is doing just that, and then regretting it, once we are even older than we already are, and no longer in a position to easily pick up our roots and go. So THANK YOU for taking the time to write what you did. As for Dunedin, you make it sound like a friendly and fun little town, and we are going to look at it for sure. Thank you again for the information and the shot of inspiration, and best wishes in your next venture!

PS Your user name fits you to a "T" !

[Readerwoman]

[quote=dothetwist;40177210]Check out Dunedin, Safety Harbor and Gulfport. We rented houses in the downtowns of each of these cities over the course of 2 winters; one month in each. We picked Gulfport and bought in early 2014.

Each place has its own vibe.

Gulfport is a bit more edgy, has a great restaurant scene and we walk along the beach daily and see dolphins, rays and a variety of birds, including wild parrots! We walk everywhere on the lovely brick streets. Our house is within 7 minutes walk of the beach, fishing pier and all the restaurants

I was under the impression that because Gulfport is west of a barrier island there was no beach. Can you share more? Are there swim able areas?

[dothetwist]

Yes there's a sandy beach in Gulfport, albeit a small one. It's about 4 or 5 blocks long, has an adjoining treed park with pavilions, picnic tables, and 4 beach volleyball courts. Yes, swimmable (quite shallow pretty far out). Restrooms, outdoor showers, FREE parking for everyone!

[mermaid sees all]

As long as you don't mind year around tourists and a micro managing,a nit picky city code enforcement board,high crime rate that goes unreported in certain sectors of the city, weekly & month city festival events that close down the downtown access for residents, you'll probably love Dunedin.

[Wwanderer]

Originally Posted by voyager6331

I disagree....this is as close as I personally would want to be to the water. Here you can walk downtown easily, or jump on to the Pinellas Trail. Houses on Alt. 19 by the water get a lot of traffic. This is a quiet neighborhood, the way we want it!

I was responding to a post that said 'East of 19', not 'east of alt-19'.

Interesting about the Ecovillage location--I hadn't thought about what's around it. I thought it was a great location, but I'll have to ride my bike up there this fall and see. I know there is a water treatment plant, but I don't believe it's a sewage plant.

[steve dunedin]

close to everything and the village is underway, I seen they have put side walks in and piping in the ground. The pitfall of that village is the water treatment facility is right there, so when the wind is blowing right PeeYew. If that doesn't bother you then go for it, when I am riding by on my bike it can be quite nasty somedays.

[markeg]

They haven't broke ground on a single unit yet. It's right next door to the water treatment plant. I have lived in previous places a block away from the same kind of plant,and believe me you don't want to live there. You'll never be able to open a window. It looks like it's in a section of town that I wouldn't want to live in. Just undesirable from my point of view.

[pieprjde]

Just a little update to some of the varying opinions on the project (I haven't seen anything) to the location (right by waste management)

There are currently 10 units finished and occupied. They are starting the next 10 this month. (My wife and I have signed a contract to get in to the last one left in these next 10.

It's location is 1 block East of Alt. 19 (which is in this area, 1 block east of the intercoastal waterway)
It is located right next to the water treatment facility for the city. This is much different than waste management. Yes the smell can be a bit undesirable at times but it's not even close to a bad case of red tide (for those that want a beach house.) The area has a unique history but unfortunately became a bit run down.

There was section 8 apartments but they were torn down and are replaced by the EcoVillage. It also sits right across from the Dunedin Scottish Arts Foundation (which puts on the highland games and Celtic Festival each year and holds numerous events and classes throughout the year at that facility.) Many of the houses right around this street are being bought up and re-done as people are looking at affordable ways to be close to Downtown. You are literally a two minute walk to Weaver Park, the best BBQ in Pinellas County, and 5-10 minutes walking from everything downtown has to offer, not to mention the Pinellas Trail right across the street.

Habitat for Humanity has a beautiful new little neighborhood going up nearby with affordable housing in there as well.

The EcoVillage carries some stipulations such as no renters, and a mix of income capped units with a few "uncapped units" (which have been all sold.)

All in all, for my family it came down to location, possible schools (if we don't choose a charter) and safety.

Since we are down there often to play at the park or attend events at the Foundation, the smell really became a non factor. We felt safe, and the location was everything you dream about.

Some residents are stating power bills, that range from $0.00 a month to a whopping $30.00 a month.

[mlh214]

I was thinking of buying a unit in eco village but any smell is unacceptable for me at 190k no way. Any more updates?

[Rebek56]

We are both retired now but have ended up staying in Ohio most of the year and snowbirding in Yucatan. We still consider checking out Florida again, but that has not happened.

Anyone who lives in the Ecovillage, how do you like it?