Welcome to the Hidden Creek CDD & Southshore Bay!
This site is not affiliated with Metro Development Group or Hillsborough County!
The Memes
Oh my, I never dreamed how therapeutic making memes could be. Infinite credit to Gemini and ChatGPT, because I couldn't draw a scribble.
By the way, you are 100% free and encouraged to download any/all of these memes and do whatever you want with them! Just right-click and "Save Image As..."
What's the deal with the gates?
From what's been said at the board meetings, the gates are too heavy and constantly break the hinges, and the motors that open the gates constantly blow the fuses. In other words, they were installed by a company that didn't know what they were doing, and purchased by a company that didn't care what they were doing. You'll find a lot of that around Hidden Creek and Southshore Bay.
Anyway, the gates are just for show, so don't worry about them. You'll see why in the next section.
What's the deal with the CDD?
The CDD is a "special-purpose" government entity, as defined under Chapter 190 of Florida Statutes. That means they're allowed to issue "tax-free" bonds. The benefit of issuing tax-free bonds is that the residents then usually can pay a lower interest rate to the bond buyers, compared to what they would have to pay if the interest was taxable. The downside is that Section 103 of the Internal Revenue Code has all sorts of regulations about something being "tax-free". One of those being private use vs public use. Like most developers, Metro decided to go the tax-free route.
Several CDDs have tried to convert their "public-use" roads into private roads, but I'm not aware of any who were successful.
What's the deal with the lagoon?
The lagoon is a private entity. At no point was it ever planned to be turned over to the residents, so let's get that rumor out of the way. Think of it kind of like a good old fashioned mining town from the late 1800s. Someone buys a bunch of land, builds a private business, then builds a "community" around said business. Fortunately, we don't have to work in the mines, but we do need to pay the lagoon a stipend every year. I haven't been to the lagoon since 2024, so I don't know if they ever figured out how to actually run it, but the last time I was there, all the staff acted like they hated their jobs, the food was inedible, and everything was more expensive than their Disney counterparts. In other words, it's not a place a lot of residents wanted to go to, even though we have to pay for it, like it or not.
What's the deal with the 55+?
That's Medley, an "active adult" community within Southshore Bay. I'm still a few years away from being allowed in, but in addition to having to deal with the lagoon club, they have their own HOA, plus the Southshore Bay HOA, plus either the Hidden Creek or Southshore Bay CDDs to deal with. They have their own awesome website.
https://www.medleymembers.net/
What's the deal with the docs?
Once I moved in to Southshore Bay, I wanted to learn about the CDD, the Lagoon, and my new neighborhood. Unfortunately, I didn’t like a lot of what I found out.
If you read the "club plan" (that's part of the deed since we're a "deed restricted" community), basically the Lagoon can do whatever they want, whenever they want. They want to double your stipend? They can do that. They want to annex the community across the street? They can do that too. They can do pretty much anything they want to make them more money.
The CDD is the only authority that can hold the lagoon accountable, and that's a big responsibility. Fortunately Chapter 119 of Florida Statutes says the CDD must provide documents regarding CDD business to the public.
Kai (formerly known as Breeze) is the management company the CDD hired to run everything. It's not official, but pretty much everyone involved in Florida real estate believes Kai is owned by Metro, which makes a lot of sense if you see how Kai operates.
Originally I started a Wordpress website https://southshorebay.info to catalog all the information I was digging up about Southshore Bay. That was too cumbersome, so I tried a Facebook group, but I honestly don’t go on Facebook much, and when I do, I always get distracted.
Back in January, Kai decided either I had already revealed too much, or I was getting too close to discovering something they were hiding (I didn't know why, but those were the most logical possibilities), and so they cut me off from obtaining any more CDD documents. Even though they're legally required to give them to me.
That lead to John Studebaker vs Hidden Creek CDD. Kai eventually gave in and provided the legally required documents, but the judge ruled that the CDD violated Florida Statutes, so I won, though it was mainly moot at that point.
Now I've got three more lawsuits in the hopper, based on the information I finally obtained from my last lawsuit. I guess I was getting too close to discovering something they were hiding after all. Stay tuned to find out what happens.
The docs
County Zoning Remember last year when Susic wasted nearly all the public comment time complaining about apartments, even though the zoning change had nothing to do with apartments? Here's the red line, meaning it's the full zoning document, including changes. Some notable passages: 1.2[k]) says Metro is in charge of policing themselves, but the County reserves the right and authority. The CDD is part of the County, and therefore has authority over Metro. If only we had competent Supervisors who didn't let Metro stay in power. 9) Two neighborhood parks? What are they, invisible? Where are they? 20), yes those giant Metro flags in front of the lagoon are illegal. Thank God our all-star Supervisors are on the case!
August CDD Meeting I'll be honest, I had so many other things going on last meeting, I don't remember if anyone voiced any concerns or not. But I am curious why the CDD wanted to give a bunch of land that could have been used for the tot lot back to Metro. And is kind of odd that all that land is right next to those fancy apartments disclosed this month.
StreetLeaf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I don't know if these are all the contracts or if there's more. But it doesn't really matter. Let's be super generous and say each streetlight cost $3,000, including light, post, installation, and everything else. We have to pay Metro a minimum of $12,000 for that same streetlight. (50x12x20), plus the amount we pay goes UP every year based on the consumer price index. Based on 2024, that means the $12,000 is now $36,000. Yes, Metro obligated Hidden Creek to pay $36,000 to Metro for each $3,000 streetlight. WHY IS NO ONE COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS?
Lawsuit 25-CA-002512 Judgement The judge made it official today. I highlighted the important parts on page two. And now I remember why I told my friend I lost the battle but won the war. This was never about the emails, that was just the excuse for the lawsuit. The Mandamus was denied as moot, but the judge found the CDD violated their duties under Chapter 119. Kai is officially a legally deficient liability to all of us, and next time, she's not going to go so easy on them.
Complete Lawsuit 1 Here is the entire lawsuit, everything that was filed from beginning to end. I called it Lawsuit 1 because I'm pretty sure I'll be filing another one next month.
Rules and Procedures This is basically boiler-plate, but pay attention to 1.1(5), which does not state locations need to be locked in a year in advance (neither does Florida law, by the way), and 4.2(1) that states the CDD can't break a $3,000,000 contract into a dozen pieces for the purpose of getting around bidding requirements (Streetleaf).
Creation of Hidden Creek This is the Hillsborough County Ordinance that created Hidden Creek. Check out Section 4. Any of those names ring a bell? They should, Michael Lawson is Metro's Managing Director of Operations (as of today, 8/16/2025) as well as the Chairman of the Hidden Creek CDD, and Doug Draper is still on the board as well.
Kai Contract Here's our contract with Kai. Fun fact, when I was talking to one of the representatives of a different CDD management company, I told him we were paying Kai $6,000 a month. His reply was "Wow, yea that's a lot." Pay attention to #12. Remember, these are the people who have been saying everything will be done "next month" for six months now, and are directly responsible for Hidden Creek being one of the very few CDDs to be successfully sued by a resident for violating Florida Law.
Gate Cost Sharing Here's where Hidden Creek says we'll pay for 90% of the cost of the gate and the guard, and Metro only has to pay for 10%. Pay attention to #5. Metro's Managing Director of Operations signs a contract with Metro's Chief Executive Officer. Arm's length transaction my ***.
Southshore Bay Club Plan I left my comments directly in this PDF. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, my comments will answer a lot of the questions and complaints I’ve heard about the lagoon. I don't know a single person who would have purchased a home in Southshore Bay if they had read this beforehand. Remember, we're a Deed Restricted community. Part of our Deed says we agree to this.
We need YOU!
Are you able to think for yourself?Are you willing to do research and listen to others?Are you not corrupt?If you answered yes to all of the above, please consider being a candidate for Hidden Creek CDD Supervisor.
Laws change, so these instructions may not be 100%. I'll update them as I find the need.
Seats 1,2, and 5 are up for election in 2026. Seats 3 & 4 are up for election in 2028.
Paperwork and checks MUST be turned in between August 10th and August 28th for the 2026 election.
And of course, you can get full details at Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections.
Fill out DS-DE 84. It says who you are and what seat you're running for. (eg, Hidden Creek CDD Seat x)
Make out a check or Money Order payable to "Supervisor of Elections" for $25.
Take both of them to the Supervisor of Elections Office. The closest one is by the library, 410 30th St. SE, Ruskin, FL 33570.
That's it! You're a candidate, thank you!