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citrus county

IV4 - How did we get here?

Curtiss Bryant

— 5 min read

On July 25, 2025, South West Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) filed a lawsuit against Citrus County and several other companies owned by Antonius Van Usen. How did Citrus get to this point? Below you will find a complete timeline of Inverness Villages 4 to show the process to this point. Full disclosure... there is A LOT of history here, I may have missed something.

I will come back in a few days after some records requests come back to give a more in-depth story regarding this subdivision in Inverness..

  • 1972 - Continental Land Development - Wanted to create a development in Inverness with a little over 600 homes. It gets them platted and approved by the county. They paid the county $143,600 as a bond to build out the road infrastructure. At the time, this was 110% of the estimated costs to build out the entire road infrastructure. The development agreement stated that if the company failed to build the roads within 48 months, the county would keep the money. If county builds the roads and it is higher than the money paid, Continental would pay the difference.

    Importantly, the (future) roads are dedicated to Citrus County and the County accepted them. Basically, this would be the right of ways for the future roads, whenever they are built.
  • 1978 - Continental defaulted and entered bankruptcy. The cash payment is entreated to the county. County has the ability to use the cash payment to build the roads.
  • 1982 - Bankruptcy trustee sought the return of the cash payment
  • 1986 - County puts cash payment into the County Road and Bridge fund
  • 2001 - MARPAD formed by Peter Groenendijk, Chris Matser and two others
  • 2004 - Chris Matser named President of MARPAD. They begin purchase of vacant lots from the Continental development that was never built out. They buy about 80% of the lots for around $2million
  • 2005 - MARPAD does a replat of the land and county approves
  • 2005 & 2006 - MARPAD took on two loans totaling $5.16 million from Executive Teoranta, LLC (Van Usen) and used the real estate to secure the loans.
  • 2006 - SWFWMD sends notice to MARPAD about violating its permit policy and that MARPAD requires an Environmental Resource Permit (ERP).
  • July 2006 - In a letter, County (Gary Maidhof) acknowledges the need for an ERP from SWFWMD for its right of ways.
  • 2007 - Van Usen forecloses on MARPAD
  • 2008 - Effort to get MSBU to pay for road/stormwater failed. Van Usen owns most of the lots and was opposed.
  • 2009 - Judgement against MARPAD giving Van Usen 370 lots. Van Usen transfers it to DT Villages Eleven.
  • 2009 - Matser forms Van der Valk Construction. The company totals receipts of $850k over the next 10 years to 2020.
  • July 26, 2011 - Master files bankruptcy for Van der Valk
  • October 17, 2011 - DT Villages Eleven (Van Usen) files lawsuit against Citrus County claiming that they are responsible for building out the road infrastructure in IV4
  • October 31, 2012 - Bankruptcy court denies the bankruptcy application under section 727 as it claims Van der Valk failed to disclose information like bank statements, financial transactions, etc.
  • 2013 - County approves MSBU to pave and build drainage system for the northern section of IV4. Cost is around $12k per lot. County uses the funds from 1972 (and approximately $1.7 million in interest) to buy down the cost of the MSBU. This covers approximately 41 homes in the northern section.
  • December 22, 2016 - Final ruling from the 2011 lawsuit. The judge rules that Citrus County owns the right of ways and can decide when to build roads/stormwater and how to pay for them. The court does not rule that the county is on the hook for paying for the roads based on the agreement from 1972. The ruling is clear that the county does own the right of way and thus, the ability to build roads, when/if it chooses to do so.
  • 2019 - City of Inverness provides water services to IV4
  • 2020 - Van der Valk Construction begins work in southern section of IV4
  • September 2021 - SWFWMD sends letter to Van der Valk for failure to obtain permits, including ERP
  • November 7, 2022 - At BOCC meeting, Randy Oliver (county administrator at the time) states: "SWFWMD wont let anyone touch the roads without an ERP" when asked if the county to do something to address the road conditions
  • December 2022 - Citrus County votes for an engineering study to get a price for a MSBU if they were to build the roads and drainage system. Cost to tax payers is $35,000. Can be included in a future MSBU if one is created to recoup the tax dollars.
  • April 25, 2023 - County issues a stop permit order for IV4. This stops all construction that is currently permitted and stops new permits from being issued.
  • July 11, 2023 - County extends the permit stop in IV4
  • September 2023 - Matser and others are cited for gopher tortoise infractions by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)
  • September 2023 - SWFWMD observed construction in IV4 and discharge of stormwater into other areas at lower elevations into wetlands abutting 41.
  • October 10, 2023 - County extends the permit stop in IV4
  • November 9, 2023 - County meets with IV4 residents to discuss the engineering study. They are told it will be roughly $34million and cost around $109,000 per lot.
  • November 2023 - Department of Environmental Protection files lawsuit against Van der Valk for lack of permits and stormwater issues. DEP says they had site visits in September 2022, April 2023, and July 2023 showing that there were 96 lots currently under construction without proper permits
  • January 2024 - County votes to send a letter to Ashley Moody to investigate an organized scheme to defraud
  • January 9, 2024 - County extends permit stop in 2024
  • Feb 6, 2024 - County votes to stop all construction in IV4
  • Feb 13, 2024 - Steve Howard claims that his staff is unable to stop work construction due to state laws.
  • April 9, 2024 - An emergency ordinance is floated by BOCC which would require each lot to have its own stormwater system if any improvements are done to that lot or an increase of impervious surface. For instance, adding a shed would require that lot owner to install a stormwater storage system on their lot. It fails 3-2 (needs 4 commissioners to approve)
  • April 9, 2024 - County extends permit hold to April 24th.
  • April 23, 2024 - Public hearing on the previous ordinance from April 9th. It also fails 2-3.
  • May 10, 2024 - USPS stops mail delivery to individual homes. They will place a community mail box at the development.
  • November 7, 2024 - BOCC denies another engineering study to come up with alternative options to address IV4. County states they do not have enough bonding capacity to do the project even if they wanted to force the MSBU.
  • February 28, 2025 - Citrus County Fire Rescue truck gets stuck in IV4 after responding to a call.
  • April 30, 2025 - Van der Valk files for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Cites county policy among other things for a decline in revenue and increasing expenses. They claim to have over $1 million in liabilities and less than $100,000 in assets.
  • July 26, 2025 - Van der Valk proposes its reorganization plan in bankruptcy court. Will pay creditors over 36 months via $3,600 per month payments funded from operations. Annual payments from litigation proceeds that are overseen by court appointed trustee. Administrative fees paid in full before creditors. Liquidation plan for the outstanding $546,205 to creditors, who may see 29 cents on the dollar.
  • June 27, 2025 - SWFWMD files lawsuit, naming Citrus County, Van der Valk and several entities owned by Van Usen as defendants. They claim the defendants are in violation of SWFWMD ordinances and lack required permits (including an ERP).

That is pretty much where we are at the moment. I will have more details as soon as some public records come back and I get a better look at the happenings behind the scenes. Stay tuned!

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