"THE GREAT OUTDOORS" LIVING IN A HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION WITH A GOLF COURSE? WOULD THAT BE AN OXYMORON? |
An
Opinion By Jan Bergemann Published June 22, 2010
It
seems that this community in
Considering all these nice surroundings, why is it that owners are selling their homes and can't wait for the day they are moving away -- totally disgusted with the people "running" this community? If you are not familiar with the circumstances, you may ask WHY?
Let's face it: Homeowners' associations and great living are oxymorons -- they just don’t go together. The association system itself already has too many flaws to make it work, but if you add board members and owners with financial interest and a dictatorial community association manager (CAM) into the mix, you have soon a hostile environment, exactly the opposite of what people had hoped for when looking for the "THE GREAT OUTDOORS" living.
As
usual, it's about power and money. According to documents, e-mails,
official complaints and statements from involved parties, the situation in
this community has turned from bad to worse since community association
manager Hiram Keith Lamb ( Here is the DBPR information regarding complaints filed against CAM Hiram Lamb:
CSA board members seem to have their own private financial agenda, considering an amendment that would eliminate even more of the private property rights of the owners.
The PLANNED AMENDMENT has two main issues, combined in one amendment. A. General Common Expenses shall also include the costs of: 1.) Collecting and removing trash and debris 2.) Providing sod lawn mowing, trimming, fertilization, weed and insect control, and irrigation head maintenance and repair on all individual Parcels and Units (That's where the money is!) B. The Association shall have a perpetual non-exclusive easement over all individual Parcels and Units.
Since the board knows that it will be difficult to get the super majority of votes of approval from the members, here goes the scare tactic: "If you don't vote in favor of the amendment we will stop your trash collection!" But that is definitely an empty threat since the Community Services Association (CSA) has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the waste collection company who contracts with the County. Meaning if they would stop collecting the waste, the CSA would breach the existing contract. And the contract can only be canceled by Waste Management, not by CSA! Empty threat, yes, but the board hopes that there are enough gullible owners who would believe nearly everything -- and quickly vote to approve the amendment. The main issue of this amendment: They want to force the owners to pay for their lawn and garden maintenance as a common expense. Never forget, quite a few of the folks in charge have a serious financial interest in enacting this amendment.
Furthermore
the board seems to be determined to buy a building known as the Hospitality
House (aka the Killing House), a pretty run-down building that from
the looks of it would be more expensive to maintain than to buy it. But
the best part of this planned purchase is the explanation of a board
member on the voting for the purchase. Since the purchase would,
according to
Nice quote, but it doesn't fit according to specialized attorneys. In mandatory homeowners’ associations FS 720 governs the corporation. And only if FS 720 is silent on a specific matter, FS 617 kicks in. If you check FS 720, it's really not silent on this matter! But you can always try – can’t you? Especially if private agendas are at stake!
There have been lots of arguments about the COMMUNITY SERVICES ASSOCIATION MEDIA. From “board directors using it to defame members” to “banning members from posting" – all the usual issues are being argued. While in former times videotapes of board meetings were posted on the dedicated cable channel, these tapes are now BANNED, as editing before posting was mandated by Mr. Lamb, the Manager/CAM. The original tapes are now edited before posting to eliminate anything the board doesn’t want heard by members that were not personally at the meeting.
Let's face it, HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION and PEACEFUL COMMUNITY LIVING are OXYMORONS, as proven over and over again. And as usual the war doesn't rage because of restrictions and regulations that were in place when the owners bought their homes, but because of changes board members are trying to force upon the owners.
Another HOA battle that is killing the commonly used argument: "You should have read the governing documents before buying into the community." |