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Two new rules snag restrictions Voting members representing the community's villages defeat deed restriction revisions, then come up with a couple of fixes to submit to residents for their okay. |
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Article Courtesy of The St. Petersburg Times By
STEPHANIE HAYES WESTCHASE - The embattled package of revised deed restrictions was shot down on the front lines. Westchase voting members, representatives of the community's 29 villages, voted "no" on the changes at a meeting Tuesday night, setting the revision process back a few steps. Since March 2005, a small subcommittee has been retooling the rules in order to take out references to the community's developer, change outdated rules and add new ones. Most of the changes went uncontested. Two items caught some negative attention. * One: a change to the "guideline on guidelines" - a proposal that would have made it possible for as few as 11 people to change visual details on properties like what size and color of fence to allow.* Two: a catchall phrase that would have prohibited anything not already specified in the deed restrictions. It was intended to prevent the thinking, "because it's not prohibited in the deed restrictions, I can do it," said Ruben Collazo, chairman of the deed restriction committee.The proposals fired up some homeowners, who protested or started e-mail campaigns calling attention to the items. When homeowners were polled about the proposed changes in May, only a quarter responded. Most of them voted "no." Voting members had to reflect those votes Tuesday. Some blamed the failure on confusion. Some accused the community's newsmagazine of misinforming residents. Others said bad press hampered the process and swayed opinions. "There is a PR problem in this neighborhood," said Mary Young of the Village Green. Blame aside, the "no" vote changed the emphasis to getting results, and getting them fast. "We've already spent in excess of a year trying to get through this process," said Westchase's president, Daryl Manning. "Just imagine, if you all sit here and discuss this for weeks and months, there will never be any changes." Collazo passed out a list of alternate suggestions for the problem areas. The proposals, which representatives approved, upped the percentage of homeowner votes needed to change aesthetic guidelines. It also deleted the catchall clause that gave some people pause. The new proposal also specifies that homeowners must be notified of meetings via the community newsmagazine and Web site. "I think this group has made some major changes," said Ernie Sylvester, one of the homeowners who protested the initial proposal. "I think they're all positive changes." Westchase's property manager will send out new polling cards to residents by the end of the month. They'll then have 30 days to respond before the voting members can vote again on the entire package of changes. ALSO IN WESTCHASE: Business owners have not been tickled with recent rumblings about a new tax formula - it could mean more dollar signs for them. For months, Westchase's community development district supervisors have considered updating the formula they use to levy taxes. Residents and business owners pay annual taxes to the CDDs to maintain things like landscaping, signs, fountains and fences The CDDs' management firm presented a proposal in February that could increase business owner fees by about 8 percent. Business owners balked, and the districts' management firm hired Wharton Berger of Orlando's Fishkind & Associates to come up with an alterative. At Tuesday's CDD meeting, Berger presented a method that would just raise assessments for people living in multifamily units, sparing single-family home and business owners. The CDDs directed Berger to go back and tweak the proposal. Board members will pick a method at the August meeting. At that time, the CDDs will also approve their annual budget, and everyone will know what to expect on their tax bill. |
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