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Article
Courtesy of Sun Sentinel
By
Patty Pensa
Published December 19, 2004
It's
been six months since the Aberdeen Golf & Country Club made memberships
mandatory, but the change hasn't won favor from some residents prepared to
take the association to court.
The community west of Boynton Beach is one in a string of country clubs that
has fought the same battle against dwindling membership and changing
lifestyles. Attorneys representing eight Aberdeen residents and the property
owners association have been talking about compromise, but the prospect of
such is uncertain.
"We're trying to see if we can resolve this," said attorney Guy Shir,
representing the homeowners. Before homeowners voted in June to make club
membership mandatory for new homeowners, the association's board decided to
split the 2,200-home community into eastern and western voting districts. The
community spreads east and west of Jog Road, with clubhouses on each side.
Splitting the communities was done to ensure mandatory membership would pass,
Shir said. The change passed by less than 20 votes. Shir said he also plans to
argue some residents were misled about the vote.
Along with imposing membership on homebuyers, new rules say members can't
cancel their memberships until they turn 80 or get sick. About 50 members
dropped their memberships before the rules went into effect last month.
"You know, this is ridiculous. I don't want to be held hostage here until
I'm 80," said Paul Alongi, 75, who canceled his membership recently.
"The problem is people are getting older and can't participate. It's not
attractive enough, this type of lifestyle, for younger people."
Opponents of mandatory membership say it makes it harder for them to sell
their homes. Condominiums sell for more than $200,000 and estate homes sell
for about $700,000.
Attorney David A. Core, representing the property owners association, said
even if it is harder to sell, the amendments passed are still valid.
Making membership mandatory was the association's way of addressing an
economic reality, Core said. With new communities offering amenities without
the added price, country clubs throughout Palm Beach County have been
struggling to survive.
Jack Morgan, one of the Shir's clients, said he would rather see the issue
settled out of court but is prepared to go to trial. He is president of the
Aberdeen-based group Concerned Residents Against Mandatory Membership, which
meets to discuss the issue.
Morgan, living in the community's only family subdivision, said he would be
hard-pressed to find a retiree interested in golf to move into his
five-bedroom, two-story home.
Residents on the east side of Jog, though, are not restricted to selling only
to incoming members.
"We're well aware this was divide and conquer," he said.
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