Article Courtesy of the Sun Sentinel

By Tal Abbady 
Posted March 3, 2004 

In the midst of a fray over mandatory club membership, Boca Lago residents are bracing themselves for a vote this month that could transform their community as it has dozens of others in South Florida.

They will determine whether the 1,700-home community west of Boca Raton will impose a mandatory club fee on all incoming buyers. The same concerns over property values and board-driven agendas have roused residents there, as they recently have in other communities, including Boca West, Stonebridge, Bocaire and Broken Sound.

Community leaders say the roughly 30-year-old development's country club is suffering from dwindling memberships as aging golfers drop out, the club's upkeep is at risk and property values are threatened. About 950 of the 1,700 families are members.

Residents, many of whom are retirees whose life savings are wrapped up in their homes, say the equity is an imposition that would make it difficult to sell at a profit. For some, house profits were expected to someday be used for medical expenses or assisted-living facilities.

Art Jacobson, 66, has started a campaign opposing the effort. "We'd like to be able to sell our homes when we want and to whom we want," said Jacobson, who teaches marketing at Northwood University.

About 150 members have joined the committee's ranks, he said.

"This is not where rich people live," he said of the community near Lyons and West Palmetto Park roads, noting that residents of more affluent communities such as Boca West or Broken Sound might better be able to absorb the costs of mandatory membership.

Residents say they are galled by the fact that most of the board members of the community's Property Owners Association, which is heavily involved in implementing the vote, are members of the country club.

"The fact is, everybody's concern is the same -- the value of their homes. Our homes are our lifestyles, and if this passes we'll be one of the hottest properties in Palm Beach County," said Bob Schulman, who is on the board of directors and head of Boca Lago's mandatory-membership committee. Schulman has lived in Boca Lago for 25 years.

Unlike the one-time $40,000 fee imposed by Boca West, Schulman said, Boca Lago has several levels of membership buyers can choose from, all payable over a period of five years.

Buyers can choose a "social" membership, which requires a $1,000 down payment and another $5,000 in a five-year period. On the other end, they can opt for an $18,000 golf club membership for an initial payment of $6,000.

"People say, `I want freedom.' OK, if this does not pass, the trend will continue. Aging members will continue to drop out and the amenities will decline. ... All we're saying is don't let us die. Bring us new members," he said.

Resident Joel Friedman, however, says the Property Owners Association's effort to organize the vote and campaign heavily for conversion amounts to imposing its will on hundreds who don't want to live in a mandatory membership community.

He also objects to some of the tactics used in the campaign. In a letter recently mailed to residents, a homeowner claiming to be a retiree from Long Island, N.Y., and who uses the name Al Goldstein, warns that without mandatory membership home values may drop 30 percent.

"What's the alternative?" the chatty letter reads. "If the club goes down, the Property Owners Association may assess me to pay for curing the ugliness of our surroundings that may happen [compared to the beauty we all share now at the Club's expense].

"Al Goldstein is a pen name, for personal reasons," are the closing words.

Friedman has filed a complaint with the Division of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums and Mobile Homes, but investigators declined to discuss the case.

"There should be other alternatives," said Friedman, 59. He has lived in Boca Lago for more than four years and was a country club member until August.

"I would like to have a community effort where members and nonmembers figure something out that makes sense and benefits the whole community," he said.

Boca Lago residents opposed to mandatory membership will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Olympic Heights High School cafeteria, 20101 Lyons Road, west of Boca Raton.