Alaqua residents are teed off

Article Courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel

By Rene Stutzman 
Posted June 4, 2003 

LONGWOOD -- Behind the guardhouse and gates at Alaqua, one the most prestigious addresses in Central Florida, there is trouble.

Someone called and threatened Ginger Wulff's children and put nails in her tires.
 

Shirley Bakos called Seminole County deputies after someone vandalized the fountain in her yard and tossed screws in her driveway, hoping to gouge her car tires.

Wulff and Bakos are on opposite sides of an ugly neighborhood dispute that has divided this high-end golf community.

Residents voted last week to nearly double their monthly property owner association fees, raising them $200 a month to $433.
 

Jack Kress, golf course superintendent, mows the grass on the 7th fairway Tuesday. The club is having financial problems and imposed a bigger fee on homeowners.
Every penny of the new assessment will go to the Alaqua Country Club, the gorgeous 18-hole course designed by golfing legend Gary Player that sits at the heart of this community.

The club is more than $2.5 million in debt and struggling to survive. Without the new assessment, it would have shut its doors mid-June, said Luke Fichthorn III, club president and chairman of Bairnco Corp., a Maitland producer of electronics and industry products.
 

The higher fees were approved by two-thirds of the community's residents, but three homeowners have filed a lawsuit, claiming the property owners association rammed through the vote in violation of its own bylaws. They're asking a judge to throw out the new assessment.

Larry Glickman, an association attorney, said his client did nothing improper.

David Burman, who manages the property owners association, called the situation "a disaster."

"It's really divided the community," he said.
 

Lots of natural woods in the development offer shelter to a herd of deer. A fawn looks up inquiringly from its grazing Tuesday. Large homes line the area around Alaqua Country Club, but the community has a lot of wildlife as well, including wild turkeys that stop traffic on the streets.
Club members get credit

One of the things most galling to opponents is that club members, in effect, don't have to pay the new fee. They have to write the check, but the country club will give them a $200-a-month credit.

"I think what we're doing is subsidizing [the club] for the people who play golf," said Allen Echols, an Alaqua resident who opposed the assessment.
 

The lawsuit was filed by Frank Bakos, the husband of Shirley Bakos, who reported the vandalism; Allen Bryan and L. Scott Harris. None would agree to an interview.

The new assessment, effective since Monday, pushes the Alaqua fee far above that of most other golf-course communities. In Isleworth, the monthly homeowners' association fee is $400. In Alaqua Lakes, it's $175. In Bay Hill, it's $33.

Roughly one-third of Alaqua's homeowners voted against the increase.
 

Edward Ackerman (left), a member of Alaqua’s golf club, and Bill Underwood, director of golf at the club, practice on the driving range.
Proponents and opponents alike say Alaqua is a beautiful place to live. It backs up to lush woodlands that protect the Little Wekiva River. Deer graze across its lawns and fairways, and wild turkeys hold up traffic as they saunter across its streets.

"It's a great neighborhood, a great place for the kids to grow up," said resident Rick Joyce, chief executive officer of Dixon Ticonderoga Co., the pencil manufacturer. He supported the higher fee.

Homes there generally sell for $600,000 to $3 million.

"As a homeowner, I'm extremely excited about this," said Craig Ratick, a member of the country club's board of directors.
 

Club members get credit

One of the things most galling to opponents is that club members, in effect, don't have to pay the new fee. They have to write the check, but the country club will give them a $200-a-month credit.

"I think what we're doing is subsidizing [the club] for the people who play golf," said Allen Echols, an Alaqua resident who opposed the assessment.

The lawsuit was filed by Frank Bakos, the husband of Shirley Bakos, who reported the vandalism; Allen Bryan and L. Scott Harris. None would agree to an interview.

The new assessment, effective since Monday, pushes the Alaqua fee far above that of most other golf-course communities. 
 

Homeowner dues
Monthly association fees at Central Florida's more upscale country-club communities: 
  • Alaqua: $433* 
  • Alaqua Lakes: $175 
  • Bay Hill: $33 
  • Heathrow: $135-$300
  • Isleworth: $400 
  • Lake Nona: $295 
* $233 before new assessment. 
SOURCE: Respective homeowner associations 
In Isleworth, the monthly homeowners' association fee is $400. In Alaqua Lakes, it's $175. In Bay Hill, it's $33.

Roughly one-third of Alaqua's homeowners voted against the increase.

Proponents and opponents alike say Alaqua is a beautiful place to live. It backs up to lush woodlands that protect the Little Wekiva River. Deer graze across its lawns and fairways, and wild turkeys hold up traffic as they saunter across its streets.

"It's a great neighborhood, a great place for the kids to grow up," said resident Rick Joyce, chief executive officer of Dixon Ticonderoga Co., the pencil manufacturer. He supported the higher fee.

Homes there generally sell for $600,000 to $3 million.

"As a homeowner, I'm extremely excited about this," said Craig Ratick, a member of the country club's board of directors.

Club has history of problems

Alaqua's country club, one of many in Central Florida struggling financially, has a long history of money problems. It was a money loser when community developer Westbury Alaqua Inc. sold it to members in the mid-1990s, and things have only gotten worse.

Since 1999, the club has been sued six times over unpaid debts, according to court records. The plaintiffs include a roofer, two golf merchandisers, a seafood wholesaler and the Seminole County tax collector. Each of those suits was settled.

Currently, there are at least two liens pending against the club, one from the company that cleaned its swimming pool, the other by its own property owners association, which says the club is more than $10,000 behind on its monthly payments.

Club members tried to solve some of the debt problems two years ago by raising the equity membership fee from $30,000 to $45,000. That cost them several members, including Echols.

"I liked the club, and I enjoyed using the club, but it just got to the point where it was actually being run by a few select people in the community," he said.

The club also drew criticism when it opened the course to outsiders.

This spring, its members put it up for sale. Three brokers shopped it to prospective buyers, but it didn't get a single credible offer.

Fichthorn, club president, has kept it alive for months, personally underwriting two mortgages worth $2.6 million just this spring, according to county land records.

The new assessment will help the club open a new $500,000 line of credit and produce revenues that should make it viable, Fichthorn said.

Wulff, the woman whose children were threatened, is the developer's local manager. She pushed for the higher assessment. The deal, she said this week, is a "win-win" for everyone.

Residents will get something for their additional $200: Access to the club, including its pool, tennis courts, meeting rooms, and a round of golf each month. And, she said, "We think it's going to be much easier to sell our lots."

There are a dozen that are unsold in the 220-lot subdivision.

An economic study done recently for the community found that nearly half of the Alaqua homeowners who sold in the past 15 years lost money. One of the reasons, according to the report, was the country club's money problems.

Other clubs losing money

Other Central Florida golf courses are losing money. The Deer Run Golf and Country Club, also in Seminole County, went out of business and shut down last year before being rescued. Sweetwater Highlands Golf & Country Club of Longwood recently underwent a $3 million upgrade, designed to attract new golfers and keep it afloat.

Ed Bignon owns Magnolia Plantation Golf Club, a course at the heart of a gated community just two miles up the road from Alaqua. His course is struggling financially, he said.

"The whole state is overbuilt -- not in every county or town -- but for the most part, it's the worst place in the U.S. to be in the golf business right now," he said. "It's a tough market."

HOA ARTICLES HOME