January 9, 2004

TO: DBPR TASK FORCE ON HOMEOWNERS’ ASSOCIATIONS

DEAR MEMBERS,

Thank you for the opportunity to address you today.

My name is Robert Crapo I reside in plantation Oaks a subdivision located in south Jacksonville Beach.  I was one of the first homeowners to join our voluntary association. Over the past ten years things have been quietly changing unbeknown to me.  I agreed to participate as a voluntary member as long as the neighbors that did not want to participate where not harassed or penalized (liens or foreclosures) for not joining. I received a letter from the board stating that the homeowners who had not paid their dues where getting one last chance to do so before the board took legal action (liens) against them.  I contacted the board and told them the association when formed ten years ago was voluntary  Their reply was that the association was mandatory. 

I turned to local officials and could not get help. I searched the Internet and found Cyber Citizens For Justice. Members of this organization provided me with the necessary insight and help, pointing me to the Florida Statutes regulating homeowners' associations. When I addressed these facts in a letter to the board one neighbor put up derogatory signs mocking my family name.  Other board members completely ignored me or turned their faces away when I passed them.  These board members are lawyers, schoolteachers and real estate agents.  The board members called a meeting in October of 2003, the flyer announcing the meeting stated the date, time, and place of the meeting, and the flyer stated that the agenda would be given to the people who attended. The agenda once attending the meeting was to elect new board members, and then to install a sprinkler system outside the subdivision, and to replace the perimeter fence, last but not least to discuss legal matters.  

The meeting was called to order with twelve homeowners present, including the board members.  There are seventy homeowners in our subdivision.  They held elections that re-elected them to the board for the next year.  They discussed paying for a sprinkler system to be installed outside the subdivision running 2300 linear feet. The board members are looking into prices. Even although some of the homeowners at the meeting disagreed.  The perimeter fence belongs to the homeowners who live on the perimeter, myself included.  The fence they want to replace is on private property. Once again, they are going forward inquiring about pricing.  When it came to discussing legal matters, the board members stated the association was mandatory.  

A very heated discussion followed, during the discussion, an employee of American Heritage (builder/board member) stated that if this is not a mandatory association then he will hire a corporation to operate the association and that we (the homeowners) would really see what could be done to us. 

I have since officially notified the board via certified letter canceling my voluntary membership.  Without  this voluntary help these people would be doing whatever they wanted including taking down my fence, on my property.  We need an agency that homeowners can go to for help and protection to make sure that these voluntary and mandatory associations know their limits and boundaries.  No one should lose their home because of legal fees imposed by these corporations.