Covenants Committee provides alternatives

Covenants Committee was tasked with reviewing our Covenants and recommending alternatives.  These alternatives are to be reviewed and voted upon by special Membership meetings and the final document, after legal review, would be submitted to the full Membership next year for an up-or-down vote.  After four two-hour meetings, the Committee has a document ready for special Membership meetings to review.  The changes are complex, and at least two special Membership meetings will be required to properly vote on which changes to include in new Covenants.

Arrangements are being made for the special Membership meetings, and all Members will be notified of the location, date, and time when those are settled.  The seven-page document lists current requirements and provides several alternatives to each, or the original could be kept unchanged.  Opinions differ on these alternatives, so good working Membership meetings will be needed to reach the final copy to be legally reviewed and submitted to the full Membership for an up-or-down vote next year.

The Covenants Committee consists of Bruce Gordon, Frank D., Mel Lauria, Rick Noe, Rob Prinzing, Dean Smith and Don Williams.

Bruce Gordon, Chair   brugor@mac.com   502-370-5240

Parks & Recreation upgrading Playground

The Parks and Recreation Committee met on May 10th.  They approved improvements to the Mallard Point entrance, including painting the bridge.  New flags are available when the present set bleaches out.  We are close enough to final settlement with our Developers over ownership of our parks areas, so we want to upgrade our playground equipment.

Given a reasonably good budget, what would YOU like in our playground?  You, as homeowners, can do your bit by researching exactly what you would recommend, and telling us where to get it and how much it would probably cost.  If you wanted to go beyond simple replacement of the playground equipment, what would you like to do?  We are already working on solutions to thorough repair of our tennis courts.

Note that the 4th of July fireworks will be held at dusk at the main dam on July 7th.  This is a good time to hold yard parties or block parties to meet your neighbors and enjoy the fireworks.

The Lame Duck Try-Athlon will be held on July 28th.  The Lame Duck is the biggest event of the year, and lots of volunteers will be needed.  It starts early in the morning and is about over around noon.

Bruce Gordon   502-370-5240

Covenants Committee met April 12th

Our Homeowners meeting on April 9th directed that a Covenants Committee be formed which would develop options for changing our Covenants and By-Laws.  These options will be presented to a special Membership meeting (to be announced later this year) to choose which of the options to accept.  The final draft would be presented at the 2013 Homeowners meeting for an up-or-down vote.

The first step of this process is under way.  Five members of the Committee met on Thursday, April 12th and devoted two hours to selecting options to change our Covenants.  The five members were:  Bruce Gordon, Rob Prinzing, Dean Smith, Mel Laurila, and Don Williams.  

Each requirement evoked a healthy exchange of views, and about one-fifth of the Covenants were reviewed.  The next meeting is set for April 26th.

Bruce Gordon  brugor@mac.com

Covenants and Bylaws

On Feb. 25, 2012, our Board of Directors discussed revisions to our Covenants and Bylaws.  Two years ago our Covenants Committee made recommendations, but action was delayed because of our ongoing legal issues with our Developers.  Changes had to wait until the legal status of various lands was settled.

Our Covenants are outdated and ineffective, and everyone agrees that changes must be made.  Even the small Covenants Committee could not reach agreement on some issues.  Revising the Covenants will be a difficult and contentious task, and we need a method to accomplish it effectively.

The Board of Directors agreed that we will distribute a condensed version of our existing Covenants at our April 2012 Homeowners meeting, as a baseline for discussions.  The Covenants Committee will then write a document which has the existing wording and provide several alternatives to handle the issue.  A special meeting of the membership will then be called to decide which of the options to put before the annual meeting.  The revisions to this document will then be given to legal counsel to review for legal implications and wording.

The 2013 annual meeting will then be presented with the revised document for an up or down vote, without revisiting all the issues.  51% of the eligible votes must be cast in favor for the revisions to pass.

Negotiations with the Developer

Our President, Eric Freeman, reported to the Board of Directors on Feb 25, 2012 that negotiations with the Developer are close to reaching a successful conclusion.  Derran Broyles (our BOD member) went to formal mediation with the Developer with full authority to act.  The Developer wanted the entire BOD to be present, which was impossible because Eric was out of town opening a plant for Toyota and other BOD members were also working.  The Developer broke off the mediation and the case went to court.  

The judge agreed with our position and was ready to issue a ruling granting our demands, but allowed time for the two sides to draw up an agreement.  We went back into negotiations with the Developer, but this time they were on notice that the judge was likely to agree with our positions.

The Developer effectively has no money to pay their approximately $136,000 in back dues, but they will pay $5,000 toward our attorney's fees.  They will convey to us 30 unbuildable lots that will be kept as green space.  A ten acre area near Black Duck and Widgeon Way (where we have our Halloween Costume Contests) will be deeded to us for use as a future recreation area.  The lakes, parks, tennis court, and basketball areas will be deeded to us.  The Developer retains title to about 50 buildable lots, and will not pay dues on them until each lot is sold.  As each lot is sold, back dues will be collected as part of the sale.  

There are few issues left to resolve.  One is our demand that there be a "Sunset Clause" on the lots remaining for the Developer to sell.  We will give them 15 years to sell the lots, or the lots become our property.  While these lots remain unsold, they are not producing income that our Homeowners Association needs for our activities.  We say that 15 years is long enough for the Developers to sell the properties if they really want to, and the lots should not remain in limbo indefinitely.  

The court case is not yet closed, but we are very close and can proceed with our plans for the future.