The Board met on March 28, 2019 and for those residents unable to attend, here is an unofficial recap of the meeting. The official minutes will be approved at the next meeting and made available on this site.
Quorum was established, proper posting of meeting notice was verified and minutes of the 2/28/19 meeting were approved.
7 Owners spoke in the open forum. Topics were sealing driveways, entrance gate, comments made on social media sites, midges, using Facebook for communication, parking, and violation letters.
The President’s report noted the following:
- The Management Company has been asked to dial up letters on violations. A violation letter serves as a warning and an opportunity for the resident to correct the violation. Some residents make a decision to ignore the warning and that is their choice, but that is when the violation gets escalated. If residents take care of the issue when they get the first letter, it does not get escalated. No one is being targeted and that the Board is required by our documents to enforce the rules.
- Some past due accounts have been referred to the attorney and another option that the Board has for past due accounts is to escalate future dues.
- There are currently 3 bills in the Florida state legislature that, if passed, would allow short term rentals, despite our documents prohibiting them.
The Treasurer’s Report noted that retained revenue YTD through 2/28/19 was $39,209.15. Operating expenses were under budget by $33,885.98 for the period. 39 accounts were past due on 2/28/19, with total past due amount $7160.38. Efforts are being made by Greenacre to collect the past due amounts.
The Management report from Greenacre noted that 3 units are in the status where they could be fined for violations. The Board approved the fines, and owners will have the opportunity to appear before the CEC, where fines will either be imposed or rejected. Community Manager noted that she has scheduled a walk with the chairman of the Grounds Committee to look at dead and dying shrubbery and grass and list areas that need attention.
The Spirit Committee reported plans for a “Meet the Candidates” social on 4/11, a Mothers’ Day “Muffins for Mom” and a Fathers’ Day “Donuts for Dads” event. They are also looking to facilitate an “after dinner walkers” group and a group to play games. They are planning to do a survey on a garage sale in the fall.
The Grounds Committee reported that all parking spaces have now been marked as either Resident or Guest, with one for mail. They are in the process of installing perimeter fence post caps that were lost in the storm last year and the PVC fences at the lift station and irrigation well have been pressure washed. They noted that the pond company is treating the ponds for algae and invasive plants, is getting the Brazilian pepper and Cogon grass under control on the east side of the big pond behind Fox Sparrow, and has planted about 75 cypress trees in the mitigation area.
ARC Applications were reviewed and approved or denied.
It was noted that we are still awaiting information on progress of a solution to deal with the water retention situation on Fox Sparrow.
It was noted that the Westchase CDD is still treating the lake in an effort to resolve the midge issue at the South end of the community, but may need to step it up and may also need to deal with standing water near their mitigation area southwest of Crowned Sparrow.
A security camera/video access policy was reviewed and approved.
It was noted that the front gate has been repaired and is currently working; however, the gate vendor has advised that the loops are failing and will need to be replaced.
It was noted that the towing company will be coming through on a more regular basis to enforce the parking rules.
Two proposed amendments to the Declaration, one regarding towing and one regarding leasing of units were presented and approved. These will be mailed to owners for voting at the 4/25/19 Membership meeting. A third proposed amendment will be reviewed by our attorney, and the Board will hold a special meeting to determine if it will be on the ballot for the 4/25 meeting. The Board plans to meet sometime after the election to begin the process of updating the Community Standards, which are currently longer than the Declaration and conflict with it in some aspects.
Quotes for a sign detailing the proper use of the parking space for mail, for the annual inspection of the fire hydrants, for cleaning the gutters on some of the buildings, for soft washing some of the buildings, for pressure washing common areas in the fall, and to cap the irrigation at the trees on Fox Sparrow and extend the irrigation line to the monument on Sheldon were approved. A quote from the landscaper to remove the rocks in the drainage areas next to the sidewalks and replace them with grass was presented and tabled.
A proposal from an attorney to handle collections on a contingency basis was approved. Attorney will not bill the Association for fees until payment is received from the delinquent account owner.
Marking of parking spaces with numbers to make it easier to identify the spaces where vehicles in violation are parked was discussed and tabled.
Options to control speeding inside the gate were discussed. These include speed humps, speed bumps, electronic monitoring, off-duty law enforcement patrol and more stop signs, none of which are appealing and all of which are expensive. Residents are reminded that the speed limit inside the gate is 15MPH and asked to inform their guests of this also.
The process for Board approval of fines for violations was discussed, as the current process is lengthy. This was tabled, pending more research on the actual requirements in our documents.
The Code of Conduct was discussed in reference to posts on social media.
Pets off leash inside the gate and under the TECO lines were discussed. Residents are reminded that our documents prohibit pets being off leash, both inside and outside the gate.
Email and website communication channels were discussed. A link from the website to the Owner portal on the Greenacre website is to be added.
Next regular meeting will be the annual Membership meeting and election on April 25, 2019 at the Maureen B. Gauzza Library.
