Board Meeting - June 8, 2006
127 Evergreen Drive
Auburndale, FL 33823
The meeting was called
toorder at 7:05 P.M. In
attendancewere Brian Starr, Scott Munroe, Ty Baden and Michael
Wasnorowicz. Also present were
Susan Whitney, DianeThyben, Jack Simms, Terri Sigismondi and Bill Wallace.
It was noted that all
theboard members present had read the minutes from the last meeting. Brian Starr made a motion to approvethe
minutes of the last board meeting. Ty Baden seconded the motion. All board the
board members voted yes and the minutes were approved.
It was noted that Tim
Robbinshad repaired the sprinkler system and the city of Auburndale was paying
for therepair.
It was noted that there
arestill people speeding in the neighborhood in spite of the speed limit sign
thatwas installed last month. It
wasalso noted that there might be an unlicensed driver in the neighborhood. It was pointed out that unless awitness
to this speeding or driving without a license comes forward and iswilling to
attest to these activities, the board couldnÕt do much. The installation of speed bumps
and/orhumps was discussed as a deterrent to speeding. The board agreed that a majority vote of the members wouldbe
solicited before any speed bumps were installed. Jack Simms raised the issue of keeping the gates closed
24/7as a way of slowing down people going through the gates. It was pointed out that the gates
wereprogrammed to be open during the time that the school kids went to school
andreturned from school to discourage the practice of gate riding. It was decided that the gates would
beprogrammed closed 24/7 until school resumed session in August. Mike Wasnorowicz pointed out that
thiswould be a temporary solution at best and that once the gates were
programmedto be open for the school kids, the speeding problem would be no
different thanit is today.
The agenda item
concerningplanters and urns was addressed. The question was raised,
ÓIs there a difference between planters/urns and
lawnornamentsÓ? It was noted
thatArticle V, section 14 of the declaration, does not specifically
forbidplanters. It was also noted
thataccording to the by-laws, it is the responsibility of the board to
interpretthe declaration, including section 14, as it sees fit as long as
thatinterpretation is in the best interest of the community. In the past, the board has
interpretedsection 14 as meaning that any artificial item, regardless of
purpose, was inviolation of section 14.
The boardcontends that by allowing one exception to section 14, they
must allow allexceptions.
After muchdiscussion, the board declared a moratorium on the planters
and urns issue. For now, the board
decided they wouldallow planters as long as they contained living plants.
Susan Whitney told the
boardthat instead of focusing on planters and urns etc., the board should look
atthe bigger picture of diminishing property values. She stated that one recently sold property appraised at$100,000
less than market value and that another property was at least $20,000less. She went on to say that thereason for
the decline in the values of these properties was the condition ofsome of the
surrounding properties.
Agenda item #5, Òreviewingthe
declaration concerning the new landscaping and discuss the policy of theHOAÓ
was addressed. After
alengthy discussion, the board decided that it needed to get the
architecturalcommittee more involved in the business of the HOA. It was also decided that the board
would survey eachproperty in the community and send violation letters to each
member who was inviolation of the declaration including unapproved landscaping
projects thatwere not and had not been approved by the board. It was decided to take a photograph of
each property andnote the date taken as a way of zero-basing each
property. A letter would
need to be sent toevery member notifying them of this survey.
Agenda item #6,
establishingfines, was discussed.
It was notedthat per Chapter 720 of the Florida State Statutes, fines
could not exceed $100per occurrence and if fined daily, the fine could not
exceed $1000aggregate. It was
further notedthat a violator must be given an opportunity to appear before an
arbitrationcommittee before the fine could be assessed. After a lengthy discussion, Ty Baden
made a motion toestablish a fine in the amount of $100 per violation per day
with a limit of$1000 total for each violation. Brian Starr seconded the motion.
Every board member voted yes and the motion was passed.
Agenda item #7, themembership
of the architectural and arbitration committees was reviewed. It was noted that Jack Simms and
JulieFlowerdew had volunteered for the arbitration committee. The board appointed them to that
committee.It was noted that Jose Arroyo was already a member of the
arbitrationcommittee. Kevin
Gervase wasappointed to the architectural committee. It was noted that more
members were needed for these committees.
The board asked for volunteers for thearchitectural committee from the
attendees without success. Jack
Simms made a comment that perhapsthe attendees could solicit their neighbors
for these committees.
Agenda item #8, the dog
poopin the common areas, was discussed. It was noted that all of the retention
ponds,including the one on Evergreen, are also common areas and that dog poop
must becleaned up immediately when deposited there. It was decided that a $100 fine would be assessed for
eachincident of a pet defecating in any common area should the pet owner
notimmediately clean up the defecation. The issue of enforceability still
remains.
New violations
werediscussed. It was noted that
thereis a dog statue at 110 Shaddock. It was also noted that the lawn at 112
Shaddock needed mowing. It
was stated that letters neededto be sent to those members.
The meeting was opened to
newbusiness. Diane ThybenÕs
stormdoor was discussed. It was
notedthat she had the door installed without the approval of the board. The board approved the door, after
thefact, providing that the storm door be painted to match the front door
and/orhouse. It was argued that
the doorcould not be painted.
The issueof storm door(s) was tabled to a future meeting.
Brian Starr made a motion
toadjourn the meeting. Scott
Munroeseconded the motion. All
voted yesand the meeting was adjourned at 9:30PM.