I attended the community meeting on 9/1/15 and found it to be very informative. Roy Thornton explained the nature of the current road project and the reasons behind the cost increases. All of the Board’s plans were presented in a complete and understandable manner. My understanding is that the meeting information will be posted to the web site at some point. When that happens, I encourage everybody to read it; especially because it will contain a little more detail than the paper that was posted to the web site on August 19th; which can be found here:  Improvement Plan Report

Since all the information presented at Tuesday’s meeting will be posted to the POA web site, I don’t wish to duplicate that effort here. But there are a few important points that deserve special attention. Since I will be unable to post anything for the next several weeks, this will deal with those items. If anything else needs to be covered, I will do so at the end of the month.

The Board’s August 19 report laid out the details of the phase 2 road project; a $4.3 million project to be financed with a $3.0 million six year loan and a 10% increase in our annual assessment. Roy indicated that the Governors Drive portion should be completed before year end, and that the Manly portion would be completed in the spring.

But Tuesday’s presentation also gave more detail on the proposed “rest of roads” project. It is a multi year project that initially addresses the balance of Governors Drive and all of Morehead (the main arteries) to be financed by further increases in the annual assessment. Specifically, three additional years of 10% increases which will bring our annual assessment up to roughly $3,000. Neighborhood roads would be addressed after dealing with the main arteries.

Again, all of the details will be in the material posted to the POA web site; which I hope will include the Board’s rationale for structuring the plan this way.

Several important points came out during the presentations:

• For this long term roads plan to be successful, it will require support from future Boards. I think it is fair to say that this is a very critical point and one that should be considered when electing Board members.

• Other community wide amenities, including sidewalks, are to be put on hold for the time being. As for how long, that seems undetermined. I got the distinct impression that, with at least some directors, community wide amenities other than sidewalks are still on the table (in other words, that they are just delayed).

• But, if I heard correctly, the Board intends to solicit feedback from the entire community in terms of what people would like to see in the way of community wide amenities. I did not catch all the details, so hopefully the posted material will address this more fully. But the impression I had was that residents would have a chance to respond to a survey indicating their appetite for such expenditures. That is all I can offer at this point on that subject.

(Editorial Comment: The Board has presented details on two long range projects; both of which are, in my view, critically important.

First, it has made substantial progress towards collaborating with the country club on a long term, joint marketing effort; which is extremely good news. Since GC Realty discontinued national advertising eight years ago, we have not reached what I consider to be our prime prospective buyers.  This effort will hopefully go a long way towards increasing our market presence on a national level.

Second, for the first time, the community has a logical, understandable plan for dealing with the roads on a long term basis; not just the next project. This will help increase the marketability of our homes by removing the “unknown” that used to surround this issue. In my view, this is another huge, positive step forward. And the Board should be applauded for stepping up to deal with the issue.

Granted, nobody wants to see our annual assessments go any higher, but there is little point in complaining about that. The issue needs to be addressed head on, because it has been avoided for too long. We live in a private community, and we need to maintain these assets. It costs what it costs; and, in the end, we can’t dodge the fact that we have to pay for it. That is the trade-off for living in such a unique community.

I have looked at all the Board’s numbers very carefully; both the current road project and the long term road plan, and the figures make sense to me. Unless somebody has a better idea for dealing with the issue, this seems like the best way forward.

As an aside, I have heard that some feel the roads do not need to be replaced and that they are just fine. In response, I’d suggest that, to the extent some actually feel this way, it is function of having become used to them. Similar to the way we all become used to the age-related quirks of our homes; only to discover after listing the house for sale that potential buyers see those “quirks” both as “wear-and-tear deficiencies” which need to be remedied and as reasons to offer far less than the asking price.

The problem is that anybody coming in from the outside for the first time immediately sees the problem with our roads. They have aged, and they need to be replaced. If we want to maintain our position as a unique, high end community, we can’t ignore this issue. The Board has come up with what appears to be a logical plan, and I hope everyone will see the sense in supporting it.)