Residential Customer Daphne, AL 36526
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The Lake Forester • October 2016 • 1
The Lake Forester
Your Community...Experience it!
October 2016
Volume 26, No. 10
Presidents Comments
… ts r a e H l l u F , s e y Clear E
next several decades. The money wasn’t there and our amenities deteriorated.
Submitted by: Steve Sasser LFPOA President
We’ve been waiting for it since January, but alas, football season has finally arrived. It doesn’t matter what colors you wear, or what battle cry you chant. Here in the South, we’re marinated in football long before we can walk. Ideals like rivalry, loyalty, and competition seep into our persona and before you know it you’re a fan. The funny thing is, you don't have to be born here. It’s infectious. You just get caught up in it. I think it’s about pride, about being proud of being a part of something bigger than ourselves. I’ve spent a great deal of time, especially recently, talking with some of my fellow board members and management about how few of our members realize what they are actually a part of living in Lake Forest. We are big and we are unique. We’re the only bundled neighborhood in the state of Alabama in which the homeowners actually own all of the common grounds, pools, golf course, tennis courts, stables, and even a yacht club. That’s why we’re a POA and not an HOA. We own and operate property on a scale that is unprecedented in this state. There is no neighborhood anywhere near us to compare our amenities to. On top of that, we have over 3100 homeowners
PRESRT STD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 5 Foley, ALA 36535
Steve Sasser in our association. We are Lake Forest! Lake Forest was incorporated in 1971. The concept and vision of Artis James of Diamondhead Corporation, the original developers of Lake Forest, were realized in the 70’s with an all-inclusive bundled community with a lavish country club, swim and racquet club, yacht club, pools, stables, and golf course. I saw it all for the first time in 1979 and it was grand. Unfortunately, lots did not sell as quickly as projected and the control and direction of the neighborhood remained in the hands of the developer instead of the POA for far too long. The developer had one objective: to sell lots. This meant that dues stayed low to attract buyers. That worked for a while, but our amenities aged and they needed maintenance. The money wasn’t there to perform the needed maintenance. The POA dues did not support the amenities. That’s the short story and the theme of what played out for the
General Managers Report, Page 2
Here we are in 2016. We still own just about all of the common areas and amenities we started with. Some of the development and structures did not survive the decades of neglect, and thankfully, we were able to hand off our roads and sewer system to Baldwin County, and eventually annexed into the city of Daphne. Our board of directors has grabbed this bull by the horns and we’ve turned it around. We take tremendous pride in this neighborhood, our community, and we’re starting over. Call it Lake Forest 2.0 if you like. We’ve got control of our covenants, and we’re cleaning up our bylaws. This gives us the foundation to build our future. H is t o r i cal l y a nd currently Lake Forest residents are apathetic to the business and government of their neighborhood. We have over 3100 homeowners and at a typical stated meeting if we have three residents participate, that is a big crowd. Currently, we are a board of seven people and we make every decision that governs this neighborhood with almost zero input from our members. We’ve made it a mission to change that. We’ve got ideas and we’re making plans for the future of this community
and we want you involved. We want you to realize that you are owners of an eighteen hole golf course, six tennis courts, three pools, horse stables, and a yacht club. You employ close to fifty people and contract Vision Golf and Association Management to manage it all. You own a nonprofit corporation that grosses nearly three million dollars every year! It’s not your fault and you’re not alone. Historically, Lake Forest has not communicated efficiently or effectively with members, advertised plans and progress with the community, nor marketed features to our area. We’re on the brink of remedying that problem. We’ve realized it for years, but it has taken some time for us to be able to present solutions that we feel will be tangible and effective. Step #1: deploy our new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ LakeForestDaphne. Step #2: launch our new website www.lakeforestdaphne. com (coming soon). Step #3 Embrace the physical and mental presence of Lake Forest members that are invested in the future of our community. Step #4: make our future happen. At our annual meeting in March, we’re going to make history and we’re going to celebrate it. For the first time in Lake Forest history, our membership is going to vote on covenant amendments. Our covenants are a legally binding contract between homeowners and our POA. The POA can only enforce what our homeowners agree to in the covenants. Currently, we all agree
when we purchase our homes to the covenants that were written in 1971. With a 2/3’s vote we’ll agree to covenants that we amend in 2017. Does that peak your interest in coming to some meetings? If that doesn’t, maybe you’ll get interested in the plans we’re making to demolish and reconstruct the 19th hole and yacht club. I did mention a celebration. Our annual meetings have gravitated from explosive to somber in recent years. We’re calling an audible, and we’re going to throw a party at the yacht club. Let’s get together and take care of business, then let’s loosen up and enjoy each other’s company for a while. We’re going to get back to the roots that brought this neighborhood out of the dirt. Lake Forest will be what we make it. For far too many years our property was exchanged for nearly wholesale prices and the result was a membership that wanted to pay very little and expected very little in return. They got exactly what they bargained for with structures and amenities that they could not sustain. That’s not the future this board of directors or management sees for Lake Forest. In fact, Vision Golf has put together a reserve study of our properties accessing the current values, expected lifespan, and replacement costs of everything we own. We’ve never had that data until now. We want to plan for our future, and once we get all of our amenities up to date, we want to be able to maintain them, and then replace them as necessary.
Inside Lake Forester
New Chief Operating Officer Page 3
Boaters Chili Cookoff, Pages 3
The Fishing Hole, Page 8
That’s enough future talk for now. Let’s talk about today. We’ve broken ground on the Montclair pool site renovation. It’s going to look fantastic, and we’re going to get control of the site erosion that has been contaminating Tiawasee and D’Olive Creek for forty years. We’ve just contracted HMR to start master planning for the replacement of the 19th hole building, and to design and oversee our replacement bulkhead at the Yacht Club. I’ll step out on a limb and say by the time this article is published, we will have entered a lease agreement with the City of Daphne for our boat launch that will bring tremendous improvements to the entire marina facility. Now that we have a new logo, we’re working on replacing all of our dilapidated signage throughout the neighborhood. All the while, we’re making plans to renovate the Ridgewood pool next year. This is all happening— right now. Again, there are seven of us volunteer board members making all of these decisions almost with zero input or participation from the rest of the membership. Friends, we can do better than that. This BOD believes in the bright future of this neighborhood, and it is so much bigger than us. We’re proud. You can call us fans of Lake Forest. Let’s all get on the same team. We want you to take some ownership in your neighborhood. Please join us in making Lake Forest the best it has ever been. We hope to see you soon.
Lake Forest Yacht Club, Page 9