From the Boardroom

Terry White, Board President

As we begin this golden jubilee year of Lakewood, let’s take a look at some things from our beginnings.

In the early 1970s Lees Summit had a population of about 18,000 people. The only things near this property we now call home were a small airport, Jackson County Hospital and Hilltop School. There were no banks or grocery store nearby, no businesses, just woods and farmland. Stephenson’s Apple Orchard was on the west side of Lee’s Summit Road and somewhere on the property was a horse barn.

Astro Building Corporation had a vision for this area and Lakewood was incorporated in 1973. It was a joint venture of Farm and Home Savings in Nevada, Missouri, as the lender, and Astro, as the developer. Though lots were being sold before incorporation, the first homes were constructed in 1974. The area now called Lakeshore Condos were annexed in 1973. Lakewood Bay townhomes were annexed in 1974 and the Landings town homes in 1975.

Farm and Home bought out Astro in November of 1976. Farm and Home assumed full control of the development. They acquired a sizeable amount of debt with over 75 percent of Lakewood still to be developed and many homes that were in various phases of construction that builders could not complete. Farm and Home would have to finish them.

Farm and Home had several options to finish Lakewood. One would be to spin through the undeveloped acreage with inexpensive homes that would produce much higher annual lot sales, or, to finish the development as an upscale community. In the end they chose to continue developing Lakewood as upscale. I am sure many of us are happy with that

LPOA/LHC BOARD MEETINGS

Lakewood Property Owners Association Board of Directors’ Meeting

Actions taken January 12, 2023

Approved

• 2023 Election Timetable

• 2023 Election Committee

Tabled

• Landings By-Laws and Covenant Revisions decision. They retained the services of a successful developer partner from Houston to consult with their local development team. The result was the building of the Lakewood Oaks Golf Club which the development team thought would attract home buyers. At the same time the development of the homes around the front nine of the golf course, known as Fairway Homes Village Section One, began development.

In 1976 the lakes were still ten to twelve feet below full pool. (If you were here, similar in pool as the drought of 2012). There were no functional boat docks. On Sunday, September 11, 1977, there was a large rainfall that brought the lakes up about 2.5 feet. From best information, on Monday, September 12, 1977, the same night as the historic Plaza flood, the Lakewood area received almost 16 inches of rain in a four-hour period. The lakes not only were full but were close to three feet above full pool. After this event, Farm and Home installed the first docks and built the parking lots and ramps as we now know them on the East and West Lakes.

There is so much more history and stories that show how far we have come. I hope to cover more in the upcoming months. Special thanks to Pete Connors and the late Jay Copeland for the inspiration behind this month’s article.

February 9 • March 9 • April 13 Meetings take place at 6:30 p.m. at The Lakewood Oaks Clubhouse.