|
|
|
Received a "Notice" Letter? Click HERE for more details! Welcome to the official "unofficial" Palmetto Pines Home Owners website. I, the Palmetto "bug", will keep you informed as to what the new Board of Directors is doing (and NOT doing) to uphold the promises they made to the community when they were elected. This information comes from observations at regularly scheduled board meetings and does not include rumors or gossip. There is a section where the "bug" will editorialize and while the opinions expressed are solely the bug's, I hope it makes you think. I would suggest that anyone with a computer print up these pages and give them to their computerless friends. The people of Palmetto Pines rallied last fall to reach a quorum and have the first elected board, ever! This website is a way of keeping you informed so that we can all make Palmetto Pines a better place to live. EDITORIAL On this page I am going to give you my opinions about our Association. While you may disagree with some of my ideas and agree totally with others, I hope that this page will give you something to think about and perhaps act on. As I was thinking about Palmetto Pines an image of two families came into my mind. One was a retired couple who were living off of social security, pensions, and income from stocks and bonds. They had few needs and lots of time and were able to devote all their time and energy into making their home a show piece. The other family was younger, with three children, one in high school, and both parents working to make ends meet. They were saving what they could to send the oldest to college, and the rest of their salaries were spent on a mortgage, clothes and school supplies for the children, as well as maintenance of their overworked cars, and expenses from the various activities that the children were involved in. They did the best they could to keep their home neat, but expensive landscaping was out of the question.
The retired man got on the Board of Directors because he wanted this development to be "Estancia" without the gates. He saw that the working man's house wasn't up to his standard and he had the Board start sending letters pointing out where the working man was falling short of the ideal. When changes weren't made because changes couldn't be afforded, the Board sued the working man. At this point the working man had to choose between paying his mortgage, or paying for a lawyer, or have the Board of Directors foreclose on a lien that was placed on his property. Because one person didn't live up to the standards of another, a house was lost, a family was devastated, and property values didn't go any higher than they normally would have.
For ten years we had a board that acted like the retired man and I personally know of at least one family that was forced out of this community because they couldn't pay both their mortgage and the escalating legal fees.
A new board was voted in by irate homeowners who demanded a change. So far, nothing has happened. It still could take tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and damages to end all the lawsuits, wiping out the $69,000 surplus we supposedly have. We were told to pay the $75 for January, but new coupon books came out in April. There is NO budget for 2001, yet a letter was sent out before the annual meeting showing how the old board was mismanaging the money and calling for lower fees. How can they justify $75 per quarter with no budget and no legal assessments passed by the 2001 Board? Ask your neighbors if they have had their lawsuits cancelled, or have they been forced to pay something. I have a feeling that not much has been done in this area. After hearing the Board members telling the people to give them more time, it sounded to me like they were stalling. It would be interesting to know who on the new Board represents you and who represents the old Board.
After every meeting, Tom Galiotti and Mike Charloff have stood outside the meeting place talking to Jack Knight and Joe Quattrachi, discussing ongoing legal matters and how to get Don Hulse off the Board. I thought there was supposed to be a complete break from the old board. If they are representing the vast majority of homeowners who wanted to remove the old board and change the direction of this community 180 degrees, then why are they conferring with the old Board?
The challenge has been given twice, at January and February's board meetings, by the President, to the community to do something if they want to change the deed restrictions. The rules and regulations were passed by the prior Board and DO NOT carry the weight of deed restrictions. We need to get involved to keep this board on the right track and make them bend to the will of the majority of the homeowners. The Board of Directors of the Palmetto Pines Home Owners Association met on Tuesday, May 8, at 7 PM at Loggers Run Middle School. This report is not the minutes of the meeting - it is only a report of what went on, told as accurately as possible. Anything printed like this is MY editorial comment - in effect, my thoughts as I heard the reports. The order of the meeting is as follows: Please click on the links to go to these reports. Kathy Martyka gave a report on her desire to landscape the "common areas" of the property with butterfly gardens, using boy scouts and girl scouts and interested homeowners to help. That
is a wonderful idea, but has anyone checked where the common areas are?
The plats of our community, filed in West Palm Beach, show where our property
lines are. Our common areas are canals, or FPL easements (under the
powerlines). Where the homeowners' property ends, the county right of way
for our roads begins. We are not allowed to do anything on the county
right of way. According to the plats, we are not even allowed to plant
anything or build anything in any easement. The easements run
through the back of most properties, but you would have to check your own survey
or the plat to see if there is an easement on your own property. Everyone
backing onto Palmetto Park road does have an easement running through the back
of their property. At the end of that easement, the county right of way
begins. It was suggested that the plantings should be done on the east side of Keystone and the west side of Hammock. Someone needs to go out there and measure 40 feet from the center of both roads to see exactly how much land is available to plant on. Both roads are platted 40 feet wide from the center line, which would take in one lane of the road and the grass on each side. This is land we don't own and cannot use. Nothing was mentioned about these rights of way. Kathy also said that bids
were being taken to add cement curbs around the signs and to replace the signs
with bigger ones. One board member asked if permits were necessary and the
management company quickly said no. If
permits were required, a survey would have to be done and we would know if we
are using our own property or the county's. It's easy enough to find out.
Any homeowner who has a sign by his house should question whether he has given
up his land for that sign. If the answer is no, then the sign is on the
county right of way and is not allowed. Remember, the homeowner's
association has no common land except what was platted as canals and recreation
& FPL easement. In recent questioning to FPL, the board was told that
under the powerlines was FPL's land and we were not to set foot on it.
Someone should investigate just when our land, dedicated to the homeowners
association in perpetuity for recreation, became FPL's land only. We do
have one small piece of land at the end of Emperor Street that was platted as a
canal, but was never dug. Maybe our landscaping efforts should be concentrated there. Kathy also gave some bids from landscaping companies. Because of the way she read the numbers, it was difficult to understand just how much these companies were asking, but I managed to decipher one as being about $42,000 per year. Remember the right of way? The county cuts its own grass and FPL cuts its own grass and we have been told by FPL to get their permission to set foot under the powerlines. Now with the poles going up, I don't think FPL wants a guy on a mower tooling around. The homeowners have been told for years to maintain their own canal banks, so really this landscaper, for $42,000 a year is going to be cutting along the canal banks that don't have any homes backing on them, the little square on Emperor Street, and fertilizing, pruning, and mulching our plantings. Property Manager's Report The Property Manager gave the good news that after reviewing all the bank accounts, it appears that the PPHOA has about $140,000 in the bank and that after the May and June bills are paid, there will be about $100,000 in the bank. WHY are we still paying $75 per quarter? 889 homeowners, paying $150 for the next two quarters ($75 per quarter) will result in $133,350 MORE dollars after our fourth quarter payment this year. Where is this money going? Are they trying to tell us that it costs more than $266,700 every year to run this place - that's cut the grass, fertilize, collect the assessments, send out the newsletter and the violation letters, and settle the lawsuits! Oh yeah, and maintain the canals! The property manager apologized for sending violation letters to some homeowners because of their Christmas lights. He said that he personally didn't like the way they looked and so he sent the letters without checking the deed restrictions. He then said that other homeowners' associations had rules and regulations and could he bring in some of those to show the Board so that they could pick and choose which ones would enhance the community. The Board readily agreed, especially when he said that Florida Statutes said that boards had the right to make reasonable rules and regulations. It's scary to think that our recorded declaration of restrictions aren't good enough to raise our community to the standards of our property manager and that he wants to saddle us with more rules. Are we children? We paid for these houses and hope someday to sell them and make a nice profit. You can't sell a wreck! Oh yes. He quoted the statute wrong. It is FL Statute 720.304 (1) and it reads: "The entity or entities responsible for the operation of the common areas and recreational facilities may adopt reasonable rules and regulations pertaining to the use of such common areas and recreational facilities." This statute does not cover your lot. The recorded declaration of restrictions, written by the developer, runs with your land and does not give the Board any authority to make any additional rules or regulations pertaining to your land and home. New Business It has taken me a week after the last board meeting to calm down enough to type something coherent! I witnessed a gross display of hypocrisy. After the property manager gave his report, he showed a copy of a yellow "Notice" letter and stated that they didn't have anything to do with it. At that point, the president, Mr. Lee, said that someone was going to come forward and comment on it. Robert Espineira, the former president, strode forward and said that, since he tends to get emotional, he wrote out what he wanted to say and would now read it. He immediately started criticizing Don Hulse, a board member, accusing him of being the one who wrote the letter. Mr. Hulse asked Mr. Lee if he was going to allow personal attacks on board members, since Mr. Lee, two months before, had told Jack Knight, in a board meeting, that he would not tolerate personal attacks on board members. Mr. Lee told Mr. Hulse, "This isn't an attack. He's reading a statement." Mr. Espineira then turned to Jack Knight and asked him how long the Association's lawsuit had been going on against Mr. Hulse. Jack answered two years. Mr. Espineira told the assembled throng that, in effect, he had lied when he resigned because of the intense pressure on his "young family", because he now stated that he HAD to resign because he couldn't be the president of the board and live next to a board member that refused to live up to the standard of the rest of the board!! He directed his remarks not to Mr. Hulse, but to the Hulse family, who were sitting in the room. He accused them of having four foot tall grass in their backyard (something I would have liked to see in the middle of a drought) and said he had pictures. He then challenged Mrs. Hulse to call him a liar. She promptly did! He said that at meetings before the new board took over, Mr. Hulse was heard to say more than once, "Live and let live". (When did that become a dirty expression? Isn't that what we want?) He continued his tirade until his final emotional appeal to the Hulse's that if they couldn't live under the Board's rules and regulations, then he was calling for them to get out of the community! At this supporters of Jack Knight applauded. Later on, Mr. Hulse's son, the person who is HOSTING this website, not WRITING it, tried to defend his family by raising his hand during the good and welfare part of the meeting where those present could speak. (His mother had left before this, so he was representing her.) Mr. Lee said that he would NOT recognize Jim Hulse and went on to other people. I believe at each meeting this year the lawsuit against Mr. Hulse has been referred to. I call on Mr. Hulse to tell us, if he can, what this lawsuit is about, since others on the board would appear to be so appalled and ashamed by it.
|
Last modified: June 13, 2001Send in your comments! email webmaster@palmettopines.comThis website is for information only. Any information presented here will be accurate to the best of our abilities, but you should consult a lawyer for legal advice. The webmaster and hosting company disclaim any liability for the information contained herein, and will not be responsible for the use of said information. All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2001. |