HoA Meeting - 16 May 2007

Jennifer recently received information about an upcoming Lake Talia HOA Meeting!!!!

From her email:

"The meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 16th at 6:00 pm. The meeting will be held at the Land O'Lakes Library on Collier Parkway.

This is just a heads up that you will be receiving a notice in the mail and wanted everyone to have plenty of time to mark their calendars if they are interested in attending. We do not know what the agenda is, have no input on what is on the agenda and will be listening/learning like everyone else. I would assume that there will be some sort of question/answer time period but do not know that for sure." End.

I can assure you that Q&A will be part of the conversation. I would suggest to Rampart/Lennar that they take the time to survey homeowners ahead of time for a list of topics/questions and at least come prepared to speak to those issues - additionally I would highly suggest they come prepared for the "live fire" exercise of answering questions from the audience based on the topics presented. As with any business meeting I would hope that they will publish the agenda and presentation notes well in advance so that we can come prepared for meaningful conversations during the board meeting.

Rampart Properties - Documents on this Blog.

Documents:
I've been asked by Rampart not to post documents or instructions to ARC (architecture) processes on this blog. They feel it would be entering into a legal issue. I won't even get into my rant about this - we'll leave it at this... HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Rampart suggested that this blog detracts from the "official" web page for Lake Talia. Never mind that the "official" website has exactly "0" information that is useful to residents or perhaps we should ignore the fact that it has the name of our community misspelled. Rampart feels (and I agree) that the HoA, once it is created 12-24 months from now can replace their "official" web page with anything the HoA chooses, but until then we should rely on the crap they feed us.... ...err I mean the resources provided by Rampart. I am in no way advocating a change in the official web page - in fact if you read the header of this blog it states that this is an unofficial resource and I intend on keeping it that way. The point is to provide information and context around decisions and actions of this community for new and future residents.

All that said - whatever... I'll do what is necessary to ease the sharing of information for our community. So if there is information you think would be helpful to see on this blog let me know and we'll post it up here for everyone to have easy access to.

Rampart Properties - Basketball Goals

Basketball Goals:
I've been told that NO Lennar run communities will ever allow basketball goals. Perhaps after the HoA takes over they make that change but under no circumstances will they allow them while Lenner runs the HoA.

In fact I asked bluntly about the rumor that several people were told by Kelly Moran that Rampart/Lennar would never fine them for their basketball goals... here is the answer:

While it is true that no fine will be directly assessed for non-compliance issues, the actual process is in fact worse. Rampart will issue a "friendly reminder", then a few weeks later a written notice and finally after 30 days a certified letter referring the issue to mediation. Mediation will occur without your presence (the lawyer is in the Rampart office once a month) and you will be responsible for the legal fees associated with reviewing the case.

This is simply how it was explained to me - I have my doubts and reservations, but I'll hold them for now.

Rampart Properties - Playground Sport Court

Playground/Sport Court:
STATUS: ON HOLD
The park has not been approved and given the uproar by many residents may never be approved. Rampart did not seek the inform the entire community how it intended on using our funds, it was left to interpretation how the park was being funded. The 25K gift from Lennar is unique and a wonderful gesture, however the remaining 60K was to be funded using our HoA fees - yearly maintenance would also be the responsibility of the HoA. While this is probably the best use of the funds the entire process should have been presented to the community at large. Now it is in limbo until resolution.

In mid-May there should be a Lennar/Rampart Lake Talia resident meeting to address this and many other issues.

Pool Vendors

Does anyone have a good reference for a Pool company?

We *REALLY* want to have a pool put in bu so far have been put off by the vendors.
Anthony & Sylvan being the most popular choice of Lennar communities seems to have have mixed (love it/hate it) feedback from the few folks I've talked with. Can anyone share any good stories of pool companies? I'd love to hear your stories about customer service, pool quality, sub-contractor quality and issues resolution.

Additionally - I'd appreciate any feedback on your choices between Concrete (Gunite) and fiberglass pools. The price points aren't all that different - at least for the quotes I have received. How did resale value, maintenance, installation, warranty play into your decision?

Any input???

May 20th - Lake Talia Summr Kick-Off

When: Sunday, May 20th 4pm - 7pm
Location: The Park (Artesian Road)
Who: All Lake Talia Residents

Food, Music and Games for the entire family - come out and meet your neighbors.

Prices:
$12 Ages 7 and up
$6 Ages 2-6
$0 Ages 0-2

Menu: Chicken and BBQ Pork or Beef Sandwich, Baked Beans, Potato Salad and Cole Slaw.

Volunteers needed for Water,Soda, Juice - Brownies/Cookies and to help with games!

Contact Jennifer Smith for more information. Look for the signs as you enter/leave the community!