MINUTES – SUMMERPLACE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, INC. – ANNUAL MEETING
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 4, 2023, 10:00AM 1995 W. BAREFOOT PL.
1. Call to Order: President Lehnhardt called the meeting to order at 10:10am.
The 2022-3 Board of Directors (BOD) present were John Lehnhardt – President/Treasurer, Steve Walter Garrard and Matt Quickel. Vice President Steve Melchiori was unable to attend due to family matters. Mary Beasman resigned from the Board effective September 18, 2023 with the sale of her home in Summerplace.
President Lehnhardt thanked Mary Beasman for 12 years of dedication and hundreds of hours of work on the SIA Board, serving as Board Secretary and as the SIA primary contact with our lawyers in the ongoing lawsuit. Her efforts were appreciated and her presence will be missed both on the Board and in the neighborhood. The SIA Board wishes the Beasmans all the best in the future.
New SIA Members: It was a relatively normal year for new members with 3 properties changing hands.
Robert Connolly, from Colleyville, TX, SIA member and owner of 1900 W. Shell, purchased the Beasman house at 1905 W. Barefoot and has begun remodeling with hopes to be moving into the house sometime early next year. Robert’s father, Robert, Sr. was in attendance at the meeting.
Melissa Meadows from Vero Beach purchased the Cote house at 1980 W. Shell and is a full time resident. Melissa was in attendance at the meeting.
Kevin and Dominika Vizzarri from Oviedo, Fl purchased the Downey house at 1860 E. Pebble Path and will be moving in as full time residents once renovations are complete. Kevin was able to attend the meeting.
Alex Collazo finished construction of his new home at 1981 W. Shell and is now a full time resident. His pool is being installed as we speak.
The Stalford house at 1920 W. Shell is under sale contract.
We said goodbye to residents Richard Cote, Dr. Gigi Downey and Mary and Jerry Beasman.
2. Calling of the Roll: President Lehnhardt called the roll and announced a quorum to be present, either in person or by proxy, consisting of 25 in-person members and 24 member proxies. All proxies were certified for voting.
3. Proof of notice of meeting: The Proof of Notice of the Meeting was filed by President Lehnhardt
4. Report of Officers:
a. 2023 financial report and 2023-4 budget – President John Lehnhardt
All planned projects came in on or under budget this year, with stair repairs from hurricane Nicole damage coming in at $5255.70 of the budgeted $20,000 from the Limited Voluntary Deferred Expenditure Account. Fence installations at the E. Pebble Path and E. Barefoot Pl. beach walkways were right on budget.
The un-budgeted court imposed modifications to the E. Barefoot Pl. cul de sac of $7000 was covered by our budget contingency and moving of one road grading and one landscape trimming into FY 2023-4, resulting in a net income for FY 22-23 of $4908.66, which was returned to the Limited Voluntary Deferred Expenditure Account. In the end only $347.04 was spent from that account out of the $$20,000 budgeted for use.
b. 2024 Annual Dues: An invoice for the 2024 annual dues was mailed mailed to each member after the annual meeting Nov. 9. Dues are payable by January 1, 2024. The 2024 dues remain at $300 per lot as they have been for the last few years. We did not include an invoice in this election package this year but elected to make that a separate mailing so as not to confuse the voting process.
c. The FY 23-24 budget projects an income from dues of $22,200 and an equal expenditure. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously passed to approve FY 23-24 annual budget.
A motion was made, seconded and approved by voice to refund the road security deposit to Amy Hanlon after the completion of their pool project at 1861 E. Barefoot Pl. without any significant road damage.
5. Committee reports:
a. Architectural Review Committee – Chair John Lehnhardt
It was a fairly quiet year for the ARC
– 3 pools, fencing and pavers projects were approved at 1861 E. Barefoot, 1881 E. Pebble Path and 1981 W. Shell.
– Paver projects were approved at 1820 E. Barefoot and 1821 E. Barefoot.
– A new house plan was reviewed for the Dean house at 1941 W. Barefoot. Comments on the plans have been returned to the owner for modifications related to trees and drainage. A copy of the plans were available for the members to review.
b. Maintenance Committee
– Repairs were done on all stairs in January 2023 after hurricane Nicole did major damage. Thanks to volunteers Phil Glade, Chuck Pickard, Jr and Jerry Beasman and a carpenter provided by John Essick, we were able to do the repairs in reasonable time and well below the projected costs approved at the last annual meeting.
– Roads – some additional gravel and regrading of all the roads helped some drainage and pothole issues. Another grading is planned after hurricane season. A concern was raised regarding the type of gravel used in some areas where erosion occurs regularly. This larger stone gravel does not match the historical crushed shell used on our roads in the past. It was explained that the crushed shell used for years on our roads is no longer available and did not prevent the chronic erosion experienced in certain areas. We will try as much as possible to match the old shell with new materials while mitigating the erosion issues.
– A landscape trimming was completed along our roads in July. There will be another trimming after hurricane season.
– Fences were installed along the south sides of the E. Barefoot and E. Pebble Path walkways to the beach.
c. Nominating Committee – Chairman Ed Seemann
One new candidate, Dr. Michael Flax, volunteered to be on the ballot this year. Ed thanked his committee for finding a replacement for Mary Beasman, and Dr. Flax for stepping up and submitting his name. He also indicated there may be additional candidates willing to serve in future years who could not commit to this year.
6. Old business:
a. Status of the ongoing lawsuit against SIA
The lawsuit by one of the association members against the association continues. Originally filed in 2014, the suit was last scheduled to go to trial in Sept. 2022. However, the trial was postponed when the plaintiff filed an appeal in early September. Once this appeal was filed, the trial was halted pending a ruling on the appeal. SIA was served an Injunction in September 2022 requiring the removal of all obstructions within the SIA cul de sac on E. Barefoot Pl., which was completed in December 2022 There is no further progress to report as various appeals have prevented a trail date scheduling.
7. New business:
a. Discussion of old post and rail fence along A1A – An offer was made by the owners currently renovating 1881 E. Pebble Path to not replace the old post and rail fencing they had removed without SIA permission, and to use plantings along their new fence along A1A to cover the outward face of the new fencing rather than reface the fence as required by SIA rules. They suggested that the old post and rail fence did not look very good, was outdated and could be removed throughout the SIA area and replaced with something else.
In the following discussion is was clear that there was no support for changing the post and rail fence. It was commented that the post and rail fence provides a differentiation of SIA from the rest of Summerplace and the entry signs are iconic for the community. Comments on the new fence were made that it does not fit with the other fencing along A1A and should be hidden by plantings and not be a precedent.
A comment was made that sound management from the road is good, but a wall is not the answer from an aesthetic perspective.
It was agreed that the new fence installed at 1881 E. Pebble Path needs to be refaced on the A1A side to meet SIA fencing rules, plantings should be placed on the A1A side to mask the fence, the post and rail fence is to be reinstalled where it was removed, the rest of the post and rail fence will stay as is with only repairs as needed.
b. A concern was raised by a member regarding the lack of marked pedestrian crossing zones across A1A throughout Summerplace. Vehicular traffic speeds along there at all times. The streets near the intersection of SR A1A and SR 510 are very unsafe. DOT manages these areas and have responded little to contacts made from SIA. It was moved, seconded and approved by voice without opposition that SIA look into getting DOT to consider safety changes for the pedestrians crossing A1A in our area.
c. It was suggested by a member that SIA look into finding a way to codify through amendment of our bylaws or other means to protect the planted areas in the other cul de sacs from what happened to the vegetation in the E. Barefoot cul de sac. Multiple comments were made that the cul de sac plantings add to the appearance of the streets and the removal of the plantings from E. Barefoot Pl. were a detriment to the appearance of that area and may decrease the property values on that cul de sac. A motion was made, seconded and passed without opposition to seek out a bylaws amendment or other method to conserve the plantings in the other 4 cul de sacs from legal action, possibly as a separate common area.
d. The communal use county suit against the ocean front owners along the seawall, which includes 8 SIA properties and the stair access points owned by SIA, was settled in NW Florida has not been settled in our county. That settlement allows for owners to have people leave their owned beach area in communal use only when the owner is using it themselves. We are waiting to see what settlement occurs here.
e. Concerns were raised regarding the E. Shell beach stairs and repairs needed. It was also raised that the repair wood stored by the stairs was not particularly attractive. The board will take action to remedy those situations.
f. Nominations to the Architectural Review Committee and board vote of approval
Steve Melchiori, Lil Fox and Andy Dlogosz were nominated to serve again on the ARC. A motion was made, seconded and passed by voice approval with no opposition to accept those nominated for the ARC..
g. Counting of the ballots for the 2023-4 SIA Board of Directors and announcement of election results.
Ed Seemann and Billie Thompson counted the ballots and the following five candidates were elected to the SIA Board for the next year.
The newly elected Board met in Executive Session and established officers as indicated.
Dr. Michael Flax – Secretary
Walter Garrard
John Lehnhardt -President/Treasurer
Steve Melchiori – Vice President
Matt Quickel
8. Adjournment – the meeting was adjourned at 11:35am. A light luncheon and refreshments were served for the social hour following the meeting. A big thanks you to the refreshment committee of Kathy Lehnhardt, Roseann Dlugosz, Ann Seemann and Billie Thompson for putting this together..
Submitted by John Lehnhardt – SIA President