Marsh Creek held its 2024 annual homeowners meeting last night at Anastasia Catholic Church. According to Leland management, 170 homeowners attended in person or by proxy.
HOA president, John Hutson, conducted an informal straw poll of those in attendance, to see how many were in favor or opposed to the controversial Hawkins island project. Not a single individual raised a hand in its support. Hutson concluded, “it ain’t going to happen”.
Added to recent denunciations of the project on Spoonbill Courier, community sentiment appears to be overwhelmingly opposed to constructing a new roadway through a vacant lot on Heron’s Nest lane out to an island on the edge of the intracoastal waterway, causing turmoil and dislocation to the community during construction of a new road, 11 to 12 new homes, a community pavilion and a marina.
And that’s just the pain-and-suffering in Marsh Creek. There are still the environmental issues. Hudson himself spoke of the regulatory hurdles and conceded, “I asked for a detailed proposal (from the developer, Scott Patrou). All we have are conversations. Nothing in writing.”
For the Hawkins Island project to proceed, two thirds of Marsh Creek homeowners would have to approve, and so far those votes seem scarce. Hudson promised to convey the general meeting sentiments to the developer in the morning.
The other news from the meeting arose due to an embarrassing lack of a quorum. The board could not conduct official business. On top of that, the board had three vacancies and recruited only one nomination to fill them. And so the hunt is now on to find for two more capable candidates for approval at a board meeting in January.
The disappointing turnout for both the general meeting and the board vacancies may have a common root. To some in the room, it was a failure to communicate. Specifically, to publicize the night’s annual general meeting, and then more generally, to keep the community tied into what the board and the committees are doing. One of the tools that the board has at its disposal is the e-News.
Yet …
“No one knows what’s going on. Send out the information. Send out the board minutes as they were approved”, said one attendee.
“Enhance communications and outreach. It’s the lifeblood of the community. It would get more involvement”, said another.
“The committees are not reporting their news …to the E-news”, came another complaint.
HOA president, John Hutson, who praised his board members for their hard work integrating new landscaping and security companies, and improving the working relationships between the board and the committees, conceded the communications grievances.
“We’ll need to work on that”, he said.
Illustrating the point, it was revealed at the meeting that as of January 1, manned security at the Mizell gate will be reduced once again an additional four hours, part of a drive to strengthen the community’s finances. Therefore, there will be no guard at Mizell from 7 PM (instead of the current 11pm) until 7 AM the following morning. During those hours, admissions at, and surveillance of, the Mizell gate will be entirely electronic and supervised by the one remaining on duty guard at the main entrance on A1A.
Additionally, HOA dues will rise 10% in 2025, according to Board and Finance Committee member, Tracy Gallager.
We didn’t receive any information (mail or email) on the meeting as we left for Thanksgiving. Also, having the meeting at a location other than the club is inconvenient. Paula Skinner
Paula, the club said no to us having the meeting there, despite us asking way ahead of time. That is why we had it at Anastasia Catholic Church.
Brian,
How do I send you an announcement for the “Around Town” segment of your publication? The St. Augustine Concert Band has an upcoming concert and I would like for it to be included.
Don Jeanes
spoonbill@mindspring.com
Thank you for covering the discussion on the need for better communications. I felt the Board’s position is that posting information on the website is sufficient. I hope they heard the residences’ need.
I can agree that the Board/ Committees can improve on sharing information with the community. However, I do know that a notice/invite to the Annual Meeting was sent out via USPS to every single resident, postmarked Nov 19. The packet included final notice of the meeting with a proxy form to be filled out if the resident was unable to attend in person, along with an addressed envelope to return said proxy, an agenda for the meeting, and a budget overview along with the approved budget for 2025. That we did not have a quorum despite sending the proxy forms is very disappointing. Thus, the Board was unable to approve the minutes from last years meeting.
I’d also like to point out that all meetings are open to Marsh Creek residents both in person and via Zoom.