Bay Hills Community,
As many residents of Bay Hills are aware of by now, we have moved to a new management company.  Our past company had an issue with receipt and deposit of dues.  Missing payments and late fees were applied and then carried over to the new management company’s books.  We have been getting one off calls regarding these issues, so I am asking residents to proactively go onto your account on the Victory Management’s website (https://victory.cincwebaxis.com/) and review their records for your account to ensure accuracy. If you see issues, please find a copy of your check on your bank account, statement info regarding deposit, carbon copy of your check, or other payment method made last year.  We are sorry for this issue, but this is one of the reasons we moved from the prior company.

I have to admit my time on the board has made me greatly aware our by-laws are laxed regarding covenants and enforcement. My last neighborhood had an onsite manager who periodically drove around checking on residents’ yards and homes and issuing notices or fines. We don’t do that here in Bay Hills. You moved into our neighborhood knowing there is an HOA which means there are by-laws and covenants to live by. Overtime we’ve had some neighbors complaining about issues of trailers and boats in the street, unkept yards (holiday decorations left out well after the date, bags of mulch left for months/years…), houses with mold… etc. 

Please respect the fact you have regulations for a neighborhood with an HOA and respect your neighbors. Adding the option of an onsite person from our management company will increase our fees and then our dues.  We just increased our dues because of major facility projects that are coming up.  I’d rather not see our dues go up because of residents who realize our covenants are out of date and are unenforceable so will do what they want. A neighborhood with well-kept streets, lawns and homes will add value to your own home and make Bay Hills a desired neighborhood. With today’s social media people will quickly realize issues within a neighborhood which will cause a neighborhood to become unwanted to invest in a home within that neighborhood.  I saw this in my last neighborhood with all of the back and forth bantering between people. Be respectful to your neighbors, the regulations and helpful. Keep your boats and trailers in proper storage. Get outside and get some yard work done or inquire about a service.  Several young kids have posted about yard service.

In general, as I drive or walk through the neighborhood, I find homes with nice lawns and people who are investing in remodeling their home. A lot of homes look really nice this time of year showing the hard work people put into the upkeep of their yards. My wife and I spent a lot of time and money on fixing up our home when we moved in, and still have a lot to do that could cost thousands. Making me wonder sometimes where it ends? I understand not everyone can afford plants, yard services or remodeling of their home. However, we can work to keep our homes attractive with little expense and effort. Cost of power washing a home can be about $300-$400 or more.  This might be an area of interest for some young person in the neighborhood to engage in as a summer income flow. Or, as I did, one might invest in a power washer and clean up on their own. My hostas, lilies, and Iris grow fast and need dividing each year. As another way to keep costs down I’d suggest if you have plants needing dividing.  Maybe like me, if you don’t have any more space either place them out front in pots for free or let people know on the Bay Hills Facebook group to come pick them up. I have left mine out several times with homemade signs noting they are for free.  I would like to see a plant exchange at the end of the summer and continue next early spring.  If there is interest, post something on the Facebook neighborhood site.

Additionally, the board is nearing a review of the By-Laws after we were advised they may not have been properly registered with the county and finding they needed updating.  We are discussing a way to let residents review and suggest possible changes. If you have a background in this area, please feel free to reach out to me to have a look over the document.  Our biggest issue is the need for residents to participate in an election of a by-laws update.  The percentage of respondents needs to be quite high. So, please be on the lookout when the vote for this comes out.

We recently had a return from study done by the county’s Traffic Engineering Division along Bay Green.  We’ve had some younger families move into Bay Hills along Bay Green with young children who have become concerned about traffic, mainly used as a cut through, on Bay Green.  This study didn’t come out the way we had planned.  I have sent the report to Victory Management for it to be stored in the documents section for our internal review.  Please feel free to review it and reach out to county representatives with your comments.  A further study will start at the end of June on Bay Hills Drive. Along this line of thought, remember we have young kids in the neighborhood who will be out of school very soon, so please be attentive to your driving. We had a car run off the road and into someone’s lawn, cars in the street rear-ended, and our police patrol stopped someone streaming a show while driving and under the influence.

I hope everyone will enjoy their upcoming Memorial Day holiday and summer. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me or any board member.

Sincerely,

Ed Dawson