2024 YEAR-END FINANCIAL POSITION
At the Annual Homeowners Meeting held at the Community Center on April 29, 2025, several homeowners expressed concerns regarding the amount of the monthly assessment and inquired about the financial condition of the HOA. We are pleased to report that the financial position of the HOA is strong.
CAN YOU IMAGINE?
At the Board Budget Meeting held on November 12th both of the new board members strongly suggested that we stop fighting the lawsuit requiring us to hold a new five-seat election and replace the entire board. Some of the residents that attended the meeting also indicated that they thought we should just drop our defense of this lawsuit so we could cut down on legal fees. Please click on ‘Continue Reading’ below to see why that is not the best legal strategy.
As many of you know, North Shore at Lake Hart HOA is currently named as a defendant in six different pending lawsuits filed by a handful of homeowners and, until recently, the HOA was a plaintiff in two different lawsuits against homeowners.
One of those cases was recently dismissed with all parties in agreement. In an effort to keep everyone updated on these proceedings, the following is a brief update:
Curb appeal is everything! Here is what your HOA is doing to maintain beautiful landscaping that enhances your property value.
Hello homeowners! It is almost spring, and your landscaping team has been busy at work to ensure our common areas look their best. In January, Board Member Lisa Solick, Community Association Manager Laurie Bihailo, North Shore Maintenance’s Irving Alvarado, and North Shore Compliance Manager Tanner Mews, and Servello & Sons’ (our landscaping vendor) Keith Lindquist toured the entire property to inspect landscape changes. These have been made following recommendations made by renowned horticulturist Tom MacCubbin, who has more than 50 years of experience in his field. He is best known for sharing gardening advice through his newspaper column, podcasts, and books, and was on the air in both radio and TV for decades.
County Traffic Experts Explain Study Findings in Community Meeting, No Decisions on How to Proceed Are Made
Orange County officials on October 18 presented the findings of a traffic study covering three heavily traveled roads in and around North Shore at Lake Hart. The public meeting, attended by about 40 area residents, was held at Lake Nona High School and called by Orange County Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero. A few speed management measures were discussed and publicly debated, but no decisions were made as to which would be implemented or when.
Lawsuit Against HOA, Seeking Thousands from Homeowners is Thrown Out with Prejudice by Judge
Good news, neighbors! A lawsuit filed against our HOA in 2020, which at one time sought as much as $20 million in damages, has been thrown out of court. The plaintiffs will not be able to refile it as it has been dismissed with prejudice.
The suit was first filed in 2020 by attorney and North Shore resident Bruce Burtoff and homeowner Lynn Sanford (and two other anonymous homeowners in the original version). It was dismissed without prejudice six times, which gave the plaintiffs the opportunity to presumably fix the suit’s many procedural and factual problems before refiling. But the suit itself made that difficult because its claims, in addition to being unsubstantiated, were erratic.
SIDEWALK AND APRON REPAIRS TO BEGIN, TAKE ACTION NOW TO AVOID FINANCIAL LIABILITY
In a few days a contractor hired by the HOA will begin repairing sidewalks and driveway aprons (the portion of the driveway between the sidewalk and the street) throughout the entire community. Almost all the damage being repaired has been caused by tree roots. If a tree on your property has caused damage, please read this carefully to learn how you can act now to avoid having to cover the cost of the repairs.
Multiple Errors on Petition Gathering Effort Lead Board to Deny Request for a Special Budget Meeting
Several signed petitions were recently turned in to North Shore’s HOA attorneys requesting that the Board call a special meeting of the members for January 2023 for the sole purpose of voting to “veto” the 2023 budget that was approved by the Board in a meeting last November. A vote to reject the previously approved budget would require a supermajority of 700 or more homeowners voting in favor of a motion that would have to be made at the special meeting. The request is being denied based on several errors in the method employed to distribute, collect and sign the petition.
2023 Budget highlights: Feeling the pinch of historical inflation, yet keeping expenses low
In a 3-hour meeting on Nov. 1st, the Board approved the budget for 2023 as recommended by the Finance Committee. By now, each of you should have received a copy of it in the mail.
Hurricane Ian Causes Damages in North Shore, Many Repairs Already Completed or Underway
With the uncertainty of where Hurricane Ian was going to make landfall and what the impact would be for Central Florida, the North Shore at Lake Hart HOA staff immediately jumped into action to secure as many of the amenities as possible and implement a plan of how to handle the aftermath, whatever that would be.
August Board Meeting: New ARB Construction and Golf Cart Safety Policies Adopted
Your HOA Board of Directors met on August 2 to take action to continue to improve your community. The meeting was held via Zoom. The Board discussed and acted on the following items:
Traffic Measures Being Implemented to Alleviate Congestion
As a direct result to our community demands, traffic improvements are in the works along North Shore Golf Club Boulevard to slow speeders and discourage cut-through traffic along our main thoroughfare.
LEGAL FEES: A comprehensive analysis of why our HOA pays a high price tag
Legal Fees – they include everything from collections from delinquent homeowners (which until paid must be made up by responsible homeowners who are current on paying their assessments), vendor contract review, litigation (including slip and falls, collections, and CC&R enforcement), the usual day-to-day aspects of running the community, and as many of you know defending against litigation filed by a hand full of residents while we protect the remainder of the 1,049 homeowners from the consequences of a judgement which the homeowners would be responsible for paying.
Traffic Survey Results, Participating Homeowners Prefer T-Intersection
A traffic survey sent to homeowners revealed that residents would prefer to have the intersection of Kirby Smith Rd. and North Shore Golf Course Blvd. remain open and turned into a T-intersection instead of dead-ending NSGCB and converting the intersection into a Cul-de-Sac which would have mitigated cut-through traffic on NSGCB.
The North Shore at Lake Hart Board of Directors met on March 8th. This was the second meeting of the year and covered time sensitive issues that needed attention.
Board members in attendance were HOA President Dave Gordon, Rob Taub, Paul Snyder and Lisa Solick. Also in attendance were General Manager John DeCrotie, HOA Treasurer Steve Smith and Jennifer Englert from the Orlando Law Group. Six homeowners attended via Zoom.
A motion for Summary Judgement submitted by four homeowners who are the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against North Shore at Lake Hart Homeowners Association was denied February 18th by Judge Paetra Brownlee. This represents a major victory for the HOA and is the latest reversal against a small group of residents who have spent more than two years in baseless litigations. This one case alone so far has cost our community more than $50,000 in legal fees.
While many of us were relaxing the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the Social Committee was hard at work. Under the leadership of Alisha Vozella, the committee organized, assembled and delivered over 170 swag bags to help cheer our residents’ family celebrations as they rang in 2022.
Hurray! It’s celebration time. North Shore at Lake Hart’s Homeowners association management team just snatched the Access Management’s “Team of the Year Award” out of more than 200 competing company teams.
Regardless of what you may have heard from the plaintiffs, if successful, this suit might have cost homeowners up to $20,000 each. Homes in North Shore – still an extremely sought-after community to live in – would have faced possible litigation and assessments against each homeowner’s account, resulting in reduced home values and the diminished desire to buy here. Likely, homes would not sell in record time and for the record prices they are selling for now.
Once again it is time for the Finance Committee to begin its annual work putting together a budget for 2022 to be recommended to the Board of Directors. This is a good time to review some facts concerning the current budget (2021) and monthly assessments, to help put in perspective the work the committee will be tackling.
To keep monthly dues down because of financial hardships caused by the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic that continued into 2021 the Finance Committee recommended, and the BOD agreed, to use nearly half a million dollars of accumulated surplus to supplement dues in 2021.
New Landscaping Beautifies Community Entrances
A recently completed North Shore at Lake Hart’s landscape enhancement project added new plants and hedges and to beautify the entrances at each of our eight communities.
Irrigation problems are being addressed, dying plants removed and replaced with more robust shrubs in the first phase of the project, which was completed earlier this year at a cost of $65,000. The second phase is in the planning stage.
We are happy to introduce ‘In the Know’, a new community newsletter intended to be useful and informative. In every edition, you will find a combination of hard-hitting stories covering HOA business and other community matters, features that reflect life at North Shore and the Lake Nona area, announcements, and collaborations from residents commenting on issues close to their hearts and on their favorite topics.