By Steve Smith

The 2022 Annual Operating Fund and Reserve Fund Budgets, as recommended by the Finance Committee, were approved by the Board of Directors at their Nov. 1st meeting. Both budgets were approved without any changes.

The framework of the annual budget was put together by the Community Association Manager (CAM) and the HOA Treasurer. Then the Finance Committee reviewed individual line items of the budgets and asked lots of questions and requested information during a series of meetings. The result was a budget recommended by the Finance Committee to the Board.

The Finance Committee once again realized that homeowners have been affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just like the 2021 budget, they recommended that $339,795 be used from accumulated surplus to supplement income so that monthly assessments will only be increased by $20 per month resulting in a monthly assessment of $140 beginning Jan. 1, 2022. Without this recommended use of accumulated surplus, assessments would have been $167 monthly. The Board agreed with the recommendation resulting in a big win for homeowners. 

Each homeowner will be receiving a copy of the approved budgets along with new coupons from Access Management for 2022. Please remember if you pay by automatic monthly payment, you will need to change the amount of the payment to $140 beginning Jan. 1, 2022. You should receive instructions with your packet of information.

Steve Smith is a North Shore resident who serves as HOA Treasurer.

By John DeCrotie

It was a Sunday night in late October when the phone rang. It was the on-duty Community Patrol telling me that the Clubhouse was seriously damaged by what appeared to be a tornado. A tornado? At first I thought it was a prank until he started describing damages. I immediately grabbed my flashlight and hopped in my car to take the drive to the community to see for myself that the call was definitely very serious.

As we surveyed damages, I was grateful that no one was hurt and relieved to know that, as a big win for the HOA,  the Board had not too long ago taken the wise step to lower the insurance deductible to just $5,000. That action has just saved us tens of thousands of dollars as we work on repairs. Most of them, by the way, have been completed. A handful of others, like the ball field backstop, the playground sun shade and the tennis court fence will take some time to have completely repaired but progress is being made. My staff and I appreciate all the encouraging comments about our efforts to clean-up and repair as quickly as possible.  

From the minute I arrived after that phone call,  I could perceive something bad had happened.  The outside of the clubhouse had cameras hanging down from the eaves, pieces of soffit dangling and strewn all about, and there was debris everywhere. I first checked inside the clubhouse itself looking for evidence of ceiling, window and systems damage. Fortunately everything seemed in place.  Then we walked around the exterior and confirmed that we had in fact experienced a tornado. After securing the area with caution tape it was decided that nothing else could be done in the rain and dark of night.

On Monday it was confirmed that, indeed, a small but strong tornado touched down first on Moss Park Road.  The storm took a small tree from the side of the road and sheared it from its trunk, lifting it high into the air. It carried that tree across the pond and before setting it down, tore another tree from the boulevard and hurled it into the ballfield backstop. Only then did the storm touch-down again in the middle of the ballfield, setting the first small tree down alongside the clubhouse.

The storm proceeded to spray the front and side of the clubhouse with the wet clay from the field and then moved beside the clubhouse lifting shingles, blowing out the soffits from the eaves and sending pool furniture and debris in every direction. The storm circled around the clubhouse to the tennis courts, bending the back court fence outward and pulling down over half the wind screens. It then moved on to the playground where it tore the sunshade fabric to pieces and disassembled the metal structure that had held it in place.  A resident that was driving on the Blvd at the time said this entire episode took less than 30 seconds in total. 

Over the next few days the staff spent numerous hours cleaning up and contacting vendors to fix the immediate damages where safety could be an issue. As I mentioned earlier, we still have work to be done but progress is being made on a daily basis. Thank you for your patience.

The Fitness Center is a very popular place at North Shore at Lake Hart.

And that’s for good reason. The hours are phenomenal, and the center has higher-end equipment that holds its own against most local gyms.

The 1300-square-feet of floor space includes high-quality commercial grade equipment
with over a dozen body specific machines. Residents can choose from elliptical machines, high-end treadmills, leg presses, a universal machine and other multi-use exercise equipment. There’s also a wide variety of barbells, kettlebells and free weights.

Located in the Community Clubhouse, the Fitness Center saves residents both time and money. The facility is open from 4 a.m. until 11 p.m. daily to North Shore residents. The minimum age is 16 and 14, if accompanied by a guardian or parent. The center is included in your monthly assessment so there’s no additional fee to work out.

Why wait until the new year to start working on your fitness goals? You can begin today right here at home in North Shore.

More than 70 homes participated in the fall, community-wide garage sale at North Shore earlier this month. Hundreds of bargain hunters hit our streets looking and finding treasures at prices too good to pass up. Bikes, exercise equipment, baby gear, toys, tools, kitchen gadgets and MUCH more were up for grabs throughout our neighborhood. Shoppers had a great time and residents hosting sales made a few extra bucks. Win-win!