Rezoning Informational Meeting 1 MCA Responses to Questions and Comments MCA Responses to Questions and Comments From the Nov 20, 2014 Rezoning Informational Meeting What could happen to The Meadows over the next decade? We live in a 40+ year old golf course community. We are one community; it is not “them” (TMCC) and “us” (MCA). Our community is interwoven with 3 golf courses; the majority of our 3500 homes have a golf course view; all property values benefit from the golf course staying beautiful. The continued success of TMCC is vital to The Meadows and the MCA. We are situated in the best location in Sarasota. We have the benefit of a short drive to the arts, culture and beaches of the best small city in America. New development has boomed all around us, causing our property values to keep up. Upcoming events will enhance those values more, and make The Meadows a desirable place for new residents. However, many of our homes and buildings, especially at the Club and shopping village, are old and in need of maintenance; some are obsolete. There is massive competition in housing and in the golf industry. Rounds of golf are down, nationwide, and are expected to be even less. Membership is down. The Club is losing money each year. Maintenance is being put off. The Club must do something to reinvent itself or, in the near future, all Meadows residents could suffer. The new arrivals in Florida may be reluctant to move into a community with an uncertain future. It may be reasonable to assume that there may be less demand for older homes on poorly maintained, public golf courses. However, it is reasonable to project that they will buy up homes along fairways and build new ones; two at a time in some cases, and build one nice new house where two have been. This is being done over and over in other areas that are booming. Rising property values generally stimulate such redevelopment. There are very few places to develop and revitalize The Meadows. There appears to be little appetite for the Club to build condos on the golf courses. We can’t redevelop the Shopping Village; we don’t own it and the owner has rejected all of our efforts to acquire it. We can’t develop under the power lines. We don’t want to build on our sports field/playground area. We want to preserve our nature trails and exercise course. Existing neighborhoods would have to decide for themselves, with coordination from the MCA, if Rezoning Informational Meeting 2 MCA Responses to Questions and Comments redevelopment is desirable. We even want to preserve the vast majority of open space along 17th Street. We have selected the very few areas where something can be constructed to strengthen TMCC and the MCA, and which won’t significantly impact the beauty and quality of life in The Meadows. Of course, if the zoning goes through, and a resort/hotel is built, no one would deny that there will be activity in the Club area; but there is now on numerous occasions. Longmeadow was built to accommodate much more traffic than we have now, and the Club used to have many more members. Also, if residential units are built back behind the corner of Longmeadow and Highlands Bridge Road, good design should limit their visibility through the trees. Maybe there will be a few extra cars on the roads from those units. Those things cannot be denied; however, the alternatives of doing nothing could affect all property values and quality of life much more. Who owns the properties? The club owns the Club area. the MCA owns the 9.2 acres on 47th Street, a portion of the northwest corner of Longmeadow and Highlands Bridge Road and the corner of 17th and Hammock Place. How do the MCA projects help the Club? Why are we doing them? the MCA portion of the rezoning may not directly help the Club; at least not in the very short term. These projects would make the MCA stronger financially to keep assessments down in future years. The great infusion of cash to The Club can help with needed maintenance and capital projects. If the MCA had to assess all MCA members in the future, our assessments would increase 30% to 45% just to offset current needs at the Club. To bring TMCC to higher, top notch standards with new buildings and other needed capital improvements that number would surely increase. Was the November article inaccurate? The November issue of The Meadoword article was written at a time when a developer was interested in building a hotel at Longmeadow and Highlands Bridge Road on MCA property. Rezoning Informational Meeting 3 MCA Responses to Questions and Comments The current proposal is to rezone for a future resort/hotel, or multi family units, in the existing club area where there are many other buildings and parking lots. While some interest has been shown, there is no developer involved in any of the projects. Proposals may be taken should the rezoning go through. If no acceptable proposals are received because of either unfavorable market conditions or because the MCA and the Club find them unacceptable, then no development plans will move forward. Options for doing nothing, a threat? You have heard and seen the current status and projections for TMCC. We have an obligation to consider the various options available. If the Club operates at a loss each year, eventually there will need to be some changes. The likelihood is that maintenance will be cut to the courses, buildings and equipment; that will affect the property values of everyone in The Meadows. All courses could become poorly maintained public courses, and the private club would be no more. The state law (Chapter 720, (6)(a)) allows a homeowners association to assess all its members for “recreational amenities, whether owned by the association, the developer or another person.” In legal language, “person” means “corporation,” such as TMCC. So it appears that the law allows the MCA to assess all members for TMCC maintenance. We do not want to exercise that option, unless there is a majority of property owners that want to support the Club financially. Thirdly, the idea that units can be built on a golf course, whether or not the residents like it, is close to home. Forest Lakes Country Club on Beneva sat vacant with high grass and weeds for years; now a developer is restoring most of the course but some units are going to be built where part of the course used to be. We think the alternative of doing this rezoning will be less intrusive than what might happen by doing nothing. It removes one key hurdle in a process giving the MCA and Club more flexibility should new circumstances call for relatively quick action. Shopping center has vacancies; is there too much office space available? It was suggested that there is a glut of office/commercial space in our area, including our own shopping village. Our shopping village has some long-term anchor tenants such as the dentist, travel agency, Mona Lisa, the bank, the hairdresser and more. We have tried to buy Rezoning Informational Meeting 4 MCA Responses to Questions and Comments it several times, overtly and covertly, but it is not for sale at any price. There are very few (major spaces) vacancies. Also, the big Click Booth buildings up on Honore were cited as being vacant. They were for a long time. However, there appears to be businesses there now, and if the economy continues to improve, the building are projected to fill up. If we are able to get a rezoning for the corner of 17th and Hammock Place, we will have appraisals done to verify the cost and need of office professional space. If the studies show there is no need for that type of space we will not seek proposals. Explain funds to be made, what might be done with them for both Club and MCA ... How much, how long? The asking price for a nearby 3-acre hotel site(vacant land) is $2.6 million. A conservative estimate of the value of this rezoning to The Club is that they could make $1,000,000, perhaps more, selling some acreage to a developer to build the resort/hotel in The Club area. There might also be some significant, additional annual income from the resort and the possibility of new members. The Club stands to make another $800,000 or more, if condominium units can be built in The Club Area. If the MCA sells the 9.2 acres on 47th Street for single family homes, and land for “ tennis villas,” south of the tennis area, we stand to make over $1,000,000. Additionally, we will make over $100,000 per year in annual assessments from all of the properties being rezoned, once the buildings are complete. Don’t forget that Kobernick and The Club pay annual assessments to the MCA based on their values. When those values go up, the MCA gets stronger. That should keep assessments down for many years. Assessments to all owners? The state law (Chapter 720, (6)(a)) allows a homeowners association to assess all its members for “recreational amenities, whether owned by the association, the developer or another person.” In legal language, “person” means “corporation,” such as TMCC. We do not want to exercise that option. Assessments to newcomers? Our documents do not require individual owners to join the Club and all properties are individually owned in The Meadows.