Blog

Howdy Shady Beacher's!

 

With the tree's budding and the ice melting, it won't be long till the boats go back in the water and the world will tilt back to its proper axis.  

 

On Tuesday March 11th we held a General Membership meeting and below are the highlights.

 

Annual Dues are due by March 30th, otherwise a $50 late fee.

 

 

We will be using Collins Landscaping again this year.

 

While the canal ice was safe, Chuck marked with orange paint the areas that are rotting.  Docks 45-55 to the north end heading towards our garage is the primary area affected thus far.  As a reminder we will need to raise ~$187,000 over the next 5-6 years so we can replace the current seawall.  The incremental funding gap is just over $1,000 per slip over the next 6 years.  We raised the rate $100 this year, which was below the average of $181 per slip per year that would get us to our target. Thus, this will require additional slip increases in the coming years. A small subcommittee is working up several dues models that will be reviewed and discussed in an upcoming meeting. 

 

SBIA Participation:   

As you will note above, we have a Marina Capital Budget we are saving/adding to annually for Marina related infrastructure (seawall, ramp, docks),  However we DO NOT have a General Fund Capital Budget.  This means the revenue we collect annually from your general membership dues is completely spent annually, leaving SBIA with no budget to make any improvements to the amenities (Park, Marina, Beach, and front of subdivision sign areas) in our subdivision. Further exasperating this situation, we have ~50 Shady Beach residents that do not participate/pay SBIA, but are benefiting with the 10-15% increases in their home values because of the SBIA amenities offered...whether they use them or not.  Given that SBIA members feel, and rightly so, that they shouldn't be the only ones paying for things like: the on-going annual costs for lawn care, tree removal and replacements, SAD fees to ensure clean lake water, or one time fees like replacement of the subdivision sign.

 

With this disparity in resident responsibility, SBIA has engaged with MAGWV (Makower, Abbate, Guerra, Wegner, Vollmer) law firm.  MAGWV specializes in HOA (Homeowner Associations), has worked with over 2,500 HOA's in Michigan.  Our goal is to come on to a legal path forward that would convert SBIA to a mandatory HOA providing a durable foundation for Shady Beach for the next 100 years.  A small subcommittee has been formed to work on this project. 

 

Given we do not have a General Fund Capital Budget, we hope to explore some creative ways to make some small improvements.  We are are looking for a volunteer who can lead this effort.  Let us know if you are interested.

 

See you out there!

 

Dan