Lindsay S. Smith, an attorney in the Denver office of Winzenburg, Leff, Purvis and Payne, recently posted a great entry on her firm’s Colorado Home Owners Association Law blog. As you’ll see from her article, Florida ROCs aren’t the only ones with residents that take it upon themselves to "befriend" and feed wild animals–in this
Safety
Fido, Foreclosures, and Florida versus the Feds
I’m posting the links to three recent articles for my blog readers:
- The first story involves the efforts of a condominium association in Jupiter, Florida to use a dog’s individual DNA to help identify canine offenders (and their owners) of the community’s "pooper scooper" rules.
- The aggressive approach taken by a homeowners’ association in
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Update on House Bill 849
One of my recent blog entries discussed House Bill 849, a welcome product of Florida’s 2011 legislative session. House Bill 849 created new Florida Statute Section 514.0315, which gives pool owners the option of installing any of five different types of equipment in order to meet the requirements of the Virginia Graeme Baker…
“Emergency” Board Meetings Require Real Emergencies
Those of you that have attended our seminars for resident owned communities know that I stress the importance of all board meetings being properly noticed and open to all association members.
I’m asked at least several times every year whether a ROC board can meet in "emergency" session and thus dispense with the requirements to…
A Plea for Civility
I’m surely not alone in trying to understand the tragedy that occurred just over a week ago in Tucson. Regardless of one’s political views, it’s certainly worth considering the clear lack of civility and common courtesy that seems to be the rule rather than the exception throughout our country today.
Several days after the shootings…
The DBPR, ROCs, and “Nuisances”
Now that the annual migration of the "snowbirds" to our resident owned communities is well under way, so are the number of complaints we receive each week about "nuisances". Whether it’s the dog that barks at all hours of the day and night, the next door neighbor who plays his stereo loudly, or the…
Golf Carts, Storm Surge, and a Divided Mobile Home Community
I’m posting links for my blog readers to two articles from last Sunday’s Sarasota Herald -Tribune and a story that was summarized in a recent edition of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association’s newsletter.
- The first article from the Herald-Tribune focuses on the tragic consequences of an accident involving a golf cart. I’ve covered this
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ROCs Should Prepare for an Active Hurricane Season
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) just issued its predictions for the upcoming hurricane season, which begins June 1.
If NOAA’s forecast is correct, we’ll have a very busy summer tracking storms in the Gulf and the Atlantic:
According to NOAA, there is a seventy per cent chance of the following:
- 14 to 23 named storms (either tropical storms with top winds of at least 39 miles per hour or hurricanes)
- 8 to 14 of those storms will reach hurricane status (with top winds of at least 74 miles per hour)
- Of those 8 to 14 hurricanes, 3 to 7 will become major hurricanes (with top winds of at least 111 miles per hour)
I’ve posted on hurricane preparedness before but this is certainly a good time for ROC managers and board members to review their existing hurricane preparedness plans and to remind their residents (snowbirds and full-timers alike) of a few important points:
- Residents should not wait until the last minute to evacuate their communities–especially those in need of special care or with pets
- Do not leave lawn chairs, tables, etc. outside when a storm is on the way. Anything that can become a projectile should be brought inside or be otherwise safely secured.
- A mandatory evacuation order means just that: evacuate your community. Unless your clubhouse is a Red Cross certified storm shelter, it should not in any event be used to "ride out" the storm.
- Make sure all contact information for residents is readily available
- Appoint one or two "full time"residents (not the manager) to serve as the "information centers" in the event that a storm hits the community. All residents should be advised to contact these residents rather than the manager or other board members for updates on conditions at the community. The manager and the other board members will have their hands full in dealing with the challenges facing any community in the aftermath of a storm.
We all hope that this hurricane season will be as quiet and uneventful as last year’s but, as always, taking the proper steps to prepare for the worst is the best course of action for managers, board members and residents in our communities.
Continue Reading ROCs Should Prepare for an Active Hurricane Season
Two Important Safety Concerns for ROCs
I want to bring two recent items to the attention of my blog readers. I’ve touched on one of the items in a past entry and thought the other item was extremely important.
I’ve covered the issues raised by golf carts in resident-owned communities in an earlier post. As those of you that attended…
“Low-Rise” ROCs Can Waive Requirements to Retrofit for Handrails and Sprinkler Systems
Board members and managers in resident-owned condominiums and cooperatives may recall that tucked away in Chapters 718 and 719 of the Florida Statutes are several provisions that require associations to "retrofit" their "common areas" with handrails or guardrails and fire sprinkler systems or other "engineered life safety" systems. The statutes provide that these retrofitting requirements…