Seven Lakes Times

With fifty members in attendance at the Tuesday, January 25 Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA] meeting, Secretary Jane Sessler introduced the three candidates that are running for seats on the Board of Directors:Jim Pierman, Bruce Keyser Sr., and Dan Blue.

Sessler said said she was “very happy and very gratified to have three very well-qualified candidates to run for the Board for next year.” The candidates introduced themselves during the meeting.

Pierman, who has lived on the Westside for four years, said “It’s hard to express how neat this community is. It is really a super, super place to be.” He added, “I think about where I could have retired, and I think I hit the right spot.”

Having worked with the Lake Auman Sports Club and volunteering at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, Pierman said “I really feel great that I am going to have an opportunity to go ahead and work here in the community -- right in Seven Lakes West.”

Keyser, who has lived in the Seven Lakes area for thirty-one years, said he agreed to run after being approached by the Nominating Committee. “I understand it has been difficult to get members of this community to say ‘yes’ to participation and being a Board member," he said.

Keyser said the SLWLA Board has done “a wonderful job” and that, as a result, “we are a wonderful community.” Addressing his approach to Board service, Keyser said he plans to listen to the members of the community and then make his decision on issues as they arise.

Blue was also asked to serve by the Nominating Committee. Blue has owned a Westside lot since 1988, but does not own a home in Seven Lakes West. Blue told members: “I am the lot owner; I don't live here, so I guess I am the token.”

Blue and his wife live thirty minutes away but visit Seven Lakes on the weekends. “I look forward to being of service to you,” he said.

The Nominating Committee “cast a very wide net” in its search for candidates, Sessler said, adding that committee members spoke with fifty potential candidates.

“I want you to know we spent a lot of time," she said, "and we are absolutely thrilled that these three men have stepped forward. Each one of them brings a unique perspective to our Board for next year.”

SLWLA members will have an opportunity to vote for the three new candidates at the annual meeting in March. Current Board members John Hoffmann, Adam Wimberly, and John Goodman will be leaving the Board after serving three-year terms.

Moore County is looking for public input this week on two key initiatives: a rewrite of the Zoning and Subdivision ordinances called the "Unified Development Ordinance" [UDO], and a Working Land Protection Plan that aims to help preserve the County's farms and timberlands.

The Planning Board has been reviewing the UDO for months, and will hold public work sessions on Monday and Tuesday, January 23 & 24 at 6:00 pm, in the Commissioners meeting room of the Historic Courthouse in Carthage. The Board hopes to receive input from interested members of the public in these meetings.

The draft UDO can be viewed on the County's website.

Working Lands Plan

Gathering additional public input on the The Working Land Protection Plan is the goal of three meetings co-sponsored by the Planning Department and the Soil and Water Conservation Board. Moore County's Board of Commissioners asked for additional public input on the plan before approving it.

The purpose of the plan is to provide an assessment of the farm and forest industries in Moore County, identify their challenges and opportunities, and develop a set of strategies and actions that will protect the county's working lands and promote the agricultural economy. This plan was developed after intensive research was conducted involving statistical analysis, published reports, and surveys and interviews with local producers, business operators, residents, and agricultural support personnel.

Having a Working Lands Protection plan in place can help the county qualify for increased funding to implement preservation strategies.

The draft plan is available on the county's website. 

Three meetings have been scheduled this week:

Aberdeen Elementary School Auditorium, Monday, January 23, 9:00am-11:00am

Vass-Lakeview Elementary School Media Center/Library, Tuesday, January 24, 3:30pm-5:30pm

Robbins Elementary School Auditorium, Thursday, January 26, 6:00pm-8:00pm.

Sunday, January 22

• St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church – 9:30 am, Holy Communion. 1145 Seven Lakes Drive,Seven Lakes 673-3838.

• SunFlix Movies at the Sunrise – Take Shelter, 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines (910) 692-3611.

• The Rooster’s Wife – 6:45 pm, doors open at 6 pm, in the gallery of Poplar Knight Spot. Jamie Laval in concert tonight. Buy your tickets on line with debit or credit cards. Cash and checks accepted at the door. Rooster's Wife. 114 Knight St., Aberdeen, www.theroosterswife.org (910)944-7502.

Monday, January 23

• Seven Lakes Artists Group – 1 pm, meets every Monday at Seven Lakes Northside Clubhouse. All Local artists are welcome join the group.

• Weight Watchers Meeting – 5 pm-6 pm, at St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church, 1145 Seven Lakes Drive, Seven Lakes. Group leader Rachel Carr.

• The Sandhills Natural History Society – 7 pm meeting at Weymouth Woods Auditorium, 1024 Ft. Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. “My Life as a Turkey” From the Nature series on PBS, this film depicts the true story of Joe Hutto's experience hand raising a group of wild turkey hatchlings to adulthood. Visitors Welcome. 910-692-2167 for more information or visit online www.sandhillsnature.org

• SunFlix Movies at the Sunrise – Take Shelter, 7:30 pm. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines (910) 692-3611.

There's a “new owner at Pine Forest,” Planning Director Debra Ensminger reported to the Board of Commissioners during their Annual Budget Retreat on Thursday, January 19.

Who that new owner is has yet to be revealed, but Ensminger expects to meet with them on February 20, she told the Board. It was also not clear whether the "new owner" had acquired the entire development, or only portions of it.

Ensminger said she had been notified of the ownership change via and email from Hobbs-Upchurch and Associates, the Southern Pines engineering firm retained by MHK, Inc. to draw plans for Pine Forest.

She told The Times that working with a new Pine Forest developer would be like “starting at square one.”

“We thought that the developer who was developing this was going to go forward,” said Commissioner Tim Lea, who voted against the rezoning of Pine Forest back in July.

“Now, we found out that Pine Forest has been sold to another developer. Are we going to have another developer the next time we get ready to make a decision on this?”

“Why would a new owner buy?” Commissioner Nick Picerno asked. “We have not approved any water or sewer.”

It took more than two years for Florida-based MHK, Inc. to win approval of Planned Unit Development zoning for the nearly 1700 acre property that stretches north of NC Highway 211 from West Pine Middle School to West End.

Though the rezoning was approved, the Commissioners have not finalized agreements to bring county water to the property -- or related agreements that would bring wastewater from another MHK development -- the Dormie Club on NC Highway 73 -- for processing at a private wastewater treatment plant proposed for Pine Forest.

The January 20 edition of The Seven Lakes Times is now available for download in pdf format.

You can download our regular-sized PDF here, or the new, higher-quality PDF here.

Highlights of this 32-page issue include:

- The SLLA Board is thinking about doing away with 'renters dues," a longstanding arrangement in which renters pay dues to the Association, and part of that money is later refunded to the landlord.

- The SLWLA Board has approved a proposed FY 2012-21013 budget on second reading that raises homeowners dues by two percent but increases the dues rate for lot owners by more than six percent. Directors had an interesting Work Session discussion about how best to handle security issues at the back gate.

- Foxfire's Village Council is struggling mightily with the definition of "family," as in "single family home." They want Villagers to be able to rent their homes on a short-term basis to groups of golfers on holiday but not on a longer-term basis to groups of workers being temporarily housed by their company. The topic was discussed in both a public hearing and work session. Also on the Work Session agenda was a discussion about whether ten acres or six makes the most sense as a minimum size for equestrian lots.

- The Moore County Board of Commissioners approved a $344,000 local match that will allow the Moore County airport to tap federal and state grants to fund $3.1 million in infrastructure improvements at the airport. Commissioner Tim Lea voted against the measure, concerned that continued expansion of the airport means more county money in the future -- and more encroachment on neighboring properties, including Sandhills Community College.

- Moore County Schools is hosting a series of educational session on year-round schooling, to be followed up with a survey of parent interest in the concept, which is currently offered at four county schools. One Board of Education member's research suggests year-round programs offer little proven academic advantage, though they do offer a better utilization of the physical plant.

- Laura's got a new television addiction that involves large, hairy, man-like creatures (no, not Monday Night Football), Don's defining "Evangelical," and two Westside lot owners are none too happy with the SLWLA's proposed budget.

Download the pdf edition (or the new high-quality PDF edition) and read it all this morning, pick up a copy at locations all over Seven Lakes this afternoon, or check your mailbox tomorrow.

Residents packed Foxfire's Town Hall for a public hearing on proposed revisions to single family zoning ordinances on Tuesday, January 10. But the Village Council tabled the matter after questions were raised about enforcement and Councilman Mick McCue expressed concern that the convoluted language still needed work.

“The law allows municipalities to govern use of property: that is why we have zoning," explained McCue. "The law that allows a single family to occupy a single family residence has been codified since we developed our ordinances. Our definition of 'family' in the [existing] ordinance is far too restrictive. We must change it to a broader encompassing definition of 'family' to include a modern view of the functional description of family. But, if you allow people who are not families to occupy homes, then we have all these concerns.”

As proposed, the revised ordinance defined "family" as an individual or two or more people related by blood, marriage, adoption, or another legally-recognized care arrangement, living together as a single housekeeping unit, that does not include more than four persons who are not related to the other persons of the household.

McCue said that the proposed definition would allow a large family of six or more to live together, while sharing their home with four additional non-relatives.

He also expressed concern over another ordinance revision that would impose a thirty-day limit on short-term rentals, arguing that it could create a timeshare type of situation with revolving sets of renters. 

The Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA] Board of Directors unanimously approved the proposed Fiscal Year 2012-2013 annual budget on a second reading during their Tuesday, January 10 Work Session.

“At this point we have had minimal feedback from folks that are concerned with the budget,” said Treasurer Don Freiert. The Board has used a variety of communication channels to get information about the budget out to membership, including: the Weekly E-blast, the SLWLA Newsletter, postings in the West Side Park Community Center and Mailhouse, and reporting in The Seven Lakes Times.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Freiert said a total of twelve comments about the budget have been posted on the community website, dealing either with dues parity for developed and undeveloped lots or with adding a fourth CAS staff member to the Association office.

Defending the need for an additional CAS staff member, President Mick Herdrich said, “I don’t think most people realize how much stuff has been transferred from the Board to CAS. I see that just continuing.”

“At the Town Hall meeting, we had fairly low attendance," Freiert told the Board, "No position was taken whatsoever for or against the budget at that meeting,”

The budget was initially approved by the Board on December 13. Tuesday's approval on the second reading clears the way for the budget to be forwarded to the membership, which will vote to approve or disapprove it during the Annual Meeting in March. 

For as long as anyone can remember -- and at least as far back as 1980 in the files of the Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] -- rental properties have been assessed a higher rate of dues than owner-occupied resident homes.

At the suggestion of the Association's legal counsel, the question of whether that arrangement is fair and enforceable was brought to the table during the Board of Directors Work Session on Monday, January 9.

“Seven Lakes is unique," President Bob Darr said. "We can’t find anyone else who charges additional dues to renters."

Simply explained, an SLLA homeowner pays $900 per year in dues. If that home is rented, the Association bills the renter for an additional $410 in dues. Once the renter's dues are paid, the SLLA office then reimburses the property owner for $205 -- half of the renter dues.

The net total of $1,105 dues paid on a rental property is, therefore, more than the rate charged to resident owners. With approximately 90 rental properties in the community, Community Manager Alina Cochran estimated those additional dues will contribute nearly $20,000 to 2012 revenues.

Trying to find a way to eliminate the SLLA's unique "renter's dues" arrangement, while preserving the $20,000 in revenues it produces for the Association, the Board appeared to favor the notion of charging renters an administrative fee in lieu of the additional dues.

A proposed fee of $200, all retained by the SLLA, would preserve the revenue stream. It would, however, eliminate the current $205 rebate paid to owners of rental property, potentially increasing their costs and effective dues rate.

In a related discussion, the Board seemed to agree that membership cards and guest cards should only be issued to one entity -- that is, either the renter or the owner could use the community amenities, but not both. Currently, both landlords and renters are able to use the amenities.

The proposed change in fees will be considered for approval during the January 25 Open Meeting. 

Despite a proposed dues increase, fewer than two dozen landowners showed up for the Wednesday, January 4 Town Hall meeting on the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget proposed for the Seven Lakes West Landowners Association.

Presiding over the meeting was Treasurer Don Freiert, who addressed member feedback gathered since the Tuesday, December 13 Work Session, when the FY2012-2013 budget was unveiled.

Moving toward dues parity

The dues increase that Freiert is proposing falls more heavily on the owners of undeveloped lots, who will see a six percent increase, than on the Association's homeowners, whose annual levy would rise by only two percent.

That is part of a Board strategy to gradually achieve dues parity; during Wednesday night's meeting, Freiert explained the rationale for equalizing dues across the community.

First, Freiert said, all members are allowed to use SLWLA amenities -- whether they own an improved or unimproved lot.

“The Association’s governing documents provide basically only one class of membership . . . there is no distinction between improved or unimproved," the Treasurer explained. "If you own a lot -- whether you have a house on it or not -- you are a member and are entitled to access to all amenities in the community and are entitled to a vote . . . that is what we mean by class of membership.”

Second, in making the decision to move toward a single assessment, the Board felt that all properties benefit from the Association's maintenance and improvement of the Community -- whether or not the lot owner actually lives in Seven Lakes West.

“Maintaining roads, the lake and dam, and other infrastructure is critical to preserving property values," Freiert said. "That’s all property values -- not just improved home value, but even the land value of the lots being held."

Finally the budget reflects the cost of running the Community Association, which represents all lot owners.

“Lets face it," Freiert said, "this community has been around a long time. Things are wearing out, and they are wearing out by virtue of age. And unfortunately in some cases -- based on our roads -- the way they were built, not so much someone driving on them. We’re faced with, as a community, replacing those assets; and, when we look at that, we think all lots should participate on an equal basis."

Westside Treasurer Don Freiert is recommending a two percent dues increase on developed lots, and just over six percent on undeveloped lots, for Fiscal Year 2012-2013. Even with the dues increase, balancing the budget will require reducing the amount the Association devotes to capital projects and capital reserves by $42,000.

“A more challenging year” faces the Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA], Freiert told his fellow Directors during their Tuesday, December 13 Work Session.

Anticipating a $94,000 increase in expenditures but only $52,000 in additional revenue, Freiert recommended an overall decrease of $42,000 in allocations to capital reserves and proposed capital projects -- an 8.5 percent reduction.

The additional revenue reflects an increase of dues on improved lots from $912 to $930, and an increase from $684 to $726 on unimproved lots. Freiert explained the steeper hike on unimproved lots is aimed at gradually bringing the dues on all lots into parity over the next seven years.

Responding to a question on the rationale for parity, SLWLA President Mick Herdrich said the covenants allow for only one type of member, so the Board felt strongly that all should contribute equally.

“The budget expenditures are mainly operating expenditures -- that is, what it takes to run the Association," Herdrich said. "Whether they [members] have a house or own a lot and live in Michigan, we still maintain the roads, the pool, the lake.”

Treasurer Freiert agreed, noting there are also instances of lots being purchased exclusively for access to the community’s amenities.

“You can’t make a distinction," said Freiert. "Yes, it is true some own lots and never come here. But, the reality is, they are either part of the community or not. The community has to exist and operate. This puts all on a equal footing with everyone else.”