Sneaking Creek

Bodie, Warren
Bryant, Kenneth L.
Butera, Kenneth & Susan
Craig, Robert & Alleen
Daly, John E.
Evans, Nancy H.
Evans, Charles E. & Teresa G.
Frazier, Nancy D.
Hudson, David D. & Shirley S.
Jordan, Jerry & Carole

Brock, Robert F. Jr., & Linda A.
Fiveash, David M., Et Al.
Kimsey, Martin & Victoria
Sadagursky, Thomas & Marci N.
Singer, Merle E & Myra G.
Tiger, Robert N., III, & Holly F.

After some social time, there was a brief introduction of those that were in attendance. A discussion was held regarding the merits and issues of forming a property owners association, questions and comments were taken from the floor. The consensus was to poll all owners and hold a vote concerning all those in favor.

The proposed association will be not for profit and governed by Chapter 55A of the North Carolina State Statutes. Any Articles of Incorporation will have to be drafted and decided upon by the owners who are participating as members.

There is no intention of initiating recurring monthly maintenance fees. Capital funding will be raised on an as needed basis and by a majority vote. We understand and are sympathetic that many owners are on a fixed income and have limited budgets.

There is no intention to develop architectural and/or community standards. As such, there would be no enforcement necessary such as notices, warnings, penalties and fines.

Participation is voluntary, however, only participating owners will be granted one vote per lot on project proposals. Since participation is voluntary and there would be no fixed budget or recurring assessments, there could be no fines, liens or foreclosures for late or non-payment respectively.

Some homeowners have expressed an interest in being able to contribute financially to the association without necessarily being a member. The association would welcome any and all donations regardless of voting rights since any contribution improves and maintains the beauty of our community and preserves property values.

There was some concern that the proposed association will somehow be involved in the litigation concerning the community lake access and individual owner land and water rights. This is a matter for individual owners with legal standing. Said association is required by law to operate within the sub division covenants and restrictions and as such can never impact prescriptive easements granted by same.

For those owners that did not RSVP, have not responded, or were unable to attend, please call, email or fax your vote no later than Friday, May 2, 2008. The final results of the vote will be updated and posted here by Monday, May 5, 2008.

If we are missing your contact information please notify us as we have no way of keeping in touch with you other than the costly and time consuming mailing process, which may not be available in the future. Please download the form below and submit it according to the method most convenient to you.

To decide if a Property Owners Association should be formed. Until an association is formed, logically there can be no discussion of articles/by laws, projects (front entrance sign, asphalt paving, common roads and grounds, etc.) , voting rights, etc. Those issues are decided by members once and only once the association is formed. For an owner to say they would not join the association before those issues are decided is like putting the cart before the horse. Why not get involved, influence the discussion and strategic direction of the association, and vote accordingly? Choosing not to be a member leaves an owner with no say.

I am not aware of any, I purchased in the community in April of last year and I am just now getting around to moving the idea forward. I keep pretty busy. In the past year, I have been traveling extensively on the international public speaking circuit and I have been a full time Visiting Professor at the University of North Carolina. In fact, it may well be more than 6 months before the non-profit association is incorporated, should the owners choose to do so, and provided we can get through the articles and by laws. Quite frankly, this association was supposed to be formed by the developer in 1972. So I think 36 years later, is hardly considered "a rush."

3. Why do the meeting minutes not encompass the entire discussion held at the meeting on April 26th?

First of all, there is no association at this point and the notice that went out was for an informal community gathering entitled "Come meet your neighbors." It would have been inappropriate to take notes or have minutes under those circumstances. This is why the above comments are labeled as "informal" and "meeting summary." They were never intended to be comprehensive or detailed as to the discussions held, many of which were completely irrelevant as to the issue of forming the association. Secondly, no one had offered to take minutes and no one raised the issue so that there could be a consensus of owners approving the taking of notes/minutes.

Further, the above comments are TALKING POINTS only! They are for discussion purposes. If an owner disagrees with anything outlined above, again, become a member, get involved and change it. This is your association, you make what you want of it. If you choose not to be a member, you have no influence in the matter.

I also specifically stated above, that owners "should notify us of any corrections." If there is something you would like to see included and you feel it is both relevant and important, let me know and I will include it, or better yet, why don't you help out and draft something and send it to me! I am only one person and I spend countless hours and go through great expense calling, tracking down, mailing owners, maintaining and updating this website. I was disappointed that some owners have not even been considerate enough to respond.

I have also received a comment that an owner was not aware of the comments posted here. If owners would review the meeting invitation, it can be clearly seen that all owners were invited to this page to keep up to date and review the results of the meeting and the subsequent vote.

I will also add that the goal or purpose of a community association is to engender cooperation and a spirit of community. Joining such an association is for the "common good." In my opinion, refusing to join an association because of personal agendas is contrary to this goal. In any event, it is a VOLUNTARY association, although not encouraged, as we are all adults here, if an owner decided that the direction of the association was not to their liking, it is up to them as to whether or not to withdraw their support of the association and resign their membership.

4. I hear there is litigation involving some homeowners over land and water rights, why shouldn't I wait to join the association under the litigation is resolved?

From a practical standpoint, it is anticipated that this litigation will take approximately 2-3 years or longer in appeal. A lot can happen in your community until then, most of which, you will have no say in. Secondly, this litigation involves individual homeowners and the association could never be a party to such a dispute. Lastly, any litigation between individual homeowners is irrelevant to the forming and operation of an owners association.

5. I want to see what the articles of incorporation and by laws of the association will look like before I decide to join?

A decision to form the association would have to be decided first. Once decided, the participating members who have voting rights will have the option of helping draft said documents prior to incorporation. If a homeowner is concerned about the articles and by laws, why not become a member and get involved in the drafting of them. As a non-member, you will have no input.

6. I am concerned about the concept of one lot, one vote? What about developers and how many votes will they have? Shouldn't there be one owner, one vote? Isn't it unfair that owners with multiple lots will have more than one vote?

Again, the voting rights of the association have not been decided, because the association has not been formed and the members have not been determined. Once there is a decision to go forward with the association, and the members have voted accordingly (perhaps initially, one owner, one vote), voting rights will be discussed and agreed upon by the members during the drafting of the articles and by laws.

Typically, developers only own one tract of land, thus one vote. As the development is sub divided, and lots are sold, individual votes go to the new owners.

Members of the newly formed association, are free to choose what the voting rights should be, they do not necessarily have to be one lot, one vote, although that is common practice.

Generally speaking, and as an issue of fairness, if an owner has purchased several lots they have a greater stake in the community as their investment is disproportionate to single lot owners.

7. I am a very busy person, how much time, energy and commitment is involved with meetings and such?

We don't envision more than one business meeting per year. However, we do envision perhaps social gatherings (e.g. covered dish) each quarter. There is no set agenda, the purpose of the POA is to handle projects as they are proposed. The purpose of developing a contact list with telephone and email is so that the owners involved can vote by email or phone (especially since the majority of owners are not full time residents of the community).

8. Are you in any way affiliated with Skyline Development, LLC, an entity owned and operated by John Daly?

I was pretty shocked by this question, I fail not only to see how it is relevant but also why in the world would anybody ask such a question in the first place? Although, this is a matter of public record, I do believe in transparency so I will be more than happy to answer the question, no matter how offended I may be over the conspiracy theorists.

The answer is No, I am not an officer/director, silent partner or investor in Skyline Development, LLC. I merely have purchased some property from them as many of you have. For those that do not know, John Daly has built and sold several homes in the community over the years and has always maintained a part-time residence here.

I am also a co-defendant with Skyline Development and Robert Blodgett in a lawsuit brought by one of the owners in the sub division over land and water rights. Both Blodgett and Skyline Development are property owners in the Sneaking Creek community.

In my experience John Daly is a straightforward and no non-sense businessman that cares about the community so much so that he has offered to transfer his interest in the road and the community lake access to the POA, free of charge. He obviously is an asset to the community and I have had nothing but positive experiences with him.

The idea to assist in forming a community association is solely mine and as I have stated publicly at the meeting, originally it was out of concern that the asphalt project a couple of years ago never got off the ground because there was not enough interest generated. Although there will always be some examples of negative experiences with associations (typically homeowners associations and not property owners associations, there is a difference), in the vast majority of cases, associations have been very positive for both the owners and the communities in which they live.

Just for the record, I don't want to give the impression to anyone reading this that the above is reflective of the entire community. To the contrary, there has been nothing but an overwhelming and enthusiastic positive response from the vast majority of owners that I was able to contact, some of whom, offered assistance financially without even being voting members. To all of you, go my greatest and sincerest thanks.

OWNER NAME	YES	NO	No Vote	Notes

Blodgett	X
Bodie	X
Brock	X
Bryant	X
Butera	X
Cheek/Duvall			X	Undecided
Clark			X	Unable to Contact/No Response
Copp		X		Unable to Contact, NO as per Griffith
Cowden	X
Craig	X
Daly	X
Adams	X
Evans, N		X		Pending litigation*
Evans, C/T			X	No Response
Fiveash	X
Frazier		X		Disagrees with one lot, one vote*
Gallardo	X
Golt		X		Status changed on 07-06-08
Griffith		X
Hudson		X		Pending litigation*
Jensen			X	Unable to Contact/No Response
Jordan		X		Pending articles*
Kimsey	X
McCollum			X	Unable to Contact/No Response
Meadows			X	Unable to Contact/No Response
Rodriguez		X		Pending litigation*
Sadagursky	X
Singer		X		Status changed on 06-17-08
Snuffer			X	Unable to Contact/No Response
Still			X	Unable to Contact/No Response
Tiger		X		Busy*
Waters	X

TOTALS	14	8	10
32 Owners				* See above

We are pleased to announce that we were able to bring fiber optics to the community. It is now available and up and running, we are one of first communities in GA and NC to get this service. This was made possible through our working relationship with BRMEMC. We are very fortunate as it is the latest greatest technology for high speed connections and most of the largest and most modern cities in the US don't even have it. Our thanks to Bob and Alleen Craig for getting the initial signatures we needed on the petition to get the project started and to those that were willing to sign up. Thanks!!!

Fiber, or fiber optics, is the newest technology available for providing broadband. Fiber optic technology converts electrical signals carrying data to light and sends the light through transparent glass fibers about the diameter of a human hair. Fiber transmits data at speeds far exceeding current DSL or cable modem speeds, typically by tens or even hundreds of Mbps. It is highly reliable and offers superior redundancy. The same fiber providing your broadband can also simultaneously deliver voice (VoIP) and video services, including video-on-demand.

Blue Ridge Mountain EMC will be offering bundled voice, internet access, and video services in the near future. The packages will be far superior in quality and bundled pricing will be more competitive than the individual services (telephone, internet, satellite TV) currently offered by the vendors that service our area.

We have a unique and rare opportunity to possibly obtain city water in the subdivision.

The purpose of this email is to gauge the level of general interest before any application is submitted, approvals sought or any costing or engineering is done.

First of all, I would like to thank John Daly and Skyline Development for even making this a remote possibility. I would also like to thank him for repairing the pot holes and widening the entrance access road as well.

4) Increases reliability of delivery (e.g. during a drought, or lightning strike)

The cost involved directly depends of the number of owners who are interested thereby allowing us to spread the engineering, planning, permitting, and installation costs over a large number of residences.

We will not be able to begin a cost analysis until we have firmed up the numbers of owners potentially interested.

It is possible for us to provide you with city water access without having you tap in at the present time for those of who that would prefer to keep it open as an option and don’t have any immediate need or desire for city water.

If any of you are interested in moving forward please let me know as soon as possible. The decision to proceed will be made on the basis of those responses received in the immediate future, perhaps no later than April 2009.