Troubled waters at Seacoast Shores
By Sean F. Driscoll, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The association has floated selling the beach and rights of way, ostensibly to raise money and cut expenses, an idea that incensed residents and sparked the current acrimony.
"That's been the value of owning property in Seacoast Shores, the access to the water and the beach," said
The conflict has simmered for weeks, mostly via strongly worded yard signs, but it boiled over Saturday morning when a series of packed neighborhood meetings designed to provide answers left residents more frustrated than ever.
The morning meeting ended after nearly three hours, as the presentation finally turned to the association's financial overview, which most attendees had been clamoring to hear.
A group of 150 people was waiting outside to get into the second meeting, which was hastily scheduled when the meeting room in the association clubhouse was filled quickly to capacity.
Two off-duty police officers, one each from
"They're bamboozling us," said
Board member
"No one wants to sell anything," he said. "But we're faced with these legal and financial issues of liability and upkeep. Eventually, if we can't save the assets, we're going to be forced to sell them."
Although board members were focused on the association's future on Saturday, residents say the roots of the current strife can be found in the decision to tear down the neighborhood's old clubhouse and replace it with a larger structure with a pool, tennis courts and a restaurant.
The clubhouse opened in
"This turned off a lot of people," Peterson said. "They had no interest in belonging to that. They thought the dues should just belong to the association and not the clubhouse, and it turned people off."
FINANCIAL TROUBLES
Seacoast Shores is one of
It was established in the late 1940s, when cottages were advertised for a few hundred bucks each and a plot of land went for a few grand. Eventually the peninsula filled up. Just as soon, the association claims, the financial troubles began.
The association's dues always have been voluntary, and historically only about a third of homeowners have paid, Frawley said at the Saturday morning meeting. That put the association in a financial hole for years and meant that nothing was being saved for beach replenishment or to repair the rights of way to which all homeowners had deeded access.
That voluntary membership has been one of the fundamental problems in keeping Seacoast Shores solvent, Frawley said.
"You have a benefit with no obligation," he said.
The association is projected to break even this year despite a dropoff in membership when dues went from
The board said part of the financial turnaround came from the clubhouse construction. The building, which includes a pool and dining room, replaced an older, more modest clubhouse that was open to everyone in Seacoast Shores.
'I REFUSED TO PAY'
The new building is open only to association members, but to get full access, residents must first pay a one-time membership fee of
Those who pay only the association dues get a
After that benefit is exhausted, association members can use the clubhouse only during specific hours and only some months of the year.
Frawley insisted that the association dues were not subsidizing the clubhouse's operation, but when he showed a breakdown of the
In 2013, the association brought in about
The bulk of the 2013 expenses -- about 70 percent -- came from the salaries for clubhouse employees and food and beverage costs, according to a Times analysis of the figures.
"The argument is being made that the (association) paid the taxes and utilities on the old clubhouse, so they should continue to pay for utilities and taxes on the
Seiple said, and Frawley acknowledged, that the board has not been forthcoming about its finances. Seiple stopped paying his association dues several years ago largely for that reason.
"When they failed to give me the financial statements, I refused to pay," he said. "A lot of other members did that. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize where the money's now going."
But the board says it needs more money not to keep the clubhouse afloat but to invest in its beaches and rights of way.
repairs needed
Board member
Repairing the damage caused by erosion can't be done ad hoc, he said, showing slides of rocks dumped haphazardly along some waterfront paths to shore up eroding shorelines.
An engineered solution must be devised, and it will have to meet
"We don't want you throwing good money after bad," said
The work that needs to be done includes cleaning the rights of way, restoring eroding beaches, developing a system for dinghy and kayak storage along the shoreline and ongoing trimming of the vegetation.
That, plus other monitoring, maintenance programs the association board wants to implement, will cost about
"This is for our kids," Demopoulos said. "This is for whoever comes next."
But for those who are in Seacoast Shores now, the skepticism level is higher than the clubhouse dining room's vaulted ceiling. Talk of selling assets, Seiple believes, is just a way to shock people into joining the association.
"The current board is literally trying to extort money out of the neighbors who are refusing to pay their voluntary homeowners association dues," he said.
No votes were taken Saturday. Frawley said a third meeting is likely for next weekend, and the board wants to keep the dialogue going with more resident meetings in the future.
Ultimately, however, only dues-paying members would get a vote on the association's future regardless of how high the outrage gets.
For resident
"It's all because of a failed marketing plan for their clubhouse," he said. "It's deceitful and sneaky."
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