Posted:
November 26, 2024
Hello Members,
Happy Thanksgiving and all the best for the coming holidays and New Year.
Here are a few dates to remember:
• Dec 19th 2024 Meeting of the Board – This meeting will occur on Zoom. This Meeting is the standard semi-monthly open Board Meeting. All members are invited to attend. Everyone will get a link to the Zoom meeting in advance of the date. If you don’t have access to Zoom for some reason perhaps you can ask a neighbor if you can watch and attend together.
• January 19th 2025– Third Annual “Meet Your Neighbors” Cocktail Party – Sunday 3 to 5 PM. We are planning another gathering where everyone can come and get to know each other. It will be an Appetizer Pot Luck / BYOB with tables set up in the parking area off the lake between units 2122 and 2123. You can have your fill of all the cocktails you bring yourself! We have a music set up and will play some tunes. Special thanks to Lori for helping us to organize everything.
• February 13th 2025 – Member’s Meeting and Annual Election of the Board – This meeting will include the election of officers to the board. As per our COA Docs the second Tuesday of February is the date of the elections. Preliminary information will be sent out 60 days in advance.
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The Boards job is to Protect, Maintain and Enhance the Community. Run it like a business.
The Board just finished the Budget process for 2025. We worked from the Reserve Study that was completed in 2023 and gave us the long-term (3 to 30 years) numbers to be able to sustain the streets, sidewalks, landscaping, roofs, and well, everything that the COA is responsible for. This type of reserve study is done about once every three years. Once we got their numbers, the long-term plans for Fully Funding the Reserves were known to us. We were able to start crunching the numbers.
As you probably know, the Board decided two years ago at budget time to go ahead and begin fully funding the reserves and not wait until the Florida law went into effect January of 2025. Because of this we are well ahead on our reserves in all areas. The new law says that all HOA and COA must fully fund their reserves – in the past Boards could vote to delay the funding and kick the collection of funds down the road. This often lead to special assessments and surprises for those living in the community. Our goal is to never have a surprise special assessment ever again.
On November 20th 2024 – Annual Budget Meeting of the Board took place and the budget was approved. This meeting occurred on Zoom and the 2025 budget was entered into the official records with a vote by the Board. Quarterly fees will remain at $1111.00 – which is $370 a month. It is our hope that we can continue to balance the budget, fully fund the reserves and reduce the rate even more going forward. Normally HOA/COA increase the maintenance fee rate by 4 or 5% each year to allow for inflation and increases in prices. We did not need to do that this year.
Our insurance. Don Brady of “Ascensure” handles insurance for more than 200 communities. As I am sure you recall our insurance was (and is) the biggest line item in our budget. The increases over the past years have been horrible. From $150,000 in 2022 to $265,000 in 2023 and the estimate by our (old) insurance agent put us at a 35% increase – so we were looking at $350,000+ for 2024. Our insurance with Citizens Insurance for 2024 would have dropped us to $175,000! Unfortunately, due to the way American Coastal submitted their quote Citizens denied us at the last minute. Because of this, we ended up with Frontline at a slightly higher rate than our budget. We were still happy to announce that we are probably one of the only COA in the state who was able to lower the maintenance fees for 2024.
For 2025 we will be able to file our insurance paperwork properly and we know that we still have the $175k rate offered from Citizens on our plate. It hasn’t changed. We are also shopping among the other key players and I understand most of them have lowered their rates. We will see how things shake out. Meanwhile since we did the retrofit project earlier this year we will get the lowest possible discount on our hurricane insurance for the coming year and going forward.
To gain further discounts on our hurricane property insurance we can do a few things. Firstly, some of our buildings are not fully discounted, as they do not have all four units with hurricane protection (storm windows, accordion shutters or bolts for the metal interlocking shutters). If one unit is missing these then the entire building costs more to insure. Basically the unprotected building can allow damage to happen to all the units should a roof come off of the unprotected one. So we need to do an inventory and make sure Owners of the unprotected units install the approved protection. Once all four units in a building are protected our insurance on that building will be lower. Many of our 34 buildings are already fully protected. Some are not.
Also on some of our units people have installed their exterior front doors backward. Hurricane Code is that exterior doors must open outward not inward. Some owners over the years have replaced their front doors and installed inward doors so they could install an exterior screen door ( I suppose). Those units are at risk of having a strong storm wind blow the door in (it is only held closed by the lock and deadbolt) and here again the other units are at risk and the building does not get the discounts. The outward opening doors are protected by the entire frame all around the door and it is nearly impossible to have it blow open into the house. Thus the protection and the code.
So what can you do? Owners should evaluate their own unit to see if they are following code. Make plans to reverse your door if is opens inward. Let us know if and when you do it so we can inform the insurance writer. If you normally put up plywood when a storm is approaching your unit will probably not be counted as protected. Perhaps make plans to replace those old windows with storm windows or purchase some metal shutters that can be installed when needed. If the inspectors see the bolts sticking out of the concrete around the windows they know that you have a system. By the way these things should also reduce your cost of your content insurance! We plan to do an inspection and make suggestions to owners who are not up to code. New Florida laws allow us to have owners upgrade or upgrade for them at their cost. See this info here.
Year in Review – Here are a few of the things your Board has been working on since the election last February. Please note you can follow most of these things on our JLV website.
The Board has made a commitment to total transparency. It is our intention to have everything open to all Members at all times. To this end we have created the JLV website at JupiterLakesVillas.org and within it an open “Member’s Only” forum when everyone can express opinions and discuss topics of concern within our community. We welcome everyone’s input and participation.
All Rules, Documents and Forms are available online at the website. All previous Board Meeting minutes since this Board was elected are also available. All topics of concern within the COA are listed and available for discussion in the open Forum:
Retrofit and Third Nail installation – We were under the gun to get this project completed before our insurance was due in March 2024. We just made it and due to this, we will enjoy the highest discounts on property coverage well into the future. The third nail is the highest possible discount you can get on hurricane insurance.
Soffit Vents repaired and replaced. We reached out to a few vendors to have the vents attached properly to the soffits. After the roofing project many had fallen off or were hanging by one nail. The roofing company used new construction nails to put them in during the project. Unfortunately, they should have been screwed in, as the holes where they were attached were hollowed out over the years due to multiple replacements. The two companies offered bids of $40k and $45k to replace them all. That is just crazy. We really didn’t need them all replaced. In the end, we hired a local handy man who had roofing experience and he spent a few days going around and repairing and replacing the missing ones. Total cost was under $1000, A good savings! Please if you notice any vents hanging or missing just let us know – as he will return from time to time to fix them.
Lighting Issues. Still being discussed and on our list for this coming year is the repair and upgrade to our lights in the community. One of our amazing neighbors donated three brand new street light arms with LED lights. We hope to get them installed on the three tall street light poles that are currently out. These lights have come down in price and we should be able to replace more of them over the coming year. The new lights are supposed to last 10 years without having to change the bulbs anymore. This is great news as we were spending a fortune in the past paying an electrician to come out to just change a light bulb. They are also the newest LED so they cost less to operate. Board is discussing other lighting concerns.
Tree removal and trimming. We had our landscaper “When Nature Calls” remove the dead Oak tree at the entrance. It was most likely struck by lightning at some point as the leaves did not return this last spring. While they had the grinder on site we also had them remove the tall palm that had died over by 2132. This year was slated for the Hardwood Tree Trimming which is done about every three years – usually before hurricane season. The trees were thinned, cut back and some of the sucker growth was removed. Anything touching the roofs of any units were cut back as well. While we were doing the tree work we discovered an active honey bee hive. We hired a local Bee Hive farmer to come out and relocate the entire hive to his place. Original quotes to remove the bees were $1200 to $1600 and he removed them for about $800. We also had the landscaper team cut back the overgrowth along the northern fence area as well as the fences by the hospital side.
Tree Planting Project. We were approved for a grant to receive 25 free trees from Community Greening project in early 2024. Our landscaper picked up the trees in late January and planted them around the areas of the community that didn’t have a lot of shade trees. Most of them are around the lake to try to help establish the roots to hold the lake banks in place well into the future. The trees are very young but most of them seem to be doing well. We look forward to seeing them grow up.
Invasive Trees – Our plan for this coming year is to have all invasive trees that are on the property removed. These trees do not belong in Florida and many of them have roots that go under the foundations of our buildings when they are left to grow or planted too close to the units. Unfortunately, we did not get to these this year. 2025 will be the year for this to happen.
Pressure Cleaning – We had the sidewalks and curbstones pressure cleaned. We have arranged with our vendor for them to be cleaned once a year, around the same time of the year, before the holiday season. Next year we will include the rust removal on the sidewalks as we didn’t realize there was so much of it in the southern parts of the community.
Bulkhead Repair – This project was voted on by the board and approved, however the company that won the bid has been very slow in getting it completed. We were told it would be done in 5 days and that was in the middle of the summer. Today they are still messing with it. Apparently, due to the large amount of rain we have had this season they were unable to get below the water to decide what exactly had to be done. They have since decided that draining the lake part way would allow them to see and get the work done. Once they went to the town of Jupiter to find out about the draining system (the lakes are connected to each other to help balance out the water table) they got into a mess with the town over permits. That finally behind us, they are finally looking like they will get the new bulkhead built and backfilled. They say they will repair all landscaping and the area to “better than before” shape when completed. We apologize for the noise over the past few weeks while they continue to drain the water out into the other lakes. It will be a nice gift for the holidays if they get it completed soon.
Sealcoat Project – Almost completed – The TCAM company hopes to have the last lines painted and all parking spaces reopened by Wednesday evening so everyone will have their own parking slots for the Thanksgiving weekend. They look to be on schedule to do that and the weather looks perfect. We received several quotes but this company was the only one who was applying the first coat very thick and with a squeegee. It wasn’t the least expensive but it made the most sense. $37k out of our Road Reserves covered the project cost. Complete repaving of the parking lots cost would be about $200k. That doesn’t have to happen for another 20+ years now.
The sealcoat project is done to help prolong the life of the pavement. We are only doing the parking areas as they were repaved about five years ago; so the sealcoat could add an additional 5 to 7 years of life to the pavement. Repaving is done about every 20 years. With proper sealcoating we could push that further down the road (pun intended). We decided not to sealcoat the main streets as they are so old and they were not sealcoated in a timely fashion, over the years, so the coating would not have the same result on them. All companies we received quotes from suggested it was a waste of money to add the sealcoat and that it would completely wear off in a few months. Also the Main streets are on schedule to be repaved within the next three years.
Repaving includes grinding the existing street down (scraping) and putting new asphalt into place. Our next repaving will also have to include repairs and replacing a lot of the curbs which have been abused and destroyed by some of the large trucks and equipment that have been driving over them. The cost of Main street paving will be about $150k plus whatever it costs for the curbs. We are reserving about $200k for that project in our Road Reserves and it will probably occur in about three years. At some point the road paving and the parking lot paving got divided into two projects. So they now occur at different times instead of all at once.
Internet Infrastructure Upgrade – The Board has been reviewing options to upgrade our Internet and have a fiber optic network installed. This will allow us to change from using the very old copper cable lines in the ground to the latest technology. The three proposals we have collected so far are all about the same price wise but the best one is offering a lot of optional items included free at the base rate. Their network is all 5G and each individual unit will have its own dedicated network. The others all share the fiber line with 40 to 60 other units. The project can be completed in three months and at no upfront cost to the COA. They would install a small Wi-Fi hub centrally located on the ceiling in each unit. The hub provides unlimited devices to connect at 5G speeds within a 2500 square foot area (larger than any of the units).
My latest negotiations with them have us getting all of 2025 at no cost. They also added the 200+ local TV channels at no charge (the other companies want an upcharge for the TV option).
This would add an amenity (of which we have few) to the COA, enhances the community with the latest technology, allow us to have cameras installed and would increase property values.
Lake Enhancement – We are still looking into the possibility of the installation of a Fountain and Aeration System to help keep the water free of weeds and provide Midge & Mosquito Control. We will ask the Town of Jupiter to help us with a possible grant for water improvement to help offset our costs. The end result, we hope, will be like a park around the lake.
Update our COA Docs – We have been reviewing with lawyers the process to replace our outdated 1979 COA Documents to bring them up to date. Newer versions are normally more concise as they just refer to existing Florida Law in most cases. Prior to that we may create some Amendments to the Docs that will require the Members to vote on them. Any amendments that are (or have been) passed will become part of the new Docs.
Wooden Fences – The board is looking into the possibility of taking over the responsibility of the wooden fences. Currently it is written in the COA Docs that owners are responsible for the fences. Since they all have been replaced at different times through the years and many are in need of repair /replacement they look shabby. We want to investigate the option of adding a reserve item for their replacement every X number of years. This will allow the community to have one cohesive fence design and move away from the old wooden fences and into something more modern. The wooden fences have a 5 to 8 year lifespan (and really look bad during the last half) whereas vinyl fences have a 20 to 25 year lifespan so they don’t cost as much over the years. If you get a chance take a look at Summer Wind Community fences across from us on Military Trail.
Rain Gutters – We are also investigating the installation of Rain Gutters to help protect the foundations and plants along the sides of the buildings.
Old Lamp Posts – The lollipop lamp tops will be replaced over time with new lamptops. The base electrical boxes are deteriorating and eventually failing. We will look into options for replacing them and enhancing the community. We know lighting is an ongoing issue and we have had to put it off in order to address some of the more pressing issues.
We hope to install a new entrance sign facing the street. The current sign is set back from the road and facing the wrong direction. It would require us to move the existing electrical lighting around to the front.
Chain Link Fences – The repair of the chain link fence along the hospital sides of the community has occurred. The entire fence is not scheduled in the reserves for replacement for another 3 years. Plus there is a possibility that the fence was actually installed by the hospital which means it is their fence to replace not ours. We are looking into this. I contacted the original company that installed the fence to find out who paid to install it. We are waiting for the reply.
Parking Tags – Please keep your visitors from parking in other owner’s parking spots and on any part of the grass. We have a new parking pass program that we will put in place. Everyone will get a parking pass tag to hang on their mirror or place on the dashboard. The tags will have your parking space written on it. Each unit will get two so you can mark your car(s) so we can identify who belongs where. If you have a visitor you can give them the second tag and that will allow them to park in your second spot for as long as they are visiting. Want to allow a neighbor to park in your extra spot just give them the tag to display. This will help take the guesswork out of the parking situation.
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The COA strongly suggests all Owners have their own Content and Flood insurance. Protect your contents, as the COA is not responsible for anything from behind the paint in.
Please do not park any part of your tires on the grass – we have sprinklers in the grass areas and we have to pay when cars and trucks driving over them break them off. Even the very edges of the grass by the streets have some sprinklers along the curbs.
As you know: Cars that are in need of repair are not allowed to be on the community property. Commercial vehicles are not allowed to be on the property unless they are doing a service at one of the units – certainly not overnight. We will begin to alert the owners of these cars and trucks very soon. Unfortunately these may end up being the first vehicles that we are forced to tow. Letters will begin going out right after the new year. Boats are not allowed to be parked overnight and never on the grass areas.
We have renewed our contract with the towing company and they are ready willing and able to tow when we call them. This contract costs the COA nothing out of pocket. The towing company charges the person who owns the towed vehicle directly.
We are still in the process of creating a JLV Neighborhood Watch program. We hope to have all the Owners take part in helping by keeping their eyes open and reporting any problems. It is our goal to not have to put up signs to alert people of the program. Too many signs and people stop reading them. That said – we are calling on all residents to report things that they see in real time. If it is illegal or suspect, please call the Jupiter police immediately. Phone call, email or text to the Management Company with photos are prefect way to alert us when people are breaking the rules. You can also submit the information and upload photos directly to the management company in the contact form (link below) on the website. The rules apply to everyone: Owners, Renters and Guests. All fines collected go into our COA funds. Those who do not pay are sent to the lawyer for collection and they will be billed for the lawyer’s time.
Addressing the nuisance Muscovy Duck problem – We have been very successful at limiting the population of these non-Florida ducks. Their numbers seem to be dwindling over the past year. Let’s keep up the good work so we don’t have to pay a service to have them removed. Please report any sighting of a nest to us ASAP. Please DO NOT FEED these ducks or any of the wildlife on community property. Please feel free to look over the article on our JLV website: Rules for Nuisance Muscovy Ducks | Jupiter Lakes Villas.
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All Board Members have completed COA Certification Seminars and have their certificates.
We are not only your volunteer Board but we are also Owners and Members in the JLV community. We all want what is best for all of us.
Kind regards,
James Squires
President of the JLV COA Board