In his report to the Lakes Committee on July 13, 2022, Chair, Steven FitzGerald discussed the sign requirement for docks. He also touched on the meeting General Manager Kelly Hale and the Board of Directors had with all of the committee chairs and vice-chairs. Two important issues Hale has asked the Lakes Committee to concentrate on are geese and erosion. The committee will also work on effective communication with the public.
Address Signs on Docks?
FitzGerald stated that he is leading the Lakes Survey this year. “I’ve taken it as a personal project,” stated the Chair. He said he has had discussions with Mr. Thomas in Compliance and there are many people surprised by the address sign requirement. This requirement is not listed under any of the paragraphs pertaining to Lakes in the Rules and Regulations document.
“It is in a different section and I stumbled upon it,” said FitzGerald. He said he is asking the committee to review all of the existing Lakes policies for relevancy and enforceability. “At some point, we will probably come back to the Board with a recommendation that says, ‘hey, here are some things that can be worded better. Here are some things that are unenforceable.’ And maybe, ‘Here are some things that are missing.'”
This year, FitzGerald is not going to inspect for address signs on docks. FitzGerald estimates we only have about 40% compliance on the address sign for dock requirements. FitzGerald said he will only look at two things when he performs the surveys – decals and electric shock signs. Mr. Thomas in Compliance agreed with the chair.
FitzGerald said, “If you don’t have address signs on your docks, it will not be included in the 2022 Lakes Survey.”
Meeting with the General Manager and Board
In a meeting with Kelly Hale and the Board, FitzGerald learned about the perspectives and priorities they had regarding the committees. Geese and erosion were two important topics Hale stressed.
Geese – “Our role is going to be providing assistance to the Common Property, Forest, and Wildlife Committee in the identification of Geese nests in the environment of the lakes,” detailed the chair. Geese mitigation by the POA is limited to addling the eggs.” This requires federal licensing.
Erosion – FitzGerald explained, “Dredging is a reaction to erosion. Staff’s thought process is, ‘what are the things we can do to get in front of and mitigate erosion from happening?'”
An ad hoc committee with members from both Lakes and Common Property, Forest, and Wildlife Committees will most likely be developed.
Communication
FitzGerald said the committee needs to become more effective in communicating with Property Owners. Some people read the newspaper and listen to the radio for their updates/news. We now have social media and the Village Digest. “We have to do a combined effort – a multi-faceted approach to how we communicate,” said FitzGerald.
Report by Cheryl Dowden
If I understand correctly, the dock signage corresponds with the block and lot number. This seems archaic. Not sure why a street number won’t suffice. Not sure why the number/ signage needs to be uniform. Just insure the dock owner has his street number on the dock and be done with it.
Why not just have the signs processed/ordered by POA for January 1, 2023 . POA already has the shoreliners’ addresses and block/subdv numbers. They can create a spreadsheet and send it to the sign printer. The fee can be added to our water bill, or our first of the year annual fees (boat decals, etc) and we can acquire the sign when we pick up/receive our boat decals.
Easy peasy and SOOOOOOOO much more efficient.
All docks had to have the lot, block, etc. posted when we built. Nothing was ever said about a street address. I would hope that those who already have the (then required) lot & block, etc. info posted would be exempt from having to buy yet another sign to post our street address.
If everyone is required to also post their street address, that would be a great money-making project for the woodworkers! I’d rather see the money go to that organization instead of some professional sign making company elsewhere.
When will the specs for the dock signs be published? It would be nice to have more than one vendor.
I believe the sign design was approved last year by the ACC and the idea was to insure uniformity, the signs would be made by the local sign company. More to the point, I think, is that orders ought to be bundled, maybe 25 at a time, or maybe by street name, coordinated by the Lakes Department or maybe the Lakes committee. It’s beyond silly to have each homeowner contact the sign company independently…..awfully inefficient. I’m already half way thru the process myself of ordering one from the sign company; what I don’t know yet is how they get it to me, or more likely, how I get it from them.
M. They mail them once printed.
Nice to learn that Compliance/ lakes committee will not be surveying for address signs on docks after two weeks of announcements in the Village Digest under heading titled “COMPLIANCE” that they would be. Can we possibly all get on the same page, please!
I think they are. Just not this year. I think it’s a great idea to have the POA buy the signs and then we buy them from them. That way they are consistent. That also frees up staff from having to go around many times following up to ensure compliance. Which some will never do! If we don’t have the POA do it this way, I see comments Like “NO! a 4×6 index card with a marks-a-lot won’t work!!” Lol in this case, I personally think it’s a better idea and worth delaying until signs can get printed. Coming from the printing signs, etc. profession, costs would be GREATLY reduced to bite the bullet and print all you’ll ever need plus extras! You would be surprised at the difference in costs savings that could be passed on to us. Sometimes someone bringing up a good idea could and should change everything.
These signs need to be of better quality, specifically more fade resistant. I’ve seen several signs that are nearly unreadable and many more that have started fading – and these signs are no more than 2 or 3 years old. I am not in favor of buying a new sign every two or three years.