Streetlights on during the day

 

You might notice our streetlights on during the day. Utility companies do this intentionally so their crews can see where power has come back. Our community pays Tampa Electric a flat rate for our streetlights. This won't impact our electric bill.

Let There Be Light!

I am not home to verify it, but the board president texted me to say power had come back on and the property manager said that water service should resume within the hour. 

We obviously have a lot of repairs and cleanup to do. The next HOA board meeting, to which all homeowners are welcome is Oct. 30 at the office of our property manager, Excelsior Community Management. Discussion topics include the 2025 budget. 

Water Shut Off Community Wide

Water use has overwhelmed our lift station, forcing water to the community to be shut off. The lift station needs electricity to run, which it has not had since just after 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Hurricane Milton Afternath

Hurricane Milton did more damage to our community in its 18 years of existence than any storm has ever done. It toppled at least two of our grand oak trees, one onto a building on Marble Fawn. It tore shingles off our roofs and destroyed a lot of our privacy fencing. But, overall, it looks like the buildings withstood the winds and well. 

The primary hardship for most of us is the power outage. As of Thursday at 7 p.m., about 580,000 Tampa Electric customers lacked electricity. It could take a while for it to come back on. 

Besides the discomfort of living in Florida without air conditioning, this presents a big problem for us because the lift station that pumps our water waste out of the community currently does not function. When it reaches capacity, the water to the community will have to turn off.

If your unit suffered storm damage, especially its interior, FEMA had already opened a disaster assistance center at The Regent at 6437 Watson Rd. after Hurricane Helene. You can begin to apply for help by registering online at DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362). Or try visiting the center on Watson Rd.

It looks from one man's Google searching that the HOA cannot get FEMA aid (though I have seen laws proposed that would allow this, I have not read where any of them passed) itself. Only individuals qualify, so it puts the burden on individual unit owners to apply for help. 

Alafia River near U.S. 301

Hillsborough County sent the following text alert at 12:28 p.m. today that should NOT cause undue alarm for us in St. Charles Place: 

This is an urgent message from Hillsborough County government. Major flooding is expected in your area. A flood watch has been issued for the Alafia River near U.S. 301 and at Lithia from late tonight, Wed. Oct. 9, until further notice. Take necessary safety precautions. Visit HCFL.Gov/StaySafe for all storm related information. Residents without digital access should call (833) HC STORM, the County’s storm information and helpline. Stay tuned to local news for further updates.

This is not surprising. If Hurricane Milton's center passes north of us, the Alafia will rise significantly as the storm pushes water inland. 

However, St. Charles Place lies in Zone E. We are not forecast to get flooding. Also, the current forecast track - which obviously can change - has Milton's eye making landfall south of the Alafia, which would push water west, giving us whatever the opposite of storm surge is called. 

Hurricane Milton

Hillsborough County just sent evacuation orders for Zones A, B, and all mobile homes. St. Charles Place is NOT in Zone A or B. Nor do we have mobile homes (at least we hope not). 

We are in Zone E. 

Also, we don't know if our scheduled garbage pickup for Wednesday will happen. Please don't overload the dumpsters. It could all just become flying debris. 

The dumpster at the far east end of Johanna Ave. seems to fill less quickly than most of our other ones. If your usual dumpster is full, please make the effort to find one that isn't, especially when your trash doesn't just become an eyesore, it could become a hazard. 

Annual Meeting Wednesday

The HOA annual meeting happens Wednesday. If you can't attend, you can help it reach a quorum. Thirty percent of homeowners need either to attend the meeting in person or send in their proxy form for the meeting to count.

 
If the meeting doesn't reach its quorum, the HOA has to spend the money to reschedule the meeting and re-send the meeting notice.
  
You can return the proxy form you received no later than 4pm on November 15th by email to
StCharlesPlaceHOAManagement@Tampabay.rr.com
or fax at (813) 349-5865.
  
If you can't find your proxy, contact the management company and they'll get you another.  

 

Note that sending in your proxy does NOT forfeit your right to attend the meeting in person. If you show up, they toss out the proxy form and you take part.

Annual Meeting Date Set

The annual HOA membership meeting happens November 15. The current board of directors will pass the budget for 2024 and the members will elect the board for next year.

Prices the HOA pays for water/sewage, trash pickup, electricity for the street lights and insurance for the buildings will all rise, though in a break for the HOA, the insurance rate will go up less than anticipated.

But it means another increase in HOA dues. Tonight's meeting included talk about whether to limit the increase (say 10% instead of 15%) which raises the risk of needing a special assessment, such as the $16,000 recently required to repair a pump in the lift station.

A few people preferred to "roll the dice," as one homeowner put it. Most thought it better to pay a higher monthly fee for a smaller chance of a surprise assessment.

If you have thoughts on the matter, you can email them to board@stcharlesplace.us.

HOA Fees Will Rise. Here's Why.

Someone posted pink notices on the dumpster doors asking about the proposed budget for 2022. It noted the increases for garbage pickup and disposal and "property budget," which I will take to mean the property insurance on our buildings, if only because that has suffered the steepest cost hike.

This concerned citizen did not provide a name so that I could ask what he or she meant. I do know that this person has not participated in any of our recent HOA meetings at which discussion of the budget in general and these issues in particular happened in detail. And since meetings for more than a year have happened virtually, any interested homeowner could have attended by undertaking no more effort than making a phone call.

Speaking of phone calls, if you ever have a question about the budget or anything else going on in the community, you can always contact Jennifer Robertson at Excelsior Community Management at either StCharlesPlaceHOAManagement@TampaBay.rr.com or by phone at (813) 349-6552.

In this case, she would tell you something like this: 

The proposed budget for next year raises HOA dues to $293 per month. The 15% increase is the largest state law allows. And it won't cover all the higher costs the HOA faces.

That starts with the property insurance. The budget figure for this year was about $92,000. That shot up dramatically when our insurance carrier dropped us and - thanks to the construction defects in our buildings that we hurry to repair - the cheapest policy our insurance agent could find was nearly $500,000 a year. 

As the construction project ongoing remedies the problems, we will be able to get better rates for the buildings as they get completed. Still, even when all 55 buildings meet the code that KB Home failed to build them to in the first place, which we hope happens by next spring, the insurance will still cost about $220,000 a year, well more than double what we used to pay.

Law requires the HOA to carry insurance (I asked), so going without it is not possible. 

The garbage situation gives us better news. Yes, the HOA cost rises, but each owner's overall cost will go down. Here's how: This year, we paid for Waste Management to pick up the garbage from our dumpsters, but the cost to put it in landfills came out of taxes we paid to Hillsborough County. 

The county changed that so that HOAs will pay for both pickup and disposal. But homeowners won't see a garbage disposal charge on their taxes. So the effective cost remains about the same.

But other costs will go up. Hillsborough County raised water rates (the HOA's second largest expense behind insurance) 4%. Tampa Electric will raise electricity rates for the street lights and pool equipment. The property manager proposes in increase in its fee. The HOA board has have resisted that one so it's TBD, but prices for many of our vendors will rise.  

When people ask "for what?!" when asking what they get for their HOA fees, the biggest expenses are insurance, water, landscaping, electricity, trash removal and property management. If you have ideas on how to save money, your board members would like to hear them! But most of the fees go to things that the board has no control over.

Boil Water Notice Lifted

Hillsborough County has confirmed that the boil water advisory for our community has ended.

As mentioned in the previous post, the county considers all of St. Charles Place as a single customer, so they don't notify each unit individually.

If you ever hear of a boil water notice and have questions, the county's emergency line is (813) 744-5600. They answered today when I called to tell me that the county had lifted its advisory.

Water Off - Boil Water Notice to Follow

Water is cut off to the community because of a water line break on Hackney Rd. The county has issued a boil water notice for when it comes back on. It says to boil any tap water for one minute that you want to use for drinking, cooking, washing dishes, making ice or brushing teeth.

Note that because the county considers our entire community a single customer, you won't get a blue notice on your door giving the all clear.

Fiery Crash on US-301 Near Us

These photos from the Florida Highway Patrol show the aftermath of a crash at US-301 and Lake St. Charles Blvd. Sunday morning.

The FHP says the driver lost control driving south on 301 at about 6:30 a.m., hit the concrete median and the car went airborne. It crossed the northbound lanes, crashed through a fence and into the Law Office near us.

The driver ran away from the scene as the car and building caught fire.

Help Needed for Building Repairs

The HOA needs another unit owner to volunteer to have the interior walls of their unit examined for the structural defect repairs we will have done on our buildings. It entails cutting a piece of drywall out to see what's between the walls. A complete repair would happen the same day. Board members John McQuiston and Chris Longtine have had this done and another board member has agreed to have it done. We need one more. If you can help, contact our property manager Jen Robertson at (813) 349-6552 or StCharlesPlaceHOAmanagement@tampabay.rr.com.

Action Needed - Annual Meeting Wednesday

The St. Charles Place HOA has its annual meeting Wednesday. It happens at 7 p.m. in the the office of Excelsior Property Management at 6554 Krycul Avenue in the Krycul Business Center. See the map below.

This is the one meeting a year that homeowners need to act to ensure the HOA functions on its own for another year. We need 30% of eligible owners (ones not more than 90 days behind in their dues) either to attend the meeting in person or to return a proxy form for the meeting to become official, which will let the HOA elect its board of directors for next year.

If we can't elect a board, that does not mean the HOA goes away. Or that we don't pay dues. It could mean that our HOA goes into something called receivership, which means that we'd pay lawyers a whole bunch of money to do what fellow homeowners currently do for free.

With 268 units, we'd need about 87 to reach 30%. Not all units are eligible, so the actual number (I don't know it offhand) is lower, but it's more than the 50 or so proxies our management company had in hand as of Monday morning.

If you can't find your proxy form, which should have come to you by snail mail last month, email board@StCharlesPlace.us and we'll get you another. It's too late to mail it in, but you can scan and email it back to StCharlesPlaceHOAmanagement@tampabay.rr.com by Wednesday at 4 p.m. and it will count.

You should return a proxy form even if you plan to attend the meeting. Returning a proxy does not surrender your right to participate in person. If you show up, they throw out the proxy.

Damage on Great Carlisle Court

The owner of the home at 10823 Great Carlisle Court sent your humble correspondent this photo of his garage. Ryan Opel says that sometime between September 5-11 someone ran into it, caused the damage, and left. He asks you to contact him at ryan.opel@gmail.com if you know who might have done it.

Water Off Wednesday

WATER MAIN SERVICE COMING SOON

DUE TO MAINTENANCE REQUIRED TO FIX THE COMMUNITY WATER MAIN, WORKERS MUST SHUT OFF WATER SERVICE TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY FROM

9:30 AM UNTIL 4:00 PM

THAT'S WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11.

This would have happened last week, but uncertainty Hurricane Dorian created forced postponement for a week.

Tropical Storm Headed Toward Florida

Keep an eye on forecasts. The National Hurricane Center says that how well the storm survives its trek past Hispaniola (the island that consists of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) will give us a better idea of the potential danger. Its current forecast track brings it to Florida's Atlantic coast Sunday.

The property manager has a plan ready that includes securing the pool area. If it looks like we'll get something from it, you'll want to remove items from your porch and patio.

ALSO, and I'll post this again next week:

WATER MAIN SERVICE COMING SOON

DUE TO MAINTENANCE THAT IS REQUIRED ON THE COMMUNITY WATER MAIN, ALL WATER SERVICE WILL BE SHUT OFF TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY FROM

9:30 AM UNTIL 4:00 PM ON

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

Water Shut Off for Emergency Repair

Water service to the entire community will be shut-off at 9:30 a.m. on Friday (May 24) to repair a part that failed. Although it is not expected to take more than a couple of hours, the water could be off until 1:00 p.m. Apologies for no earlier warning. I just saw the email from our property manager.

From an email our property manager sent:

During April - May time period each year the community's backflow prevention devices are tested to ensure they are working properly. The backflow device keeps water from being syphoned back into the county water system when the water main pressure drops. Drops in pressure can be caused for numerous reasons. The backflow on the community's water main failed its normal annual tests last week. The failed test shows a part inside the backflow may be broken or just worn from normal wear and tear. The extent of the repairs will not be known until the main is disassembled.

HOA Meeting Wednesday

The St. Charles Place HOA has its bi-monthly meeting Wednesday. It happens at 7 p.m. in the the office of Excelsior Property Management at 6554 Krycul Avenue in the Krycul Business Center. See the map below.

HOA Meeting Wednesday

The St. Charles Place HOA has its bi-monthly meeting Wednesday. It happens at 7 p.m. in the the office of Excelsior Property Management at 6554 Krycul Avenue in the Krycul Business Center. See the map below.