Letter To Neighbors

The following is a letter written by Grand Firs resident Lisa Collier. She's asked me to publish it on the blog...

Dear Grand Firs Neighbors;

I am sending out an update to you regarding our gate situation. As most of you know by the polls that were sent out last week we are having some issues with this. Many rumors are flying and my hope is to share with you some of the things I have recently found out so we can all be on the same page and move forward.

I would not have become involved with this, at all, if I did not feel it was important. I will be the first to admit that I am coming in midstream. I did not attend the April meeting that Jim Ehnborn, Mark Jones and Michelle Spencer were present at, either by phone or in person, but have been made aware of some of the issues discussed and felt you need to know this as well. It is my understanding that this meeting did not go very well. We did not have attorney representation as we hoped to. The representative for the bank that owns the majority of the lots in here is not willing to talk to us any longer until he has spoken to their attorney. The reason I think it is important to tell you this is because it is an indicator that the bank is willing to take legal action against us and force us to keep the gate open. I don’t think any of us would care for the stress of being named in a law suit and because we are non-compliant they have the right to do this. We have been uncooperative in allowing the gates to be open during the day so workers, inspectors and potential buyers can have access to our development. The argument has been made that they can get an access code if they want it. This is an unrealistic approach in my opinion.

I also found out that the bank owning lots in phase two has hired an engineer to survey the streets in the development so they can get them converted to public streets. What this means is that we will not be able to have a gated community. No gates on public roads! Many of us bought in here liking the idea of a gated community. The upside of this happening is that we will not have to maintain the roads (less expense to us); we cannot be sued if someone gets hurt on the road and it will allow the Sheriff’s Dept. to come in here and take care of any unwanted vehicles or persons without having to get our permission.

Whether you agree or disagree with keeping the gates open, I am sad to say, is irrelevant. Before I get gobs of hate mail and you burn a cross on my lawn I will explain. Between the three lot owners in here (banks, builder and us) we have the least amount of voting power. Banks have the most. The banks and builder want the gates open during the day and if we do not show we are willing to work with them we may be really hurting ourselves in the long run. They have the legal right to request and have access to their lots. We do not have the legal right to deny them this. We have the least amount of say (voting power) in this development. I feel we need to comply now, before legal action is possibly brought against us. I don’t know if this will change their minds about converting the streets to public ones, but it does not hurt us to be more cooperative. I think the days of gates closed 24x7 worked when we were going through this rough patch, but things are changing and we are seeing some great things starting to happen. I hope we can come together as neighbors, stop the backlash that has been given to those who have tried to do what they felt was in our best interest. Again, no matter what your opinion is regarding the gates we do not have the right to keep them closed!

We finally are seeing some progression in this neighborhood and that is wonderful. With these changes I feel the time for fear and shortsightedness are over. The original idea behind the gate closure was to prevent vandalism, theft, etc., but I truly believe that will be taken care of if we fill this place up. The new builder starting in phase three is going to be putting in smaller first time homes. I will guarantee you that if one of those homes is vandalized we will see on-site security.

I know the idea of first time homes that are of a poorer quality than ours is upsetting to people, but remember the value of our homes is not going to be measured against these. We seem to have a great builder in phases one and two and by having a good working relationship with them my personal hope are that they can complete these phases with homes that are comparable to ours. Good news is that they have already raised their home prices twice and the plan is to put some beautiful “retirement” ramblers and homes with masters downstairs in here. These will be of a real benefit to this development.

Lastly, I just wanted to thank so many of you for the efforts you are making towards improving your homes by putting in fences, planting, weeding and keeping your lawns full and green. It looks so nice! I have been trying to negotiate some help with the development landscaping. The old saying is true…”You attract more flies with honey than vinegar”. Oops! Did I say flies?! Sorry, I think we all hope the days of flies are over!

I hope this has helped to keep you informed and helped you understand why we must keep the gates open during the day.

Thanks,
Lisa Collier