Homeowners Federation has growth plans

April 23, 2008
Homeowners Federation has growth plans

By Lucy Weber
lweber@mcherald.com

The Madison County Federation of Homeowners Associations wants to keep growing.

Having begun last summer with 15 members, the federation reports it now has 24 subdivision groups as members.

“We’ve been going all over the county to locate officials with subdivisions,” board member Woody Middleton told about 225 representatives at the quarterly meeting Tuesday. “We’re making progress with this.”

Middleton asked those attending if they know residents other neighborhoods to to contact elected officers of non-member associations about joining. “Our strength will be in the numbers we have,” federation board president Al Sage said.

The purpose of the federation is to identify and address quality of life issues and concerns that arise out of Madison County’s growth. Some of the concerns raised at the meeting dealt with neighborhood covenants and the effect of Reunion Parkway on property taxes.

Doug Jones, a former Madison County supervisor and a federation representative from Northbay, said the federation needs to work on establishing standard guidelines for neighborhoods.

“If we could come up with standards of how neighbors relate to neighbors and financial after developers turn over (homeowners associations), we could do a favor for future residents,” he said.

“To me, it would be helpful to have a standard on how to enforce regulations,” Twin Cedars representative Kirk Hughes said.

Sage said the federation is likely focus more establishing standards of covenant enforcement for all neighborhood associations.

Federation members said they also want specific answers from county officials on how the Reunion interchange being built by the county will be paid for.

“A lot of people are confused and upset and don’t know what they’re paying for,” Sage said. “The burning issue to me is how is it being paid for.”

Supervisors have said the project, which should get under way later this year, is being paid for with a mix of county bond money, state funds and private donations, but they haven’t pinpointed the private sources.

Middleton said he’s concerned that residents will be taxed because the amounts mentioned for the interchange don’t add up to the total cost of the project.

The next meeting of the federation is July 22. Information on the Federation of Madison County Homeowners Associations is available on the Web site, www.fmcha.org. Read more...