For Newcomers

What's an HOA, a CDD, an ARB? There are a number of things that new residents at the Country Club of Mount Dora (CCMD) need to know, including the organization of the community.

CCMD is a part of the City of Mount Dora. Water and sewer service are provided by the City. Trash (twice a week) and recycling collection (once a week) are provided by a City contractor. Electricity is provided by Sumter Electric Cooperative, telephone service by Embarq (formerly Sprint) and cable TV by Comcast.

The developer was Morrison Homes. Morrison built the homes in all CCMD neighborhoods except Edgewater (various builders), Greenbriar (primarily Shamrock) and St Andrews (Sterling Homes also built many homes there).

Morrison built the golf course and operated it for a few years. It is now owned by The Gary Holmes Golf Company. The Club consists of the pool, tennis courts and Club House, as well as the golf course. Residents are not required to belong to the Club but can become either full or social members. Some of its facilities (e.g., golf, food service) are open to the public.

CCMD is a deed-restricted community, which means that homeowners (and/or their tenants, families and guests) are bound by a set of rules recorded in Lake County's books. (If your builder, Realtor or seller did not give you a complete book of the Declarations of Restrictions, you can buy it from Sentry Management, the HOA's management company. See HOA Contacts.) Homeowners should pay particular attention to Article XIII, Restricted Uses.

All homeowners are automatically members of the CCMD Homeowners' Association (HOA) and pay dues for such functions as security, maintenance of common areas and ponds, administration, a newsletter (Happenings), a website and other functions.

The HOA has a Board of Directors consisting of five members. Until August 2005 the HOA was controlled by Morrison Homes, which had three of the five Board positions. The Board now is made up entirely of residents. The actual administration of the HOA is handled by Sentry Management, Inc., from its regional office in Leesburg. Sentry Management's Property Manager for CCMD is Don Martin, who is on site several days a week. Several standing committees made up of resident volunteers advise the Board and work with Sentry Management on the day-to-day operations of the HOA. (The mission statements of the standing committees and a list of current committee chairpersons can be found at HOA Committees on this HOA website.)The HOA's fiscal year is the same as the calendar year. In October or November the Board of Directors will approve an annual budget for the next year that is prepared by Sentry Management and the Finance Committee. The budget includes the amount of the assessment that must be paid on each property. Half of the annual assessment is due (to Sentry Management) in January and July of each year. The Board has the authority to approve special assessments, if necessary. To date (September 2007) this has been done only once, and it was limited to the Cottages.

Owners in several neighborhoods must pay an additional assessment for lawn maintenance performed by the HOA's contractor. This assessment is due monthly. The neighborhoods are: Stafford Springs, Hunters Greene, "the Cottages" (Cumberlands, Meadowlands, Southerlands), Andover Meadows, Spring Creek, Stone Bridge, St. Ives, St. Andrews and St. James.

Owners in the Cottages pay an additional annual assessment for maintenance of their access road, which is not a public road. The St. Andrews/St. Ives Homeowners' Association, Inc. was created by the developer to own and maintain a recreational facility in St. Andrews for the sole use of the residents of the St. Andrews and St. Ives. The facility includes a club house and swimming pool. St. Andrews and St. Ives residents pay a separate fee for maintaining these facilities. A separate board of directors represents the residents who own this property.

The area from the entrance gate to the bridge just past the Club House and just before the driving range is known as Phase I of the community.

Phase II is that area of the development starting at the bridge by the driving range. Roads, storm sewers, sidewalks, etc. were owned until January 1, 2005 by a special governmental entity, The Country Club of Mount Dora Community Development District, or CCMD CDD. Since January 2005 the "infrastructure" has been owned by the City of Mount Dora. Homeowners in Phase II are automatically part of the CDD.

CDDs were authorized by a 1980 Florida law which allows developers to establish special districts to fund the infrastructure costs of developments through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds. These bonds are then paid off by the developer and homeowners over a period of years (20 years in the case of CCMD). The amortization of the bonds is a constant figure in each year's tax bill (provided by the Lake Country Tax Assessor). Some owners have paid off their shares of the bond issues, and the annual payments of other homeowners varies by the date of purchase. The bonds will be paid off no later than 2013, and the CDD will be terminated once that happens.

In the meantime, Phase II homeowners are assessed an amount (which varies annually) to pay for the administration of the CDD. This amount is approved by the CDD Board of Supervisors at its August meeting each year and is then also made a part of each property owner's tax bill. The current amount is $132.19. The CDD Board of Supervisors consists of five members, all of whom must be residents of Phase II. The Board normally meets once each quarter.

Starting in 1999, CDD attempted to turn over the Phase II infrastructure to the City of Mount Dora so that residents would not continue to bear the costs of operating the CDD and funding upkeep and repairs to the infrastructure while they are paying the same taxes as other residents of CCMD and the City. Because the City was concerned about the condition of some of the roads and storm sewer structures, it would not agree to assume responsibility until these conditions were evaluated and appropriate repairs made. The evaluation was completed in November 2002. Many deficiencies were found, particularly with relation to storm sewer structures.

As a result, the CDD Board of Supervisors decided to sue the developer, the engineer for the project and five contractors. The suits were filed in March 2003, with the City joining the CDD in the suits. In the meantime, the Board recognized that repairs had to be made to prevent further deterioration of the system and to put the infrastructure into condition for the City to accept. The CDD used the City's borrowing authority to obtain $2 million in bonds to finance the repairs. The CDD hoped to recoup some or all of the repair costs through the suits filed against the parties it considered responsible for the unsatisfactory design and construction. Phase II property owners made annual payments to the City until the lawsuits were settled and bonds paid off in late 2006.

By June 2006 the CDD had reached out of court settlements with all the defendants, recovering $1,436,000.

By May 2007 the CDD had transferred all its remaining real property to the Homeowners' Association and had no functions remaining other than to manage the remaining 1994 bond debt and the legal responsibilities attendant to that. The CDD Board requested that the City take over management of the bond issue and authorize the CDD to dissolve so that Phase II residents would no longer be assessed to maintain the CDD. When that could not be worked out, the CDD Board considered asking the City Council to take over the functions of the CDD Board, although there was no assurance the Council would do this. In February 2008 the CDD Board found that it could reduce the annual assessment to about $70 per household and decided to continuine administering the CDD until the bond debt is paid off (no later than 2013), at which time the CDD will be terminated.

Other Information for Newcomers

A City ordinance restricts days and hours that lawns may be irrigated. Irrigation is permitted only between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m. no more than two days a week according to the following schedule. Street addresses ending in:

0, 1, 2, or 3 - Tuesday and Friday
4, 5 or 6 - Wednesday and Saturday
7, 8 or 9 - Thursday and Sunday

Irrigation of new landscape is allowed at any time of day on any day for the initial 30 days and every other day for the next 30 days for a total of one 60-day period provided that the irrigation is limited to "the minimum amount necessary for establishment." Full details may be found in City Ordinance 895.

CCMD has its own polling place for elections: the CCMD Club House. CCMD has about 1,200 registered voters, and turnout is consistently among the highest in Lake County precincts. Newcomers can register to vote at the Supervisor of Elections office at the county offices (Round Courthouse) on Main Street in Tavares. District 2 Councilman Bob Thielhelm is a CCMD resident (St. Andrews). CCMD residents also vote for the Mayor and two councilmen-at-large.

The community newsletter, Happenings, is published bi-monthly at the beginning of the even-numbered months (February, etc.) and is automatically mailed to homeowners at the address on file with Sentry Management. The newsletter contains news of HOA and CDD Board meetings, neighborhood columns, a calendar of events, club news, Directory updates, reports from HOA committees and other news and information of interest. If you're new and didn't get a copy, there are usually extra copies at the CCMD Community Center.)

The Community Center is located on the right as you enter the community. It is usually open from 9 a.m. to 12 noon year round, and normally five days a week except in the summer. The building serves as a meeting place for many groups and committees, has information available, and includes a free book exchange so residents can drop off and pick up reading material.

This website contains a great deal of information about the community, including meeting information, Board policies and the latest news of interest to residents. On the website you can sign up for automatic notification when new information is posted.

If you have not yet been contacted by a Neighborhood Welcome Representative, please send information for the Neighborhood Directory using the form under "Tools" on the website Home Page.

Corrections and suggestions for additional items to be included in this section are welcomed.

Please send to Bob Foster.