April 12th Weekly Update
By Jim Hilker, Caribbean Village HOA President
Men’s Corn Hole or Bocce Ball Night
This Tuesday 5:30 PM, is another opportunity for us guys to meet at the Bocce Ball court for either Corn Hole or Bocce Ball games. Send me an email at president@cvcommunity.us if you plan to participate.
Lawn Fertilization
This past week we saw “Lawngevity” in our community spraying all resident and common area lawns. This is the company Mint Condition Services uses to provide fertilization, weed control, and fire ant control. Over the next couple of weeks we should see greener grass with less weeds, and a significant reduction in fire ant mounds.
Board Meeting of 4/7
The entire HOA Board thanks the many neighbors that attended the HOA Board meeting and endured listening to the section on Board’s discussion of struggles we’ve been facing with PMI-Capstone. In our dedication to full transparency, we want you all to know the situations we face and how we’re attempting to work through those, whether they are bad or good situations. Our volunteer positions demand a lot of work and emotional strength, and your support and productive input is more valuable than words can express.
A DRAFT copy of the meeting minutes will be posted on our website in the coming days.
The next CV Board meeting will be Monday May 5th at 5:30 PM
Let’s Talk Florida Gators
This past week has seen a huge increase in discussions about Florida Gators. First, the Florida Gators won the NCAA Men’s’ Basketball Championship on Monday night - YAY!!! Second, the mating season for Florida Alligators has begun, and this causes the males to start courting for a mate and they will wander from lake to lake for that. Although a large gator crossing the street, or passing through a lawn may have an ugly and/or threatening appearance, they are not interested in humans and will not attack unless provoked, harassed, or feel threatened. Best action is to let them be and keep a safe distance.
I’ve heard from some neighbors asking if the HOA Board would call SNAP to have them “removed” from our ponds / lake. Please know that the HOA Board is neither obligated or liable to do so. That said, if an alligator or other wild animal is seen to have demonstrated unprovoked aggressive or threatening behavior toward any human or personal property, then the HOA may call SNAP to have it removed from common areas. Just know that a big ugly alligator wandering from pond to pond, passing through your lawn, or lying on the banks of a pond, is not a demonstrated threat.
It is fact that when Florida Fish and Wildlife’s SNAP division comes to remove an alligator, that means they kill it. They NEVER relocate them. You can visit their web page to learn more.
Some have shown interest in what the HOA and Board member’s obligation and liability might be regarding wildlife in CV. This is clearly addressed in Section 19.03 of the Declaration of Covenants which every owner and occupant has agreed to simply by residing here in CV. Below is the excerpt of that section:
”THE ASSOCIATION AND ANY OF ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, COMMITTEE MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, MANAGEMENT AGENTS, CONTRACTORS OR SUBCONTRACTORS (THE "LISTED PARTIES") SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO OWNERS, OCCUPANTS AND USERS OCCUPANTS AND USERS OR RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING OR ASSURING THE WATER QUALITY OR WATER LEVEL OF / OR IN ANY WATER BODIES. ALL OWNERS, OCCUPANTS AND USERS OF ANY PORTION OF THE PROPERTY LOCATED ADJACENT TO OR HAVING A VIEW OF ANY OF THE WATER BODIES SHALL BE DEEMED, BY VIRTUE OF THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF THE DEED TO, OR USE OF SUCH PROPERTY, TO HAVE RELEASED THE LISTED PARTIES FROM ALL CLAIMS FOR ANY AND ALL CHANGES IN THE QUALITY AND LEVEL OF THE WATER IN SUCH WATER BODIES. FURTHER, THE LISTED PARTIES ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING OR ASSURING SAFETY OF ANY OWNERS, OCCUPANTS OR USERS OF WATER BODIES OR AREAS IN OR AROUND SUCH WATER BODIES. NONE OF THE LISTED PARTIES SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY PROPERTY DAMAGE, PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH OCCURRING IN, OR OTHERWISE RELATED TO ANY WATER BODIES. ALL PERSONS USING OR ENJOYING WATER BODIES OR SURROUNDING AREAS OF THE WATER BODIES SHALL DO SO AT THEIR OWN RISK. ALL OWNERS, OCCUPANTS AND USERS ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT FROM TIME TO TIME ALL TYPES OF WILDLIFE, INCLUDING ALLIGATORS, SNAKES, PANTHERS, BEARS AND OTHER ANIMALS, MAY LIVE, MIGRATE, CREATE HABITATS OR ENTER INTO WATER BODIES AND SURROUNDING PROPERTY AND MAY POSE A HEALTH AND SAFETY THREAT TO PERSONS, PETS AND PROPERTY, BUT THAT THE LISTED PARTIES ARE UNDER NO DUTY TO PROTECT AGAINST, AND DO NOT IN ANY MANNER WARRANT OR INSURE AGAINST, ANY DEATH, INJURY OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY SUCH WILDLIFE.”
Please enjoy the unique Florida wildlife from a safe distance, and never approach any of them.
Venice Ave Gate
It now appears that the Venice Ave gate issues are remedied. Our service vendor, CIA Access was here for a couple of hours on Thursday afternoon and finally corrected the incorrectly wired entry gate operators that have been that way for many years. They explained that whoever initially wired it when they were first installed did it completely backwards, which resulted in the right and left wings not operating correctly in synch with each other, which is what caused them to randomly and erratically open and close opposite of each other, thus causing some cars to get hit by one wing closing at the wrong time. They gave no reason why they did not correct the wiring long ago, but now we are holding them accountable and liable for repair costs to the recent car-strikes.
Please remember to take your phone with you so that you can use the mobile app to open the entry gate, or use the dashboard part of the app to create a pin code for the key pad and keep that in your car.
Now that Venice Ave gate issues are finally remedied, we will commence with converting the River Rd gate over to the Tap-2-Open controller.
We will be also working on trying to get your remote fobs to work again, but it is difficult to assure success of that.
Have a great weekend!