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Four residents are seeking seats on the Community Development District, hoping to lead the community from government by developers to government by homeowners.
By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 1, 2002
LUTZ -- Even Tim McClain, now a board member, was cited for violating deed restrictions in Cheval West.
McClain, father of four boys, was nailed for leaving a basketball goal out at night and for keeping a high-top van, which would not fit in his garage, in the driveway. He had to sell the van.
"People are in fear today," he complains. "Can I even plant a daisy in the front yard?"
Yet a year ago, at the annual meeting of the Cheval West Community Association, the board got an opposite earful.
"About two-thirds of the hue and cry at that meeting was, 'We're letting things go. Let's enforce these deed restrictions,' " said David Rankin, the association's president.
Such is the current angst in Cheval West, a neighborhood of more than 700 homes that has changed in the last two years from government by developers to government by homeowners. This transition means Cheval and other new developments will see their leaders elected at the polls on Tuesday, along with the governor and the attorney general.
Along with that milestone, some of Cheval West's early houses have passed their tenth birthdays. They, and their landscaping, are showing the signs of age, and the newly empowered board says it's scrambling to enforce neglected standards. Consequently, legal and mailing expenses are increasing, and so are homeowner dues.
Officially, the supervisors of Cheval's Community Development District, two of whom are on Tuesday'sballot, have nothing to do with the deed-restriction controversy. Unofficially, they have everything to do with them, and deed restrictions are the key concern in the election.
Officially, the CDD is responsible for maintaining Cheval West's infrastructure; deed restrictions are enforced by the Cheval West Community Association. But since the 2000 elections, the two boards have been coordinating appointments. They will consist of the same five people within a month.
Two of those people face challengers Tuesday. All four candidates agree that residents need to understand the community's deed restrictions and how they're enforced.
McClain made that a personal cause this year by reviving the community newsletter and creating a Web site, www.chevalwest.com. He was appointed to the CDD three months ago.
McClain, 40, is an executive for a computer service company and heads the Citrus Park Bills, a football and cheerleading organization for 250 children. He moved to Cheval's Chardonnay neighborhood three years ago with his wife and sons.
McClain facesMary Castro, long active in Cheval East, who moved to Cheval West's Deauville neighborhood six months ago. Besides supporting deed restrictions, Castro is the only candidate of the four who considers traffic safety a high priority.
"There is a problem with speeding, especially on TPC Boulevard," she said.
Castro, 55, works in her husband's law office. They have four grown children and three grandchildren.
Don Bennett, 57, is challenging Vernon Taylor, 54, the longest-serving board member, in a race that embodies a split among the homeowners' leaders.
Years ago, Bennett used pink flamingoes on his Deauville lawn to question a deed restriction on "lawn ornaments." He was required to move the flamingoes to his back yard except for "seasonal" displays. Bennett has been a deed-restriction activist ever since.
Earlier this year, Cheval West established a system of deed-restriction fines that can total $1,000 for a prolonged violation. Bennett was appointed to an appeals committee that assumed the popular role of reducing some of the board's fines and helping targeted property owners comply with rules.
But the appeals committee has indirectly generated more citations: it gives Cheval West's property manager a list of uncited properties that appear to commit the same violations as properties that have been cited. That has created increased heat for the board.
Last week, the board voted 3-2 to suspend operations of the review committee for a month until its procedures could be clarified.
Bennett, a financial adviser and former IBM executive, said board members would better understand the review committee if they would attend its meetings.
Taylor, who voted for the suspension, "has been in there so long, he's got this dictator kind of thing," Bennett said. "He doesn't take kindly to suggestions."
Taylor wouldn't respond to that except to say Cheval West's voters would decide.
Taylor, a marketer for pharmacies, has served on the board since 1996. He lives in St. Laurent. He watched the state build the Suncoast Parkway through Cheval West and helped create a committee that has negotiated a landscaping deal from the state that will screen the Parkway with vegetation.
"I want to see through the finalization of everything we've done with the parkway," he said.
The CDD's vice chair, Lori Lencioni, supports Taylor.
"He has the background and the understanding that, quite frankly, the rest of us lack," she said.
Supervisors of the Cheval West Community Development District levy a per-lot tax and use revenues to maintain the infrastructure of Cheval West, containing more than 700 homes. They also serve as the board of the Cheval West Community Association, which enforces architectural standards and deed restrictions. Each board meets monthly. Members are paid $200 per CDD meeting.