We, the homeowner-elected board members at Bayside Americana, are reaching out to homeowner-elected board directors in communities along the corridor from Lewes to Fenwick Island.
Our goal is to gauge interest in starting a cooperative among HOA homeowner-elected directors. As a co-op, we can begin to leverage our collective experiences, understandings and learnings (best practices), making each of us better able to fulfill our fiduciary duty to homeowners.
Bayside is a 1,450-unit mixed-use development of single-family homes, townhomes/duplexes, and multi-unit condo buildings. As a mixed-use community, we have third parties who own and operate the amenities, retail and, of course, the Freeman Stage. Lastly, we are in the final six months prior to transitioning majority board control to homeowners at the end of 2024. While we recognize our community may be different than most, we likely face similar challenges on matters such as corporate governance, board decision-making alignment, financial control, grounds maintenance, etc.
We’d like to know if other communities in Sussex County are interested in starting a cooperative. If so, please email sussex.hoa.co.op@gmail.com and provide us the following information (respond to all requested items):
- Name of community
- Town/location
- Current number of residences
- Total number of residences upon completion
- Phase of development (early – growth – approaching transition – transitioned within the past 12 months)
- Mixed-use or residential community
- Your name (one board member please)
- Your position on the board
- Your contact email
- Your contact phone
- HOA-owned clubhouse/community center to host meetings of the co-op?
Our initial criteria for participation in the co-op will be:
- Community with at least 300 residential units (upon community completion)
- Must be a homeowner-elected member of the HOA board. No founder-appointed board members may participate
- Community has either not transitioned or has recently transitioned (within past 12 months) to homeowner-majority control.
Please respond no later than Friday, Aug. 30. Depending on the level of interest, a member of our team will reach back to respondents on potential next steps.
We look forward to hearing from you.
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