United
Associations of Heather Ridge, Inc
August 9, 2005
Those
present: See attached Attendee List.
(Sign-in sheets are also available)
Molly
Markert, Council Member
Cathyrn Thrash
Mary
Avgerinos, Neighborhood Support
Mr.& Mrs. Bernstein
Errol
Rowland
Van Lewis
Vinny
Roith
Judy Dumas
Ed Kay
George Dumas
James
Gunderson
Terry Moran
Sharon
Gunderson
Lynn Dolan
Min King
HRCC Member
David
Brazinski
HRCC Member
Sharon
Berkowitz
Libby Toomalata
Pamela
Bjerke
Margaret Safy
Richard Doby
Shannon St.
Hilaire
John Lippe
HRCC Member
HRCC
Member
Richard Witting
Joan
Brazinski Bedlock
Whitney Heintz
Marge
Goody
Jane Klein
10 Member
Associations represented included: Berkshire Downs, Burgundy, Chimney Hill,
Cobblestone, Cobblestone Crossing, Country Club Ridge, Double Tree, Fairway 16, Heather
Ridge South & Sausalito
4 Member
Associations were not represented: Iliff Place Townhomes, Strawberry, Heather
Ridge Apartments & Turnberry Apartments
1 Visiting
Association:
Ptarmigan
Park
3 Visiting
Members of
Heather
Ridge
Golf Club
Committee
Updates
Special
Districts:
George
Dumas’ report included the following information pertaining to special
districts: there are currently 900 special tax districts in
Colorado
.
Heather
Gardens
is being used a model for research and development.
An attorney needs to be brought on board to guide the acquisition
effort/formulation of special district, and a special committee will be formed
to do so.
Bonds will
be used to fund the acquisition via a special district.
There are 12 HOAs with approximately 2,000 units that would be directly
impacted by the district and about 40 other HOAs in the area that could
potentially participate in the district should one be formed.
Districts are perceived favorably by lending institutions as they are
extremely credit worthy.
Business
Plan/Feasibility Study:
Ed Kay and
Errol Rowland presented a status report of their efforts regarding the
development of a business plan/feasibility study for upgrading and operating the
golf course.
The
business plan/feasibility study is based on golf course operation alone.
Approximate cost to upgrade infrastructure is $2 million and minimum 300
members would be needed to support golf operating costs.
Van
reported that the current owner has given various asking prices for the golf
course with a top dollar amount of $8 million.
He is also asking for an earnest fee of $50,000.
The owner has met with a
Dallas
,
Texas
investor and has even met with the Aurora Planning Department with this
investor.
Ed Kay
says that the work done so far probably fits more with the definition of
feasibility study than a business plan.
They have researched the golf courses at
Aurora
Hills
(51,000 rounds per year), Fitzsimons (45,000 rounds per year), and Spring Hill
(46,000 rounds per year), examining gross revenues, expenses, and net income
from each. They have backed out all
debt from each course to make comparisons consistent.
In 2004,
Aurora
Hills
reported approximately $1.2 million in income and $1 million in expenses;
Fitzsimons (2003 data) reported $1 million in revenue and $700,000 in expenses,
and Spring Hill reported $867,000 in income and $738,000 in expenses.
The average for all three is about $1 million in revenue and $800,000 in
expenses, resulting in about $200,000 to $250,000 of net revenue needed to pay
debt service. Estimated percentage
rate on loan is about 6.25% over 25 years. This
results in a monthly cost of about $6,900 in principle
and interest per one million dollars
borrowed plus $2,000 in property taxes, and $1,000 for insurance.
The
scenarios for purchasing and operating the golf course are to either make it a
private club or a public course. The
big question though is can a metro district be used to buy a golf course that
would become private? Research is
being done on this question. There
are pros and cons to each scenario. A
restaurant and bar operation for 300 people could prove to be a serious drag on
expenses. However, who would want to
pay private club fees and not have this amenity or have it and share it with the
public? These are important
questions and some type of balance must be achieved to address all the variables
and needs. Perhaps a restaurant and
bar space could be leased out for revenue averaging $36,000 a year.
Someone pointed out that many of the people surrounding the course would
not want it to become public.
Appraisal
Report:
Cathy
Thrash said that $20,000 would be needed to have a commercial real estate
appraisal done on the golf course. She
said that public records indicate that the owner paid $2.7 million for the
property but currently only 5.25 acres is taxed.
The big question is where is the remaining acreage in the assessment?
The assessed value is currently $1.048 million.
Another very important question is water rights ownership.
These types of questions warrant the expertise of a legal advisor.
Public
Funding:
Lynn Dolan
reported her efforts regarding fundraising.
Ducks Unlimited was contacted but turned out not to be a feasible source
for fundraising. Great Outdoors
Colorado
(aka: GoCo -- money from lottery) was also contacted.
They have a cap of about $200,000 for projects with the exception of
their Legacy funding. They have not,
to date, however funded the purchase of a golf course.
The Trust for
Public
Land
is another source that would be a possibility for assistance as they have a
wide range of expertise on their staff for purchase and acquisition.
Lynn
said that in order to purchase
the golf course, there will probably need to be multiple sources of funding.
Community
Survey:
Vinny
Roith presented preliminary results of the community-wide survey that was
recently distributed. They had an
overwhelming 40% response rate with over 1,000 responses (usual is about 10%).
65% of the responses said that the golf course was an extremely important
consideration in the purchase of their home, 87% want to keep the golf course,
32% wanted some type of open space, and only 1 response wanted development of
the golf course, 74% think a special district is a good idea, 13% were dead set
against a special district, and 11% were undecided.
Newsletter
/ Media:
Min King
distributed a PR (Newsletter) piece on UAHR, Inc effort that will be distributed
in local newsletters.
Website:
Shannon
St. Hilaire reported that the website for the group is almost ready to be put on
the Internet and will be a useful tool for people seeking information.
Election:
Officers
were elected and they are: Errol Rowland, Chair, Vinny Roith, Vice Chair, Pamela
Bjerke, Secretary & Cathy Thrush, Treasurer.
The Chairperson of the Golf Course Acquisition Group is George Dumas
& Group Maintenance Chairpersons are Sharon and Jim Gunderson.
These represent the Executive Committee.
This committee will appoint one additional person in order to break
voting ties.
Errol
emphasized that the group requires the assistance of legal counsel and will need
seed money as soon as possible. A
motion was made to solicit an amount from each of the 12 HOAs equal to $10 per
home. These funds will be deposited
into the UAHR, Inc. bank account. The
motion carried unanimously to do so. People
can send checks and correspondence to: UAHR, Inc, 2497-D
S. Victor Street
,
Aurora
,
CO
80014
. The phone number for the group is
303 745-9805
.
The next
meeting will be held on
September 13, 2005
at
7:00 p.m.
==================================================================
These
Addendums approved at Representative meeting 9/13/2005
United
Associations of Heather Ridge, Inc.
(UAHR.org)
Addendums to Minutes of
August 9, 2005 Representative Meeting
Addendum
#1:
Richard Doby
,
Secretary-Treasurer, Fairway 16 asked the question of Council Woman Markert:
What is the legality of forming a special tax district for the purpose of
buying a golf course and operating that facility as a PRIVATE GOLF COURSE, with
repayment of the debt coming from public funds (taxation of homeowners living in
the special tax district to support a private facility). Is there any case law
which addresses this issue? Do we have a definitive answer?
Addendum
#2:
This section is added after
the Website Section and before the Election Section:
(IDAG) Influencing
Development Action Group
Although the golf course
would be a costly and lengthy process for a developer wanting to do so, and the
likelihood of this happening is uncertain at this time, the UAHR, Inc. executive
committee has ruled that the (IDAG) Influencing Development Action Group will
continue to be active, alert and vigilant to any plans brought forth to change
the zoning to anything other than a golf course in the future.
The IDAG requests that anyone hearing facts, rumors, news or discussions
about any development plans be brought immediately to the attention of Vinny
303-745-9805 or Errol 303-337-3458.
Addendum
#3:
This paragraph replaces the
second to last paragraph of these minutes:
Errol
emphasized that the group requires the assistance of legal counsel and will need
seed money as soon as possible. A
discussion followed. Van Lewis made
a motion to request an amount from each of the 12 HOAs equal to $10 per home.
The motion was seconded and motion carried unanimously.
It was reported two
Heather
Ridge
communities received legal counsel that it is appropriate to fund this
contribution from the HOA’s general fund. These funds will be deposited into
the UAHR, Inc. bank account. People
can send checks and correspondence to: UAHR, Inc, 2497-D
S. Victor Street
,
Aurora
,
CO
80014
. The phone number for the group is
303 745-9805.
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