HOA Recording and Minutes of AECC Will Gustafson Meeting

After the latest HOA meeting on July 31st 2024, the minutes of the Will Gustafson AECC meeting were released. (See the July 23, 2024 meeting recording and minutes below.)

We originally thought the minutes of the meeting were privileged. The HOA and the AECC wanted to keep the proceedings private to protect all parties from being misunderstood. Both parties with knowledge of each recorded the meeting. Prior to the HOA meeting this past week, the recording of the meeting was released, not by the HOA or the AECC, but by the other party to the meeting. Audio pieces of that meeting were taken out of context causing the position of the AECC to be misunderstood. For that reason, we are today releasing the written report of the AECC to The Board.

Meeting Recording - AECC meeting with Will Gustafson and Jayson Peterson

The following is a recording of the meeting on July 23, 2024 in its entirety, and has NOT been edited or altered in any way.

To fast forward, click on the grey progress bar in the rectangle below to drag it to your preferred timestamp. Please note, it will take a moment for the audio recording to play after clicking the play button.

Meeting Notes/Minutes – AECC meeting with Will Gustafson and Jayson Peterson 

Presented to the Board on July 31, 2024

There has been a pattern of behavior of golf course alteration & improvement projects neglecting basic “good neighbor” courtesies to adjacent homeowners who would experience obviously large impacts.   Missing has been courtesies of advance notification, sharing plans in advance to identify unfavorable impacts, and solicitation of mitigating suggestions. Examples include

• The Lincoln plan having a “lobe” reaching deep to the Fair Oaks and Charleston boundary calling for high density, multi-story, and at one time even a pathway link to the Fair Oaks culdesac

• More recently, the pickleball pavilion which had obvious unfavorable view, noise, and lighting impacts on at least two directly adjacent homes.

Additionally, those undertaking these and other golf course projects have refused to initiate any advance notification/review with the AECC, which acts as a representative of homeowner interests.

Beyond neglecting basic “good neighbor” courtesies, there is also repeated failure to abide by terms of ownership documents that legally encumber golf course lands.  “Plain reading” of our Plantation Master Declaration reveals that it governs all golf course lands.  Among the controls authorized by our Master Declaration is the requirement that any improvements or alterations on governed land require advance notification and approval by the AECC (Section 5.06).  Golf course projects have consistently ignored compliance with this requirement.

So, because of the repeated absence of basic “good neighbor”courtesies, and repeated failure to perform the ownership obligations spelled out in the Master Declaration, the AECC, following Master Declaration procedures, issued to golf course landowners a “notice of violation” on June 28, 2024 for five alteration projects on golf course land that failed to comply with the Master Declaration requirement of advance notification and approval by the AECC.

Subsequent to his violation notice, AECC members and one of the pickleball impacted owners reached out to golf course ownership to request a meeting to discuss these matters.  That meeting was held on Tuesday July 23, 5:30pm.

Present from our HOA were AECC Committee members Dave Patterson, Debra Riedel, and Jon Bolt, and interested owner Mike Nolan.  Present from the golf course were Will Gustafson and Jayson Peterson.

The meeting had two parts.  First to discuss basic “good neighbor” courtesies, why those have been missing, and whether there can be an agreement to exercise these missing courtesies in the future.  The second part was to

• verify that all parties share the common goal of preserving the golf course

• discuss what each party can/will do toward achieving this goal, and

• whether there will be mutual support of each party’s efforts toward this goal

During the “good neighbor” discussion, Will acknowledged there had been no advance notification of, or solicitation of inputs from, Mike Nolan or the other homeowner at the end of Plantation Lane, or any others nearby the culdesac impacted by noise or lights.  When asked “Why not?”, Will explained he so disliked the actions of homeowners objecting to the Lincoln Property plan (and its intrusive Fair Oaks “lobe”), that it soured his interest in engaging with any homeowners on any other projects, no matter how obvious might be the unfavorable impacts.  So, homeowners at the end of Plantation Lane, who had no participation in the Lincoln Plan/Fair Oaks objections, were willfully snubbed.  But Will indicated he is now working with Mike and the likely purchaser of Mike’s home, and perhaps the other adjacent homeowner, and they are discussing mitigation measures with an intent to soften the impacts.  We discussed that there is already mistrust between golf course and HOA , and actions like this worsen it.

Going forward, Will committed that if/when additional projects arise having obvious homeowner impacts, opportunities for advance input would be offered.  However, it was fuzzy whether this impact solicitation would happen only when permitting approvals require it, or if they would happen even when city permits do not require it.  He said the golf course facility build-out plan is complete, they terminated the Wedding Venue plan, and there are no further buildings envisioned.  What remains is primarily course redesign which will be landscaping & irrigation projects, and he committed we will have advance notice and opportunity for input.

Moving to Part 2, both parties affirmed we share the goal of preserving the golf course. We discussed WHY Will wants to save the course (as opposed to develop it in entirety), and then Will explained his plan for saving it is to invest in it, making it an in-demand showcase, so that its profitability and cash flow will fund debt, which will payback his investment (funds from the Lincoln 20+ acres or other spin-offs are extras in his pocket).  He says club financials are already able to service good debt.

We discussed that the HOA contribution toward saving the course is to exercise the land use & alteration controls authorized by the Master Declaration, with a mind always on saving the course.  To this Will stated:

• if you exercise those controls, you will lose the course because I will not kow-tow to any HOA

• No one’s going to tell me what I can do with my golf course

• We will have “mutually assured destruction, which he volunteered he did in Reno

• Even if the outcome of a legal action upholds Master Declaration controls over the course, he would still “wreck it”.  “I would have no choice”….to which we asked: “WHY????”

• He said…”I would lose interest”  but then he diverted to discussion challenging the premise of Master Declaration control over his course.

He said there have been a lot of partners and shuffling of players and positions, especially since the market conditions and economics for the Lincoln plan blew up (think vultures jockeying around a carcass).  He said every one of those players has had “top law firms scrub” the Master Declaration “because there is no way an HOA is going to control what happens on this course.  It’s inconceivable.

He advised he was confident in his position, and if we wanted to go to court, “it would make my life easier.”  We said  “it would make our lives easier too” because we have polarization growing among homeowners over the proper course of action, and a court ruling would help gain alignment.

We parted advising we would evaluate what we’ve heard and consider our next steps.