GBNA May 17th Board Minutes

Grayton Beach Neighborhood Board Meeting
May 17, 2007

The Grayton Beach Neighborhood Board meeting was held at Leslie Provow's home on May 17th at 6PM. Those members present were:

Larry Jackson
Leslie Provow
Ann Morrell
Shirley Sahlie
Linda Eyers
Jean Silva

Missing : Grant Blackwell who was in Orlando as a chaperone for the Seaside School.

The first order of business was to elect officers for the year.
Larry Jackson - President
Leslie Provow- Vice President
Shirley Sahlie- Treasurer
Ann Morrell- Secretary

The next order of business was to review the four areas of concerns that had been set by the board the previous year.

Improve Appearance of Common Areas
Improve Safety and Overall Road Conditions
Maintain Beach Access Through State Park
Create a Sense of Neighborhood

Follow ups of these concerns were discussed:

Improve Safety and Overall Road Conditions

Leslie reported that she and Cindy Meadows did a drive through to check on having a bike path on Defuniak Street. It was noted that a bike path would have to cross over at some points as there were some houses that would lose frontage. It was also noted that in some places a bike path would cause some owners difficulty exiting their property due to the added height of a bike path. In order to recommend if it is in our owners' interest to do a bike path we would also need to have a satellite overlay done by the county

Maintain Beach Access through State Park

It was noted that the Beach Access at the end of Pine Street was established thanks to Jack Mills efforts. We still need to make sure that visitors stay within the roped areas to insure that we keep the area open. It was suggested that perhaps rentals, especially those near the park access, could post this information, either in the rental itself, or in the packet handed out at the rental office. It was also noted that in some of the areas the ropes were showing some wear and tear. It was suggested that we ask the Park for some extra rope and that we would be responsible for replacing worn areas. We discussed that even though Jack was not on the board anymore, we might ask him to oversee this for us.

Improve Appearance of Common Areas

The Western Lake two public accesses - Hotz Ave and S. Lake St (Lydia-Banfill)) were discussed. We need to decide how we want to handle these two areas. Do we rebuild the damaged dock at Hotz Ave? Concerning the S. Lake Street access should we build a new dock, or do we opt for just placing a bench in that area? Ann wanted to have some clarification as to where kayaks were stored by visitors. She had some concerns that perhaps some of the chained up kayaks (chained to the tree) at the dock area at the end of Lydia Street might be on personal property. She suggested that perhaps we could provide a structure that would allow the kayaks to be stored there while in use. Larry suggested maybe a bike rack could be used. Since we might need legal help with both of the lake access issues, the board asked Jean if perhaps her husband could look into this for us. She agreed to ask him for his help with these two issues. It was agreed by the board, that we did have money available for improvements to these two areas.

The next item discussed was the triangle area on DeFuniak Street. The board discussed putting up a sign that says this area is maintained by the Grayton Beach Neighborhood Association. Linda Eyer agreed to come up with a sign design. Larry said that Richard Veldman and the Magnolia House is supplying the water access. We are getting bids to have electricity so the area could be lighted for the holiday season as well as other times during the year . It was suggested that we ask for a volunteer to head up the Triangle Landscaping Committee for planting, weeding, and general upkeep of the area and other areas throughout the village .

Create a Sense of Neighborhood

Kitty Taylor and Janet Taylor had agreed to be in charge of the July 4th Parade and party at the April meeting. The board will discuss the planning of this event at its next meeting on June 26th. The Fall Street Dance date was set for October 6th in order for the Board to lock in the band, Timeless which had played at the April Street Dance.

New Business

Larry Jackson suggested the board members review our priorities for last year and determine what areas or new activities we would focus on this year. For example, Safety was a major concern last year. The board will ask one of the directors to be the point person on that functional area this year. Grant Blackwell has had numerous ideas in that area and we hope he will take on that on.

The board approved sending a May letter out to all members and non members giving them information and updates on the Board’s activities including the results of the April 28 General Meeting. The letter would also list the new Grayton Beach Neighborhood Association's Web and Blog addresses.

Concerning membership, the board reviewed the 2007 membership drive. While we had success getting 38 new members with 48 properties, we should continue asking the 15 previous members with 20 properties to rejoin. The May letter to the non members would invite them and those nineteen property owners that did not rejoin, to join the Association and become involved.

The next meeting of the GBNA will be on June 26th at 6 PM at Shirley’s house.

Submitted by
Ann Morrell