Turtle Cove To Change Covenants

Over the past several months, Turtle Cove has disseminated through the mail and at meetings information concerning a proposed amendment to the “Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions of Turtle Cove Subdivision and Additions.”

Ballots were mailed out to all Turtle Cove property owners earlier this week.

The amendment being sought is simply to change the time period by which an amendment to the covenants could be made. The current language allows for an amendment to the covenants only at 15 year intervals. The proposed amendment would give property owners the opportunity to amend the covenants whenever they feel there is a need that would be of benefit to the Turtle Cove Community and not have to wait the current 15 year cycle.

Many residents of Turtle Cove appear to be in favor of the change, but it will take a response by a two-thirds majority of all property owners, not just residents, to pass the amendment. That’s more than 1,100 out of approximately 1,700 property owners. The number of property owners who are residents is approximately 750.

Even if all of these respond, that means another 375 would have to come from property owners who don’t live in Turtle Cove.
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However, the Amendment Committee has a strategy. A request mailed out with the ballots asked for them to be returned within seven days. The Declaration Amendment has a deadline of July 31 to be filed in the Jasper Superior Court, which gives the committee eight weeks to set up phone committees and contact the property owners who have not responded. Not responding would be the same as voting no.

If two-thirds of the property owners agree with the Declaration Amendment, it will become effective three years after the date it is recorded in the Jasper County Georgia land records.

Emilu Bailes, an officer on the Turtle Cove Property Owners Association (TCPOA) board of directors and the secretary spoke concerning the amendment. “All the amendment does is remove the 15 year interval. It doesn’t make it any easier to change the covenants once the 15 year requirement is removed. There would still have to be a two-thirds majority vote by property owners to make any change.

“It doesn’t shift the burden of power from any one group to another and it doesn’t affect the manner in which dues are charged. All it will do is remove a significant barrier which says no changes can be made for another 15 years.”

Ms. Bailes went on to say that the board of the TCPOA had a tremendous amount of confidence and respect for the law firm which has guided them through this process.

“We have the best law firm in the state when it comes to property owner association law. They told us our covenants were about the worst they had seen and were so antiquated that we couldn’t take advantage of new laws, and advised us that our first step should be to remove that 15 year restriction. We urgently need people to respond.”