Great News on Conservation Easements and Wetland Mitigation Credits

Friday was the first meeting where Homeowners were able to ask questions and make comments on the proposed contract with Benderson Realty Development Inc. After 2+ hours of presentation, Homeowners finally got to ask questions, and they did for 2.5 hours (and many left before their opportunity came up).

Several Homeowners expressed concern about the golf courses being eligible for Conservation Easements (CE’s) and Wetland Mitigation Credits (WMC’s). Among the concerns are:

• Golf courses being eligible to be “wetlanded” for WMC’s by BRDI once their lease obligations end, which would bring golf to an end at The Meadows
• Land can’t be sold by MCA if we were in a financial bind and needed to raise substantial funds
• Land can’t be used as collateral by MCA against a loan if we needed to raise substantial funds (Footnote 1)
• Land can’t be used for building new amenities (only golf and open space related buildings are allowed).
• (there are other concerns, but those are some significant ones)

These are all legitimate MAJOR concerns with the contract based on the information we’d been provided (The contract and Board communications all clearly include the golf courses in property eligible for CE’s and WMC’s, as it is one of the defined “9 Parcels” (Footnote 2))

But in response to questions from at least 3 Homeowners, the President, VP and MCA lawyers very clearly clarified that the golf courses are NOT intended to be included in  property eligible for CE’s and WMC’s. 

• They indicated only 110 acres of open space are intended to be eligible for CE’s and WMC’s (these are detailed in the Mitigation Valuation report that was shared with Homeowners). 
• They committed to adjusting contract language to ensure the golf courses are not included in property eligible for CE’s and WMC’s, and only the 110 acres are. (Footnote 2).

This is GREAT NEWS as MANY of the issues of greatest concern were regarding golf courses being CE’d and WMC’d.

Great things happen when we have an actual discussion about important issues. (3 minutes isn’t really an “actual discussion” but its better than no discussion at all)

If you are an MCA Homeowner* and would like to discuss this and other MCA matters with your fellow Homeowners*, join the “For The Meadows” Facebook group. (* or spouse of a Homeowner)

Footnote 1

During the meeting one of the MCA’s lawyers said several times that leasing the golf courses does not prohibit using them as collateral. That is true. But they did not address whether the CE’s would effectively prohibit the lands being used as collateral because they are encumbered and would not be worth anything if the lender had to collect on the collateral. A Homeowner who was a retired banker explained this toward the end of the Q&A period.

Footnote 2

These sections from v7 of the contract that was made available to Homeowners reference the “9 parcels” which includes the golf courses and possibly the tennis/pool/fitness/Highlands cart barn. (there may be more)

CONSERVATION EASEMENT OPTION – 41.A. (multiple references)

WETLAND MITIGATION CREDITS – 42 (multiple references)

EXHIBIT F “9 PARCELS –
PARCEL 1: PORTION OF 0031010002 – ALL of this Parcel 0031010002 needs to be excluded from Exhibit F. It is all of the property purchased from TMCC (golf facilities, tennis, pool, fitness center, Highlands cart barn) which is all to be excluded from the properties eligible for CE’s and WMC’s. This property does need to be “split” for the purposes of leasing the golf facilities, but does not need to be split for defining the eligible properties.