The Haile Plantation horse pasture at the community's Tower Road entrance, the landmark jewel in the crown of this Gainesville FL community, is threatened with extinction because of internicine warfare amongst Haile Plantation FL's three homeowner associations.
This pasture land, which also acts as a retention area during flood season, was deeded equally to all three of Haile Plantation's community associations, and the residents of all three community associations provided equally for its care.
In 2008 the TICOC (Tenants in Common Operating Committee) was formed to enhance communication amongst the three community associations which govern Haile Plantation so that we could act together as one whole community, rather than as three separate entities.
Unfortunately that lofty goal was shattered when the TICOC was torpedoed by the Haile Plantation Village HOA board in January 2010 by a vote of 3-2. The wide-ranging implications of this vote mean that the responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the Haile Plantation pasture and community garden would no longer be equally distributed amongst the three HOAs.
At the May meeting of the board of directors of the Haile Plantation West HOA, they voted to have the horses removed from the Haile Plantation pasture 60 days from the date of approval by the other 2 boards.
As of today, we do not know what the other Haile Plantation HOA boards will do.
This information is not common knowledge to most Haile Plantation homeowners, as it is the HOAs who apparently make these decisions. I only happened to find out about the situation through an email list I am on.
The pasture and the community garden have been with us since the founding of the Haile Plantation community.
I cannot help but wonder if this motion will be brought up for a vote that all Haile Plantation homeowners will be able to take part in, or whether this will be passed, or failed, based upon the opinions of a few.
And no matter how the whole thing goes, who is going to tell these guys?
**UPDATED June 18, 2010**
I received the following communication from Craig Carty, HVCOA board president. Mr. Carty contends that I got several facts wrong in my original article. I am posting his communication in full. I would love to receive written communication from the president of the HPW board so that I might post that response to this website as well. It seems to me that Haile Plantation homeowners need all the facts before voting on such an important issue. To date, no member from any Haile Plantation HOA board has filled me in re when a community-wide vote regarding the future of the Haile plantation horses, pasture, and community garden is scheduled to take place. There IS going to be one, right?**
In regards to your website. I would first like to state that the Haile Village Center, HVCOA, is totally in support of keeping the pasture and the horses. The HVCOA board has recently voted and approved funding for the fencing and other pasture needs. This information was sent to both HPA and HPW in April of this year. So our decision has already been made and it should be very clear that we would like the horses to stay. To our regret, HPA’s board has not yet responded to our proposal sent to them in April and is unwilling to meet with us to discuss the matter. Please read below to learn more. Also, please correct the statements on your website to be accurate and fair. To keep the horses we need to overcome objections and come up with solutions. Not make false statements and bash others.
Thank you, Craig Carty, HVCOA President
To read Mr. Carty's answer in full, please visit:
Save Haile Plantation Pasture - HVCOA president Craig Carty's response
**UPDATE - After I received the HVCOA board president's response (above), it came to my attention that Mr. Carty's email needed some clarifications. My questions to Mr. Carty, as well as his answers, can be found here:
Clarification of HVCOA information re Haile Plantation Pasture
Coleen DeGroff, MBA
Coldwell Banker M. M. Parrish, Realtors
3870 NW 83rd Street
Gainesville, FL 32606
Office: 352-372-5375; Cell: 352-359-2797
Coleen: I am very glad you shared this info. I will start spreading the word!! It would be HORRIBLE if the original/main entrance to Haile was turning "commercial". That beautiful pasture and the horses are a BIG selling point for how beautiful Gainesville really is ! The Haile Plantation owners need to know about this. I just can't understand why anyone would want the pasture, horses and garden gone.
Colleen.....These kinds of actions certainly give HOA's a black eye. It makes you wonder if there is some commercial plan in the wings if the pasture is done away with.
Coleen, oh you pot-stirrer you... But seriously, three boards sharing responsibility for the pasture? Yikes. Interesting that your post was picked up by the one HOA president. Do I detect some blanket pulling here? To what benefit for the whole entity is this? And most importantly, who owns the horses?
Hi Christine - Thanks for your efforts in spreading the word. You're right...it would be horrible if the pasture and horses disappear. I've gotten some flak for raising the visibility of this issue with the Save Haile Plantation Pasture Facebook page and Save Haile Plantation Pasture website....but hey, if you cannot make info that's supposed to be public PUBLIC, then what the heck is going on? Thanks for joining the Facebook page. Spread the word.
Hi Carra - You've got that right. Serving on these HOA boards is a thankless task, but that doesn't mean that board members should stir up unneeded shenanigans in the discharge of their responsibilities.
Hi Andrea - Pot-stirrer is probably one of the nicer things I'm being called behind the scenes. My eyebrows always go up when people freak out about dragging stuff out of the dark and into the light. If the info should be shared with the community, then heck, let's get it out there. Actions by some board members (confronting Haile Plantation residents, calling them at home, etc, in an effort to help them see that they're looking at the issue wrong) really has me wondering exactly what the end-game is here. The horses belong to several Haile Plantation homeowners. One of the horses was moved out of the pasture the other day because the owner felt threatened. I thought I left the mafia behind when I moved out of NJ. It will be interesting to see where this all goes. Shine a light, baby...that's my motto!