Marion County HOA residents, have you been told.... (Ocala, Hernando: HOA fees, houses)

[Demolitionman2]

.......that your HOA fees will be going up soon? I was told that our fees will go up substantially starting in 2022 due to discontinuing our on site sewage treatment plant and hooking directly into the county's system as mandated by environmental laws. Currently our on-site plant is run by a contract company, treats the sewage and has it hauled away by a private hauler. We are being mandated to discontinue the current system, however well it works and build a pumping station on site to replace it. Luckily, grants are being obtained to cover this as we are a small HOA with limited funds. I looked for sources and found this article:

https://www.marioncountyfl.org/depar...sibility-study

My question is not to debate the legitimacy of the mandate, I want clean water too. I was just curious as to if anyone else in a Marion County HOA (ie: OTOTW, Palm Cay, Pine Run, Spruce Creek, Oak Run, etc.) hae been given this news or mandate.

[dontaskwhy]

I am on 2 different HOA boards in downtown Ocala and have not been made aware of any changes. I would have to guess it is in your local area, but we have not been notified of any pending changes. Our communities are on city water/sewer already. Typically large projects like this that require assessments schedule payments over more than a few years, especially if a community doesn't have sufficient reserves to make a large down payment.

I can't comment about communities in the SW corridor along Hwy 200 near where you live.

[FloridaHappy]

I have 2 houses in Pine Run. They both have septic tanks.

[dontaskwhy]

Originally Posted by FloridaHappy

I have 2 houses in Pine Run. They both have septic tanks.

I guess they won't for much longer.

[Demolitionman2]

I am actually due east of the city, in the NE quadrant outside of the city proper and in the county. If you are already on the city utilities this probably WON'T affect you. Our HOA is close to Silver Springs State Park, Silver Springs State Campground and Silver Springs Conservation Area. This may also have something to do with it.

[wharton]

I can't speak for your specific location, but it's not surprising. We have a place in a rural community in Hernando County. It's roughly a 400 lot community with an onsite sewage treatment plant. The plant has existed in various versions for fifty years. We are in a continuous negotiations with the county, as we are forced to upgrade, and constantly repair the entire mess. We lack the land for additional leach fields, and lack the ability to tie into any municipal system within miles. My guess is that in the next decade, things will get ugly.

I see the state eventually tiring of our inability to stay within the regs. At that point they will issue a violation order that requires a complete replacement of the plant. At that point the outlay will be in the millions, and homeowners are going to get hit with a massive special assessment, of a bump in year dues that will make the monthly cost of owning what is essentially a glorified campsite, far beyond what a lot of the fix income elders of the community can afford.

I actually wish I was in your situation. Getting rid of a privately operated system, and tying into a municipal system, would be a blessing for us. It might be a lot more expensive that your current situation, but it's a lot better than getting the order to drop millions into a new, compliant, stand alone community plant.

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by Demolitionman2

.......that your HOA fees will be going up soon? I was told that our fees will go up substantially starting in 2022 due to discontinuing our on site sewage treatment plant and hooking directly into the county's system as mandated by environmental laws. Currently our on-site plant is run by a contract company, treats the sewage and has it hauled away by a private hauler. We are being mandated to discontinue the current system, however well it works and build a pumping station on site to replace it. Luckily, grants are being obtained to cover this as we are a small HOA with limited funds. I looked for sources and found this article:

https://www.marioncountyfl.org/depar...sibility-study

My question is not to debate the legitimacy of the mandate, I want clean water too. I was just curious as to if anyone else in a Marion County HOA (ie: OTOTW, Palm Cay, Pine Run, Spruce Creek, Oak Run, etc.) hae been given this news or mandate.

I imagine that any community that already uses the county's system, would not have to pay additional fees to convert the system they don't use anyway.

Your community uses a system that has to be converted. So you would have to pay for that conversion. That's what seems to make sense, in any case.

[dontaskwhy]

I suspect that most, if not all, communities along the Hwy 200 corridor were converted to county utilities more than a few years ago. The OP's community must not have been on those services and will be converted shortly. I understand that the OP is in the NE part of the city. Once they decide to convert it there is little to nothing to prevent the change and associated conversion assessments.