What's New (archived)

We have begun our major project of landscaping improvements to our community and we, the board wanted to update you on the progress and plans for the next 60 days.

Click here for more info...

If you have a knack for landscaping and want to help oversee the beautification of our neighborhood, please let us know!

On Sunday, March 6, a brush fire occurred in the Nature Preserve area in the front of our community, just outside the Commons/pool area. Within minutes of the reported problem, the Apopka Fire Department was on the scene, and they were able to contain the fire and quickly extinguish the fire before it could spread. Fortunately, no homes or homeowner's properties were affected, and for that, we are all grateful.

Click here for more info...

Our 1st ever Spring Fling had the kids in our neighborhood jumping for joy.  Held on Saturday March 26 from 10 am to noon at the pool and playground area, there were games, prizes and fun for all ages. The official count showed nearly 75 children and one very large rabbit in attendance; all had a great time.

Pauline Ritthaler and her merry crew of helpers created a wonderful atmosphere of fun for the entire family. The work of Pauline and her crew cannot be underestimated, and when you see them around the community be sure to tell them how much you appreciated the event.

Take a few minutes to view these snap shots (click here) and you can easily get a feel for the fun we had.

Look for more of these types of events in the future.

Jerry D. Wilson
President, Country Crossing HOA
407-963-2223

On January 11th, Doug Freeman was nominated and elected by his fellow neighbors to fulfill the role of Second Vice President.

Doug has lived in our community for two years now, is a member of Toastmasters, and shows genuine concern for improving our neighborhood.

Congratulations and a big "thank you" for stepping up to the plate, Doug!

The 1st Annual Country Crossing Spring Fling at the Pool will be held on Saturday, March 26, from 10:00 a.m. to Noon at the common area near the Pool.  Everyone is welcome. 

There will be activities for children up to 10 years of age.  A few of the activities include carrying an egg on a spoon, fishing for a basket, and coloring a bunny or egg for someone special.  There will also be an opportunity for Mom and Dad to help the youngsters find parts to create their very own Easter Bunny.   Your child will earn an egg filled with candy and a toy for each activity completed.  Random eggs will have a little extra surprise in them, and some will have a "Winners Notice" for prizes too large to fit in an egg! 

Don't forget to bring your camera, the Easter Bunny will be there and he would love to have his picture taken with your children!

Don't miss the fun!  Join us for juice and cookies!

Help is always welcome.  If you are available to work with us that day, please contact Pauline Ritthaler, Events Chairman, at 407-886-3150.

The long awaited day arrives March 26th at 12:00 Noon.  After many months of renovation it is time to re-open the pool.  Please come help celebrate the Grand Re-opening of the pool and look at all the work that has been done to get the pool like new again.

The Grand Re-Opening will take place immediately after the Spring Fling at the Pool.

Please bring your pool key so you can get into the pool area.  If you need a pool key please contact Barbara Bird at 407-464-5917.

According to our Resident Realtor (pun intended) and Architectural Review Committee member, Leslie Rook, houses in our neighborhood have been selling on an average of $104 per square foot between July 1st and December 31st of 2004. That's up about $7 per square foot between January 1st and June 30th of 2004.

You do the math!

As new construction goes up around us, this trend will start slowing down, however. That's why it's important to keep your house and landscaping in prestine shape in order to remain competitive; protect your investment and it will pay off!

Leslie is an excellent neighborhood resource; give her a call at 407-310-2901 if you have any Realty questions.

Due to the dedication and hard work of our Board members last year, we are in a position to spruce up the common areas around our neighborhood!

Thanks to Jim Knaub's (Architectural Review Committee member) efforts to negotiate bids and oversee the contractor that repaired and cleaned the pool, the pool is now crystal clear! Note that the pool area will remain closed until the restrooms and cabana area are repaired; the repairs should be completed by mid-Spring.

Jerry Wilson (HOA president) wants to begin an initiative dubbed "The Beautification of Spring Ridge" that will include killing the weeds and planting flowers in the beds surrounding the trees lining Spring Ridge Boulevard. This will be an ongoing process that will start at the front of the neighborhood and move towards the back over time.

Additionally, Jerry saw to it that the area behind the pool and the common area along Cerberus was bush-hogged and mowed. Some of the other common areas have gone a while without being mowed, so Dora Landscaping (our current landscaper) has been put on notice; the Board is potentially seeking a new landscaper.

Lastly, both Jim and Jerry are seeking a landscaping consultant to recommend the best trees (low maintenance, tall enough to provide privacy) to replace the dead trees in the common area along Cerberus.

To keep the ball rolling on all of this, the Board is looking for volunteers to help oversee the beautification of the common areas.

If you have a knack for landscaping and want to help keep our neighborhood looking its best, please let us know!

It's that time of year to do a little Spring cleaning!

This year, the Annual Community Garage Sale will take place on Saturday February 5th 8:00am - 3:00pm.

In order to participate, you MUST receive a permit from the city; the permit costs $1. The permits will be coordinated through our Homeowners Association.

The deadline for receiving a permit is Saturday January 29th.

If you are interested in participating this year, please let use know ASAP by clicking here or by contacting Barbara Bird at 407-464-5917.

The Annual Meeting and Election of Directors of the Association will be held on Tuesday, January 11, 2005 at 6:30 p.m. at the Apopka Elementary School (675 W. Old Dixie Hwy).

Please plan to either attend the meeting in person or execute your Proxy (which you should have received in the mail from Sentry Management) to ensure the necessary quorum of owners is established. If you are unable to attend the meeting, please complete the Proxy and return it with the envolope it came with. The Proxy must be completed in full and signed by an owner of the property in order to be valid.

Nominations for candidates will be accepted from the floor at the meeting.

Questions concerning the meeting or the Proxy materials you received from Proxy Management should be directed to Tim Naylon at Sentry Management (407-788-6700 ext. 298).

Several homeowners we visited recently who had damage from the hurricanes stated that they were scared to file claims with their insurance companies for fear of their rates going up, for fear of being canceled or had deductibles that were too high to have the repairs made.  I (Jerry Wilson, HOA Vice President) would like to address these issues.

Click here for more information...

We need to know of any people having problems with water leaking into their house. If water leaks into your house, please contact our HOA Vice President, Jerry Wilson, at 407-464-0926.

Also, send in a concern letter (click here) so we have a written record of all homeowners having this problem.

Not all people in our community has access to the Internet, so talk to all your neighbors and get them signed up, too! We do not want to miss anyone.

Please take a look at this advice (click here) provided by Jerry Wilson on what to do if you have water leakage (very important!!!).

Lastly, it is important that you treat any mold that may have resulted from water leaking into your house; check out the Homeowner Tips page for information on how to kill mold (click here).

There have been complaints from homeowners about dogs running loose in the neighborhood and dogs being a nuisance in general (e.g. barking constantly late into the night).

For the safety and wellbeing of our community, this has to stop. Anyone with animals must keep them in your own yard or on a leash when out. If you have dogs that have a tendency to bark at night, please be courteous to your neighbors by taking the proper actions to make them stop (bring them indoors if they're in the yard, train them, etc...).

Anyone seeing dogs running loose or having complaints about dogs in the community are urged to contact Orange County Animal Services:

• 407-352-4390
• Online Animal Services Complaint Form (click here)
• Affidavit Compaint Form (click here)

Before this issue gets out of hand and the police get involved we are asking parents to please talk with their kids about manners and respect towards others. No homeowner should have to listen to foul language or get harassed by kids at the basketball court. Some parents are telling their kids to stay away from the basketball court area because of what is going on there. That’s not fair when parents with young children can’t even take them to the playground!

Fisher, Rushmer, the attorneys' office who has offered to represent homeowners against Ryland regarding water damage caused by the hurricanes, has been holding meetings throughout Orlando for the past couple of weeks (see http://www.rylandwaterdamage.com/mtgs101604.html for the schedule) in order to sell their pitch to homeowners on why we need to go after Ryland, how good our position is, and what we can expect.

However, according to one of the attorneys, they have had a fairly lackluster response from homeowners, with an average of ten to 25 homeowners showing up for each of the four he held.

They have offered to hold such a meeting in our area sometime next week (yet to be announced) provided that we can get 50 or more homeowners to show up. If you think you might be interested in going, click here and let us know ASAP so that we can inform them of our headcount.

Click here to download an FAQ document of questions asked during previous meetings.

Click here to download a copy of the retainer letter.

Click here to download a copy of the regulating rules.

Click here to visit the attorney's website.

A peacful demonstration against Ryland Homes is going to take place this Saturday, November 13th at 8:30 a.m. on the public sidewalk outside of the new corporate building located near the Mall at Millenia.

The time and location was chosen because Ryland is holding a lottery where prospective new home owners will stake their claim on yet-to-be-build townhomes in Summerport.

Click here for more information.

The Annual Homeowners Association meeting will be held at 6:30 PM on Tuesday October 26th at Apopka Elementary School, 675 W. Old Dixie Hwy.

This meeting is important because we will be discussing our financial situation, providing updates about the developer and Adams Homes, discussing the water leaks that are occuring in homes around the neighborhood, and we will be electing two new officers to the Board of Directors.

It is imperative that you either attend this meeting or fill out a proxy form if you are unable to attend (you should have received a proxy form in the mail). If you are unable to attend and must fill out a proxy form, please send it back to Sentry Management using the self-addressed envelope provided.

We should have good news from the developer this week to relay to all homeowners. Also, I received a letter from Ryland Group out of California saying they are checking into the facts and documentation to solve the issues we raised.

Stay tuned! This could be an outstanding week for all of us.

Bill Marburger

The next board meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 14 at 7:00PM at Apopka Elementary School (675 W. Old Dixie Hwy.).

This meeting is important because we, as a community, will be reviewing our financial situation and will be voting on a one-time assessment fee.

Please read this preliminary statement (click here) made by our HOA president, Bill Marburger.

I just received a call from a homeowner stating a fact that the letters regarding the “special assessment meeting” scheduled for September 14th was not received within the 30-day time frame.  He is right we were 6 days short.  But as everyone knows the week before when they were to be hand delivered to each home we had a hurricane.

If anyone has a problem with being 6 days short feel free to contact me about your concern.  I also ask everyone to remember that the Board of Directors and the ARC Committee are volunteers and we do have jobs that need to come first and some things are out of our control, such as the weather among other things.   We have been asking for help from the homeowners but nobody seems to want to help…..only complain. 

I apologize if 24 days notice for an important meeting such as this is an inconvenience for some, but we are all doing the best we can with what we were handed from the developer.  Again, I invite everyone to push-up your sleeves and instead of trying to find fault with what is trying to get done….join in and help!!

Bill Marburger

The Homeowners meeting scheduled for September 14, 2004 had to be canceled because the school called and said that because of Ivan, they would not be able to offer the school; they were going to have to use the school for a shelter. As a result, there was no choice but to cancel the meeting. The next meeting will be on Tuesday October 26, 2004; this will be our annual meeting.

In preparation for the next meeting, please take time to read this preliminary statement (click here) made by our HOA president, Bill Marburger.

The meeting scheduled for Tuesday July 13th has been canceled for the following reasons:

1. There have been no changes with the attorney concerning adding Adams Homes into our HOA. We are still waiting for the developer to return his response to our demands.
2. Members of the board of directors have been on vacation.
3. Most of the community have vacations scheduled during the summer months and turn out would be poor.

We are going to schedule the next board of directors meeting for September 14, 2004. By this time we should have an answer from the developer and our attorney. If anyone has any concerns please use the website as this is the quickest way to address any problems.

I apologize for the last minute cancellation. Hopefully after all the litigation problems are settled we will get everything on track within a timely manner.

Notice to all Country Crossing basketball players:

The court has been completed!! The new goal and hoop has been erected on the real basketball court on lower Spring Ridge Blvd.

From the moment the turnover occurred, the Board has been working diligently to resolve issues with the common areas in our neighborhood...issues that the Board feels should not have existed at the time the turnover occurred. Additionally, since then the Board has uncovered what they feel are dubious actions made by the developer that has resulted in our homeowners association being strapped for cash...which of course makes it that much more difficult to address the problems with the common areas. Over the past few months, one of the primary goals of the Board has been to rectify this dilemma by confronting our previous developer.

This is the preliminary draft (click here) of a letter that is being sent to our previous developer to try to get these pre-existing issues with our community addressed.

As some of you may or may not know, Leslie Rook, an active Architectural Review Committee member, is a realtor. During the last Board meeting on May 4th, 2004, she presented some interesting figures regarding the values of our homes.

Click here to see what she had to say.

Some of you have noticed that when attempting to send feedback via the Feedback page, your street address was not recognized as a street in our neighborhood. The problem was due to populating the street validation mechanism with street names retrieved from Yahoo Maps, which are apparently incorrect for our neighborhood.

The problem has been rectified; we apologize for any inconvenience or frustration this may have caused. If the problem persists for you street address, please contact a Board Member so that we may fix it ASAP.

Regarding our Community Pool

Many concerns have been already been addressed in the FAQ Section. Before sending a Community Concern, please go to the FAQ section to see if your question or concern has already been answered.

Please Note: The HOA cannot enforce the law. If you feel a law is being broken, it is up to you as a citizen to report it to the police.

Do you have a business or skill you would like featured on this site?

Let us know!

We would like to invite all homeowners to take part in our 1st yearly community clean up on the weekend of March 20-21, 2004 from 9 am to 2 pm.

Food will be served on Saturday the 20th from 11am - 2pm at the pool area.
Donations are still needed for soda, chips, ice, tables and your time
Call Rose Marburger at 407-886-9944 with your donations

Click here for more information.