Location: Texas
What I’m about to describe is truly first world problems, but there’s some sketchy activity going down and residents are trying to figure out if there’s anything that can be done about the situation.
Horseshoe Bay, Texas is a small town, population approx. 5,000, located about an hour west of Austin. Nearly half the population is 65 or older, but is trending downwards as younger couples are looking for property that is still in reach of Austin. It was established as a subdivision in 1971 by a development corporation that organized the area with a “Declaration of Reservations.” Since then, a POA has been established and we achieved city-hood in 2005. Ownership of the development corporation has transferred hands over the years, and now rests in the hands of the local golf course resort.
Because of that founding document, anything that happens in the town is controlled by the resort.
This next week, property owners have the opportunity to vote on an amendment to that governing document. However, we have been told by the POA board that because the resort owns 25% of the property in Horseshoe Bay, the vote will automatically pass in their favor. We cannot find the reasoning for this in any governing documents.
I could go on about all of the other stuff that has been going on. We could be looking at everything from Texas Property Code violations to election fraud and a class action lawsuit for the over-collection of PAO fees since 2009.
It’s all a little bit overwhelming right now, but we (as a concerned population) are looking for ideas on how we might be able to drive a little bit of change. Do you know of any types of organizations that help with local government, real estate issues? If we were to go that route, what type of lawyer/law firm would handle situations like this? (not looking for a specific recommendation)
Thanks for reading!