By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
Poinciana, perhaps the largest HOA in the nation at over 60,000 residents, has been attempting to get a referendum on the ballot to incorporate and become a city.
For the fourth year in a row, leaders of Osceola and Polk Counties voted to deny residents the right to vote on the matter and decide for themselves.
Osceola, Polk leaders nix push to incorporate Poinciana
According to the wftv.com report, the reason for four years of consistent opposition:
Leaders said some residents only wanted to incorporate Poinciana because they’re not happy with local HOA’s and saw incorporation as a quick fix.
“I think many of the problems the residents are facing are with the homeowner’s associations,” said Stargel.
So, let me get this straight: County elected officials have taken the paternalistic stance that dissatisfaction with HOA leadership of Poinciana is not sufficient reason to allow residents to vote for their community’s future? For the fourth year in a row, despite all the detailed feasibility studies and bureaucratic hoop jumping, the County delegation has once again denied the requests of Poinciana residents.
Ironically, one main complaint of Poinciana residents is that, in their hierarchical village of HOAs system, voting in elections is far from transparent and democratic.
The issues in Poinciana HOA run deep, as explained in this September 2, 2015, Ledger.com editorial.
Is Florida still part of the United States of America? Why are the rights of Poinciana residents being quashed?
Are there any legitimate reasons to prevent registered voters of over 26,000 homes in Poinciana from having the opportunity to establish their own city, and to diminish or reduce the role of their dysfunctional, unregulated, private web of homeowners associations?
