WELCOME TO
Our HOMEstead
|Where neighbors become friends!
This community is our home, where many of us worship together, raise our families, enjoy visits from grandkids, and walks with friends! Therefore, this website will not insult your intelligence by using silly cartoons, misleading statements, and persistent requests for your money. When our goal is to move forward, those tactics only hinder us in coming together to find solutions.
Our Homestead website will listen to all sides, answer questions with links and information from credible, known sources, and encourage each of you to look beyond the status quo for real resolution. This is too serious a matter for all of us!
Video of COS
OUR FEES PAY:
213
Street lights electricity 365 days a year, repair and maintenance
Sidewalks
Repair, maintain sidewalks including removal of tree roots
+200
Trees to be trimmed or removed/replaced when damaged or unsafe
2
Bridges to be maintained in Homestead Park
Lawns
Provide lawn care for several acres of COS throughout Homestead
Electrical & Irrigation
Maintain and repair all electrical wires irrigation pipes in CS
Gardening
Plant and water the colorful hanging baskets and flower beds in neighborhoods
21
Maintain 19 storm-retention ponds within golf course and 2 storm ponds outside of golf course
Snow
Remove snow for specific streets
Signs
Maintain neighborhood signs & their individual landscaping
Ensure our scenic golf course, with its spectacular views and challenging fairways, will benefit our Homestead Community, our City of Lynden, and our Visitors
OUR OPTIONS
SeaLinks Golf Course in Birch Bay WA, was owned - and closed - by18 Paradise. Part of the land has been developed into a small gated community, part of it has not. The former 1st green is now a wooden post in an overgrown field, near a bridge in need of repair.
This is our Homestead, also owned by 18 Paradise. They are ready to sell, a Lynden business-owner is ready to buy but the sale is contingent on the lawsuit being resolved.
We Have 3 Options:
1. HOA
2. Local businessman purchases golf course.
3. We do nothing.
1. HOA: Neighbors with experience as HOA presidents of a similar-sized community to Homestead, said a well-run HOA must have a paid property management company, file tax returns, retain an attorney, carry insurance (D&O and E&O), buy maintenance locally (which must make a profit on their services), and build up a reserve fund for future maintenance. Our HOA is controlled by current owner but if COS is separated from golf course, the HOA governed by one plaintiff would apply, which is unacceptable. We never voted for this person to have authority over our Master Declaration, maintenance fees, and COS which is what the lawyers demanded in their settlement proposal. The cleanest transition will be for us to set up our representation as a community, voting the best fit – HOA hybrid, Board, Committee – for all of us.
2. New owner: With a local business owner, we have the opportunity to amend our CCRs, set up fee accountability, and have strong representation that was voted by the majority of us, to benefit our Homestead community. The path ahead will not resemble the path behind us. The prospective new owner is accessible, local, open to discussion, negotiation, and working with us as a united community.
3. We do nothing: If Homestead closes, and despite what the lawyers have said, Mr. Chen does have the option to close his golf course. Homeowners would continue to pay maintenance fees for the COS and the city’s contract with 18 Paradise would hold them responsible for maintaining our storm-pond system.
But beyond the storm-ponds, who will do the actual maintenance for upkeep and safety (streetlights, sidewalks, trees, etc) of our many neighborhoods? And at what cost?
Links to closed golf courses
Numbers required to keep 18-hole GC open & pic of GC in Sarasota FL:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/failing-golf-courses-killing-property-values-michael-a-mike-kahn/
Wall Street Journal article on GC closures & effect on home values:
https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/01/22/failing-golf-communities-not-par-neighborhoods
Salem, OR Creekside Golf Course homeowners need $4 million to keep it open:
https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/articles/golf-course-news-and-notes-june-2022
Virginia Beach, VA, Arnold Palmer-designed GC closes, owner will not maintain:
https://www.wtkr.com/news/neighbors-say-virginia-beach-golf-course-has-turned-into-eyesore
FAQs
Got a question? We’re here to help.
Original Design of Homestead’s Planned Residential Development (PRD)
Varied types of housing (condos, single homes, multi-plex, etc) surrounding a golf course within the PRD. The benefit to our community would be property value, tourism, scenic views, access to golf, and mitigating storm-water levels through a system of ponds, pumps, and weirs.
The golf course would be responsible for its tee-boxes, fairways, greens, cart paths, bunkers (sand traps), on-course rest-rooms, Pro-shop, equipment yard and maintenance facility.
Who are the HOAG?
In Jan. 2020, residents volunteered to represent their neighborhoods in negotiating with MJ Management and Mr. Chen. The goal was to resolve the increased fees and added amendments, acting as our liaison, which was very appreciated! Now fast-forward to year-three of the class action lawsuit…and the HOAG is still here? Their purpose began and ended when negotiations failed, and lawyers were hired to represent the class members. It’s time to retire!
Opt-in or Opt-out?
Lawyers can choose to use the opt-in or opt-out response when filing a class action lawsuit. Both are legal but obviously the opt-in letter requires a direct response from the affected group, the opt-out letter does not.
David Andersson and Matt Davis chose the opt-out method which means those of you who did not complete the form to opt out, are now class members in this lawsuit. And these lawyers are your lawyers.
How are lawyers paid in class action lawsuits?
Lawyers typically carry the expenses for class action suits through a contingency fee which means they’re only paid if they win. The reason for this is it provides an incentive for lawyers to work for the best results (which includes shortest time frame) while eliminating financial burdens the lawsuit would place on plaintiffs.
They do not ask for money upfront! Google or use link:
https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/opia/what-is-public-interest-law/public-interest-work-types/class-action/#tab1-3Scroll to “Out of Pocket Expenses”
https://www.morrisbart.com/faqs/how-is-money-divided-in-a-class-action-lawsuit/How are Mr. Andersson and Mr. Davis paid?
April 16, 2020: Mr. Andersson’s letter about where to send our fees:
“Under the current circumstances, we have advised our clients in the Homestead PRD to refrain from paying fees to the Golf Course, until such time that we resolve our dispute with the Declarant and its agents. Instead, we encourage our clients to pay $93/month (or such amount as individual circumstances may permit) into the established Litigation Trust Fund.”
April 21, 2022:
At the lawyers’ Town Hall meeting in Lynden, Mr. Andersson said 140 people were now paying into their trust fund. If each of them is paying $93 – and we know some are paying more, some are paying less – that would be $13,000 each month or $156,000 per year.
Homeowner Meeting Minutes
Please see our blog post in the “Our Updates” section:
https://ourhomesteadlynden.com/homeowner-meeting-minutes-april-19-2022
What is a Representative Plaintiff?
In a class action, the representative plaintiff is the individual who commences an action on behalf of a class of similarly situated individuals. It is not uncommon for there to be more than one representative plaintiff.
In a class action, the named class representatives represent the interests of all members of the class in an effort to obtain appropriate relief and recover damages for the class members.
A class representative must adequately and fairly represent the class members. This means that a class representative must always consider the interests of the class member just as he/she would consider his/her own interests.
The role of representative plaintiff is an important and challenging one. You give up making decisions about your own legal dispute with the defendant because you are acting on behalf of many.
OUR NEXT STEPS
01
Stop paying the lawyers.
They will receive their award IF they win the lawsuit. Mr. Davis has repeatedly said he’s doing this to “right a wrong” – let him prove it.
02
Pray.
Many of us are praying this divisive situation will end. Please join us!
03
Support your fellow homeowners.
Email OurHomesteadLynden@gmail.com and let us know how you can help.
"We cannot move forward if we continue to look backward. And our situation has changed from what it was in 2019."
- Homeowners now know what needs to – and can be – fixed for our community
- Owner is ready to sell, Lynden business-owner ready to purchase
- City of Lynden & MJ Management are no longer defendants
- Charges in original Complaint are in its 4th revision
- New fees have been proposed for us to consider and negotiate
