WITH LACK OF MOVEMENT FROM THE COUNTY, FOREST LAKES INITIATES CONTRACT PER BCC SUPPORT

Forest Lakes HOA has initiated numerous steps to engage the County in meaningful, iterative dialogue regarding the Stormwater Department’s plans to purchase the Palms Golf Course (should they proceed and develop the Course as a Stormwater Facility). 

We compiled a bound booklet incorporating residents’ concerns and options from the Annual Workshop, and related documents including all Attorneys’ letters, the Covenant, and the Amendment to the Covenant, etc. 

We presented those bound booklets to each Commissioner, as well as the appropriate County Leadership. In addition, several of your neighbors attended and spoke at the January 27^th Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting, in which the Commissioners unanimously voted to proceed with the purchase of the Palms Golf Course.  (Of note, the Golf Course Committee attends many BCC meetings, to provide continual representation of Forest Lakes).

At that time, the BCC directed staff to work with our Association to come to an agreement within 120 days. This falls within the County’s 150-day due diligence period that began on that day with the approval of the purchase. 

Within this timeframe, the contract for purchase allows staff to conduct environmental tests and other routine inquiries, including resolution of title issues. Once those efforts are complete, the staff may proceed to recommend the purchase and close on the property, or make changes or cancel.

To reiterate, the Covenant gives Forest Lakes residents the right to determine if a prospective buyer’s proposed use agrees with the Covenant’s defined USE of the land (golf course or an accepted use of open space as explicitly identified). As we’ve informed you previously, our legal counsel indicates that a Stormwater Facility as proposed by the County is not in agreement with the language of the Covenant, therefore the residents must receive details of the project and have input via a vote to determine if the Use of the land is acceptable to the residents. IF agreed to, we understand that the Covenant would be modified to explicitly allow the proposed use. 

Thus, far, we’ve received no official stance regarding the County’s acceptance of the Covenant which runs with the land, or its clear definition of open space. However, the Director of Planning has made it clear that they believe the stormwater facility use is in keeping with the Covenant’s definition of open space. 

Our Counsel disagrees.

At this writing, following two face-to-face meetings, we’ve received no official plans or rendering identifying the county’s plans for this property. Additionally, information not discussed with us was revealed at the podium during the January 27^th BCC meeting by the Stormwater Director. Despite prior communication that the facility would be used for floodplain storage, he relayed that the County now plans to re-route water from our roadways to the retention ponds as well. We understand the intent is to improve water quality by running it through the ponds to remove sediment and nutrients prior to its discharge into Phillippi Creek. 

When questioned by a Commissioner, the Stormwater Director explained this could involve piping and the need to seek easements between certain homes. 

You’ll recall that residents were already concerned about the project’s potential impact on flooding. Re-routing could compound this concern in the absence of a clear explanation from the County. These questions and more are based on no shared vision from the County. 

Therefore, per discussion at the BCC table in which the Commissioners echoed our request for a clear path forward, and per our request to have an Agreement to Proceed, with clear joint objectives, timeframes and expectations and as the staff has not responded to the BCC’s request for such a document (after 3 full weeks into the 120-day timeframe the BCC specified), we initiated a contract (Preliminary Cooperation and Framework Agreement) incorporating these elements.

In this manner, we continue to proceed with our defense of the Covenant as the Covenant clearly identifies changes in use must be agreed to, and supported by, a vote of the residents.

To date, the County has not responded to the draft Preliminary Cooperation and Framework Agreement

nor have they followed through to meet with us on site at two different mutually agreed upon dates and timeframes. 

As of 02/21/2026, we received an email from the Stormwater Director stating “the due diligence for purchase is temporarily on hold. Having a meeting prior to clarifications is not productive. I will share more once I know more.”

The Association is aware from statements by a resident at the podium at the 1/27 BCC meeting that a group of residents have put a contract for purchase on the golf course to use it as a golf course. We do not have any official updates on this effort. 

As information becomes available, with either scenario, we will keep you apprised.