We met...

On Sunday, July 28th 2013 there was a meeting of some Hawks Bluff home and property owners. There were about 30 people in attendance; most signed in an attendance sheet while others refused to sign in (???).

Hosts opened the meeting by thanking all and establishing some rules of engagement (i.e. don’t interrupt, cell phones off, bathroom location, etc.) and turned the meeting over to Deborah Short (property owner and local Real Estate Agent) with Mary Newman (property owner and home owner) taking notes…

The general gist for the meeting was for Deborah to share her efforts to date, doors she has knocked on, and progress she’s made. The main general issues are:

• Status of disrepair of the roads and all other common areas;
• The county will not take over the roads because they:
• Were not built up to code (even though they were built by, at the time County Commissioner, Darren Lance)
• Are in poor state of disrepair
• The impact the status of the roads has on the current value of the property and the possibility of re-sales.
• VA and VHA would not consider loans for anybody to buy in Hawks Bluff.
• Impossibility of emergency vehicles to access some home home sites due to the status of the roads.
• Liability we all have regarding these being our own roads (private) in case of accidents
• Promises, explicit or implied, made during the sales cycle which were not, as of yet, fulfilled:
• Lake on Phase I
• Electricity to all lots
• Other amenities
• Implications of these portrayals having also being made in an infomercial by the Van Buren County Mayor at the time.
• Not getting the services our taxes are expected to pay for:
• It was reported that Hawks Bluff contributes $37M out of the total $161M in property revenue the county reports (~23% of the total tax base).
• Police patrol is virtually non-existent
• Vandalism – in some phases – is rampant (street signs being ripped off, mail boxes vandalized, fires being set, etc.) with little or no response/action from the county Law Enforcement agencies.

Note1: Somebody made mention of the name Rita Thomson and her association with the State of Tennessee (Soil Erosion???)… Can whoever brought that name up elaborate by sending Deborah an e-mail with what you know, heard and how to contact Ms. Thompson?

Note2: it was said that the works that were being done in Phase IV by mandate of the EPA were suspended because a home owner complained that the trucks were damaging the roads. Second version of the same fiasco says that the works were suspended because Rocco Toscano had not paid the company doing he works. Neither version makes any sense to me. Does anybody know anything about this?

CALLS TO ACTION: 

FIRST: what is needed from each and every one of us is to give Deborah (an email to DEBMSHORT@GMAIL.COM with attachments - if applicable - will suffice) information on:

1. Why you bought here, promises made left unfulfilled, along with your name, address, phone number.
2. Any example of issues misrepresented in the sales cycle.
3. Pictures of how the property was supposed to look like (from the brochures) versus what it looks like today
4. Any old letter, e-mail or any other correspondence where things were promised but have not been fulfilled (roads maintenance, lake construction, mowing of swales, etc).
5. Whatever you may have, please make it available to her by, if possible, the end of this week as she is having another round of meetings with state and federal agencies next week.

SECOND and last, but not least, please send an email to the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) specifically to Jeffrey.bolden@cfpb.gov with the subject of filing a complaint. Your complaint centers around the fact that you were not delivered the goods and services promised by International Land Consultants and its owner Rocco Toscano when you bought the land here in Hawks Bluff. If you are willing to speak to one of their agents, please state so in your email and include your contact information.

Do your part and stay tuned...