By Rick Nehrboss – September 2023

On April 21st, LACA hosted our very first meeting of the President's Council (PC).  This meeting was a long time coming and a culmination of a year long effort to formalize the Council and identify members.  We were very excited to host this new group, and despite not hosting a zoom meeting, we had 37 people attend.  We believe a major benefit of hosting an in-person meeting was providing an opportunity for the attendees to get to know each other and that was consistent with the feedback we received from the Council membership in attendance.

The topic we chose for the very first meeting was short-term rentals (STRs) based on feedback from PC members.  Greg Baker, the LACA President, started the meeting with a presentation on the environmental and safety concerns of STRs advertised and rented at overcapacity.  He also shared several examples of STRs with failed drain fields.  We invited Jake Lane from Spotsylvania County and Willie Gentry from Louisa County to share their efforts on any STR initiatives being considered by their respective county Board of Supervisors.  Both county Boards of Supervisors are struggling to address and implement STR ordinances.

Barbara Aiken from Clearview Shores HOA provided an excellent presentation on their efforts to change their covenants to address STR concerns.  She shared the specific covenant language they used for STRs along with information on their covenant change process as well as the name of the attorney providing legal assistance. 

Overall, we considered our first meeting a huge success!  We are excited to announce our second meeting on September 22nd and are creating an agenda based upon the many suggestions we received at the April meeting.  The agenda is still in flux but does include presentations from the Lake Anna Business Partners and an HOA presentation on their Check Dam initiative along with a STR update.  Meeting invitations will be sent out soon!

We are still looking to identify more PC representatives from the 229 communities around the lake.  This would include communities without HOA/ POAs that are impacted by issues such as STRs.  We have many HOA/ POAs with LACA association memberships and this would be an easy way to get involved.  If your HOA/ POA is not a member of the President's Council or you are willing to serve as a community liaison please contact me directly and I will help!

rick.nehrboss@lakeannavirginia.org