49 Year Journey

With permission, we are sharing this personal story with owners in Lake Naomi. The author’s last name has been redacted to protect our neighbors. If you have a story you'd like us to share too, please simply reply to this email for consideration.

Dear Fellow PPCA/TTCA Member,

As the membership vote on deed restrictions continues, I felt compelled to write to you to share concerns about our common community interests.

My time at Lake Naomi began in 1974 when my family rented a “cabin” for two summers. We were fortunate enough to purchase the property that we rented and have made countless memories on the lake ever since. Our cabin was truly a summer cabin with no insulation, central heating or cable. In 2007, we rebuilt the cabin into a year-round home, allowing us to enjoy all four seasons at Lake Naomi.

Inevitably, like all families, life changes affected our ability to utilize our lake home. As my siblings and I moved into our teens, sports and summer jobs took over our schedules. Then, we were off to college. My parents opened businesses and then came a divorce, careers, relocations, marriages, and babies and accompanying financial ebbs and flows.

The lake house remained ours and I credit this to the flexibility we had in managing the financial aspects of this asset. We were able to responsibly rent our home to families to defray the cost of ownership when needed. We developed repeat renters who come back every year and still see themselves as part of the LNC Community. As we move deeper into senior citizenship, our concern is conserving the lake house for our children's families. With the possible deed restriction, the choices and flexibility may not be there for them to manage the property.

There have been changes in the community due to an increasing number of full-time residents, flexible work arrangements, and expanding rental markets driven by services like AirBnB and VRBO. In response to these changes, regulations have been put into place, such as the Tobyhanna short-term rental ordinance, club limits on temporary memberships, and additional fees for rentals. The regulations were a response to changes and to quality of community concerns but they truly legislate to the few irresponsible STRs while burdening the responsible.

The rush to vote on a deed restriction is concerning. Why are we not allowing time for the current regulations to work? Why doesn't the Board trust the membership enough to follow the ordinance and restrictions? Where is the data to inform the decisions that have been made? What is the economic impact of renting? What is the long-term plan for PPCA, LNC, and TT? Is this a form of economic segregation? Based on Facebook posts, there seems to be an enforcement issue where STR issues have not been effectively addressed. Does a deed restriction solve the real problem?

Changes and economic development come and go in the Poconos, often in correlation with the state of the economy as a whole. We are also dealing with hold-over issues from the Pandemic. Business, labor, and economic conditions have not yet normalized.

The passing of a deed restriction will limit property rights, transfer restrictions to future owners, possibly your heirs, as well as constrict future decision making for our communities. Whether you are for or against renting in our communities, at the very least, let's all take a breath and see what the impacts of the new rules, regulations and accompanying enforcements are before giving up property rights. Thank you for taking the time to consider my position on this issue.

Sincerely,

Karen D.