The annual meeting was extended to April 11, 2006 and a second proxy mailing was sent in an attempt to collect enough votes to amend our documents. Unfortunately, it was NOT successful. The most important of these amendments was a change to a majority vote in order to amend. Currently, we need 66 2/3% of unit owners (542) to vote the same way, a number which you can tell is just about impossible to achieve. Hopefully, next year a door to door campaign can get under way to affect this change.

For those of you who are involved in selling your home, since the amendment did not pass the documents govern signs. That means no signs will be allowed except the 1 foot square for sale/rent Reflection lakes logo sign. Open

house signs are not allowed and the Board can take no action to change that. A thank you to those who did vote

their proxy. Your effort is appreciated but the community is still being controlled by the apathetic. Shame on them!

My congratulations are extended to the residents of the community who attended the annual meeting and discussed the gate issue in a thoughtful and reasonable manner. I recognize that with an issue such as this, that not all resi­dents will be pleased with the outcome. As much as possible the Board will try to address your concerns; however, once a decision is made to move forward the community needs to work together. Divisive action by a few individu­als serves no purpose except to pit neighbors against each other and in the long run it can cause the community to lose value to its residents and well as potential buyers. It never takes long for bad news or negative information to become public. There was some misinformation that circulated during the weeks prior to the annual meeting re­garding the gate issue. The gates were originally proposed to the Board by the safety committee in December. At the candidate’s forum before the election, gates were supported by those candidates who attended. They were dis­cussed at multiple Board meetings including two special meetings held in early April. At all of these meetings resi­dents were allowed to express opinions. Why have gates? While our location is wonderful and central to all things, we are between two heavily traveled roads. As Fort Myers grows so will the traffic and all the problems that come with it. That makes it important to control access to our community.

In order to clarify the issue the following is factual information:

First, REFLECTION LAKES PARKWAY
Nothing can be done on the Parkway until Engle turns over the Storm Water Council. When will that be? I have no idea. We have been waiting at least 3 years already. The Promenade Apartments and the Commercial Center are also mem­bers of the Storm Water Council, and Promenade has deeded access to the Parkway. It is unlikely that we could deny them access to the Summerlin end. Without individual entrance gates the hundreds of residents of Promenade will continue to have drive and walk-in access to the entire community. To gate the Parkway with a Guardhouse between Bay lake and Bald Cypress is likely to be as or more expensive than the individual gates. Extensive engi­neering studies will have to be done. Architectural plans will be needed for the Guardhouse. Electric and plumbing will be required and this only gets you started. Bay lake will be outside the guard so metal swing gates and carded walk gates will be needed there. Then the plans must be submitted to Lee County. While information tends to make us believe that it would be allowed, that is not an absolute guarantee. Guards from a reputable company on a 24/7 basis will add about $15 per month to the maintenance.

INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITY GATES
The gates selected are 16ft. swing gates with a fast drop bar at the entrance to help prevent tailgating One entrance at each community will be resident only. There will be transponders for your car for entrance at all gates. One gate will be for residents and guests. That will work on transponder or key card (clubhouse) for those times when you are not in your own vehicle. The transponders and cards will be coded to residents and entry will be recorded. The guest gates will have new entry boxes with lighted dials for guest phone entry. The gate can then be opened by your phone. The directory will contain the names of residents in only that part of the community that the gate serves. Vendor codes will be avail­able for reoccurring vendors. Ex: UPS, Mail, lawn Service etc. These codes will be set up with a limited access time, for example from 7am to 6 pm only. The gates by law are coded for 24 hour emergency vehicle en­trance. The walk gates will be new and work with the key card for entry and exit. Individual community gates does not mean that nothing will be done to control cut through traffic on the Parkway.

This is a brief summary meant to provide basic facts. Further questions can be addressed to the Board or Tom Smith, our property manager at Ben­sons. Once again, in closing I want to say that the residents of the community can take pride in the way that they approached, discussed and handled an issue that a few have tried to make divisive. WELL DONE!