BridgeMill Withdrawal from SRCA Surprises Founder, Residents

The BridgeMill Community Association’s withdrawal from an umbrella organization that provides weekly landscape maintenance and trash removal along area roadways has sparked concern among homeowners.

BridgeMill resident Glenn Bender said he did not receive final notice of the board’s decision to withdraw from the Sixes Road Community Association, a group he helped establish.

Under the terms of membership, BridgeMill and five other groups are required to give a one-year notice to the SRCA if they want to pull out of the association. At a 2009 homeowners assocation meeting, BridgeMill board members told residents that they'd done just that. However, there was no warning that the board had actually exercised the option to withdraw, Bender said.

That decision resulted in a "significant reduction" in the SRCA's 2011 membership revenues and forced it to suspend weekly landscape maintenance on Sixes Road, Bells Ferry Road and the Interstate 575 interchange.

From a perception standpoint, Bender said, anything that looks bad affects BridgeMill.

"I was shocked and dismayed that the board pulled out," Bender said. "I feel BridgeMill sees the biggest impact of Sixes Road because we travel the entire 3.5 miles of it."

Bender isn’t alone in his opinion.

"Personally, I would gladly pay the SRCA $20 a year," Jeff Palm wrote on the Cherokee Tribune's website on Feb. 20. "If you put it to the residents of BridgeMill (not the HOA), I bet the majority would largely agree."

That same day, this anonymous comment appeared on the site: "As a BridgeMill homeowner and resident, I am a little shocked at this! This decision should have been up to the homeowners of the community, not just the board. I never received any notice or mailing or anything about this, and I’ve lived here since 2001! I would gladly pony up $20/year to keep the parkway looking great. Not a good decision BridgeMill."

SRCA President Geoff Jones told Canton-Sixes Patch that BridgeMill offered to pay half of the standard $20 per home membership rate. If the SRCA did that for one member, Jones said, it would have to extend the courtesy to all members–something the SRCA simply cannot afford.

Calls to BridgeMill president Russ Caso have not been returned. He told the Cherokee Ledger-News that the SRCA left the board with no other choice than withdrawal.

As the SRCA's largest member organization, BridgeMill accounted for $50,000 of the SRCA's $68,000 annual budget. Caso said BridgeMill needs that money for lighting and other projects within its own 2,700-home community and along Bells Ferry Road.

Bender said he hasn’t received any documentation from the board about any such projects.

County commissioner Karen Bosch thought BridgeMill withdrew from the SRCA because it found a cheaper maintenance alternative, not because it needed the money for community-specific upgrades. She told the Ledger-News that she was investigating the situation. Bosch, who lives in and represents the Sixes, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

For the foreseeable future, Jones said each remaining SRCA member–Copper Creek, Lake Sovereign, Falls of Cherokee, Cherokee Falls/Estates at the Lake and Highland Point–is responsible for maintaining its own entrance. He said he hopes the SRCA can continue, but it will be difficult without BridgeMill’s participation.