August President's Letter

Dear Friends,

We are certainly in the thick of it as far as summer goes. In my 32 years here in VI, I cannot remember it being this hot!!! Hopefully, we can avoid a repeat of last year’s hurricanes but let’s be prepared nonetheless.

The votes for Deed Restriction Revisions to DRs 3, 8, 10 and 50 have been ratified by the audit team and have been recorded with Pinellas County on August 5, 2025 so they are official!!! The DR 42 Revision, amending dock dimensions, still needs additional votes to pass. Ballots will be accepted until September 30, 2025 per an earlier Board resolution. We still receive inquiries/ballots from 1 – 2 property owners per week.

Here are a couple of important dates to add to your calendar:

• October 14 – VIHA General Meeting with Mike Harting, our new City Councilman, at Lutheran Church of the Cross on Overlook Avenue; and,
• October 25 – the return of the VI Octoberfest, which was canceled last year because of the hurricanes. All your favorites will all be back including the “Michigan Avenue Grillers!!!! Thanks to Stroll Magazine for assisting with the planning of this fun event.

On July 14, several Board members met with residents of the 1900 block of Illinois Ave to discuss some of the issues impacting their block and VI overall. From my perspective, this was a very valuable meeting. One of the Board’s objectives over the upcoming months will be to schedule these “VIHA Board in the House” meetings with residents of other blocks so we can get a better understanding of what is important to you.

One of the issues that the Illinois Ave. residents voiced was the overall appearance of properties within VI. Earlier this year the VIHA Board voted to “suspend” the enforcement of certain DRs pertaining to exterior property maintenance until September 30, 2025 as our community was recovering from the hurricanes. I’d ask that you do what you can to keep your yards mowed and remove any non-construction related trailers and golf carts from your driveways and street. Let’s return VI to the attractive neighborhood that we were all so proud of prior to the hurricanes.

Thanks for your continued support of VIHA and please feel free to email me with your comments and concerns.

Sincerely,
Rich Scanlon
VIHA President
[email protected]