December President's Letter

Wishing Happy Holidays to all in Venetian Isles:

The December holidays are always a spectacular time in Venetian Isles as residents take great care decorating their homes and luminaries line Grand Canal and the seawalls. The hurricanes of 2024 disrupted many of the VI traditions, but we were very fortunate to have brought Octoberfest back in its full splendor on October 25 thanks to the efforts of a committed group of volunteers and some picture-perfect fall weather. Construction and vacant homes make it impractical to line the seawalls with luminaries this year, but you will see Overlook Drive and Grand Canal Boulevard lit up as in prior years on Christmas Eve. Hopefully you will still take the opportunity to take a Christmas Eve stroll and enjoy this as in the past.

As a result of the efforts of several volunteers, we are happy to start a new Holiday tradition in VI. There is a red “mailbox” placed on the northwest corner of Point Overlook and Grand Canal Blvd. for children who would like to send a letter to Santa. We hope this will bring some joy to the children of Venetian Isles this holiday season.

The VIHA Annual Meeting is scheduled for January 22, 2026 at LCC. There will be time for a social gathering at 6:30pm with the meeting to start at 7:00pm. Invited guests at this point include:

• Chris Scherer, Pinellas County Commissioner; and,
• Jim Fuchs, St. Pete Police Dept.
  
  

Annual dues letters have been mailed to all the property owners within VI. As many of you have noted, annual dues have increased from $200.00 to $240.00 as we have seen an increase in several expense areas that will be discussed at the Annual Meeting. I will point out that annual dues were not increased in 2025 because of the hurricanes.

Another topic of discussion at the Annual Meeting will be the Deed Restrictions (“DR”) that are targeted for revision in 2026 as the VIHA Board continues to bring the DRs, many of which were implemented as far back as 1978, up to current standards. One of the more critical areas considered is to revise certain, but not all, construction-related DRs so they are consistent with City Code. Your input is critical in this process.

In2025, VI property owners approved an amendment to DR 50 which allowed for electronic voting for ballot questions. Haider Saba, a member of the VIHA Board, has been working on a software application that will facilitate electronic voting, as well as a host of other functions. Haider will present an overview of this application at the Annual Meeting and describe the benefits it should provide to property owners. We need emails for all the property owners in VI to make this application most effective. Written ballots will still be accepted.

Finally, elections for the 2026 VIHA Board will be held at the Annual Meeting. Only those property owners in attendance at the Annual Meeting and those who have paid their 2026 Annual Dues are eligible to vote in the election of Board members. Names of the 2026 nominees, as approved by the Nominating Committee, are posted to www.ourvi.org. As you can see, this will be a critical meeting and I hope that you can join in person or via Zoom.

The DR Committee sent out over 300 DR violation letters after the first property and waterside review since the 2024 hurricanes.  In driving through VI you can see that many properties are undergoing pressure washing of their roofs, replacement of sod that had died and many other items that were brought to residents’ attention.  Thanks toall who took action, are in the process of taking action or have notified the DRC of their intention to correct these violations pending permits, etc…

As I wrote in last month’s President’s Letter, there are many homes located within VI on a relatively small amount of land, not only on our streets but in close proximity across the canals. All the Board members have received a host of complaints from residents about noise, property conditions, parking, construction issues, etc… Let us try and remember that we are neighbors and need to peacefully coexist to “all try and get along” despite the challenges of the upcoming months.

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

Sincerely,
Rich Scanlon
VIHAPresident
[email protected]