March President's Letter

Dear Friends,
For those of you who were not able to attend the January VIHA Annual Meeting, we had considerable discussion on the 5 Deed Restrictions Revisions(“DRR”) that the Deed Restriction Revision Committee had advanced for balloting by VI property owners.   The ballots were mailed to each property owner shortly thereafter and the preliminary results as of March 3, 2025 are shown below:

n summary, 234 (44.8%) of the ballots have been returned to date meaning there are still 288 that have not been returned.  With only 234 ballots returned to date, none of the 5 proposed DRRs have received the required 349 votes for approval, remember, we need 66.7% approval on any DRR, so your vote is crucial.  We understand that many of you have still not moved back into your homes yet.  If that is the case and you have not yet received a ballot, please let me know IMMEDIATELY and we will have one sent to your current location.

Also presenting at the 2025Annual Meeting were (i) Georgia Janas and Peggy Naruns from Northstar Realty providing their views of the future of VI property values; and (ii) Jeremy and Loretta Patterson from Modern House & Building Movers who explained the process for raising a structure.  As of the end of February, there are 26 homes listed for sale in Venetian Isles of which there are contracts on six of them.  Three homes have sold so far in 2025.

We understand that many of you are still working through the process of the “repair, renovation, or re-build” of your homes following last year’s hurricanes.  The Architectural Review Committee (“ARC”) is ready to assist you with timely review and approval of your plans or suggesting changes to make sure they are compliant with current Deed Restrictions.  Please contact any of the ARC members if you have a question regarding your projects after reviewing the materials posted on our website at http://www.ourvi.org/architectural-review.html 

We’ve gotten a number of suggestions from residents about community activities for this Spring, but the Board has decided to wait to resume events until Fall, with our signature “Oktoberfest”,in order to allow for more residents to move back into their homes and complete repairs.  We will also reschedule the New Resident Reception which was cancelled in 2024.

Thanks to the 230 property owners who have paid their $200 annual VIHA Dues as of February.  As a reminder, we did not increase the annual dues in 2025 as property owners are still recovering from the impact of the hurricanes.  The 2025 VI Directory has been printed and thos eowners who have paid their dues will be receiving your copy shortly.  We have a number of new directory advertisers this year so please try and patronize these companies, many of whom are run byVI residents, and thank them for supporting the VIHA.  I’ll feature one, or a number, of these advertisers with each President’s Letter that I send out for 2025.

Also, if you are on social media, I’d encourage you to “like” the “Venetian Isles of St. Petersburg, FL” page on Facebook.  This page is supported by VI residents Jeff and Claire Copeland.

Spring is nearly upon us and we’ll all look forward to the favorable weather that brings. Remember that hurricane season officially starts on June 1, so don’t wait till the last minute to begin making your 2025 storm preparations!!!

Lastly, as our community continues its recovery, don’t forget to show your neighbors a little “kindness,” that can go a long way!!!
​
Sincerely,
Rich Scanlon
VIHA President
​[email protected]

THANK YOU NORTHSTAR REALTY FOR SUPPORTING THE VENETIAN ISLES DIRECTORY!