Dear Neighbors,

As we all know, June 1 marks the beginning of the 2026 hurricane season. While we were fortunate to avoid the direct impact of a major storm in 2025, the effects of Hurricanes Helene and Milton are still evident throughout our community. Many homes remain under construction or renovation, and some properties are still vacant. I encourage, especially our new residents, to review and implement the hurricane preparedness recommendations provided by the City and local media outlets as soon as possible.

I am often asked, “What does the VIHA do for me?” Here is a summary of some of the activities undertaken by the VIHA Board and its committees since the beginning of 2026:

• Filed a lawsuit against a property owner who was not complying with the Deed Restrictions which created chaos on a particular block
• Obtained a cease/desist order regarding a non-compliant architectural plan for the construction of a new home
• Requested and secured the installation by the City of  “No Parking” signs on Illinois South
• Noted our objections to Mike Harting about the requirement for the provision of sidewalks for new construction homes
• Conducted deed restriction compliance reviews from which 335 DR violation notices affecting 186 properties were noted
• Transitioning to HOA Life in response to property owner suggestions for an all encompassing digital communications software
• Co-sponsored a canal and waterway cleanup with Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful
• Hosted “Beer with the VIHA Board” gatherings to discuss community issues and concerns
• Continue to work with the City and utility providers to repair or remove non-functional, green utility boxes seen on all VI streets.  We are also working with the City to obtain grants for beautification along Grand Canal Boulevard. The City requires five contractor estimates before the city will grant 50% of the funding

As a reminder, all of these activities are carried out by a small group of dedicated volunteers who work to preserve the quality of life and property values that residents of VI have enjoyed for decades.
We are currently seeking volunteers to serve on the Board and committees. Several Board members may be retiring from their positions at the end of 2026.  The key to a successful Board and Committees is to have new members who can advance new ideas and perspectives. We have openings on the following committees:

• Membership
• Hospitality
• Block Captains
• Beautification
• Deed Restriction
• Architectural Review

We are looking for residents who can commit just a few hours each month. Volunteering is a great way to contribute to the community while getting to know a wide range of neighbors throughout VI.

Based on property owner feedback, HOA Life has been established as the primary communication platform for our community. To date, only 39% of property owners have created their accounts. If you have not yet done so, please visit https://portal.hoalife.com/ to vote, get connected, and stay informed about community news, events, and important notices.  Signing up is simple.

Balloting for the next round of Deed Restriction Revisions (DRRs) is currently underway. This is the first time we are utilizing electronic voting through HOA Life. Printed ballots were mailed to property owners for whom we do not have an email address, which also means they are not receiving these President's Letters!!
Recently, an anonymous flyer was distributed throughout VI outlining reasons to oppose the proposed DRRs. While all opinions are welcome, I place little weight on anonymous communications. Individuals advocating for or against these revisions should be willing to identify themselves and stand behind their views. More importantly, the statements in the flyer are grossly inaccurate, as reviewed by our counsel.

Members of the VIHA Board and the Deed Restriction Revision Committee are available to answer questions and discuss the proposed changes. If there is sufficient interest, we can also convene a community meeting on June 10th at the LCC, with a Zoom option available for those who prefer to participate remotely. This forum would provide an opportunity to review the proposed revisions and address questions in an open and transparent setting.
Finally, thank you to all property owners who have paid their 2026 VIHA dues. For those who have not yet submitted payment, several payment options are available through the website. Please remember to include your property address when making a payment to ensure proper credit.

As always, I welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please let me know if there are additional issues or initiatives the VIHA Board should focus on to further enhance the quality of life within our community. The only way we can maintain the quality of life within VI that we all enjoy is with YOUR support!!!

Sincerely,
Rich Scanlon
VIHA President
[email protected]

Hello Venetian Isles Neighbors,
Let’s show some community spirit this Saturday, April 25 by joining two fun events and meeting your neighbors:
Canal Cleanup (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

• More volunteers needed! Please sign up in advance so we can determine the number of supplies we will need.
• Email [email protected] to participate or text Julie Scanlon 727-365-2211
• Great opportunity for high school students to earn community service hours
• Meet at Grand Canal and Kansas at 9:00 AM for instructions and city-provided materials

Beer with the VIHA Board (3:00 – 6:00 PM)

• Join us under the tent at Grand Canal & Overlook 
• Stop by for a drink and casual conversation
• Share feedback on improving our community

Street Reviews

• In late March, the Deed Restriction (DR) Committee issued 335 violation letters across 186 properties via HOALife. To ensure fair enforcement, several Board members—myself included—received notices. Maintaining these standards is vital for our community's quality; you can review the full DRs at www.ourvi.org.

Street Side Parking

• City Code and DR 34 mandate that vehicles park only on the east side of the street (even-numbered houses). This ensures our narrow roads remain accessible for emergency vehicles.
• A recent medical emergency on Kansas South highlighted the danger: Fire Rescue was blocked by cars on both sides and had to carry gear the rest of the way. Ultimately, a neighbor's golf cart was needed to transport the resident to the ambulance. Please park responsibly to avoid obstructing life-saving services.​

See the photo below, which I took over the Easter weekend of vehicles parked on both sides of the 1900 block of Illinois Ave. (looking south from Grand Canal). No one wants to be the cause of exacerbating a potentially life-threatening situation.

Happy New Year to Venetian Isles:
The VIHA Board hopes that everyone enjoyed the holidays. While many of our holiday routines may have been altered again this year, for example luminaries only on Grand Canal and Overlook Blvd., Venetian Isles continues to recover after the hurricanes of 2024.

While VI continues to recover, there are plenty of changes that are underway. Repairs, renovation and new construction continue throughout our community. Our streets continue to see commercial vehicles of nearly every type as the post-hurricane construction boom has reshaped the quality and type of housing stock in VI. Not only has the type of new home being constructed in VI but the type of ownership has changed as well. The table below provides an estimate of the types of purchasers for VI properties for the 5 years ended December 31, 2025.
While the number of sales has remained relatively constant, in 2025 Corporation and LLC purchase of existing homes and lots in VI certainly has increased. This is a trend that we will continue to monitor and, if it continues, we will have to determine whether it has a positive impact on life in VI. As a reminder, Deed Restrictions 1 and 6, states properties within VI “are restricted to the use of a single family…. exclusively for residential purposes.” Short-term rentals are regulated by City Code.

The VIHA Annual Meeting is scheduled for January 22 at Lutheran Church of the Cross. Since members of the VIHA, defined as those property owners who have paid their annual membership dues (the “Members”), the portion of the annual meeting where (i) the VIHA Board members are elected for 2026 and (ii) the review of the 2026 VIHA Budget will be open only to Members. All property owners are welcome to attend the annual meeting at approximately 7:30pm.

At the Annual Meeting, Haider Saba will be making an introductory presentation on HOA Life, a web-based application which should simplify interactions between the VIHA and individual property owners. It will allow for more effective sharing of information online, better document management and, hopefully, foster greater community involvement. This is also how we would utilize electronic balloting for future Deed Restriction Revisions, as was approved in the fall of 2025. Visit “hoalife.com” if you’d like to learn more prior to the Annual Meeting. ​To log into your own portal go to: https://portal.hoalife.com/auth/new

The VIHA Board voted to “temporarily suspend” certain DRs for a period of one year after the hurricanes. Subsequent to that one-year suspension, the DR Committee sent nearly 300 DR violation letters in October 2025. VI is blessed to have a number of volunteers who “walk” the community for exercise and to take note of property conditions. One of these volunteers reported that after a couple days of walking the streets of VI, it was noted that:

• there were no boats, trailers or campers parked in driveways or streets;
• there was only 1 golf cart parked in a driveway; and,
• there were only 5 storage containers, PODS, etc… parked within VI.

While this volunteer did not know all the DR violations that were cited in October, it is clear that property owners are working to do their part in returning VI to the high-quality neighborhood that it was prior to the hurricanes and will become in the very near future. Thank you to all for your efforts.

One final item to provide property owners with notice. Prior to the closing of a sale of a home in a community that has a homeowners association, that homeowners association is required to provide an Estoppel Letter, which, in this case, would require the VIHA to attest to certain items. Likely the two most significant of which are (i) whether membership in the association is mandatory or voluntary, and (ii) whether there are any outstanding DR violations. VIHA had previously been providing these Estoppel Letters at no cost; however, VIHA will now be charging a fee of $299.00 for each Estoppel Letter, consistent with the fee that other homeowners’ associations are charging. This fee would be paid by the seller of the property and including on the closing statement prepared by the title company.

Let’s all look forward to a great 2026 and I hope to see you at the annual meeting on January 22. A copy of the proposed agenda is attached to this letter.

Sincerely,
Rich Scanlon
VIHA President
[email protected]

Dear Friends,

First of all, thank you to all the Veterans within Venetian Isles and to those families with members who are currently serving in the military for your service to our country.  The freedoms that we enjoy today are a direct result of your commitment and sacrifice.

October was a great month within Venetian Isles due to the following:

• first and foremost, we made it through hurricane season without a named storm hitting Florida or the Tampa Bay area;
  
  
• second, our community was successful in passing five Deed Restriction Revisions that had been advanced largely by property owners within VI.  Many thanks to the 82% of the property owners who submitted a ballot; and,
  
  
• finally, after canceling Oktoberfest in 2024 because of the hurricanes, we were blessed with perfect weather and a lot of neighborhood enthusiasm that made the 2025 Oktoberfest one of the best ever.  Thank you to all the volunteers whose efforts made this event possible.
  

For those of you who were not able to attend the General Meeting in person or via Zoom on October 14, it was our pleasure to have our new City Councilman, Mike Harting, come out to meet VI residents for the first time. Mike provided attendees with all sorts of information about things that are going on in the City of St. Petersburg (the “City”) and, in particular, efforts that the City is making to mitigate the impact of hurricanes and rising sea levels. He described St. Petersburg as a $1 billion corporation and there is no secret that there are a lot of demands placed upon the City. Mike did a great job of describing what those demands were and how the city attempts to prioritize those that will have the greatest impact upon City residents and those within his District 3.

The Annual Meeting is tentatively scheduled for January 22, 2026.  I would encourage you to make every effort to attend this meeting to discuss a number of significant issues, including targeted Deed Restriction Revisions for 2026 and discussion of the VIHA Budget. Like every other organization, our expenses for 2026 have increased in a number of areas, which we will detail at that meeting. The Deed Restriction Revision Committee has already targeted a number of Deed Restrictions that should be amended, and we certainly want to have input from residents on those proposed changes as well as others that could be considered.

While we made it through the 2025 hurricane season without any significant storms hitting the City or VI, our community is still suffering from the impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.  In an “informal drive-by survey” that I conducted of the neighborhood in mid-October, of the 530+ homes in VI there were:

• 29 homes that were for sale (prior to the hurricanes the average number of homes sold annually was 39);
  
• 13 homes that were torn down and the properties are now vacant lots;
  
• 36 homes that appeared to be vacant; and,
  
• 36 homes that were under construction.
  

A couple of observations about these statistics:

• it is clear that construction activity within VI will remain at an elevated level for the foreseeable future;
  
  
• the significant number of homes under construction and the condition of many of the vacant lots have caused considerable traffic, noise and “nuisance” issues for VI residents;
  
  
• the Architectural Review Committee (“ARC”) has made a commitment and has been very successful in responding to resident proposals for new construction and renovation of the existing homes subsequent to the hurricanes; and,
  
  
• like other neighborhoods that you may have read about in the Tampa Bay Times, there is the very real possibility that investment firms could be looking at the purchase of some of those available properties and changing the character of our community.
  
  

In March 2025, the VIHA Board voted to suspend the enforcement of certain Deed Restrictions through September 30, 2025. We recognize that there are still a number of homes that have been impacted by the 2024 hurricanes, but there have been a number of residents who have stated something to the effect of “it has been a year since the hurricanes and now it’s time to start getting VI back to the attractive community that it was previously.”

The Deed Restriction Committee sent out over 300 Deed Restriction violation letters in October resulting from the first Deed Restriction review that occurred since the hurricanes.  We realize that many residents are still struggling with decisions about what to do with their properties that were damaged during the hurricanes and many are in the process of repairing that damage. All that we ask is that you be attentive to the condition of your properties and take whatever steps are available to help us return VI to the highly attractive community that it once was.

As I stated earlier, 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 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.

Also, because of the number of homes that are vacant or under construction, the Christmas Eve display of luminaries will be limited to Grand Canal, as it was last year after the hurricanes.

Finally, nominations for the 2026 VIHA Board are open with a nomination form posted to www.ourvi.org. We need residents to fill a couple of Board positions and, more importantly, we are always looking to fill positions on the committees that keep VI the highly desirable community that it has been and will be in the future.  Getting involved is a great way to learn more about VI and get to know your neighbors.

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]

Dear Friends,

I hope you all had a safe and happy 4th of July weekend. This will be a short President’s Letter this month so I can provide updates on the DR Restrictions Revisions.

First, there is clearly a significant amount of construction going on in VI and there will be for some time. Please notify contractors or subs working on your property to keep their vehicles locked while they are working. I’ve heard from James Fuchs, our Community Policing Officer with SPPD, that numerous thefts of tools, etc. have been reported. Also, please have them park on the east side of the street, even numbered houses, so we can provide for traffic to move as freely as possible. ​

Below is an update on the ballots submitted for the 5 Deed Restrictions Revisions (“DRR”) that the Deed Restriction Revision Committee had advanced for consideration by VI property owners:  

Dear Friends,

Good Morning America featured a story on June 11 about the “Tik Tok Door Kicking Challenge.” If you
did not see this story the link to paste into your browser is:
https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/video/122726672

The police are issuing a warning about this trend “saying the prank is not only illegal but also potentially
dangerous for everyone involved.”
​
This alarming trend is happening in Venetian Isles. A VI Property Owner has been the victim of this “prank”
for over a year and has involved the St. Pete Police. Now, it is time to involve the VI community. Attached
is a “ring cam” photo of one of the persons involved in this prank. If you know the person pictured, or he
is one of your children, have a conversation with him to get this behavior to STOP. The SPPD are not
treating this lightly and arrests will be made.

Lastly, as our community continues its recovery, let’s continue to be patient and kind to our neighbors.

Sincerely,
Rich Scanlon
VIHA President

Dear Friends,

By this point, we all know what June 1 represents…the “official beginning of Hurricane Season.” For many years VI residents may have taken this date for granted. After what we experienced in 2024 I think we all need to take Hurricane Season more seriously and begin the preparations NOW. Stock up on all the items that have been described by all the major new outlets and consider picking up sandbags that are available from the City. If anyone has heard of unique surge protection measures let me know and I’ll pass your suggestions along in the next President’s Letter. These may be helpful to all VI residents especially those who have moved into the neighborhood recently.

After the May President’s Letter, wherein I wrote that the VIHA Board voted to temporarily suspend DRs 19, 20 and 34 which pertain to “Property Maintenance” with the understanding that VI is still recovering from the effects of the 2024 hurricanes, we received a number of reported DR violations through phone calls, emails and posting to the website. On June 7, members of the Deed Restriction Committee performed a street side review. It appears that at least 35 percent (my estimate only) of the homes in VI are still being repaired, under construction or unoccupied. The DR violations found on this review largely pertained to the parking of golf carts and boats/trailers in driveways, which were NOT temporarily suspended. As you were informed when you moved into VI, the Deed Restrictions are not voluntary, please abide by them.

It was clear from the streetside review that many property owners have worked very hard and incurred considerable expense to maintain/repair the appearance of their homes. The VI community THANKS each and every one of you for your efforts!!!!​

Below is an update on the ballots submitted for the 5 Deed Restrictions Revisions (“DRR”) that the Deed Restriction Revision Committee had advanced for consideration by VI property owners: