Spruce Creek Fly-In Community...A Way of Life

by Walter Blackwell

The Spruce Creek Property Owners' Association is self government at its best. Taking responsibility for its own should be the motto for our Association. Governed by a Planned Unit Development ordinance and by its basic covenants and restrictions, the Spruce Creek Property Owners' Association follows a path of flexibility that permits it to adapt its guidelines for the enjoyment and betterment of its property owners and constituency.

Without "police power" or "intolerable rigidity" the Spruce Creek Property Owners' Association functions as the Governing Board overseeing a development of several other associations, condominiums, zero lot line projects, airport facilities, a 26.5 acre commercial facility encompassing a restaurant, travel agency, FBO, aircraft dealers, and professional offices, not to mention the 18-hole golf course.

Our residents serve voluntarily and without compensation on committees for Airport, Budget, Public Works, Youth, Public Relations and Security.

Our budget is over a million dollars, and we maintain well-funded reserves for all private streets and even 14 miles of private taxiways and runways. The Long Range Planning Committee has yet to formally adopt a plan but is already funded (with a look toward the future). Yes, by volunteers! Those same volunteers head community activities consisting of a Flying Club making periodic weekend flight visits to places of interest, (hop on for a free ride); informal "Saturday Under the Tree" airplane watching activities; Garden/Nature Club beautification projects; Lunch Bunch & motorcycle groups; a Christmas Parade of aircraft, RV's, golf carts, vintage autos and horseback riders to start the holiday season. Yes, by volunteers!

What permits these successful committees and events? An open dialogue between the SCPOA Board of Directors, the daily efforts of a well-organized and efficient Property Manager and support by the constituency.

When was the last time you saw security roam the streets 24 hours a day or provide a check for your residence when you were out of town, in a 1,400 unit, 1,139 acre project? We do it daily and within Budget. Where can you have a wedding under a park setting with 300 people and the next day find the area spotless all due to the efforts of the inhabitants of the community? The answer? At Spruce Creek! Why? Because we all participate; we all share from the bottom to the top of the Association.

Motor homes are garaged or stored in an RV facility; the monthly newsletter always gets printed with articles entertaining and enlightening to our residents; our covenants and restrictions were renewed by a door-to-door campaign; the airport brochure attached was a product of an active working committee.

The ARC Committee maintains architectural integrity for our different developments; the Budget Committee preserves our fiscal integrity; Public Works maintains our infrastructure, engineering and aesthetics, and Long Range Planning promises our continuing prosperity for the future years.

Our Association is truly taking responsibility for all phases of your community, and our life-style reflects what can be accomplished when neighbors recognize he rights, both legal and equitable, of each other. Stringent rules and regulations have given way to reasonable thinking. Tolerance can sometimes lead to difficult decisions; but with the cooperation of an active Board of Directors, a responsible professional Community Manager and an enlightened membership, we have in "Spruce Creek Fly-In" led ourselves down a path of responsibility that confirms loudly and proudly that self government by a Property Owners' Association can be extremely successful.

We don't give lessons in good government. We merely perform. And we at Spruce Creek are proud of that performance.

Return to Community Page...