Summary of Bylaw Update (11.28.2024)

Why Change the Bylaws?

For those new to Beachway and the concepts of how the Park is operated, a starting point is to understand that a set of Bylaws is required of every corporation – which Beachway Park Inc. is. Bylaws are designed to provide a clear, legally binding framework for corporate management and operation. They are, essentially, the rules the Board of Directors and other administrators must follow. Our Bylaws are vital to ensure that the Park’s business operates smoothly and complies with various laws.  Details such as the composition of a board, shareholder rights, procedures for calling elections, holding and conducting meetings of the association and its members, emergency powers, duties and responsibilities of directors, and shareholder rights are all outlined in the Bylaws.

The bulk of our current bylaws were written nearly 34 years ago, with very few amendments since then. Beachway’s original Bylaws predate the introduction of the Florida legislative statute Chapter 719 in 1995. This legislation governs housing cooperatives in Florida, such as the Beachway Park Inc. Association, and includes specific provisions for its operation and governance. To remain compliant with F.S.719 and other regulatory changes, a major update to the association's Bylaws is necessary to align our Bylaws with these new regulations.  

Are there other Reasons for the Bylaw Update?

·        Revitalization of administrative documents is required to maintain their legal authority (30-year Rule). Having updated Bylaws, Rules & Regulations are necessary to collect assessments and govern with authority under Fl 719 Statute.

·        CH719 to address problems with safety, corporate financial abuse, financial transparency, fraud, and abuse of residents in co-op associations like Beachway Park.  New regulations address those negative impacts and outline new rules for how cooperatives must operate.

·        Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) -  New reporting obligations for HOAs and Associations must be met to avoid significant monetary and criminal penalties.

More important to the Beachway Community is the opportunity afforded by the Bylaw update to examine our operation and organizational structure and determine whether it is serving the Beachway Community as effectively as it could. In addition to the demands of legislation, Beachway cannot remain locked into patterns and old habits that worked well at its inception in the 1970s or when its first Bylaws were adopted in 1991.  Changes in technology, financial reporting requirements, resident expectations, and our general culture compel us to respond effectively through Bylaw updates.

Revised Structure of Committees

One major change proposed for our Bylaws is the reorganization and operation of our committees. There are historical reasons for the existence of our current committees that are no longer as relevant today as they were thirty or fifty years ago.  The result is that some committees and chairpersons are unreasonably burdened with excessive duties and responsibilities. There have been barriers to effectively incorporating new tasks into Board responsibilities, such as effectively communicating with the membership or taking a more comprehensive approach to improving infrastructure, safety, and maintenance. Furthermore, important activities vital to the Park and residents’ well-being do not have the recognition or standing to receive resources or a clearly defined mandate to operate as effectively as they should. The group currently operating as the Social Club is an example of an important Park community group that needs to be formally elevated and recognized as a standing board committee. The authority, duties, and responsibilities delegated through the Bylaws would enable the Beachway Community to benefit even more from a Social Committee’s activities. To further enhance the valuable contributions of the current social club, it is also essential to integrate the group’s operation into the decision-making processes of the Board. From a fiduciary perspective, the step is necessary since it is the Board of Directors that federal and state corporate law delegates exclusive management authority and, ultimately, liability for decisions made in the Park. This step should have been taken long ago, given the Social Club’s extensive use of Park facilities, its receipt of a budget allocation, income generation capabilities, and the need to align its operation with Park policy.

New - Director of Maintenance and Infrastructure

To keep the number of Directors of Beachway corporation to seven, adding the Social Committee requires redistributing responsibilities and duties of other committees.  The Facilities and Utilities Committee is proposed to be folded into a new Board position for a Director of Maintenance and Infrastructure. This new position will also help ensure new requirements around safety and prioritizing maintenance and repair work.

Resident Workshops

As residents, shareholders, and neighbors with a common interest in our shared community's successful and effective operation, please read through the draft Bylaws and thoughtfully prepare constructive feedback for the Board at upcoming Resident Workshops. The Resident Workshops to discuss the Bylaws are expected to begin shortly and carry through December and early January before a final vote on the proposal at our annual meeting on Thursday, January 23rd, 2025.  

Beachway Park Community Association Bylaws

Approved January 23rd, 2025

2025 Revised and Amended Bylaws

The final 1.16.2025 version contains only permissible changes to Scrivener errors (typographical corrections) to the December 17th draft. Only minor Scribner errors identified at the January 15th, 2025, Special Board Meeting with the Community Association Lawyer are corrected.

Other Resources for Reference

Florida Statute Chapter 719

Cooperative Shareholder Rights and Responsibilities

Why is Beachway Park incorporated?

Beachway Park is a Florida CH 719 cooperative-type housing community. A cooperative or "co-op" is a housing model where residents are formally incorporated into an ownership entity like a homeowner association but do not own the property beneath their units (coaches). Instead, each resident is a shareholder in the Beachway Park corporation based on a share purchase of park property (lease-hold) and ownership of a coach-type manufactured home. In other words, the Beachway corporation owns the park property and issues a share, or in a sense, leases the property to resident shareholders. Owners or shareholders share in the expenses of the park common areas.

The Beachway Advantage

According to the Tampa Bay Times, resident ownership of a mobile home park is considered the gold standard for keeping mobile home ownership affordable. Residents are in control of Beachway operation and not some outside management company or landlord running the park for profit. Instead, owners share in the expenses of common areas and can invest in the community, upgrading the property and facilities. Co-ops like Beachway are typically less expensive than condominium ownership associations, professionally managed mobile home parks, or communities where mobile homeowners only rent the property. This is possible since Beachway operates at a cost, collecting maintenance fees from residents to pay operating expenses. Residents’ shares in Beachway typically appreciate as the property values of the park increase. The Tampa Bay Times also notes that of the county's approximately 600 mobile home parks, only about 100 are resident-owned.

In addition to the lower financial cost of residency in Beachway Park Inc, there is a social benefit to consider. Because Beachway is cooperatively run, more inclusive social interaction occurs because everyone pitches in to ensure all the work necessary to operate the Park is properly performed.

Beachway Administration

As a resident-owned mobile home park having ~ 156 units, Beachway has a Board of Directors, which is necessary to ensure the Park is operated efficiently and meets its legal obligations as a corporation. The Board of Directors consists of seven Director positions elected from among its residents. Five of the board positions (Grounds, Utilities, Facilities, Finance, and Development) have committees consisting of resident volunteers. A Director is the committee chairperson. Together, the committee chairperson and resident volunteers take on many of the tasks involved in the park's operation. The President and Vice-President are the two other elected executive positions.

Important Governing Documents

It's helpful to remember that co-ops must abide by Federal and Florida State laws that govern many aspects of community living. The Federal Fair Housing Act, and Chapter 719 of the Florida Statutes, also known as the Cooperative Act, is a chapter of law that governs cooperatives in the State of Florida, are just two examples. However, HOA’s and co-ops can be more restrictive than other housing options when it comes to ownership requirements and obligations. These restrictions are found in Beachway’s three administrative documents:

·         Master Occupancy Agreement (MOA) Original Certificate of Incorporation (From June 1977)

·         Beachway Park Rules & Regulations (Revised March 2024).

·         Bylaws for the Beachway Corporation - Approved January, 2025

The Master Occupancy Agreement is essentially Beachway’s incorporation document that delegates property rights to residents and outlines its organizational structure. This document contains critical details of the agreement between the Beachway Park Corporation and individual resident shareholders. In a sense, the Master Occupancy Agreement functions as a leasing agreement. The Master Occupancy Agreement can be viewed at this link.

Beachway’s Bylaws found at this link are the executive committee’s operating manual establishing regulations for the functions of the Beachway executive committee, prescribing its role and the area of responsibilities for directors or committee chairs. Said another way, the Beachway corporation bylaws provide details beyond the MOA document, delegating and limiting the authority of the executive committee and its directors.

Another document, Beachway Rules and Regulations outlines community standards and are established collectively by its residents and executive committee. Rules and Regulations are regularly updated using feedback from resident workshops. One explanation for the level of sweeping detail in this document is that Beachway has no landlord other than the corporation and there are no tenants, only shareholders. In the absence of somewhat arbitrary decisions made by a landlord or manager, the Rules and Regulations document provides details that govern important aspects of daily park operations and community responsibilities. For example, Beachway Rules and Regulations describe building and maintenance standards and requirements for background checks of residents and renters. Current Rules and Regulations, (2023 update) for Beachway Park can be viewed at this link.

Beachway Park’s Mission

To be a well-maintained, financially stable, inclusive, and respectful residential retirement community

Beachway Park’s Vision

To encourage the best retirement lifestyle while maintaining and enhancing shareholder value and services