Notice of Meeting

Notice of the meeting was given and the chairman welcomed all homeowners present.

Attendance Register

The attendance register was circulated and signed by all present.

Apologies / Proxies

23 Proxy's were received
A Kethro – Erven 209; 222; 229; 233; 235; 236; 253; 255; 266; 272; 303; 311; 315; 317; 327; 328
PL Greene  - Erf 215
P Bergs – Erf 260
S Ellis – Erf 219
J & B Gardner – Erf 243
R Davies – Erven 284 & 304
J Eyres – Erf
RS van Niekerk – Erf 263.

Chairman's Report

It is my pleasure to present this report to the members of the association. Fortunately we do not have to deal with the difficulties that most companies have had to deal with over the last year and we have managed to operate within the budget and the debtors, fortunately, have been very low. We have also during the year seen a pick in the sales with a total of 25 sales taking place at Gowrie Farm, 10 sales from the developer and 15 re-sales.

During this year we saw the first elected members join us on the Board and I would like to thank them for their valuable input. Chris and Dave, thank you. I would also like to thank my fellow trustees and Board members, Jubs and Peter for their work. For the record the Board met on five occasions and there have been a number of informal meetings taking place almost fortnightly and I have been on the farm almost weekly, dealing with the affairs of your Association. Having two of the Board members living permanently on the farm does add tremendous value. In addition to the Board members, Orange Gondi together with his team of four, Sandra Nel from my office, have put in a lot of work. Sadly during the year Orange lost his wife of over 20 years and I would like to pass my very sincere condolences to Orange on behalf of the Association and to thank him for his efforts during the year and the manner in which he has undertaken the work. 

Moving on to the Farm itself, possibly the most important aspect of our duties is security and how I am pleased to report that we have had no negative incidents, which have taken place during the year. The security has been handled by IPSS who have generally been easy and pleasant to deal with and in most cases efficient.

During September last year the tennis court was completed and the indoor swimming pool is presently under construction, with the contractors hoping to finish in February. The weather conditions which we have had over the last two months we may not be able to achieve this target date, but the project manager, is doing all he can to have it completed as close as possible to the end of February

In addition to security the other services, which are handled by the Association are the roads, which we are presently repairing and sadly adding speed bumps. I am not a fan of speed bumps, but unfortunately the way people drive on our roads has forced your Board to add speed bumps so as to firstly slow the vehicle down and hopefully thus improve the ambiance on the Farm, but also for the safely of people. The major culprits are contractors although there are Homeowners who do not always adhere to the speed limits and I would appreciate it if all Homeowners could make an effort to slow down when they come onto the Farm. As our roads are merely a chip and spray road and not asphalt we will annually have to go through this process of repairing roads, this being due primarily to the heavy vehicles, which use our roads during the construction period.

In addition to the roads a new sewerage line was built from the area above Island Dam to an evapo transpiration bed below Pump House Dam, this is due to the soils in this area not being suitable for percolation. Due to the rocky nature of the soil the contractors were unable to bury the line and built it on the edge of the dam, which your Board has found to be unacceptable. A pathway is now to be built to the edge of the dam and the pipe will be buried in the pathway way. This will mean that it will no longer be visible and will also as a benefit let us have a path, which will allow people to walk along the edge of the dam.

Our water is obtained primarily from a borehole situate at Gowrie Village, which we hold a servitude over and we have entered into an arrangement with the Homeowners Association of Gowrie Village and as those of you who have built are aware we are now charging for water. As a backup we do have access to the Mearns Pipeline, but the borehole water is used, primarily as the quality of the water is preferable to that in the Mearns Pipeline, which has to be treated before it can be used.

The remaining services, which we handle, are electricity and refuse. Refuse is collected weekly by the Estate manager and taken to Howick dump by an independent contractor. Now that we have four permanent residents we will be monitoring and we may have to collect more often and we ask that those people living on the Estate please feel free to contact us at anytime if they feel that once a week is not sufficient. With regard to electricity I must report that we have been approached by the contractors, Electrical Power Systems about the amount of electricity that was being used on the Estate, The Estate was originally designed to have 25KVA to be available for every house. The houses which have been built are all drawing more than this primarily due to the fact that all houses seem to be including underfloor heating, which tends to be a big user of electricity. This could lead us into a problem in the future for two reasons, the first being that the electricity design did not provide for the amount of electricity that is being used and secondly because there isn't the additional capacity in the area for all of us to use electricity at the present rate. New National Building regulations contain criteria, which has to be adhered to and also impose fairly stringent controls on house designs as far as they relate to the use of energy.

During the year the Architectural Review Committee met almost every fortnight and 35 plans were considered with 30 having being approved. We now have 22 houses completed or in the process of being built.

This year your Association joined the Nottingham Road Landowners Association who we believe is important to support. They have entered into a special arrangement with us with the Gowrie Farm Homeowners merely paying R100 per annum as against the normal fee of R600 for ordinary members and R200 for homeowners in other Estates. We believe it is important to support this body who look after the interests of homeowners in the area and do a lot of good work in protecting the rights of landowners. We are fortunate to have Peter Greene on the committee. 

During the year dams were restocked and some simple fishing regulations have been implemented. These are thanks to Steuart Pennington and Jeremy Cahill, a teacher in the area and behalf of the Board I would like to thank them for their input and work. We will continue to monitor the dams and we appeal to people to ensure that when they fish that they do record when they have fished and what they have caught and what they have not caught as it assists with stocking and control of the dams. Books have been left at the main gatehouse and the Clubhouse where people can enter these records. They will be consolidated on a regular basis.

I am aware of a six pounder been caught in the Clubhouse Dam during the last couple of months and a number of good fish been caught primarily in Island Dam. It would be nice if people fished all the dams and enjoyed this amenity. I have been asked on a number of occasions who may fish in these dams and we must understand that the dams belong to the farm and we as homeowners have the right to fish in them. The rights are limited to homeowners and their guests as well as twelve invited fishing club members. These people are invitees of the trustees Kwa Jabu Trust and to date these privileges have only been granted to four people. I must emphasize that Golf Club members do not have the right to fishing. Should one notice any poachers, please let us know as this amenity is primarily for you the homeowner and we would like it protected.

The golf course rounds continue to grow and generally we have had extremely positive feedback about the course. We are still over 100 members shy of our target, which obviously is important not only for the developers but for the homeowners as well as it gives a sense of comfort to know that the golf course is not a burden. It is my view that we will we will close the gap and reach this target within five years. The occupancies in the golf lodge continues to remain stable with us achieving just over 50% per annum with certain months having been peaking at 70%. During the year the Smythe Cottage will come on stream in which a small 20 seater conference room is been included. The purpose of this is to try and attract people to Gowrie Farm during the week for at present the primary usage takes place on Friday afternoons, Saturdays and Sundays and the amenities are standing empty for the rest of the year.

The stables have not yet started and this has been put under the umbrella of Dave St Clair who will speak to it later. The Homeowners Association is prepared to go ahead with the stables as soon as there is a demand and I will let Dave report this matter later.   

During the year five houses were built, this is primarily for staff working on the Estate and we have also leased one to the security company.

Approval of Annual Financial Statements for the year ended 30th June 2009

Derrick Brittain of Cenprop discussed the annual financial statements, highlighting the following points and noting that detailed notes to the financials have been included so as to provide insight to the financial statements.

The financial statements were accepted on Proposal of DJ St Clair and seconded by GMS Smith.

Approval of Auditor's remunderation and Appointment of Auditors

The auditor's remuneration of R 1500.00 was approved and Thornton-Dibb van der Leeuw & Partners were once again appointed as auditors for the Association on proposal of Hylton Rabinowitz and seconded by Di Smith.

Noting of the Levies

The budget was circulated and discussed. Derrick Britain explained the budget the increase of levies to R1100 with effect from 1 January 2010.

The following Special Resolutions were tabled and passed.

It is proposed that the Memorandum and Articles of Association of The Gowrie Farm Homeowners Association be amended, so as to incorporate a clause to be referred to as Article 2.8, which clause shall provide that all homeowners will be obliged to furnish their domicilium's, postal address and email address's to the Association.

1. All members shall inform the Association in writing of their DOMICILIA CITANDI ET EXECUTANDI which address shall be the address to which all notices and other documents shall be sent, as well as being the address to which all processes must be served. Each members information required by the Association shall include the following:
   
   

1. Postal address
2. Physical address
3. Email address
4. Telefax number
5. Telephone number
6. Cell phone number

All notices to be given will:

1. be given in writing, by telefax or be email;
2. be delivered or sent by prepaid registered post, telefax of email;
3. if hand delivered be presumed to have been received on the date of delivery;
4. if sent by prepaid registered post be presumed to have been received within 7 (seven) business days of posting unless the contrary is proved;
5. if sent by telefax or email be presumed to have been received on the first business day following the date of sending the telefax or email unless the contrary is proved.

Notwithstanding the above, any notice actually received by the party to whom the notice is addressed will be deemed to have been properly given the notice and received, notwithstanding that such notice has not been given in accordance with the provisions of this clause.

The reason for the above amendment is so as to enable the Board to keep a register of all members, and to ensure that the Association has the necessary information to enable it to institute proceedings, should any homeowners at any stage not pay levies and it be necessary to issue summons.

The effect of the above Resolution is that the Association will be able to keep a proper register of all its members.

The Resolution was passed unanimously by way of a show of hands

To amend the Memorandum and Articles of Association by the inclusion of a clause 63, which clause is set out below, namely:

            63.       Legal costs

If for any reason whatsoever, the Association finds it necessary to appoint an attorney to take action against its members for payment of levies or such other matters as the Board of Association may feel necessary, and such action may involve litigation or the processes of any Court of Law, and the member found be found to be liable, then the Association shall be entitled to recover, on demand, by way of a special levy, all such legal costs incurred by the Association, including costs calculated on an attorney and client scale, together with all disbursements.

The reason for the above resolution is that presently if the Association has to institute proceedings against a homeowner for levies or any other matter, the Association may only recover a party and party costs, and not attorney and client costs against the defaulting member.  This prejudices the remaining homeowners who are then obliged to carry the attorney and client costs.

The effect of the above resolution is that any defaulting member will be obliged to bear the costs, which are incurred as a result of him being in default of his duties as a member, and thus will ensure that the remaining members are not prejudiced.

Presently homeowners are contracted to pay to the Stabilisation Fund a fee of 1% when they sell vacant land and 0,5% when they sell developed properties.  This is retained by the Association for the benefit of the Association.

The Board of Directors feel that it is prudent that this condition be incorporated into the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company, and accordingly proposes that the following article be included as Article 64 of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company, namely:

                64.       That should any member of the Association, save in the instance of the first sale of the developer, sell their property, then such member shall be obliged to pay to the Association the amount equal to 1% of the sale price of the property, if the property is undeveloped land, an amount equal to 0,5% of the selling price of the property if the land has been developed.  The funds shall be used to maintain or upgrade any capital assets of the Association and shall be managed by the Directors of the Homeowners Association.  Income from this fund may not be used for operational expenses.

The conveyancers attending to the transfer of the property shall be required to deduct the said amount from the proceeds and pay it direct to the Homeowners Association upon registration of transfer of the property into the new member.

The reason for the above is that the above condition was included in all Agreements of Sale with purchasers, and was not incorporated into the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and it is felt that it is prudent that it be included in the Memorandum of Articles, so as to bind all members, especially in the case of a property being sold without the necessary condition having been incorporated in the Agreement of Sale.

The effect of the above Resolution is that no party will be able to transfer a property without paying the necessary amount to the Stabilisation Fund, and the Association shall be able to keep control of the sales and the amounts due to the Stabilisation Fund.
         

The Resolution was carried with two votes against                   

Election of Directors

No nominations for directors were received and the current directors will remain in office for a further term. GMS Smith proposed that a resolution be tabled for the next AGM that the director's term be extended to two years and only one director be elected per year to ensure continuity on the Board. This was accepted unanimously by the house.

Report of the Architectural Review Committee

GMS Smith reported that the Review Committee met fortnightly to consider submissions. The Committee comprises of GMS Smith, Paul Rust and Dr. Glen Gallagher and Dave St Clair, who has recently been co-opted onto the committee.
It must be noted that Building Code must be seen as a living document. Homeowners are encouraged to make submissions to the Committee for changes/ amendments. The Code is constantly updated with the latest version been placed on the Web for ease of reference. Current changes been considered include driveway controls.

Steuart Pennington stated the guidelines that he obtained when purchasing his property differs considerably from the current one on the web, more especially regarding the pitch of roofs as his stats that houses must have double pitched roofs and there is a house with a flat roof been built, the dimensions of the windows are also different from those in the code. He asked the question as to who makes the decisions and shouldn't there be consultation when deviating from the code.

In response GMS Smith stated that when looking at Building Codes one always has to allow for architectural excellence and when a submission is made based on architectural merit but embodies the spirit of the code then the submission can be accepted and the Gowrie Farm Code makes provision for such submissions.
The house that is referred to above belongs to Smith and the plans were submitted to the building committee on the basis of architectural merit. On this basis the plans were sent to Dr. Gallagher and he was requested to adjudicate the submission at the cost of the owner. The submission was then after his recommendation approved based on such architectural merit. On his recommendation the Code was also amended to state that the red brick be used as a feature in chimneys throughout the estate. The reason for him building such a house was to encourage lateral thinking and to bring variety to the Farm.

Dave St Clair reiterated that code is a living document and that the latest version is posted on the web and that is the one that homeowners must refer to when wanting to commence with building.

Paula Waller agreed that the code be a living document and that she was in favour of the house referred to, but stated that is appeared that only certain people were allowed to submit based on architectural merit.

GMS Smith responded that this was not the case and that anyone who wishes to make submissions based on architectural merit may do so. He also mentioned that the house overlooking the 4th is also different and brings variety to the estate. The majority of homes built in an estate tend to be conservative however there will be a few that are different.

General

Insurance:    Andrew Dougall from Crawford Dougall Insurance Brokers made a presentation to the Association regarding a product, underwritten by Santam, which they offer to residents in Golf Estates. A comparison was made of two properties within the Estate and it was noted that there is a substantial saving should the Homeowners Association insure properties through Crawford Dougall. It was decided that the offer would be communicated to all homeowners currently building or residing on the estate and based on feedback a decision will be taken by the Board whether to a special general meeting.

 12.2

Indoor Swimming Pool:   GMS Smith reported that the swimming pool in is the process of been built and it is envisaged that it will be completed by February 2010 if all goes according to plan.

Myles Baxter asked that the Board consider building braai facilities at the swimming pool.

Steuart Pennington asked if floodlights were being considered for the tennis courts. Sheila Worrall asked what effect the noise would have on the estate if people played tennis under floodlights.

Security:   Dave St Clair reported that the Board had established a sub committee, comprising of Jubs Greene and himself to deal with security issues and report back to the Board. IPSS is providing an excellent service, however costs are considerable and without compromising the security on the estate they will be looking at ways of reducing the costs. One of the options is to lock the Clubhouse gate at night and only use one entrance via Gowrie Village. The Board is also committed to ensuring that strict protocols are implemented with regard to enforcing security controls for persons entering the Estate. As soon as the plan has been compiled it will be circulated to all members.

George Clark mentioned that there are numerous farm labourers passing through Gowrie Farm along Gowrie Avenue and asked what measures are in place to control this, perhaps by making them wear bibs/ uniform. GMS Smith responded that since Gowrie Ave was de-proclaimed as a district road it was still a public right of way and the HOA could not stop the workers from using it to gain access to Waterford Farm and Strathhaven. Di Smith also mentioned that eve if they wore uniforms/ bibs experience has shown that criminals even disguise themselves as police to get where they want. Dave St Clair stated it is a sensitive issue and will be address by the security sub-committee.

Staff Housing:  GMS Smith reported that during the year five houses were built, this is primarily for staff working on the Estate and we have also leased one to the security company. The developers have been approached by a couple of homeowners requiring staff accommodation and we are prepared to come to an arrangement with homeowners who would like to lease or build accommodation for their staff. Another house, which will comprise of four one-bedroom flats and a common area, is to be built with work commencing during next moth. This will be primarily for maids and should anybody be interested in leasing accommodation could they please see me after the meeting. As far as the municipal housing scheme is concerned we are still waiting for the municipality's consultants to obtain the provincial loan and I believe that during the course of the next twelve months work will commence on the forty houses.

Extension of the Golf Course:   Currently the developers have no intention of commencing with the extension of the golf course as there is no need and will not work financially until the demand increases. 18 holes will increase the number of people on the estate and will lose the ambience of the estate.

Stables:   Dave St Clair reported regarding the ownership and construction of the stables. Homeowners are requested to make contact with Dave St Clair should they wish to have a stable.

The ownership of the stable will be in terms on a 10 year renewable lease with the Homeowner’s Association as the Lessor and the Homeowner as the Lessee.

The monthly levy is budgeted as follows:

Therefore R1 500 per horse per month. 

Pipelines, Walking Paths and Fishing:   Jubs Greene has cleared some walking trails and those members interested in having paths cleared are requested to make contact with Jubs.

Landscaping:   GMS Smith reported that it has been suggested by homeowners that we should look to planting bush and trees on the Estate now rather than wait for houses have been built. It is suggested that it be implemented over a period of three years and a special levy of R1200 per Homeowner be levied to cover the costs. Hylton Rabinowitz, Steuart Pennington and Dave St Clair suggested that the levy be levied and the Homeowners Association commence with the project immediately. Sheila Worrall suggested that rather than over one year the project be completed over two years with primary planting taking place first and secondary planting the year there after. It was agreed and Sheila Worrall was co-opted to assist with the project.

Rates:   GMS Smith reported that an opinion was obtained from Senior Council by one of the other Estates in the area regarding rates and it must be noted that one becomes liable for rates from date of transfer whether or not you receive an account. It is the homeowner’s obligation to find out what rates are due. Meetings were held with the municipality regarding the values at which properties were initially valued and these were subsequently revised in a supplementary roll that was issued. Property owners are obliged to pay their rates as per their accounts but are not liable for the penalties and can challenge the municipality. Those homeowners who have a problem can contact Bobby Hoole who works on behalf of the NRLA dealing with rates issues. 

Closing

The Chairman thanked all those present for attending the meeting and he meeting adjourned at 11:45.