New Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance taking membership applications

Dozens of Lake Buchanan residents attended a Sept. 22 meeting of the newly formed Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance at the East Llano County Annex. The alliance and meeting were prompted by proposed price hikes on Lower Colorado River Authority land leases for property owners associations. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey

The newly formed Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance will begin accepting membership applications on Jan. 1, 2023. Members of the Greenwood Acres Property Owners Association initiated the alliance at a meeting in September after the Lower Colorado River Authority notified more than 10 area POAs that lease agreements for waterfront access were about to increase — by a lot.

“The idea is to combine as many POAs and small businesses around the community to give us a bigger voice,” Wayne Shipley, a Greenwood Acres POA and alliance formation committee member, told DailyTrib.com this past fall.

The Greenwood Acres lease was set to increase from $100 a year to $5,400 a year. The Lake Buchanan Village lease would have risen from $100 a year to $4,500.

Since the first uproar over the lease agreements, the LCRA has been negotiating lower payments with each POA. Lake Buchanan Village will no longer have to pay any amount as the waterfront park now will be open to the public. A Greenwood Acres spokesperson told DailyTrib.com that the POA will negotiate a price as it does not want to allow public access. Greenwood Acres built its own pier and other amenities on the property.

Despite the settlement, Lake Buchanan-area residents decided to continue with the alliance.

“We need a community voice and a centralized location for everyone to come to and ask questions,” said Mary Jo Schiefen, president of the Greenwood Acres POA, at the initial meeting in September. “There are problems larger than one community can handle. We need to be together by virtue of the fact that we live on Lake Buchanan.”

Meetings of the newly formed Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance will be held every fourth Monday of the month from January through October at a location to be determined.

Regular memberships will be offered to property owners associations, civic organizations, and businesses in the Lake Buchanan area.

Associate memberships may be granted to certain individuals or groups not associated with the above-mentioned organizations.

Annual dues are set at $100 for regular members and $50 for associate members. Regular members will have full voting and speaking rights; associate members will have full speaking rights.

Meeting agendas will be set by the president and the board of directors. Requests for agenda additions must be made by regular or associate members five days prior to the regular meeting.

Contact the alliance at 512-775-3689, 512-769-3872, or info@lb-ca.org. The official mailing address is Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance, P.O. Box 11, Buchanan Dam, TX 78609.

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