LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Cleveland Property Owners Protest
Deep in the heart of Liberty County is a vacation destination and permanent living community called The Preserve of Texas (http://www.preserveoftexas.com/). Located a few miles west of Moss Hill where the Trinity River meets Hwy 105, the 2000-acre development is home to lots of wildlife and some very unhappy residents – both full-time and part-time – who are coming together to protest over Thanksgiving weekend. Many of them have owned property there for more than 30 years.
At a time when families are celebrating, many of the residents are gathering for 3 days at the community entrance to protest the oppression leveled against them by the property owner association (POA) board in increasing maintenance dues and special assessments to a record level without explaining why the increase and a special assessment is needed.
The Preserve POA board is supposed to represent the interests of all owners, however, because the developer owns the most lots, he gets the most votes. In addition, the majority of the POA board and management company all work for the developer; therefore, whatever he deems desirable is the end result.
With this new owner came exclusion of input and questions from property owners at POA meetings and the use of virtual meetings during which everyone is muted except the board president and owner. Even questions submitted by owners in advance have gone unanswered.
A forthcoming virtual POA meeting is scheduled at which members are expected to vote on special assessment fees and an increase in yearly dues. Most owners have already been notified by mail to expect an increase of 33.3% to 66.6% for 2022. The desire is that the POA will begin to represent all the owners – not just the developer.
What’s most concerning and disheartening is the identity of the new owner/developer – Scott Wizig, who does business via an umbrella company called SWE Homes. The Houston Press published an expose article in 2014 entitled, “Selling Homes, Ruining Lives: Getting Rich in Real Estate the Scott Wizig Way”.

Author – Janette Goulder-Frick
November 23, 2021