My family has been living in Southern Springs for the last 3 years and have met some great families. Unfortunately, the community is made up of several groups of families that live close together and not truly a community.
I would like to request that a referendum be sent to the community to use some of the massive common area for some community ammenities such a play ground, a walking/exercise path, and/or a community pool. These are similar ammenities to other communities in the area. I'm certainly not suggesting that we absorb all of the great common area that we have or adding the ammenities all at once. Utilizing a portion of the common area could convince some families to stay if they are considering moving because of the lack of a true sense of community and other communities have these ammenaties. It could also sway some families that are looking for new housing to choose Southern Springs over another community. Add the great schools that their children would be going to is a win win propsition. The snowball effect could be that we could bring more stable/quality families into the community, less rental or vacant homes in Southern Springs, and less chance of crimes as the community will have a central place to meet and greet one another and get to know one another. I'm sure that there are several great families that we have yet to met because they are on the other end of the neighborhood.
It wouldn't take much effort on the HOA's officers to check into the feasability. Find out thcost of the recerational equipment, etc. Send out a referendum to the community for a vote on the new budget and increase in the annual fees. If we can purchase and budget out over a few years, the impact could be minimal versus the results.