River Isles a 55+ Community

River Isles a 55+ Community

A Brief History of River Isles

At one time the site for what is now River Isles was the home of a sawmill. In 1970 the property was purchased by Green Tree Communities and an additional amount of adjoining property to the east. Green Tree's original sales brouchure showed the entire property. Their map featured an 18 hole golf course with a pro shop. The sales brouchure promised a million dollar club house and a marina.

The Forecast of River Isles

Green Tree's promotion featured fireworks and water skiing. A sign at the entrance promised great things for River Isles. Nice homes were selling for $16,000 to $35,000 and the community grew rapidly along Chinaberry Road and then spread to the Braden River. In 1973 it was necessary to stand in line to purchase a house.

Then came 1974 and the Rebirth Of River Isles

By the beginning of 1975 there were 150 residents, but there were also 25 partially built homes here in River Isles. The nine hole golf course became over grown with weeds and the well supplying its water was located on adjoining property. To combat those conditions they decided to form a Home Owners Association. Meanwhile the residents of Oldsmar did nothing. Their Club house was sold and turned into a restaurant. The Golf Course was also sold to outsiders.

On March 10, 1975 papers of Incorporation were filed at Tallahassee to form the River Isles Home Owners Association. The first act of the newly formed Association was to hire a lawyer and to set up a trust fund. The residents then paid $29 per month into this fund for the maintenance of the club house and ground instead of paying anything to Green Tree. By-Laws were adopted and the Association as we now know it became a living entity.

Then the residents drained the pool, scrubbed it and removed and cleaned the filters. They also made the necessary repairs to the Club house. In short, Green Tree had operated on a shoe string with other people's money. Because of the resourcefulness of the residents they solved all of these problems.

On April 30th of 1981 the Home Owners Association exercised its option to buy the property. In 1975 the golf course was abandoned by Green Tree. The Golf Association at that time decided to purchase shares at $100 each with which to buy equipment. After the meeting they had pledged $7,000. They bought the equipment for the course and the golf course was maintained by a group of golfers who received no pay.

The people who helped are too numerous to mention, but one whom we still know today is John Greves. Soon it was opened to outside play. Then it became increasingly hard to get on the golf course. At one time membership reached 300. Ladies became numerous enough to form their own club. Up to this date, the ladies have their league play on Thursdays and the Men on Tuesdays, and on Saturday mornings it is a mixed play.

By 1982 River Isles had expanded to 269 homes. That made it necessary to expand the size of the Club House. That also required adding more paved parking. The addition of River Walk and other expansion brought the number of homes to 374.

In May of 1985 $105,000 was approved for the expansion. From the very beginning the people of River Isles have been very active in the fields of recreation and entertainment. Picnics and dinners with various and sometimes elaborate entertainment are common to this day.

It is difficult to highlight any one event as so many are four and five star events. Thanks to the foresight of the residents of River Isles we now have a community of which we can be proud. We are the owners of the Club House and the Golf Course. Due to the excellent management on the part of our Officers past and Present, all of the mechanisms for maintaining our property and our community are in place.

An apology is extended to all of those members who gave so freely of their time and effort to the Association, but whose names were not included because they are so numerous. Date April, 7, 2004

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River Isles of Bradenton
More Information About River Isles

About our association

RIVER ISLES HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

The River Isles Community is a 55+ community of single family dwellings. MEMBERSHIP to the Homeowners Association is automatic on ownership of a dwelling and IS LIMITED TO HOME OWNERS
WITHIN RIVER ISLES.

Complete information is available at River Isles Club House Office. Open Monday-Wednesday and Friday from 10:00am to 12:30 P.M. Telephone: 941-747-0157