History
Jack Weisser was the developer of Sun 'N Lakes Estates and Acreage as it was called. He sold property to people all over the world from Europe to South America. In the early 1990's he went bankrupt and did not pay the taxes on the land which now forms the park and beachfront. This was land that had been promised to the homeowners when they purchased their property.
Some of the residents formed a group, petitioned the neighbors about their interest in claiming the land, and with funds that were donated from personal monies obtained legal assistance. They went to Bankruptcy Court to stop the sale and were awarded the land to preserve it for the residents of the neighborhood.
The property owners needed some way to collect monies to develop, maintain and operate the park area. Letters were mailed to 2400 property owners to vote on becoming a special taxing district(Recreation Tax). 66% of the returned letters voted in favor of setting up the district. In 1992 the county commissioners voted to grant the Sun 'N Lakes of Lake Placid a Special Taxing District with boundaries set at CR29, Moonglow, Concert and Imagination Drives, and the eastern side Lake Grassy as the boundaries. On Dec 4, 1992 Ordinance 92-35 was filed with the County Clerks Office. Taxes were set at $25.00 per year and collected as a non-ad valorem tax. In order for the county to take this action, the county was legally required to own the park property. Therefore, the deed to the park property was signed over to the county. This way the county could collect/manage the taxes for a 10% fee and also carry the park on their liability and property insurance since we did not have the money to cover such an expense.
After this the volunteers were the ones who managed, developed and maintained the property. Volunteers mowed and trimmed all the property in the park. They cleaned the little house and the new clubhouse. All decisions made were made by the property owners. They held dinners to make money that was not over seen by the county.
The first item taken care of was to repay the money that was loaned to the organization by the many property owners. The first purchase, requested by the community organization, was a fence surrounding the park. The volunteers built the two docks at the beach area along with work done to improve the beach. Next a sea wall was built at the beach. In 1997 a ground breaking event was held for the new 7000 sq ft clubhouse (at the cost of $320,000). Until this time, meetings were held in a small house used as the developer’s sales office. A grand opening was held on March 2 of 1998 with over 300 people attending a steak dinner. In 1999 a storage garage was built to hold the equipment used by the volunteers to maintain the park. In 2000 a walking dock was built at the boat ramp. A pavilion was built and outside lighting was put up for the parking lot. In September of 2001 the ball field was completed. In April of 2002 two tennis courts were finished. In May of 2017 funds used to build the clubhouse were repaid in full through the assessment.
In 2016, the County decided to take direct control of management of the park and the special benefit district’s budget. With this decision, property owners had very limited input to the direction of the special benefit district’s budget and maintenance of the park.
In 2021, the name of the community organization was changed to Property Owners of Sun 'N Lakes of Lake Placid, Inc.. Between 2021-2024, a Liaison Committee was developed to work with the county staff on developing and maintaining the park and clubhouse. The county increased the size of the taxing district to the original platted Sun-N-Lake boundaries. This afforded more property owner participation in the district and increased revenue to support the park. As a neighborhood group we are working to revitalize the social activities that can use the clubhouse and park and make it a vibrant part of our community.