The Lake Forest Beach and Tennis Club, AKA Lake 1, turned 50 this year on August 14 and this Saturday they are celebrating at the Clubhouse.
There's a few people still around from those days and they were kind enough to send me pictures and recollections.
Ronna moved in at the beginning. She recalls that dues were $9.95 per month then. Now dues can cost as much as $250 per month depending on what tract you live in.
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The lagoon was a great feature, but over the years it got cloudier and cloudier. A few years ago the County closed it down. The Board, without raising dues, paid over $1,000,000 to get the lagoon completely re-done and it's been functioning ever since.
The quay wall was installed after the lake was built. Right from the start sections seemed to slip, and over time more than 1,000 feet of wall had slipped to such an extent that it required rebuilding. The Board regularly upgrades sections of the wall.
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Lake 1 has more native plants and xeroscaping than any other HOA in the City. About 10 years ago the Board took two sections of the complex and conducted a pilot study. We saw immediate savings in water and maintenance costs. About 5 years ago the HOA removed over 500,000 square feet of turf and replaced it with California natives and drought tolerant plants. Using rebates from the water districts, the costs to the HOA were minimal, but the savings ever since have been large.
About 8 years ago the on-site preschool had some personnel problems and was losing thousands of dollars a year. The Board considered shutting it down, but the parents came to the rescue. Now the preschool runs very well and generates a profit for the HOA.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a town hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be Oct 18 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).
