Lake Buchanan HOAs brace for LCRA land lease hike

When Theo Van Eeten moved to Lake Buchanan Village in 2014, he made the move to join nearly 500 other property owners in search of a more serene scene. “I lived in Austin for 36 years. I retired here because I love the lake,” said Van Eeten, who owned the property for about eight years before taking up permanent residence. “It’s peaceful. It gets me away from all the traffic and people.” As president of the Lake Buchanan Village (LBV) Land Owners Association, he encountered quite the sticker shock this summer in the context of the HOA land lease agreement (set to expire in 2032) with the Lower Colorado River Authority.

He received word from LCRA that the LOA’s fee on leasing about 1/3-ofan- acre of land owned by the water regulatory entity would increase from $800 to $4,500 per year.

The “sliver” of land is part of 1.3 acres LCRA owns, since the 1930s, adjacent to one of the HOA’s parks. The LBV Land Owners Association charges a $5 boat launch fee for the public (or $45 annual pass) at two concrete boat ramps, currently unusable due to drought conditions.

“People come in from Llano, from Marble Falls, from all kinds of places,” Van Eeten said. “We’re trying to recoup some of our cost (of maintaining the area) for that.

“It doesn’t effect me personally. I’m on the water,” Van Eeten said. “The reason I took on this cause I really think that these 500 people (in Buchanan Lake Village), they’re going to take advantage them.”

LCRA officials contend the rate increase will bring the lease agreements in line with board policy.

“LCRA is working to incorporate market rental values into our leases with POAs as the leases become due, per LCRA Board policy 401.402 (A) 1 requiring LCRA land use agreements to be based on market rental value,” said LCRA spokeswoman Clara Tuma in a statement. “We are aware that moving leases to full market rental value in a single year could create issues for lessees, particularly given the significant increases in land values in the area over the last few years.

“In July, LCRA put proposed modifications to lease agreements with property owners’ associations on hold as we work to address community concerns,” the statement continued. “We will be back in touch with the Lake Buchanan Lake Village Land Owners Association over the next few months and look forward to continuing our long relationship.”

Along with Buchanan Lake Village, nearby Greenwood Acres and Floyd Acres were notified of impending lease fee increases.

According to Van Eeten, he discovered Greenwood Acres HOA fees are slated to increase from $100 to $3,400; and the Floyd Acres HOA could see a rate hike by 10 times the amount, from $100 to $1,000.

Invoices are expected to start in October, Van Eeten said.

“LCRA feels they have a right to charge people to be on that land. It’s just a piece of sand. It’s most of the time under water until the water goes down,” Van Eeten continued. “It’s a low-income area, generally speaking. They are retired people. Yet, none of that matters to LCRA. It’s just a money game.”

Marty Galliart, LBV Landowners Association first vice president, believes the entity has no justification for such a hike based on the characteristics of the land. The property being leased is primarily in an area covered by water except during extreme drought.

“When they talk about land values, it needs to be (property) above the 1020 water mark. The amount of land they own above that is just a sliver,” Galliart said. “You could not put a house on it or anything because it would fall too close to the water line.

“When they’re using value of land around there, it’s not like the land where people have homes. This is a piece of unusable land.” Some of the issue for the LOA involves how the lease fees have fluctuated.

What started as $100 annual fee increased in following year from $600 to $800 through the 2000s.

At one point in 2014, the water levels, due to drought, rendered the boat ramps unusable, so LCRA agreed to lower the annual fee back to $500, Van Eeten explained.

“We didn’t have a use for it, but as a gesture of goodwill we kept paying,” he said. “After the lake came back up, in 2017 they raised the rate to $800.” The lease term was extended to 2032 with the caveat that every five years, LCRA has the option to increase the lease fee, he explained. “The disadvantage is they own this land; we have a lease on a small portion of that land, and they can control how much they charge us with no written rule for them to say how much they can go up.

“They can come back in five years and say we owe $10,000. We have no way of stopping it,” Galliart added. “We’re a subdivision of mostly retirees and weekenders, so it’s not like we have 500 residents who live in million dollar homes or even $250,000 homes.

“We don’t bring in that much (in dues).”

The Buchanan Lake Village property owners pay $45 per year for their annual HOA dues.

Van Eeten broached the possibility of the LOA not participating in a lease at all. An LCRA official suggested a fence could be erected, he said.

Ultimately, Van Eeten thinks the entity should consider its role in “managing” the waterway over seeking to “profit” from it.

“By statute, they are charged with managing the water in the Highland Lakes. The water belongs to the state of Texas. The land belongs to the State of Texas,” Van Eeten said. “LCRA is charged with managing the water. The dams were put in for flood control and to ensure and adequate supply of drinking water for the communities downstream.

“Also, for recreational purposes. People enjoy going to lakes. It would behoove the LCRA to not throw up all kinds of barriers for people to do that.

“What’s wrong with a guy loading in a little fishing boat. Do you really have to rip him off if he wants to do that.”