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We wish to extend a warm welcome to the Co-Owners of The Cottages at Tawas Point Condominium Association. This web site has been designed to help you keep current with the events in our Association and to also serve as a reference source in the future.

As one of the areas most attractive and desirable condominium communities, The Cottages At Tawas Point offers co-owners the advantages of lakefront living in spacious two-story detached units located on 370 feet of beautiful Lake Huron frontage. This former Tawas Coast Guard location is situated next to The Tawas State Park with its sandy beaches, bird watching sanctuary, and lighthouse attractions. The nearby Jerry's Marina provides easy dockage or storage for boaters. Conveniently located near the twin cities of East Tawas and Tawas, small town nostalgic shopping, entertainment, and dining opportunities are readily available.

2018 Condo News

President - Jean Freeling (2017 - 2020)

Secretary - Ken Paulson (2018 - 2021)

Treasurer - John Johnson (2018 - 2021)

Click For Coast Guard Station History

Click For Tawas Events.

This page was last updated: June 3, 2018

Click to read about Coast Guard station renovation progress as of 15Dec06

Corsair Ski Trail Current Conditions

The Cottages At Tawas Point Proprietary Information

You will need Acrobat Reader to view and print the PDF file(s) contained on this website. Click here to download the latest version from Adobe

The U.S. Coast Guard station was built in 1876 and is the only surviving example of the First Series Life Saving Stations built on the Great Lakes. Although it has been remodeled several times, the station serves as the sole representative of a true Victorian-era style station built on the Great Lakes.

Cross-country skis can be rented from Nordic Sports in East Tawas for $12.00 per day for a package (skis - boots - poles). A rental day is 10am until 5:30pm.

Click on picture for historical pictures of Tawas City and East Tawas

Just click on the picture above and enter your zip code to find out which gas stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gasoline in your zip code area. The site is updated every night with pricing data from over 90,000 gas stations across the nation.

Tawas (48730)

Oscoda (48750)

AuGres (48703)

Standish (48658)

West Branch (48661)

The information in this advisory is provided by law enforcement and public safety personnel working throughout Michigan. The Winter Travel Advisory operates from late November or early December through March 30th. It is updated twice a day or as information concerning travel conditions is received.

Photos by Zach

The Groulx's grandson Zach is becoming quite the photographer. The first is a panorama view of our new beach and he second is what the early risers see across our front lawn out their windows in the morning. Great pictures Zach and keep them coming.

Governance and the Law -- How do community associations find out about changes in the law?

One of the duties of our association BoD is to govern and manage the community in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. This requires that we conduct reviews of governing documents to ensure legal compliance and to determine where amendments are necessary.

Although these changes do not occur that often, someone still has to do it! If not, you may have a BoD that may making some its decisions in a vacuum and without the proper knowledge. It is the little things like this that separate a bad-mediocre BoD from a first-rate one. In the case of our association BoD, we have all recognized this responsibility and taken certain actions to assure that we are meeting it. We continually are reading newsworthy auricles that may appear on condo/HOA and self-managed community associations publications. We also subscribe to various blogs that regularly talk about these topics.

Shown below is a rundown on several law changes that have occurred in the HOA or condo associations industry or in various states. Although they are all not applicable and may never see the light of day for us, they can provide some insight on trends occurring in the condo business. So, we provide them for you reading pleasure.

Speed Limits - Speed limits are enforceable. Association security personnel can conduct traffic stops and issue citations to association owners who are speeding on association streets, the Illinois Supreme Court said in its January decision

Home rule rules. Chicago condo owners seeking to inspect their association's financial books and records must be allowed to do so within 10 days of making a written request, the Illinois Supreme Court said in April. In Florida, bills have been passed that now allow the use of Smartphone's, tablets and other portable devices to capture images of association records at no charge to the owner and without the need for the association to make copies.

Leadership certification. Board members and others association volunteers can earn leadership certification. The Community Associations Institute of Illinois launched a new educational program, Dedicated Community Association Leaders. The seven-module program, taught by association professionals, covers such topics as governance, meetings, elections and finances. Recently passed bills in Florida provide that cooperative directors must now be certified to serve on their board.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve in November dismissed the suit, writing in part that "Illinois courts do not recognize property values, air or light as constitutionally protected property interests."

Bed bug ordinance. A new bed bug ordinance requires associations to have in place by March 2 a formal management plan for the detection, inspection and treatment of the nocturnal pests. Written records must be kept and available for inspection by authorized city personnel. Boards also are responsible for making sure that owners cooperate by reporting infestations within their units. Associations are getting their rules, procedures and fines in place because no one wants to admit to being bugged.

Concealed firearms are legal. The Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act allows individuals, subject to licensing requirements and restrictions, to carry a concealed, loaded handgun. Associations can enact rules and regulations related to concealed handguns on and around association property but must place approved signage if they ban them.

Smoking Bans in Condominiums. Some HOAs ban smoking in interior common areas such as lobbies, common hallways, and garages, but permit smoking in the units and in exterior areas. Some HOAs ban smoking in all interior and exterior common areas, in which case smoking would only be permitted in a unit. Still another approach is to allow smoking outdoors but not indoors, or to allow outdoor smoking only if it is not close to a building. With any of these approaches, non-smokers will be exposed to second-hand smoke. When smoking is permitted in the units and/or interior common areas, smoke can travel through the ventilation system or hallways and enter non-smokers’ units. There is no known method of preventing this exposure. For these reasons, HOAs are increasingly choosing to make the entire property smoke-free. This means that no one can smoke in a unit, on a deck or patio, in the garden, on the roof, on the front steps, or anywhere else. This ensures that non-smoking residents, and their guests, are not exposed to second-hand smoke while on the property.

Snow Removal

The snow removal contract has been awarded to Aaron Wills from Honest Lawn for the 2013-14 Season. Individual Courtyard sidewalks will be done with 2 day notice for $30.00 per shovel at the homeowners cost and request. Shown below is the contact information:

Honest Lawn

Aaron Wills

Telephone # 989-362-2800

Irrigation Well Project Completed

The implementation phase of the irrigation well project has been completed by A Plus Landscaping this past week. The trees along the side of Unit #1 have been removed, a 66 foot well has been sunk with a submersible pump installed, and the Rid-O-Rust system has been installed, which also included the burial of a submerged tank to hold the formula that neutralize rust stains in the well water. Unexpected issues included the large cement slabs that had to be excavated to remove the trees and install the tank and a entire irrigation system and lines that were packed full of sand as a result of the last storm damage that was done to the lake filter.

The past week was spent on cleaning all the irrigation heads and repairing/replacing the ones that needed it and testing the system for proper operation. Everything looks good so far and additional testing and system balancing will occur in the spring. The old lake irrigation tubing, support structure, and filter have been removed and the new system has been winterized for this season. For those of you who have not been keeping an eye on the weather, it has been getting down into the 20's this past week.

We all have extremely high hopes and expectations that this will provide us with a high quality, reliable, and relatively maintenance free irrigation system that will provide us many years of service.

Condo Web Cam Back On Line

Welcome back to the condo network camera that allows everyone to see what is happening during the winter months. You will need the following information to access the camera from your computer:

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Address - http://kushubacondo.viewnetcam.com:5000/

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User name - tcatpcondo

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Password - lakehuron

Additionally, you can just click on the camera picture on the website home page and it will take you directly to the site where you can enter your user name and password.

If you own one of the Smartphone cell phones. I have set up the network camera to be viewed on your cell phone by using an app called IP Cam Viewer (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rcreations.ipcamviewerBasic&hl=en). It is free and you can download it from your app store/market.

Under the "manage camera" in the IP Cam Viewer Basic program settings, you will need to add a camera with the following information:

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Make: Panasonic

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Model: Panasonic BL Series

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Host/IP: 75.133.27.203

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HTTP Port: 5000

You should be then good to go.

Governor recommends $3.1 million for state dock work

Iosco County News• February 12, 2013

EAST TAWAS – Gov. Rick Snyder included rehabilitation of the East Tawas State Harbor as part of his fiscal year 2015 budget recommendation on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

The governor is recommending $3.1 million to “renovate and revitalize the East Tawas State Harbor,” which includes the state dock.

The $3.1 million capital outlay request in the fiscal year 2015 recommended budget would fund the first phase of the project to rehabilitate the state harbor. The funding would come from federal and state restricted funding sources and would be contingent on approval of a federal grant submitted through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Boating Infrastructure Grant Program.

“It’s good news,” said Chuck Allen, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) park manager who oversees the East Tawas State Harbor and Tawas Point State Park. “We’re pretty excited to see it in the recommended budget.”

Moolenaar worked closely with Department of Natural Resources Director Keith Creagh on the project and hosted him for a visit to East Tawas last summer during the Annual Heritage Route 23 Tour, Moolenaar said. “The project is the first step to rehabilitate East Tawas State Harbor and ensure that it can continue to serve as a harbor of refuge for boaters on Lake Huron,” Moolenaar said.

“As the current docks have deteriorated, several have had to be closed or removed due to safety concerns. The primary purpose of this project is to eliminate safety hazards that limit public use of the harbor by replacing the failing docks with new ones that are structurally stable, accessible and equipped with updated utilities," he said.

The $3.05 million capital outlay request in the fiscal year 2015 budget would fund the first phase of the project to rehabilitate East Tawas State Harbor, Moolenaar said. The funding would come from federal and state restricted funding sources and would be contingent on approval of a federal grant submitted through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Boating Infrastructure Grant Program.

"These are much needed improvements," said Chuck Allen, supervisor of the Parks and Recreation Division of the Michigan DNR.

The harbor facility hasn't seen improvements since 1985, Allen said.

"Most of the infrastructure is really outdated," he said.

The first phase of the project would build 60 slips and new transient docks and replace the 30-amp electrical service with a 50-amp system, which is required for many modern boats, he said. The fuel arm of the East Tawas State Dock would be removed and replaced with two new floating docks straight out from the Tawas Bay shoreline.

"It's really important for the harbor itself and also for the town of East Tawas," Allen said. "It's a huge economic draw for the city, all the boaters that come here."

The harbor will look differently, Allen said, noting that the changes are based on a survey asking boaters what they wanted at the harbor and many said they wanted slips to be closer to shore.

Famed test pilot Chuck Yeager sued by homeowners group

FoxNews • February 7.2014

Famed test pilot Gen. Chuck Yeager was in court this week, facing a lawsuit over alleged non-payment homeowner fees.

The retired Air Force Brigadier General -- who turns 91 next week -- and his wife Victoria owe about $28,000 in unpaid dues, according to the Sacramento homeowners association that is suing him.

The lawsuit "is essentially about homeowners getting something for nothing," Eugene P. Haydu, the lawyer who is representing Park River Oak Estates Homeowners Association, said in his trial brief.

The lawsuit claims that the couple own a number of units in the development but have not been paying their association fees, according to Military.com.

"While defendant General Charles Yeager may be a famous man, that fame does not make him immune ... from principles of simple fairness," the brief said.

However, Yeager’s attorney argues that their properties were never annexed to the association nor have they every received any services from it.

The BoD is delighted that all of our members pay their dues on time. In this article it reports that celebrity, Chuck Yeager, is having difficutties/disagreements on paying his!

Webmaster:

Lois A. Gartland

mlgartland@charter.net

After a two and a half year battle

with pancreatic cancer, Joe

passed away peacefully with

Sue and his loving kids at this

side on May 5th. Joe served as

the Condo President since it's

inception in 2006. Joe held the

responsibilities of this position

with significance and attention;

second only to his family

responsibilities.

Joe was the guiding force that spent many hours establishing the Cottages at Tawas Point Condo Association. In the last weeks of his life he put together one final time his usual slide presentation to the membership detailing the goals for the coming year. One of his last projects with Walt Burdgick was to see to the installation of a new irrigation system. He was loved by his family and greatly appreciated by his friends in the Association. He will truly be missed.

The Association wanted to create a memorial plaque that would be installed on Joe's beloved beach where he spent hours entertaining his grandchildren. The plaque was presented to Sue and his son Nick who were extremely grateful for such a beautiful memorial!

THE COTTAGES AT TAWAS POINT

Friends of the Condo Association dedicated this plaque and bench on left in Memory of Joe. Shown on bench is Joe's sister Lois Gartland (right) and his Goddaughter Jen Montie.

Send your pictures, articles and other information to Lois

Progress on the Beach Repair

- As of Oct 21st ... (below)

January 2016 (above)