Summary of Choctaw Lake

May 29, 2015News

By Tom Sopko – Secretary RRA Board

In April 2015, the Board attended the OLCA meeting at Choctaw Lake, located between Columbus and Dayton. The attachment is a summary of the Choctaw Lake community.

It is an example of another Ohio Lake community and not a list of recommendations for our Lake.

  1. Choctaw Lake
    1. General Description
      1. Established 1964, 50th Anniversary last year.
      2. 250 acre dammed lake
      3. Located between Columbus, Dayton, Springfield, and Marysville
      4. 1064 lots
      5. 870+ homes
        1. Lakefront and offlake appeared to be well built out
      6. Population about 1300
      7. Lake Front Lot Value, ~$150K
        1. Lots appear larger than typical lot at RS.
      8. Off-lake Lot Value, $20K and up.
    2. Boating
      1. No boat fees
    3. Water and Sewer
      1. Water provided by a utility owned by Choctaw
      2. Sewer provided by the Madison County Sewer District
  2. Facility Rental (details available on the Choctaw website)
    1. Clubhouse
      1. 12,000 sq ft. Includes storage areas, kitchen and bathrooms.
      2. Seats 300
      3. Rents for $750 on a weekend day, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday
        1. Friday night setup rental, $250, only if not rented
      4. Otherwise clubhouse rents for $375
      5. Can rent for a half day during the week, Monday to Thursday, at $150
      6. Deposit, $250.
    2. Arrowhead, smaller building, seats 40
      1. Rents on Sat & Sun for $200, May 1 to Sept 30, otherwise $125
      2. Other times, $110
      3. Early use for setup, $50
      4. Deposit, $100
    3. Tent rental
      1. 20×40 with side curtains
      2. Setup on your property, $225/day
      3. With rental of Clubhouse or Arrowhead, $100/day
      4. Deposit, $100
  3. Amenities
    1. Shuffle board court, indoors in club house
    2. Small, one picnic table pavilions, on beach, (3)
    3. One sandy beach, smaller than RS
    4. No “common area” pools
      1. Residents are allowed a private pool on their property
    5. Tennis courts
    6. Sand volleyball court
    7. Basketball courts (2)
    8. Baseball field
    9. Soccer field
    10. Recreational Committee, plans all events
  4. Budget
    1. Annual income, $700,000
    2. Major source was dues & assessments
      1. Dues and Assessments $1080
      2. Some reduction allowed for owning more than one lot
    3. Other sources
      1. Lodge rental, $28K
      2. Boat storage, $19K
      3. Storage facility, $14K
      4. Dock rental, $8K
      5. Building Permits, $3K
      6. Club donations
    1. Available Funds
      1. Dam, $484K
      2. Roads, $912K
      3. Reserve, $325K
    2. Security
      1. Four full time officers. Three part-time officers
      2. Police are deputies of the County Sheriff
      3. Cost $250,000/year, including salaries & benefits, cars, patrol boat, gas, maintenance
      4. 24/7 security, members want high security and are willing to pay for it.
        1. Last burglary, 13 years ago
      5. Patrol boat has own boat house with lift
        1. Built with maintenance staff and volunteers
      6. Biggest problem – road speeders
        1. 13 miles of roads
        2. They have a trailer mounted speed control radar, “your speed is”, with a speed limit sign.
        3. Police hand out tickets
    1. Office
      1. Located near Clubhouse.
      2. ? sq ft.
    2. General Demeanor
      1. Residents that I spoke to were very pleased with Choctaw.
    3. Dredging
      1. Additional lakes dredging
        1. Choctaw
        2. Holiday Lakes
          1. Quote for contractor mechanical dredging, $100K per acre.
        3. One Other Lake
      2. Mechanical Dredging selected
        1. Being done in-house using existing labor
        2. Selected due to cost
        3. Allows equipment to be used for other activities
    1. Algae
      1. Algae blooms are a problem
        1. Surrounding water shed is farm area
      2. Have treated and will continue to treat with Copper Sulfate
        1. There is no plant life in the lake.
        2. Hiring a consultant to grow vegetation in lake
    2.  Activities
      1. Annual Christmas Tree Lighting
      2. Summer Concert Series, one per month
      3. Annual Ski Show by Ski Club, Labor Day Weekend
      4. Junk Yard Boat Derby, boats built from junk, similar to cardboard boat races
    3. Volunteerism
      1. Down
      2. Most amenities improvements handled by volunteers
      3. Also volunteer group raises the money for the amenity
    4. Other
      1. Mailboxes are in banks of boxes, you go to pick up your mail, ie from an Association owned lot, like an RL lot.
        1. Identical boxes
        2. No posts along streets
      2. Driveways are all paved (asphalt or concrete), no new stone driveways, stone grandfathered in, but no stone drives were seen
      3. Strict rules on maintaining property
        1. Facility was very neat and clean
      4. Eastside-Westside mentality. Westside had most of the amenities.
        1. Major west side amenities: beach and clubhouse.