A Brief History of the Shawnee Bend 3 Homeowners Association, Inc
A Brief History of the Shawnee Bend 3 Homeowners Association and its accomplishments
was written by Jackie Frakes and Bill Beneke with contributions from Shawnee Bend 3 Residents
The beginnings of the association can be traced to a May 7, 1985 meeting of a group of 13
Shawnee Bend 3 residents calling themselves the "Spruce Road Gang". Issues at that meeting included
forming a special road district to pave Spruce, road signs, and discussion of Shawnee Bend 3
Restrictions. Plans were made to clean up Spruce and the cemetery. Voluntary dues of $5.00 were
requested to defray mailing costs.
By the end of August, 1985, donations for the Spruce Road paving project had reached $5,800
(of the estimated $13,332 needed). Spruce, portions of Chinquapin, Hickory (now Aspen) and Dogwood
(now Magnolia) would be chipped and Sealed by the end of the year. The Spruce Road Gang was off to a
good start.
The 1986 efforts of the Spruce Road Gang continued to work on funding the Special Road
District to maintain the newly paved roads. Discussion of working with the fire department to establish
a fire station near the entrance to Shawnee Bend 3 began to get traction. A station would improve
emergency response times and should reduce insurance rates. Road signs were damaged by vandals
over the 1986-87 winter.
In 1987 the Spruce Road Gang first hired someone to mow the cemetery. The cemetery had
become too much for volunteers to care for.
Dues were raised to $10.00 per year in 1989. Jim Waller (our webmaster and member of the
Executive Committee) began hosting meetings at Broken Arrow Marina. Kathy Waller became treasurer
for the Gang and would continue as treasurer through 1991.
Progress on roads and establishing a fire station continued. The Sunrise Beach Fire Department
issued a bond request for the station in 1990. In 1991, the Special Road District was dissolved and
Camden County took over road maintenance.
The Spruce Road Gang had outgrown its one-road name. It became the Shawnee Bend 3 Homes
Association in 1992. We put up a dusk-to-dawn light at the junction of MM and Spruce in 1993, to light
up the entrance to our subdivision. Cemetery mowing now cost $100 per mowing 4 times per year.
The first Fall Weiner Roast was held at the Red Oak and Spruce intersection on Storm's meadow
in 1996. The next year we joined the Adopt-A-Highway program and began participating in the
Shoreline Cleanup. We continue to participate in both programs every spring. Mowing costs had
increased to $125 per mowing, 5 times per year.
In 1998 the Sunrise Beach Fired Department opened Station 3 on Spruce Road. That same year
the Community Toll Bridge opened, greatly improving access to all of Shawnee Bend.
The Shawnee Bend 3 Homes Association refocused its efforts. An outside group wanted to
locate a large sewage treatment plant at the entrance to our subdivision. Our association developed an
effective strategy to oppose this effort. We revised our declaration of restrictions to allow only sewage
treatment plants serving our subdivision exclusively. This revision was filed in the Camden County
Recorder's Office on 11/2/1999. Other changes in the revision allowed selected commercial and multifamily
construction that was at least 1000 feet from the 662 contour of the lake. The association also
began requesting donations from its residents to block the sewage treatment facility in court. When
outside group dropped their proposal, the funds raised for the legal fight were returned to the donors.
The Shawnee Bend 3 Homes Association begin having our meetings at the new fire station in
2000. An advisory committee was formed to consider becoming incorporated in order to have a more
solid legal footing to represent the subdivision in any future challenges. In 2001 Association members
Karl and Sharon King, Ray and Leigh (now deceased) Bellus, Nunzio and Louise Restaino and Jeanne
Dunn participated in renaming roads in preparation for E911. This established our current road names.
• Spruce -- Spruce Ln
• Redbud -- Red Oak ln
• Mulberry -- Mulberry Ln
• Chinquapin -- Chinquapin Ln
• Dogwood -- Magnolia Ln
• Hickory -- Aspen Ln
• Sycamore --Cottonwood Ln
• Maple -- Maple Ln
• Ash -- Beech Tree Ln
• Cedar -- Buckeye Ln
• Shawnee Oak -- Palm Ln
• Elm -- Elm Ln
E911 was implemented in 2005 and homeowners were asked to put new 911 addresses on their homes
and docks. In that same year the fire department began requiring burn permits. The Association
brought up dog control issues asking the residents with pets to be good neighbors and control their
animals.
The Association spearheaded a neighborhood garage sale in September 2009 and held an evening
cookout for residents.
After a period of relative inactivity, the association was reawakened on December 30, 2009
when it learned from a resident that Gary Storm was planning to develop his 72 acres at the Spruce --
Red Oak junction. If implemented, his plans would substantially change the nature of the entire
subdivision. Submitted as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) to the Camden County Planning and
Zoning Department, his Woodland Community plan was scheduled for a hearing by the Camden County
Planning and Zoning Commission in January 2010.
The Shawnee Bend 3 Homes Association recognized the threat of this and possible other
development efforts could have to the nature of the subdivision and began gathering signatures to
amend the subdivision restrictions to allow only single-family residential construction. Opposition to
the Woodland Community PUD for the January Planning and Zoning hearing was organized.
In spite of our efforts the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the Woodland Community
PUD in February, 2010. Subsequently we obtained the required number of signatures and filed the
amendment to the Declaration of Restrictions for Shawnee Bend 3 a month later.
Then President Eric Wittikiend filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Shawnee Bend 3 Homes
Association beginning a legal battle with Camden County and the Woodland Community. A legal fund
was established to help with the costs of this opposition; 48 residents donated almost $15,000 to the
legal fund. Incorporation efforts for the homeowners association were also renewed, in order to
provide better legal standing for the Association and protections for its board members.
In 2011, the Homeowners Association began holding its annual meeting in conjunction with a
pancake breakfast on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. Though our current bylaws require only
that we have an annual meeting, combining the annual meeting with a pancake breakfast on this
weekend continued.
On February 29, 2012 the Association became incorporated under its current name, Shawnee
Bend 3 Homeowners Association, Inc. In the process of doing this Mike Dunn had obtained the legal
Developer's Rights from Four Seasons Development and conferred these rights to our newly formed
corporation. Initial Board members were Eric Wittekiend, Mike Dunn, Bill Beneke, Jackie Frakes, and
Rob Wilcox.
Jim Waller developed a website for the Shawnee Bend 3 Homeowners Association, Inc. that
went live in November 2012. Jim would continue serving as webmaster, maintaining and evolving the
http://www.sb3hoa.org website until his death in May of 2016.
The Association began a major sign replacement and improvement project. A sign fund was
established by February 2012. Donations to the sign fund were requested. Eventually a total of $5,632
was collected. The sign project was completed by March 2013. The remaining balance in the sign fund
was moved to the general fund which will pay ongoing sign maintenance and individual name
replacements.
Our legal battles over The Woodland Community PUD continued, eventually being settled in
favor of Camden County on April 2, 2012. The Association refocused its efforts on working to see that
the County followed its own rules regarding the land use and PUD codes and requiring the Woodland
Community to abide by our subdivision restrictions. Ultimately, the PUD was allowed to expire by the
Camden County Planning and Zoning Commission on April 16, 2014 when Gary Storm failed to provide
them with convincing evidence of the substantial progress needed for PUD extension.
In late 2016, we lost the sb3hoa.org website. Jackie Frakes, Mark Bostow and Bill Beneke
worked to rebuild the website and its member database. The rebuilt website went live in February,
2017. Since then we have expanded its functionality to enable electronic payment of annual dues, online
voting for officers, and have conducted a few on-line surveys of members. The website sends
automated invoices for dues to the 117 members with email addresses, saving considerable time and
postal service mailings. We continue to mail invoices to the 9 members who have not provided us with
email addresses.
Since our incorporation we have continued to file federal and state taxes, and annually renew
our corporation status as required by Missouri State Law. A few changes in the Board of Directors have
Occurred: In May, 2013, Eric stepped down as president, replaced by Andrew Hardwick, and Jackie
stepped down as Treasurer, replaced by Sandy Vossen. In May, 2015, Jackie Frakes returned to the
Board as Treasurer and Sandy Vossen moved to Vice President. In 2017, Jackie left the Board and was
replaced by Mike Maier. As allowed in the Shawnee Bend 3 Homeowners Association bylaws, Bill
assumed the combined role of Secretary/Treasurer. In 2018, Larry Pinegar joined the board of
directors, replacing Sandy Vossen.
In August of 2018, Jackie Frakes passed away. For more than a decade Jackie had been “the
glue that held the association together”. She and her husband Kevin were responsible for the sign
replacement project and have maintained the signs and replaced member names as properties changed
hands. Kevin continues to take responsibility for the sign upkeep with help from a few other members.
Though not officially a SB3HOA activity, friends of Jackie donated funds to erect a monument that we
placed in the Shawnee Bend Cemetery in recognition of her service.
Last update 4 March, 2020