Silverlake Resident's Lawsuit Update vs. Johnson Development Co. Appointed SL Board of Directors—

“Meanwhile, residents say that the confusion over board representation began when Johnson Development Corp. took over the 4,000-acre master-planned community -- located just east of State Highway 288 -- from Southwyck Limited Partners in the late 1980s and early 1990s and certain board members were replaced.” HBJ (Ap. 2005)

In the Spring of 2005 the usually quiet residential neighborhood of Silverlake in Pearland filed a lawsuit against their board of directors, which at the time still had Johnson Development Co. employees serving on it. Apparently, and according to an insider update on this case, midway through its second year, the suit is stalled in arbitration.

The original case was filed when some Silverlake residents attempted to vote in their own board members and get the current board to certify the election. When the current board refused the residents filed suit to access financial records for the community.

Why is this important to Sienna Plantation?

Sienna is another Johnson Development Co. (JDC) community with 3 of its current board members who are also JDC employees. MCC will continue to follow this story as it develops and report any resolution to it and what those outcomes might mean for our area as we approach build-out.

Click the title link above for background on this piece from the Houston Business Journal.


Stay informed and keep in touch!

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Comment/Notes: Just a side note of interest Marc Markel is the attorney for the SL board and also happens to represent the Sienna Plantation Board and our Community Services Board (which is supposed to operate as a separate board from the JDC developers and our developer appointed HOA board). Additionally you may find it interesting that the community services board here in Sienna is also appointed by the developer after failed attempts over the last 3 years to create a rotating resident/homeowner postion to that board. Finally, Mr. Markel is on the all time HOA lawyer foreclosure list (see http://pages.prodigy.net/hoadata/) and has helped co-author an anti-homeowner/consumer bill that is currently before the Texas legislature called TUPCA (Texas Planned Universal Communities Act). This act threatens to expand developer and HOA control over homeowners living in these communities. See http://www.thetupcareview.com/ for more and contact your area legislature and tell them to vote NO on TUPCA this session!!!