Mandatory Club Membership: To Amend Or Not Amend?

In early 2008, the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida issued a highly publicized ruling that held invalid an amendment to a homeowners' association declaration requiring that all members of the Willoughby Community Association become at least social members of the country club. Granuzzo v. Willoughby Golf Club, Inc.1 The amendment to the declaration requiring mandatory membership included obligations that the members pay for the maintenance of the country club facilities as well as an annual food and beverage minimum. Club membership had been voluntary prior to the passage of the amendment.

In holding that the amendment could not be enforced, the Circuit Court relied heavily on prior decisions of the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal, Flamingo Ranch Estates, Inc. v. Sunshine Ranches Homeowners, Inc.,2 and Holiday Pines Property Owners Association, Inc. v. Wetherington.3 Those decisions stand for the general proposition that declaration amendments should be enacted in a reasonable manner so as not to destroy the general scheme or plan of development within the community. In applying this standard in Granuzzo, the Circuit Court held that, even though the …