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INTRODUCTION TO
CONSTITUTION & BY-LAWS
FOR THE LANARK VILLAGE ASSOCIATION INC.

All of us like to think of Lanark Village as unique, that there is no other area like it and that it is indeed the finest of places in which to live. The ever-increasing quality of life in the Village certainly justifies our feeling of pride in our community. The Lanark Village Association has played no small part in the development of the Village over the past fifty years and in creating its present environment, and will certainly be a factor in its future.

Lanark Village was surnamed from a timbered two-story, broad-veranda structure built in the late 1800's called the "Lanark Hotel". The hotel was located about five miles from the west tip of St. James Island upon which it stood and was cloistered among the live oaks about 200 yards inshore from St. George Sound near the intersection of what is now Spring Street and Newman Drive in the Village. The latest Department of Interior Geological Survey maps (1973 era) still show the old structure although it was destroyed by fire in the late 1940's. Prior to World War II the old log-hauling Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railroad with a southern terminal point at Carrabelle, brought guests to the old Inn for relaxation and to partake of the mineral waters advertised for their salubrity and restorative powers. Bathing was provided along the shoreline near the present site of the marina in a wire mesh enclosure contructed to fence out the sharks.

In 1942 the Army commandeered all of St. James Island and Camp Gordon Johnston was created. On the outer banks of the barrier islands of Isle de Chien and St. George and on the Gulf side of Alligator Point, amphibious assault forces were trained for landing, one day, on the beaches of the European mainland and on Pacific Islands.

From the structures left by these forces at the close of the war, Lanark Village was later created as a development scheme in 1955 by a firm called Florida, Inc. The civilian housing and officer's quarters of the camp were converted by the developers into multi-family dwellings and sold as apartments through advertising and free bus trips from wintery northern urban areas. These dwellings began to fill in 1956 and the Village matured slowly under the maternalistic protection of the developer until 1964 when Florida, Inc's failure severed the umbilical ties furnishing services, recreation and solace to the dwellers and brought the Village to a traumatic adulthood.

With the withdrawal of the developers, the Village Association (The Lanark Village Association, Inc.), which had been created in 1956 to serve the social and fraternal needs of the villagers, found itself the only body available to shoulder civic responsibilities, which in the main, had been carried by the developers. Facing these new tasks, the Association responded boldly to the demands of the unsolved problems arising daily then, and in the years since, has provided the primary cohesive force and directional impetus that has held the Village together and guided it well through paths of travail and progress.

The scope of the Association's activites has expanded during the ensuing years and continues to embrace more and more functions that are of a purely civic nature. It seems evident that growth and new developments in the Village area have provided the thrust for re-evalutation of the Association's goals and for determination of how it should be constituted and organized to function most effectively.

Although not precisely delineated, the geographical zone of Village and Association concern has, until recently included only that area extending from Spring Street on the west (where the Community Church is located) to the tip of Pine Street on the east (the site of the old medical building) and with St. Joe Paper Company holdings north of Oak Street and St. George Sound on the south, completing the circumscription of the zone. As an example o f the limits of this geographical zone of concern, a special zoning ordinance for Lanark Village only, adopted in 1973, covers only this area.

Only slightly more recently (late 1970's), however, there have been two major developments that indicate that the zone of Association concern has been mutating and expanding. the first of these was the creation, in the fall of 1973, of a Water & Sewer District.

Following that, in November of 1975, a countywide zoning ordinance was adopted by the Franklin County Board of Commissioners. In both instances, the land span selected for coerage in the Lanark vicinity extended over all of the area north, east, and west of Lanark Village proper to the forested lands held by the St. Joe Paper Company. This "District" actually begins at the Catholic Church on the east and extends westward along Hwy 98 for about 2-1/2 miles and terminates not far beyond the Gulf Breeze Motor Court. St. Joe Paper Company holdings on the north, east and west along with St. George Sound on the south, completely encompasses this area and St. Joe Paper Company holdings isolate it from other habitations or structures along the highway.

Creation of the Water & Sewer District in 1973 was by referendum to the voters in the Village and their neighbors in the "District". Zoning recommendations to the County Planning Commission for the District were developed in 1975 by a Zoning Committee appointed by the Planning Commission and made up of members not only from the Village proper but also from Lanark Beach on the west and Gulf Wyn (Gulf Terrace)on the east. From these activities, which have involved citizens through out the District in collective action, plus the recent and also potential growth of the area, it appears that a point has been reached from which the encompassed area can be viewed as a complete entity. It has become evident that one day this encompassed area or District will evolve into on homogeneous collection of homes, businesses and open spaces with need to join together to protect collective and individual rights, develop unity of purpose and further common aspirations. Since the Lanark Village Association is the only local organization functioning in a civic sense, and since it has become evident that it must also be concerned with areas adjacent to but outside Lanark Village proper, it seems only right and fair that membership in the Village Assocation be made available to all of the entire "District".

The Association, through its by-laws, can function in many ways as a constituted organization representing the majority, or hopefully, all of the residents in the District; and through its concerted action obtain local, county and state support in furthering ends conceived to be best for its protection and advancement. (Editor's note: The above was compiled by the 1976 By-Laws Committee)

The attached By-Laws were prepared by a committee appointed from the Association membership and are designed to provide the means and methods for governing the Association. The By-Laws visualize an organization composed of members throughout the District and governed by a Board of Governors with planning and implementing of management tasks assigned to the Board with the assistance of the membership.

The By-Laws were adopted by the full membership of the Association on April 5, 1976.

By-Laws Committee
Harold Knutson (Chairman)
Carl Baily
Fran Bragg
Mary Parker
John Zegers

These proposed amended By-Laws changes presented to the general membership of the Association by the 2001 By-Laws Committee on February 25, 2001 and adopted by the membership on April 2, 2001

2001 By-Laws Committee
Lucille Beaty (Chairman)
Ray Courage
Bonnie Dietz
Robert Dietz
Allyn Jasper
Maragert Jones
Harriet Beach (Ex-Officio)

These proposed amended By-Laws changes presented to the general membership of the Association by the 2004 Board of Governors on November 28, 2004 and adopted by the membership on December 6, 2004

2004 Board of Governors
Julian Roberst (President)
John Reeder(Vice President)
Bonnie Dietz (Secretary)
Robert Benson (Treasurer)
Gary Mueller (Governor)
John Grant (Governor)
Bee Godburn (Governor)
Lucille Beaty (Member)
Kay Grant (Member)

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