When Gunn Highway was a narrow two-lane road, one of the largest dairy farms in northwest Hillsborough County was at the present location of the Plantation and Beacon Meadows subdivisions.  The dairy sold milk at a "convenience store" at the corner of what is now Casey Road.

 

On November 10, 1978, Beacon Construction Company, Inc. deeded to Hillsborough County 8.1 acres just west of Beacon Meadows for the purpose of a playground.  Often times a developer will deed over parcels of land in lieu of paying County impact fees.  Little was done in the way of developing the park when the subdivision was finished.  Nevertheless, there was cleared land.

 

J. Maurice Laidlaw, acting as President of Beacon Homes of Florida, Inc., signed and executed the first Declaration of Restrictions for Beacon Meadows on November 19, 1978.  This Declaration can be found on the Deed Restrictions page for Phase I.

 

A little more than a year later on December 7, 1979, Laidlaw signed the Declaration for Phase II on Cypress Tree Drive along Jackson Road.  While the builder erected a green wooden fence along Gunn Highway, a block wall was constructed along Jackson Road.  The supposition is that Jackson Road, which was dirt, would create dust and the farm that was there would smell, so a barrier was needed.

 

Phase IIIA's Declaration was signed June 3, 1981.  Block walls were erected by the builder to border this section on both Jackson Road and Casey Road.

 

 

 

 

 

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Beacon Meadows Homeowners Association was established April 8, 1982.  Unfortunately, the builder did not have the foresight when writing the covenants for Beacon Meadows to provide for mandatory membership in a homeowners association, thus depriving the organization of authority to manage the covenants and restrictions.  Participation in the voluntary organization was poor (less than 25% of the residents), and it was difficult to collect the $20 annual fee.  As a result, the Association failed and was dissolved November 1, 1985.  This, however, did not make the Declarations any less binding for property owners.  They are separate and individual legal documents unto themselves.

 

The Declaration for the fourth and last section of Beacon Meadows, Phase IIIB, was signed May 9, 1983, bringing the total number of homes in Beacon Meadows to 256.  When this section was built, there was nothing to the east but water, wetlands, and wildlife.

 

Ordinance #87-53 was adopted by the Board of Trustees at its regular meeting on December 16, 1987.  The Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners signed Ordinance #87-53 creating Beacon Meadows Special Dependent Tax District, and Board of Trustees,  on December 22nd, 1987. 

 

The Board of Trustees, comprised of seven members, to operate the District with homeowners' ad valorem taxes.  Trustees were to be volunteers from the community who were elected to the Board.  Operation of the District included maintaining more than a mile of perimeter walls, monuments and signage at two entrances, and the right-of-ways adjacent to the subdivision. 

 

Ordinance #09-7 which became effective May 26, 2009 combined the offices of Recording Secretary and Corresponding Secretary into a single Secretary position, and prescribed the circumstances and processes by which a special dependent district could forego an annual audit.

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In 1991-1992, the Board managed the tedious process to pass a referendum to raise the funds and obtain the easements to replace the deteriorating wooden fence on Gunn Highway with the existing block wall.

 

A map of the subdivision and the deed restrictions for each phase are available here.