FAQs

You are required to fill out the new 2022 census form. All vehicles listed on your form MUST be currently registered in the owner's name(s), associate member's name, or a tenant's name. The office will not be able to renew any gate cards that are not attached to a member's vehicle. One gate card per vehicle.  There is a yearly $5 renewal fee for each gate card. Gate cards will not be renewed for any vehicle with incomplete information. 

In order for the people living in your home to receive associate member privileges, their full names must be included on your census form. 

A copy of the deed listing all of the names must be presented to substantiate membership/associate membership privileges.  Only one name and address can be on record for billing purposes. 

In case of an emergency, some members prefer to provide the office with additional contact information. 

Yes. The top part of the census form needs to completely filled out by each member/account to ensure that the Association has accurate and updated information. You do not need to fill out the lower portion if you are not registering vehicles or renewing gate cards. 

A new vehicle can be added to your census form by providing the office (in person or by email), with a copy of the current registration showing the member, associate member, or tenant's name as the owner.  A gate card can be purchased and activated using a temporary tag,  but the member must provide the license plate number to the office within a week of the tag's expiration date. 

In this case, the current registration must be presented showing that it is in the company's name. Additionally, a letter is required from your employer (on letterhead) stating that you are permitted to drive this vehicle home and that you are the only driver of this vehicle. 

A member living in Cinnamon Lake may register all of their vehicles the same way as everyone else. For additional cards, a copy of the deed must be presented with the names listed.  One gate card can be purchased or renewed (with current registration) for each name listed that does not reside in Cinnamon Lake.  If there are multiple vehicles that might be used, they must follow the registration criteria and should all be listed, but only one gate card will be issued or renewed per name.

If you will be using a rental vehicle, you will need to contact the office by phone or email, info@cinnamon-lake.com and provide the rental vehicle information. 

The office will be unable to issue or renew gate cards for any vehicle not currently registered to a member, associate member, or tenant.

 Yes. Everyone living in your home should be included on your census form.  To register their vehicles with Cinnamon Lake, their name must appear on the vehicle registration form. 

Gate cards are a member privilege only.  Anyone that doesn't fall within the definition of member, associate member or tenant is required to enter Cinnamon Lake as a guest at the front gate.  

As an HOA, Cinnamon Lake is governed by an elected board of residents. Supported by volunteer committee members, collectively members have an opportunity to serve and improve the community. From the Board to the staff to members, the effort is always focused on assuring the best of community living at Cinnamon Lake.

The Board consists of 7 members. Vacancies are voted on by members in good standing at our annual meeting held in June of each year. The Board holds open meetings for the members, usually on the third Monday of the month.

Membership in Cinnamon Lake is determined by whose name appears on the most recent deed to any lot. The “member” will be the primary person designated as having the right to vote on behalf of the lot as designated on the certificate filed with the Secretary of the Association. Associate members are any co-owners, the spouse of a member, child of a member (whether one or more), tenant, or occupants of the member’s home.

Yearly dues are $75 for each lot you own. These are billed on January 1^st of each year. Yearly assessments for each lot are $309.60. This amount is split into two payments of $154.80. The first half is billed January 1^st of each year, and the second one on July 1^st of each year.  A road assessment was passed in June 2022 and will run for 7 years. The assessment is $30 per lot, per month, and will be billed twice a year, (October & April) starting in October 2022. Each billing will be for a 6-month period, which will be $180 per lot. 

No. Dues and assessments are proportioned equally to each lot, regardless of the number of lots owned. 

Yes. Cinnamon Lake is governed by our Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions and our Bylaws. Both of these documents are on our website for viewing.

Visitors must register at the front gate.  Upon registration they will be given a placard for their vehicle. Feel free to look around and explore our beautiful community, but you must return the placard before leaving. While it may be enticing to dip your toe into our beautiful lake, you must be a member before you can use any of our amenities.

Please send an email or letter to Cinnamon Lake stating the lot you are interested in, along with your offer. Your offer will be presented to the Board of Directors for consideration and a response will be given as quickly as possible.

It’s as easy as using the “Contact Us” button on this website.

Contact the office for the contact information for that lot. This will be a private transaction between you and the current owner. Once you have an agreement, please contact the office and they will assist you in the next steps.

Cinnamon Lake does not keep a list of homes for sale. You can find homes in our community by searching for homes in West Salem, Ohio. From that listing, you will need to narrow it down to homes in our community.

Cinnamon Lake is located in northeast Ashland County. When we were founded, our mailing address was assigned to West Salem which sits in Wayne County. All of the properties are contained within Ashland County.

Cinnamon Lake has two school districts:  Mapleton and Black River. Where your property is located determines in which school district you are located.

Cinnamon Lake has both city water and sewer. Rural Lorain Water Authority is our water provider, and LORCO is our sewer provider. Spectrum cable provides cable service, but you are able to use any TV, cable and internet service you would prefer. Natural gas is available in some areas of our community, with plans to expand the service areas as demand increases. Ohio Edison provides electricity to this area.

Cinnamon Lake offers a trash compactor for household trash. Homeowners are billed for this service in January and July of each year. A code for the compactor is changed quarterly, and members are provided the updated code through mailings.  Additionally, we offer a large open top dumpster for larger items. The cost is $15, but there is a one-time payment incentive to receive two free uses.

All homes must be stick built on site with 1200 minimum sq. feet of living space and a minimum 14×20 garage up to a maximum 28×32 garage, both attached and detached. See the Architectural & Property Guidelines for all details.

The applications for candidates can be found under the Member Access section.  The username and password were sent out in 2020 to all members.  If you need that information, please contact the office by phone or email.  Once you have logged on, scroll down to the Board of Directors section.  There you will find a 2021 Election Candidates button.  The CLA and CLU Board applications are listed by name.  The Nominating/Elections Committee applications are all together under that heading.  

Starting in October 2022, the Association will bill each member $30 per lot, for a six-month period. In April, members will be billed for an additional six months. Going forward, each member will be billed in October and April. The final invoice from this assessment will be in April 2029. For example, a member will one (1) lot will receive an invoice twice a year for $180.00, for a total of $360.00 per year. Members with multiple lots will need to increase this amount according to the number of lots owned. 

Each Member in Good Standing, as of the Record Date, is entitled to one vote per lot owned. "Except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws, a majority of the Members in Good Standing present at any duly convened meeting in person or by absentee ballot shall be sufficient to determine any matter." (CLA Bylaws Article 2, Section 3)

Very simply, the Association does not have enough money to undertake this project and the yearly dues and assessments do not raise enough money for capital improvements. Our dues and assessments are frozen at 2007 levels. We go the membership for major projects. 

The answer is NO! According to our attorney in regard to the lending institution, " In no way would any of the members' homes or properties have a lien put on it."

Roads have been a continuing problem for years. Past Board of Directors have gotten estimates, and the costs were high. It's time to quit kicking the can down the road and face reality. If we don't want to end up with all gravel or dirt roads, they need to be fixed and an ongoing road maintenance program put in place. 

Popular Association Banking is offering us $2.5 million, to be repaid over seven years. The special seven-year assessment will provide the monthly revenue to repay the loan. Our intent is to repay the loan in as short of time as is financially possible and use the remaining portion of the 7-year special road assessment to fund an ongoing road maintenance program. 

The obligation is with the property, just as your dues and assessment are now. The new owner bears the responsibility to continue to pay the special road assessment.

The loan agreement and the acceptance of the road bid proposal are contracts that must be met by the Cinnamon Lake Association. Future Board of Directors cannot arbitrarily renege on those contracts without serious legal ramifications. By keeping funds in a specifically and legally designated road fund, future Board of Directors will be restricted from using those funds for other projects.

The short answer is YES. Members are entitled to see the loan agreement by making an appointment with the office. Because of a confidentiality agreement, copies cannot be made because the bank does not want to share the agreement in such a way that their competitors may get a copy.

If the road project is not completed at point of default, road construction ends. However, instead of paying the monthly fee to Cinnamon Lake Association, it will instead by paid to the bank. The obligation to repay the loan remains. The near-term possibility of default is very slim. 

If not now, when? It is never a good time to put an assessment on the ballot. The loan is fixed at a 3.6% interest rate. New loan rates are already being issued at over 5%. material and labor costs will probably continue to go up. If the can is kicked down the road, the next assessment to fix the roads may be even higher. If the roads aren't fixed soon, property values may go down. The loss of a home value may exceed the monthly cost of fixing the roads. 

If the roads continue to deteriorate it may become necessary to have only one bus stop at the front gate. 

At earlier road meetings, the general consensus was to stay focused on the roads and keep the monthly cost in an affordable level. Expanding the project and forcing members to spend more money, increased the cost beyond an affordable level. 

All roads, including the gravel roads, will be improved. 

If the special road assessment does not pass, the roads will continue to deteriorate. Costs to repair and improve are not going to get cheaper, which means future assessments will be for more money. Realtors are already seeing a reluctance to buy because of the condition of the roads. At some point in time, it is possible that property values and sale ability will be negatively affected. 

The answer is short. Section 9 (C) (a) (iii) (4) [page 14] of the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, our governing document, states that “Every Lot and every lot owner (and if more than one lot owner, then all owners of a lot, jointly and severally, shall be charged with an equal share of each annual and special assessment attributable to each such lot” To change this requires a change in the CCRs.

Regardless if we get a loan or pay-as-you-go, the assessment still has to be passed. With costs going up, the danger is that a pay-as-you-go approach increases future road costs and increases the danger that we will run out of money before the roads are completed. It's time to face the issue head on and manage our money better. 

Our annual dues and assessment don't cover the costs to do that. We would still need to pass a special assessment. The cost of equipment and technology to work on roads has changed quite a bit. The employees we would have to hire to handle the equipment would not be paid close to the minimum wage. We would have to pay at market levels. This s the same reason that many municipalities contract out for road work. 

You pay Cinnamon Lake Association $75 per year for the annual dues and $309.60 for the annual assessment, per lot. This is all Cinnamon Lake Association gets per year. It is not enough.

If Cinnamon Lake Association is able to pay off the loan in advance, assuming there are no big surprises in the road improvement projects, we plan on setting money aside to fund an ongoing road maintenance program. To prevent us from getting in the same situation in the future, we will look at getting an ongoing future road assessment. This will go into effect after the current assessment expires at a fraction of the proposed assessment, maybe at $5-$10 per month per lot. 

The Board of Directors is currently discussing changing the building permit process. Once the roads are fixed and damage to the roads can clearly be identified, contractors will be required to post a bond. Pictures of the construction site will be taken prior to the issuance of a building permit. Before a certificate of occupancy will be issued, the road at the construction site will be inspected. Any damage will be required to be fixed or paid for, before the issuance of the occupancy permit. It may not prevent damage, but contractors will clearly be forewarned that they will be held accountable.

The Board of Directors has laid out a plan to do all the roads, and the road contractor has bid on that plan. The outcome depends upon the vote of the membership. 

KIOSK INSTRUCTIONS

Because all committees are an extension of the CLA Board and under their direction, all active committee members shall be in good standing. Any such issue should be brought to the committee leader's attention so that it can be properly addressed. 

The Cinnamon Lake Board has heard from some of our members a concern about someone taking pictures of cars within the community.  To start with, he is part of the CLA staff and a retired law enforcement office, getting comfortable with a recently purchased radar device.

As it was mentioned in the May Water's Edge, last month's Coffee and Conversations meeting and a previous board meeting, we are taking steps to get the speeding issue under control.  It is and always has been about the safety of our members using our roads. 

Once we get comfortable with this new technology, we will be employing it throughout the community and at random times, to capture on radar those individuals who drive too fast and endanger our members. Unlike law enforcement, we will not be stopping anyone. We will simply capture the speed, vehicle and driver and issue them a violation letter through the mail.  We will continue to have the Sheriff's department patrol our community as they always have, to ensure our member's safety. 

This is an additional measure being taken to reduce the safety issues within our community. Speeding within CLA is a violation of the Declarations and has a documented fine associated with it. The use of this newer technology provides additional evidence needed to enforce speeding violations.  We have heard from many members that we needed to do something to reduce this issue, without causing damage or wear and tear to our member's vehicles. 

Yes, as long as you are a member or an associate member. Cinnamon Lake permits only non-gas motors with a 5 HP limit on our lake. All watercraft must register with a gate attendant upon entering. There is a 14-day quarantine requirement for all watercraft. ALL watercraft is strictly prohibited from entering through the members-only back gate.

An OMV is an Other Motorized Vehicle. It is usually referred to as a recreation vehicle, which would include golf carts, ATVs, minibikes, Razors, side by sides, etc. 

We have had an ATV/golf cart etc. policy for years, which required your lot number on the vehicle for identification purposes along with operational rules. We have expanded the requirements due to an increase in the number of vehicles present in the lake, and an increase in complaints regarding misuse. 

If you are registering by December 31, 2020, you will need to fill out the form mailed to you in your November LORCO bill (if you own a home in Cinnamon Lake) and return it to the office by December 31, 2020. The office will issue you a registration sticker and a yearly use sticker for your vehicle in January 2021. After that time, or if you are a lot owner, fill out the form OMV FORM AND POLICY  , file it with the office, and purchase an OMV registration sticker for $25. In addition, there is a yearly use sticker that must be purchased every year. The current annual cost is $15. 

You will need to register it as an OMV with the Cinnamon Lake office, and follow that policy.  It should also be listed on your census form if it has a state issued license plate and it may enter through our gates. If you would like to use a gate card, you are required to purchase a separate card for this vehicle. 

Gate cards will not be issued or renewed for any vehicle without a state issued license plate.

Motorhomes would be included on the census form.

The funds generated from the new OMV registration are planned to go two places actually.  The first is to offset the costs for the replacement of of our current gate opening system via cards, to a new RFID technology.  The second place and long term use of these funds, will be used to cover the costs of additional night patrol hours during the summer months, when activity is at its highest.

Agreed.  Enforcement of this policy and sticker adherence will be through the same channels that boat registration and many other rules are enforced.  We rely on our members, neighborhood watch, board members, office and maintenance personnel, and our night patrol to keep an eye out for issues.  We are a gated community that relies on each other to protect this community.

Agreed.  The Board has taken another look at this issue and realized they did not make any class distinction within the definition for e-bikes.  To avoid an overly complicated rule, the OMV definition will be changed to exclude e-bikes at this time, and updated in January. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention so we could correct our mistake.  

If you have a sewer emergency after hours, please call 419-853-9022.  You may need to leave a message.  However, someone will get back to you.

If you see a red light flashing on the any of the sewer lift stations, please contact the after hours emergency number - 419-853-9022. 

This information will be included on your LORCO monthly invoice starting in March 2021.   

Yes. There is a daily rate for both members and guests. Season passes are available for purchase. 

Yes. The daily rate for guests is $4 per person, 11 years and up and $3 for 3-10 year olds. Two and under are free.  There are seasonal pool passes available that include guest admission. Passes can be purchased at the office.

All money that is collected for the pool is recorded under Pool Income and is broken out according to category, i.e. pool passes, admission rates, pool snacks, etc. which is found on our financial report.