It appears that the sole reason for the increased fees was to support MJ Management’s goal of purchasing the golf course by presenting the maintenance fees as a steady and increasing source of revenue to service debt financing.
The following 12 pages of documents were obtained from the City of Lynden through the discovery process.
Pg. 1 (Nov. 18, 2019) City document which confirms 1) MJ Mgt.’s intention to buy the golf course from Morris Chen and 2) they wanted to borrow $3.5 Million from the City as well as increase homeowner fees and borrow more from other lenders to finance the purchase.
Pg. 2 – 10 (no date) Homestead Farms Golf Club’s 2020 Business Plan and Budget
Pg. 11 – 12 (June 25, 2020) City of Lynden’s “Homestead Proposal” describes the ‘problem’ as MJ being sued by homeowners and potentially Chen; Chen letting the golf course ‘go to waste’; and Chen’s willingness to sell the golf course for $3.5 Million. At the time the city felt one solution was to have a new homeowner group purchase the golf course which it explored and listed action items.
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