Stoneybrook resident-controlled board named

EAST COUNTY — After more than a decade of developer control, Stoneybrook residents have assumed control of their community.

Lennar, the developer of Heritage Harbour and Stoneybrook, formally resigned from the homeowners association board Jan. 2.

On that same day, after roughly 400 votes were tallied, a new nine-person board of residents began work. 

The residents voted to the new nine-person resident-controlled board are: 

Tom Bakalar (president) 

Joanne Pytlik 

Dave Arras 

Ira Tropp (treasurer). 

Dick Williams 

Mike Listro 

Phil Martinetti 

Gene Zeiner (secretary)

Lee Miller (vice president)

In a community that has been split by divisions during a controversial decade-plus of developer-control, the nine winners all identify with a group that calls itself, the “Pro-Stoneybrook Team.”

Tropp, the new treasurer, does not expect familiarity to affect the board’s ability to be nonbiased. 

“Going forward, I believe we will have the community as a whole behind us,” Tropp said. “There won’t be a rubberstamp. Each board member has different views on how to do things. And I hope the candidates who did not win participate and don’t just fade away. The conflict is in the past.”

The new board will hold a workshop at the Stoneybrook recreation center next week. A time and date has not been set.

Lennar still must turn over the community’s assets and documents.

Tropp expects that to happen next week.

“We see Stoneybrook as a premier community in Sarasota/Bradenton and we want to make it better,” Tropp said. 

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].