MANATEE COUNTY – Residents living in the gated Stoneybrook neighborhood of Heritage Harbour are asking the community’s developer to turn over control of their homeowner’s association and its assets.  But after a decade of controlling Stoneybrook, Miami-based Lennar Corp. may not legally own what residents are asking for from the company. Many deed-restricted HOAs become entangled in issues, but Stoneybrook’s situation has spread far beyond overgrown grass and simple foreclosures.

The problems have become so acute that a homeowner task force plans to meet next week to consider options for taking control of the community they say should have been rightfully theirs years ago. “This is a huge concern,” Stoneybrook homeowner Rob Bloom said. “We have been fighting for this for more than three years.”  Read more: