Wow, you sure have a bucket load of issues to address, and each is important.
There are many subtopics to insurance with the only obvious negative issue being cost. Cost, however, is offset by peace of mind and the very practical issues surrounding the potential losses being covered. It would be difficult to find an attorney who would recommend against insurance if only because attorneys are very much aware of the high cost of defending a lawsuit no matter how frivolous. So, the one loss most overlooked is the cost of defending against a lawsuit. Is your group large enough to justify and absorb the cost? I suggest the organization seek a quote for both Officers & Directors coverage and General Liability coverage and then determine if the coverage is worth the cost.
A quick search reveals a Beach Road Association in Windham is an active Maine nonprofit started in 1992, many decades after the lots along Beach Road were established. The articles of incorporation are poorly drawn, citing no purpose and including a scant description of its members (“Each unit of Beach Road Association in Windham shall be considered a member….)” and containing signatures of five property owners, one of whom claimed an Orchard Street address. It appears you have an identity crisis.
Using a Google map, Beach Rd runs south west from Falmouth Rd with a continuance onto Lower Beach Rd. There appears to be an unimproved path or road connecting the two. On the tax map the connecting road is called “not a through street.” Perhaps because there is no bridge over an intervening creek? Orchard Road, by the way, connects to the now Lower Beach Rd. not Beach Rd. So, which parcels are considered to be members and does that assumption square with the original intent of the nonprofit? Perhaps the existing bylaws can clarify.
Frankly, if only those few (10ish) parcels along Beach Road are what your group has in mind, then I wonder why bother with the nonprofit? Create a statutory association, being very careful about identifying those parcels to be included and consider what would happen if the “not a through street” indeed becomes a through street.
I suggest you peruse the sample bylaws offered in the Resources page of the Members Only tab as a format guide to handling the reorganization. If you decide to continue as a nonprofit, retain an attorney to handle the changes to the articles of incorporation. They need to be specific as to the organization’s purpose and exactly identify the parcels that will be members, perhaps as a mention on a filed map. Each existing parcel owner should agree to membership on a recorded document so that future purchases, when performing a title search, will be on notice of the mandatory association membership. Of course, all of that is unnecessary (but nice) if you decide to become a statutory association.
Stay in touch with us as you move along the process and I suggest starting a new post rather than continuing on with a much older post so that others might easily find the topic and gain from the resulting writings.