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Sections
- The Master The TOPS’L Master Association: the board that runs the gate, the tram, the beach walkover and the guest registration fee, and that every owner at Tops’l pays $285 a quarter.
- The Summit The Summit at Tops’l Owners’ Association: the building, its board, its budget and its books.
- The Club The resort’s commercial owner, the Club, and the company behind it: what it owns, what it tells owners, and what it asks of them.
- The Lawsuit The Club’s suit against the Master Association, filed May 15, 2026 in Walton County: the filings, the mediation and the court dates.
- The Resort The place itself: the beach, the weather, and the parts of Tops’l that are nobody’s dispute.
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October 22, 2026The Master’s 2027 budget workshop: the quarterly fee would rise to about $400Nothing was voted on. The quarterly assessment, $285 since 2009, came out near $400 on the worksheet. The legal line nearly triples. A resort shuttle returns as a placeholder. A redrafted budget goes to a later board meeting.
October 18, 2026Summit owners seat three directors, and the board takes up what it pays to run the buildingFrederick Lanier, Deena Clausen and Megan Shifrin won the three open seats; Sandy Carter had more votes than two of them but fell short of the two-thirds rule after eight years. Keith Raines stays president. The Virtuous contract ends December 31, and the board talked about seeking bids without taking a vote. The budget meeting is November 16.
October 13, 2026The Summit: the 2025 audit is in, and six years of where the money wentDated October 7 and shared to the owner portal October 13, the audit closes the books on 2025. Read beside the audits and budget minutes back to 2020, it shows how the monthly assessment went from $468 to $980, what each line pays for, and how every budget passed.
October 2, 2026Master board takes up the tram, the cable proposals and tables for the BeachwalkRiding the tram is free for everyone, and the question for 2027 is how to fund it. Offers to replace cable with fiber wait for a budget workshop, and the Beachwalk tables were tabled. Owners filled the room and used the end of the meeting for questions about money, the lawsuit and mediation.
September 29, 2026Master board meets October 1The TOPS’L Master Association board meets Thursday, October 1, at 11 a.m. Central. Ten items of new business are on the agenda, including insurance, the tram, the 2027 budget workshop and telecommunication proposals.
September 22, 2026Mediation: ‘concluded without a settlement’The September 22 mediation ended without a settlement. Court filings show the session was held by Zoom, that the Club’s designated decision maker was a lawyer from Washington State rather than an officer of the company, and that the next court date is January 12, 2027.
September 15, 2026Mediation: the ‘uncommon’ offer that followed the lawsuitThe Club told owners that offering to mediate was a courtesy. The lawsuit came six weeks before the offer, and a pending motion argues Florida law puts mediation first. What each side is asking for, count by count.
September 12, 2026The fee.Seventy-three dollars per reservation. Where it came from, who set it, what it was meant to pay for, and who now wants it back. Told entirely from the association’s own minutes and books.
September 14, 2026Take a left.The luckiest stretch of the Emerald Coast, in fourteen photographs. Sugar-white quartz, a preserve next door, and a beach that stays empty in peak season.
September 10, 2026The Paper Trail.Whether the owners of TOPS’L still decide anything at TOPS’L, or whether a company decides it for them. The documented record, every claim shown, every date checkable. Start here if you are new.