In the fall of 2024, the board of the Tapps Island Association proposed a one-time special assessment of $8,035 per lot, due before March 1, or $9,898 if a homeowner needed a payment plan. Tapps Island is the gated, golf-course community on its own island in Lake Tapps, and residents had already been paying monthly dues into a reserve fund. A study of that fund had concluded more money was needed. One longtime resident, Renate Lyman, who had lived on the island for 46 years, told a reporter her husband came home from the board meeting and said it was time to pack up.
What makes the story worth knowing isn't just the dollar figure. It's the mechanic behind it. Under the association's governing rules, the assessment would take effect automatically unless a majority of all members formally voted no, not just a majority of those who showed up or cast a ballot. Silence counted as a yes. Most people assume a homeowners association vote works like a city council vote, where a measure needs affirmative support to pass. On at least this part of Lake Tapps, the default runs the other way.
That single fact reframes what actually matters when you're evaluating a home here. The question isn't only "is this waterfront." It's "which association holds the paperwork on this parcel, and what does its reserve fund actually look like." Lake Tapps doesn't have one governing body. It has more than a dozen, and they are not interchangeable.
Lake Tapps is a patchwork, not a neighborhood
The lake's own community directory lists well over a dozen separate homeowner associations, each covering a different pocket of shoreline or subdivision. Some are single-community structures, like Tapps Island Association, which manages the island's golf course, clubhouse, pools, and gated entry as one unit. Others are umbrella organizations. West Tapps Maintenance Company, for example, manages multiple distinct communities under one roof, including Banker's Island, Interlake Island, Jenks Point, and Lakeridge, each with shared parks, greenbelts, and lake access but its own dues structure layered under the parent association. Snag Island has its own separate HOA entirely, run through a treasurer's office in Sumner.
And then there are parcels with no HOA at all. It's common enough on Lake Tapps that sellers list it as a selling point, advertising a waterfront property with a private dock and boat lift specifically as having "no HOA" in the listing description. That phrase means something different depending on where the home sits. A no-HOA waterfront lot means the dock, moorage, and shoreline maintenance answer only to the county and state, not to a private board that can vote a special assessment into existence.
| Association | What it typically governs | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Tapps Island Association | Gated entry, golf course, clubhouse, pools, single community | One HOA, one set of bylaws |
| West Tapps Maintenance Company | Banker's Island, Interlake Island, Jenks Point, Lakeridge | One management company over several distinct communities |
| Snag Island HOA | Snag Island parcels | Standalone, community-run |
| No-HOA waterfront parcels | Individual lot, dock, and shoreline | No private association; county and state permitting only |
None of this shows up in a median price. It shows up in the CC&Rs, the meeting minutes, and the reserve study, and almost nobody asks for those documents until after an offer is already written.
The vote that isn't really a vote
The default-approval rule that applied to the Tapps Island assessment isn't unique to that community. Many Washington HOA governing documents include similar language for special assessments: a proposal goes into effect unless a formal majority of the entire membership rejects it in writing, within a set window. That's a meaningfully different bar than a simple majority of votes cast. An association can pass a five-figure assessment on apathy alone, if enough homeowners simply don't return a ballot.
That mechanic is exactly why buying into any Lake Tapps HOA on the strength of a friendly board meeting or a low quoted monthly due is a mistake. The number a seller quotes you is the number the association is currently collecting. It says nothing about whether a special assessment has already been proposed, whether a reserve study flagged a shortfall, or whether a vote window is quietly open right now on a fee that will land in your first year of ownership instead of the seller's.
What to actually request before you write the offer
Washington practice gives buyers a tool for exactly this problem: a formal resale certificate, sometimes called an estoppel certificate, that the seller's association is required to provide. It discloses current dues, any pending or recently approved special assessments, the reserve fund balance, and outstanding violations tied to the property. The mistake most buyers make is treating that document as paperwork to review during a normal closing timeline, after the offer has already been accepted and the emotional decision to buy has already been made.
On a lake where one association can vote in an $8,000-plus bill without much involvement from the homeowner it lands on, that document deserves to be requested and reviewed before the offer goes in, not after.
Beyond the certificate itself, a few specific asks are worth making of any seller whose home sits inside one of these associations:
- Current reserve study, not just the reserve balance
- Minutes from the last two board meetings, where proposed assessments usually surface first
- Written confirmation of whether any special assessment vote is open or scheduled
- Dues history for the past three years, to see whether the number has been rising
If the seller or their agent can't produce these quickly, that itself is information.
The lake adds a second layer the HOA doesn't cover
Even a no-HOA waterfront parcel isn't free of permitting complexity, it just answers to different offices. Lake Tapps is a managed reservoir, and its water level rises and falls on an operational schedule tied to maintenance and flood control rather than rainfall alone. That schedule affects dock usability season to season, which means the shoreline you see on a showing day in August may look different than it does in a different part of the operating calendar. A buyer touring in peak season should ask directly how the shoreline behaves when the reservoir is drawn down.
Docks themselves carry their own permitting trail separate from any HOA. Structures over state aquatic lands generally require authorization from Washington's Department of Natural Resources, and Bonney Lake's own shoreline code sets limits on size and design that can restrict what you're allowed to rebuild if an existing dock is ever replaced. None of that is controlled by West Tapps Maintenance Company or Tapps Island Association. It sits with the state and the city, and it applies whether or not the parcel has a private association at all.
That's the real shape of the risk on this lake. A buyer who clears the HOA due diligence still has a second, separate checklist for the shoreline itself.
Why this matters more than the sticker price
Two waterfront homes on Lake Tapps can list at the same price and still carry entirely different risk profiles depending on what governs the parcel. One inside Tapps Island's gates and one on a no-HOA parcel a mile away are not the same purchase just because the listing price matches. One comes with golf course access, a clubhouse, and a board that can vote a five-figure bill into your first year of ownership on default approval. The other comes with full control over your own dock, subject to DNR and city permitting instead of a private association, and no shared reserve fund to worry about.
Neither is automatically the better buy. But a buyer who only compares the two on price per square foot is missing the variable that actually decides what year two looks like financially.
A few questions worth asking directly
Does every home on Lake Tapps belong to an HOA? No. A meaningful number of waterfront and water-access parcels carry no association at all, and sellers often note it directly in the listing because buyers do ask.
Who is responsible for ordering the resale certificate? It typically comes from the seller's association, requested through the seller or their agent, and it's reasonable to ask for it early rather than waiting for the standard closing timeline.
If I buy into a no-HOA parcel, am I free of permitting concerns entirely? No. You trade a private association for direct responsibility to the state for aquatic lands authorization and to the city for shoreline code compliance on any dock work.
Buying on Lake Tapps means buying into one of a dozen different sets of rules, and the difference between them is worth more than most buyers realize until they're already several weeks into a transaction. If you're comparing homes across these associations and want someone who has already read the bylaws, reviewed the reserve studies, and knows which boards have a history of assessments, Bobbie Jo Sells Homes can walk the documents with you before you write an offer, not after.
