About Us

The Brickyard Creek Community Association owns and is responsible for maintaining and repairing the Common Properties, including interior roads, driveways, meadows, ponds, wells and of course, the forests that surround the Brickyard Creek cottages. The Association has the power to assess members to fund such activities. The Association is also responsible for governing the affairs of the Brickyard Creek Condominium Community.

In addition to The Brickyard Creek Community Association there is an Umbrella Association. The purpose of the Umbrella Association is to own, operate, maintain and repair off-site facilities and amenities, including but not limited to Roys Point Blvd, the Brickyard Creek bridge, nature trails, Roys Point beach and gazebo areas. Owners of Brickyard Creek cottages and Brickyard lakeshore lots are automatically members of the Umbrella Association. The Association also has the power to assess its members to fund activities.

To the cottage owner:

• Maintenance of infrastructure including roads, culverts, and driveways
• Maintenance of hiking trails
• Maintenance of entry area Hazardous trees
• Maintenance of faulty well pump or well line
• Well shocking if tested unsafe
• Snowplowing roads and driveways

To the lakeshore owner:

• Maintenance of roads
• Maintenance of hiking trails
• Maintenance of entry area
• Snowplowing roads and driveways

The Brickyard Creek HOA Board is a group of owners who volunteer their time to ensure our community thrives and abides by the principles and vision on which this development was built.

Their photos and bios can be viewed in the Board section of this page.

See our Community News page for the latest Board updates.

Committees are an integral part of our structure here at Brickyard Creek. Committee participation is a great way to get involved and help make a difference. Below are descriptions of our current committees.

• Finance Committee
• Stewardship Committee
• Forest and Watershed Committee
• Architectural Control Committee

Detailed descriptions of each committee can be found in the Committees section of this page.

See the Community News page for the latest committee updates.

Contact our BYC Manager, Jeff Garrett if you are interested in volunteering.

I have been coming to Brickyard Creek for 20 years now, and my wife and I currently own the property at 47 Olivia Lane. I have had a long career in TV and radio broadcasting, and currently teach television and web and social media production, writing, and professional development at Temple University. I believe my long experience with Brickyard Creek and my background in communication will be an asset to the Board.

I want to be able to give something back to the Brickyard Creek community, which has meant so much to me and my wife over the past 20 years. I admire the values around which the community is based and would like to see them continue to be communicated to new generations of owners and renters.

My goal is to work to preserve and enhance the quality of life that has been established for Brickyard Creek and to find ways to continue to improve communication within the community and between Brickyard Creek and the larger Bayfield community.

I graduated from UW Eau Claire in 1986 with a degree in marketing. For 30 yrs, I worked for a heavy haul transportation firm. In 2019, I retired and am now a part-time volleyball official. My board experience includes serving on the Badger Region Volleyball Association board as the referee chair for three years. I have also served on varies committees for USA Volleyball to promote the education and training of referees in the sport.

My wife Kathy and I are from Oconomowoc, WI. We have two daughters, Kasey and Maitlin and a Bernese Mountain dog named Odin. I love the outdoors and enjoy hunting, fishing, kayaking and hiking.

Our journey to Brickyard Creek began when Kathy and I took the kids on an overnight kayaking trip to Sand Island. Even though both Kathy and I had spent summers in the north woods, we had never been this far north. It was like a whole different world. We then made it back up to Bayfield when my daughter Kasey attended Northland College. At that point, Kathy started to casually look at property in BYC. Our search got serious when our families sold their lake properties in the Minoqua and Rhinelander areas. It took us two years and many trips up to Bayfield to find our cottage on Casey Lane in 2019. Kathy and I tried renting out our cottage for two years, but found out it got harder and harder to share our second home with strangers. With Kathy’s retirement from teaching middle school math and science, we decided we wanted to be able to spend more time at the cottage and come and go as we please. We love being able to come spend time with our daughter Kasey, who works for the National Park Service, and her husband Michael, who is part owner of Bay Area Environmental Consulting. Our other daughter Maitlin is a middle school teacher and is able to spend time with us at the cottage during the summer and her school breaks.

Since we are now spending more time at BYC, I believe it is important to get involved in the community. As a board member, I look forward to working with others to preserve and enhance the special place we have here at Brickyard Creek.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, I attended Amherst College and graduated in 1964 with a degree in Economics. I spent my summers sailing, clamming, and fishing on Cape Cod. My wife, Deede, born and raised in Minnesota, ultimately attended Mount Holyoke College, a college in Massachusetts located about 9 miles away from Amherst. Deede also graduated in 1964. She spent many of her summers either on Madeline Island or on Minnesota’s White Bear Lake learning how to sail. We ultimately met in 1962 on apparently one of the best blind dates either of us had ever had; and married upon our graduations in 1964.

Because Deede found immediate employment as a computer programmer back in her home state, I gained acceptance to the University of Minnesota Law School and traveled outside of New England for the first time. I practiced business law from 1967 until 2011, ultimately serving as a board member and head of the business department of a 120-lawyer firm with offices in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Denver, Colorado and Washington, D.C.

During my practicing years I focused primarily on the representation of entrepreneurs. I served as General Counsel to many different medical device-oriented companies. After retiring from private practice in 2011, I continued to serve these and other such companies from the point of start-up to the point of sale in various capacities – Board member of six, Board Chairman of two, and as an officer of four. Most have now been sold, but I am still a Board member of one medical device company.

Besides sailing, and perhaps because each of us descend from veterinarians, it was not altogether stunning to discover that we also had a mutual love for animals. I grew up with Morgan Horses and Deede grew up with Golden Retrievers. So from 1973-1995 Deede and I developed Collinwood Farms, a venture that bred, trained and exhibited Morgan Horses and bred and raised Golden Retrievers. I served as President of the North Central Morgan Horse Association and Deede served as Publisher of its quarterly newsletter.

From a civics perspective, I served six years as President and board member of the 62-unit townhome association where we now live, and Deede served as its Treasurer. Our terms ended in April 2023. We have also served as 4-H leaders and have assumed various leadership positions in the churches we have attended.

This brings me to Brickyard Creek. Early on I was anxious to return to my roots as I missed the proximity of an ocean. Deede said “You want an ocean? I’ll show you an ocean, and it has no salt, sharks, or other scary critters!” And she introduced me to Bayfield and Lake Superior. We bought our first sailboat in 1969 and sailed the Apostle Islands with trips to Isle Royale and Black River Falls thrown in for good measure until 2017 when we decided we had to start acting our age. In 2000 we built our cottage on Sophie Lane. In the early years of the BYC development Deede served as its President and Board Member, while from 2001 until 2017 I served as a Board member and Secretary of Roys Point Marina Association. Peter Jarof’s recent invitation to pursue a BYCCA Board membership requested the background information set out above, and the answers to three questions. The answers provided to him can be summarized as follows:

We have a daughter and 4 grandchildren in Philadelphia who love this place, and a daughter and 3 grandchildren in Minnesota who love this place. It must be preserved for as long as possible. I have concerns about allowing too many renters, and I have concerns about Davidson’s wholesale transfer of many vacant lots to one buyer. BYC is a community of people, like-mindedly concerned with matters that would environmentally prejudice its existing waterways and woodlands. Their preservation is critical, and we applaud prior BYC management that has developed an infrastructure geared to that preservation.

Nancy and I have been living in Brickyard Creek since 2016. We have been visiting Brickyard Creek for 25 years. The whole philosophy of the Brickyard Creek Community completely fits with my values. There are very few residential developments that respect the natural environment the way we do here in the BYC Community. I have worked with the BYC Forest and Watershed Committee and for the last several years have served on the Architectural Control Committee. As a result, I am very familiar with many of the issues that will need to be addressed here in Brickyard.

When we first came to Bayfield, Nancy and I bought the Pinehurst Inn in just south of Bayfield and operated the business for 20 years. We ran our business following a “Sustainable Operations Plan” that considered economic, environmental, and social responsibilities that need to be addressed as an owner of any business. Our business was recognized internationally as a leading example of eco-friendly lodging facility and business.

I have had a variety of jobs over the years but the majority of then have been related to education. I have taught high school biology and environmental science and at the college level I have taught a variety of courses all related to community sustainability. Examples include Sustainable Business, Principles of Sustainability, Overview of Alternative Energy, and many others.

I have always been very active in my community and have served on several Community Boards including the Alliance for Sustainability, The Bayfield Regional Conservancy, The Chequamegon Food Cooperative, and the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors.

I am an avid outdoorsman and love fishing, hunting, birdwatching, hiking, wildlife photography and painting.

My experience in working with a variety of corporate, non-profit, and governmental Boards will be very helpful in working on the BYC Board of Directors.

The Finance Committee is responsible for development of a recommended annual budget and assessment; planning for the short and long term viability of the Associations and their ability to finance their mandated responsibilities.

The Stewardship committee has the responsibility to steward the Brickyard Creek Community Vision, Mission, and Values through education, volunteering, and social gatherings. The Committee has made a commitment to:

• Incorporate the Vision Statement, Mission and Goals into all aspects of the Brickyard Creek Community.
• Recognize the various changes facing our community which affect achievement of the Vision and goals – current and future.
• Engage members of the Brickyard Creek Community in a sustained dialogue about the unique nature of our natural environment.
• Continue to build a sense of community; a sense of belonging among the neighbors of Brickyard Creek.

Our Brickyard Creek Community is a special place to each one of us. As an association, we have collectively committed to become environmental stewards and practice a philosophy of enhancing and sustaining the uniqueness of this special place. The Forest and Watershed Committee continually strives to be the foundation for stewardship here at BYC and in partnership with the larger community of Bayfield.

Members of this important subcommittee have a multiple role and responsibility – to preserve, restore and enhance the common grounds of the BYC Community.

The Main purpose of the Architectural Control committee is to receive, review, and approve or disapprove plans and specifications that are mandated to be submitted to the committee before the commencement of construction of improvements on condo sites and lake shore lots to assure harmony with external design in relation to surrounding structures and topography. Members considering modification to their cottages and surrounding property need to contact our director, Jeffery Garrett, to discuss and share their plans prior to proceeding.

I first experienced Lake Superior on a backpacking trip in the summer of ’96. It was the 4th of July and miserably humid – far too warm to hike. The “big freezer,” as the locals referred to the vast inland sea, did not provide the relief they had promised until the very next day when it snowed. Only a few flakes, but upon seeing the big puffs of white drift down, I turned to my wife, Diane, and stated matter-of-factly, “I need to live near this lake.” As so often happens when one makes such a pronouncement it was only a matter of time before fate directed my life to Bayfield.

Like many, Brickyard Creek was attractive because of the proximity to the lake and the islands. However, I was quickly mesmerized by the towering mix of hemlock, spruce, balsam, and pine that make up the forest. In fact, on my first tour of the property in 2002 I asked Bob Davidson what the place looked like in the winter. Not missing a beat, he stated that it was a “Wonderland,” and I was sold.

Early explorations around the property always ended with a game of fetch with Catch the Border Collie who was often waiting at the end of the sales office driveway with a frisbee in her mouth. I loved her and told David Culberson if she ever had puppies…

So in October of 2003 Sydney picked me.

Her introduction into our lives changed everything. Beforehand, I spent all my days (and many nights) as a trainer and operations manager for a growing Twin Cities company. While I still worked hard and pursued excellence, I was happily required to take many, many, many hikes along the roughed out trials throughout the BYC property. Of course, we did an excellent job of keeping the path along the creek passable to the beach where we played endless games of fetch. Like mother like daughter I guess.

Admittedly, what I most liked about being in the forest was the way it made me feel. There was something about the density, age or type of trees and plants that brought a sense of awe or even reverence. I didn’t understand it at first, but I knew I had stumbled on a special place. Over the next decade, I took many walks with Dale Klubertanz and other naturalists and learned that we lived within a “pocket” or remnant boreal forest that contained rare plants and trees not found elsewhere on the mainland of Wisconsin.

During this time I was also spending many of my early evenings playing with Sydney’s family and talking to Dave for hours about environmental development practices. I learned that our cottages were designed and constructed so that “blending into nature” was the primary architectural statement. That is when it became clear to me that Brickyard Creek had the opportunity to be world class and my appreciation for the community became more tangible.

In 2011 I saw a need to become involved. I was elected to the Board of Directors and assigned to a committee that oversaw operations. Soon after, I was hired to manage the association with the goal of improving the infrastructure and trail system and creating relationships that could assist the community in reaching its full potential.

The Brickyard Creek Identity Statement is the blueprint for these aims:

“Brickyard Creek is a residential environmental community on the shore of Lake Superior dedicated to active stewardship and tranquility. BYC is dedicated to lake, land, learning, lifestyle, leadership, and legacy.”

The “L” alliteration expanded the idea of who we are and what we can be. Highlighting our community values brought about an evolution that created meaning, initiated action,  and outlined the manager position and goals.

They are:

• Maintain Brickyard Creek’s infrastructure and grounds with total vision and a keen understanding of aesthetic.
• Establish and sustain a day-to-day operation plan to assure member well-being and protect their investment
• Connect with the greater community to preserve Brickyard Creek’s long-term viability

I believe more than ever that we are establishing a community model that is unique, purposeful and remarkable. Together we are becoming a leader and building a legacy.  I am honored to be of service to the Brickyard Creek Community.

Jeffery Garrett, Brickyard Creek Director
Phone – 715-781-3958
Email – Jeffery.BYC@gmail.com

Being the hub of communication at BYC is an essential component of the manager position and key to BYC’s development as a vital, sustainable community.  Skills in information sharing, policy and protocol development and interpretation, conflict resolution, community relations and development are essential as the director works with:

BYC Residents and Guests

• Serve as the “on call”, first point of contact, hands-on resource to residents, guests, vendors, and community partners; answering questions, providing policy interpretations, recommending resources, and facilitating communication and problem resolution.
• Facilitate understanding of and oversee compliance with Common Expectations, ACC processes, and other adopted board policies.
• Conduct welcome meetings with all new owners, providing a community overview, a copy of handbook, Q&A, tours.
• Serve as link or messenger between residents, the Board of Directors.
• Support development, maintenance, and availability of various essential printed and electronic resources including: The BYC Handbook, Common Expectations, other adopted policies.
• Support development and maximum use of BYC Community Website, Face Book and other social media platforms as platforms for communication dissemination of information.

BYC Community Partners

• Maintain a solid working relationship with the National Park Superintendent, park staff, and park support organizations.
• Maintain a solid working relationship with Roy’s Point Marina staff, leadership, and members.
• Maintain a solid working relationship with The Developer (Roy’s Point Limited Partners and Brickyard Creek Limited Partners).
• Maintain a solid working relationship and “as needed” contact with Winfield Inn and/or other rental management agencies approved by the board.

Bayfield Community Partners

• Maintain a solid working relationship and regular connection with Red Cliff PD and Bayfield Sheriff and other emergency responders.
• Attend Bayfield area community meetings as a representative of the Brickyard Creek to stay informed, develop relationships, educate, provide support; and facilitate BYC community residents to do the same.
• Volunteer as a representative of the BYC Community and facilitate BYC community residents to do the same.
• Solicit expert advice and consultation from Bayfield area Partners (e.g. SOIE) and facilitate development of joint forest and watershed projects at BYC.
• Develop and maintain a working partnership between the Friends of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and the BYC community and residents.
• Promote BYC with local businesses and community organizations.

Boreal Forest Citizen

• Facilitate contributors to the Boreal Forest Citizen newsletter.
• Facilitate opportunities for residents to volunteer in Brickyard Creek.
• Facilitate monthly work mornings – entry weeding/planting, staining projects, trails, etc.
• Facilitate BYC volunteer support work with community partners (Nat’l Park, Bayfield Regional – Conservancy).
• Promote community involvement and promote pathways for BYC residents and guest to “live the vision.”
• Facilitate educational events.
• Facilitate fun activities or adventures – sports, art, how-to projects, music, etc.

Board of Directors and Committees

• Serve as recording secretary and staff resource for the board of directors.
• Provide staff support for the work of the Vision and Forest and Watershed Committees, and other action groups as approved by the Board.
• Provide insight, offer recommendations, and initiate action as needed and directed regarding such matters as:
  • ACC Guidelines
  • Association(s) vs Owner responsibilities (e.g. holding tanks, wells, sewers)
  • Rental policies and practices
  • Fees and Assessments
  • Common Expectations, Rules and Regulations.
• Monitor and facilitate compliance with Common Expectations.
• Help draft, edit, and review correspondence.
• Support continued development, maintenance, and distribution of the Brickyard Creek Handbook both in print and via the BYC Community website.
• Support development of and implementation of a website architecture that would best disseminate essential information, support committee work, and be an interactive resource for BYC residents and others.

ACC Coordinator

• Serve as point contact and process facilitator for the Architectural Control Committee (ACC). Provide and collect required information, and oversee communications to assure submission, review and approval the processes are completed in a timely manner.
• Monitor all residences to assure compliance with ACC guidelines and protocols.

Vendors

• Maintain good working relationships.
• Establish clear and consistent expectations with vendors.
• Routinely meet with vendors to review work plans.
• Help the vendors develop a sense of ownership that results in quick, reliable service.
• Evaluate quality of service and providing input.
• Work with vendors to anticipate needs by helping them to always look ahead.

Realtors and Potential Buyers

• Answer questions via phone or email.
• Provide tours and be available for sit-down meetings.
• Maintain solid working relationship with local realtors regularly providing them with information about BYC’s Mission, Vision, and Values; community policies and resources.
• Add “tags” to community website and other social media to drive traffic.

Conduct the following operations and maintenance activities; arrange for, coordinate and oversee the activities provided by third-party contractors as follows:

• Wells: routine well inspection, diagnosis, repair and maintenance.
• Hazardous tree management: Work with professional contractor to coordinate hazardous tree management. Also, remove downed trees from roads, driveways, and hiking trails in a timely manner.
• Trash Coordination.  Work with trash and recycling haulers to coordinate a seasonably appropriate trash pick-up schedule.  Routinely check trash area and clean up any refuse as needed.  Ensure that the trash area and adjacent areas and roadways stay cleaned up.
• Signage: Maintain all signage and ensure that damaged signage is repaired and replaced promptly.
• Perform trail maintenance and enhancement consistent with annual operations plan and budget.
• Beach and Picnic Area: In cooperation with Roy’s Point Marina and Roy’ Point Limited Partners; provide maintenance and enhancements consistent with the annual operations plan and budget.
• Monitor road conditions and execute operations plan to repair and maintain roads, condominium drive ways and parking areas.
• Coordinate activities with expert contractors to develop and implement long-term road maintenance and repairs consistent with annual operations plan and budget.
• Contract with snow plow supplier to have snow removed from BYC roads during the winter season.
• Conduct routine/frequent walk-arounds to monitor security and general appearance of BYC communal areas.
• Act to ensure timely correction of infrastructure problems as they occur.
• Provide for entry maintenance.

Provide, arrange for and oversee the following Financial Administration functions:

• In conjunction with the Treasurer and Finance Committee prepare and present an annual operating budget.
• Draft bi-annual financial notes to aid the finance committee and BOD.
• Monitor collection of all assessment and related member charges and work with Treasurer to address overdue payment issues.
• Hire and provide administrative oversight for a bookkeeper.
• Provide oversite on the payroll, taxes, and other gov’t forms.
• Maintain a banking relationship with a local bank.
• In consultation with the Finance Committee and the bookkeeper, set-up an effective system to pay invoices promptly and maintain current P&L’s.
• Communicate with the bookkeeper to assure accuracy and manage adjustments.
• See Board approval for all non-budgeted expenditures over $500.
• Manage expenses to come in at or under budget.
• Fill out bank loan forms for all potential buyers and closing papers.