[TheMalcolmConnection]

Here's the exact line in the letter we got:

"Remember that the primary reason we formed this HOA was to keep outside developers from building additional homes, especially trashy ones, on our twenty-some acres of open space. Our fledgling HOA has now had the opportunity to stabilize and become a mandatory association (meaning that every one of the lot-owners must pay the prescribed annual dues)."

The part I bolded is where it's obviously implied that you WEREN'T previously required to join it.