I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know

Last month, attendance at the H.O.A. monthly meeting was quite sparse.  In fact, it was my first time in attendance since I moved in to the community in April of 2002.  I was a bit concerned.  In the time that I’ve been here, the economy has gone through some extremely strange shifts.  Only two years prior to moving in, the dot com bubble exploded, and then only two years after moving in, the value of my home began to increase at an unprecedented rate.

Well, we all know where that leaves us now.

Getting Involved

It seems timely that I should be getting involved now, as, for the first time in many years, the CC&R’s are under review to be brought more current.  In one of last year’s newsletters was an article entitled Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions Revision Plan which announced to the community that we were still operating under the founding CC&R.

That’s 38 years.  That’s my age.  It’s time for a change…but, I’ll bet you didn’t know some of the types of changes that have been proposed for the updated CC&R’s.  The following are just some of what is being considered:

• Certain irrelevant provisions that only applied at the onset of our little community a few decades ago.
• Antenna and sign restrictions per the current city laws.
• Clarification of the rule-making power of the Board.
• Special assessments as they pertain to reserve funds.
• Wall provisions and arbitration between parties.
• How interest is calculated on past due fees.
• Who is required to vote when the issue requires conformation to local law.
• The Board’s involvement in the use of recreational areas for events.
• Whether or not common areas may be sub-divided subject to the members’ votes.
• Special assessments for more than just capital improvements.
• Time frames in which special assessments must be paid and how much time is given to complete the work.
• In the past, business in any form was prohibited.  It’s up for consideration to allow business as long as nobody knows via sight, sound nor smell outside of the lot.  I’ve been doing business in my unit for 8 years, and I’ll bet you didn’t know.
• Clarification of key details regarding insurance coverage.
• Language to allow periodic reserve studies for the purpose of a more efficient and cost conscious community.

How this stuff moves forward:

The bottom line is, 75% of the owners need to vote in favor of proposed amendments.  There are 126 units, so 94.5 of you need to get involved to make these things happen.  If a vote occurs, the only qualified voters are those who owned at the time the first vote is cast.  If you moved in afterward, you don’t have a vote.

I’ll bet you didn’t know:

• that if you’re more than 60 days past due on your HOA bill, you lose certain rights, such as the right to vote on amendments.
• that 2/3 of us could agree to assign the Common Areas to public agencies or utilities if we saw fit to do so.
• that 2/3 of us could agree to build more units on sub-divided common area if we wanted to.
• that shared ownership of a property means multiple members, but only one vote per owned lot.
• we as home owners and members of the association have the power to do more than we believe we do.  After all, we pay for this stuff.
• in a day and age where businesses can be run online in the privacy of your own home, according to our CC&R’s we’re prohibited from doing so in Chateau De Vie.

It’s obvious to me that in order to affect change in a community, it takes first awareness, then action.