Orchard House

It appears that this is the hot topic at the moment. First, allow me to provide a brief history.

The Association was only turned over to the homeowners (we, us) 18 months ago. That is how long the Board of Directors (BoD) has actually consisted of homeowners although the community itself is well over 4 years old. Prior to the homeowners, it was the home builders who were responsible for the HOA.

Now that the homeowners have the Association, the Board of Directors is being more assertive in getting 100% compliance of the CC&R's and HOA dues.

Homeowners Dues:

We have just over 1600 homes in West Point. As of only a few months ago, as many as 33% of homeowners did not pay their dues on time. Obviously, this isn't fair to those who do pay their dues on time. Fortunately, we had much better compliance during the last quarter. I believe that number was down to 15%-20%. This number, though lower, is still too high in my opinion. The BoD will be looking at ways to get compliance in this area. This could include payment booklets for monthly payment, since most people pay bills monthly and not quarterly.

CC&R's:

Based on my own estimations from the violation history report, there are probably around 40% of homeowners that are violating some portion of the CC&R's. Be it parking, landscaping, basketball hoops, etc. Our Property Management company has been good about writing up many of these violations.

- David Sobelman
U.S. Home Representative

Enforcement of the CC&R's PART 2

Due to the limit in the size of the post, I had to break this into 2 different posts.

Unfortunately, getting 100% compliance is going to be a monumental task. For one, when Property Management drives through the neighborhood, that car that is always parked in front of the house might be gone at that moment. The person who is always working on their car in their driveway will probably not be working on it when the drive-through occurs.

The HOA also gets many CC&R violations reported by neighbors. When this occurs, letters do go out.

The BoD does have a due process. By resolution, the BoD can impose fines for $10 - $500 per day. The owner in questoin does have the opportunity to appeal the fine by requesting a hearing in front of the Board.

Currently, the board imposes a $25 fine for the first offense, $50 for the second offense and $75 for the third offense (of the same violation). Generally letters go out every 2 weeks to give the homeowner the time to fix the problem. Usually, the homeowner fixes the problem. Sometimes, the homeowner just pays the fee and far too often, homeowners just ignore fixing the problem and paying the fee.

This is a major concern for the BoD. Not only do the homeowners refuse to follow the CC&R's and ignore the fines, but this creates a large cost to the Association. The letters that must be sent out must be paid for by the Association. Take a $.37 stamp, paper, envelope and 200+ letters and the costs add up fast.

To help get better compliance, the BoD is considering a plan to tackle the problem. The BoD is going to target the 10 most problematic homes in each area. These will be homes that have a long history of violations, homes where neighbors continue to address their concerns and homes that appear to continuously violate the CC&R's and who have not been fined consistantly.

The BoD will be imposing fines of $250 per week as opposed to $25 every two weeks. The desire of the BoD is to get these 50 or so homes in compliance, then move on to another 50 homes until we get 100% compliance of the CC&R's.

Some people will not agree but this IS a major problem. I have had several neighbors who are trying to sell their house have buyers tell them that they don't want the house because their neighbor parks their truck on the rocks or that neighbor doesn't keep their yard picked up. It does go both ways.

It appears that this bulletin board has picked up in traffic in recent weeks. Some people like what the BoD is doing and others do not. I would like to invite EVERYONE to our monthly meetings so that you can see what the BoD is doing. Talk to your representative. Give suggestions to the BoD. Tell the BoD what you would like to see.

Everyone seems to have some great ideas of what they would like to see the Association provide, do, organize or act upon. However, our Association does not consist of only the 5 people on the Board of Directors and the Association does not depend solely on the decisions made by those same 5 people. Our Association consists of the ideas, decisions and actions of 1600 plus homeowners. Each and everyone one of which has a say and has the right to participate in how they would like to see our community thrive.

The BoD recently asked for volunteers to serve on various committees (Finance committee, Social committee, Communications committee, Architectural Review committee, Lobbying committee, etc). One person volunteered.

The BoD meets the 4th Monday of each month in West Point Elementary School library starting at 7:00 p.m.

Upcoming meetings are August 26, September 23 and October 28.

If anyone has any questions or concerns they would like to speak to me about offline, you can e-mail me at the address below.

- David Sobelman
U.S. Home Representative

new rules??

hi if the HOA is planning on changing rules or the fines this must be voted upon as the fines and rules have already been clearly stated.
i encourage EVERYONE to think about the HOA and what it means... and see what the complaints are about, they generally revolve around 'childrens issues' ie'' playyards, basketball hoops, etc. this has been referred to as a 'family friendly' subdivision so then why restict what children can and cant do? i would like to remind everyone that residents here have very full and active lives and sometimes life takes precedent over trimming trees or spreading rock.
last week there was a posting about children playing in the street, if our children get hurt from playing that is our responsibility being the parents, not the HOA or my neighbors problem.
again please think about the HOA, your neighbor who isnt following some insignificant rule isnt going to change for a fine or letter, just as with out an HOA you would probably keep your house in the same condition as it is now neat, sloppy or otherwise

again i urge the HOA BoD to investigate the issues that will be a direct result of changing the fines or rules with out a vote of all members. also targeting a few houses can be viewed as harassment, you may want to concentrate on all homes equally.

By kathy and russell

Rules not changing

The HOA is not changing any rules.

The HOA has a resolution that fines can be imposed anywhere bewteen $10 and $500 per day. That is the range in which the HOA has to operate.

The range was in place prior to the homeowners taking control of the Association, so nothing has changed.

The BoD is only operating within the range allowed.