The minutes from the June 6 HOA Board meeting are now posted on the HOA Page on our website. To provide more information about the key topics discussed, I interviewed the new HOA President, Suzanne Shive.
Chat With HOA President
GOH EDITOR: Suzanne, thanks for taking some time to give us your thoughts. What are the top issues that you want the new HOA Board to address this year?
SUZANNE: After reviewing the Gardens of Oak Hollow Restrictive Covenants, I feel that the Board should address a few key issues.
I want to begin by reminding everyone why our beautiful Community is so unique. As you described in one of your first newsletter articles, What is a PUD?, in 1979 the Gardens was built as a planned community with restrictive covenants for all the homes. As such, the homeowners are responsible for the governance and maintenance of our community with its Covenants.
The homeowners came together and wrote the Constitution and By-Laws for the Homeowners Association (HOA). It was decided to make HOA dues voluntary since the vast majority understood the value and eagerly participated. While the HOA Dues were voluntary, the Restrictive Covenants still applies to all homes in the Gardens.
GOH EDITOR: How has that policy been working out?
SUZANNE: Since the beginning, the Gardens has been working well with having both mandatory Restrictive Covenants and voluntary HOA dues. Once residents understand that situation, voluntary participation has averaged 94.1% voluntary participation, with last year being 97.5%. In more recent years there has been increasing difficulty since the newer residents are not always aware of this situation. Most realtors tell prospective homeowners that we don’t have a mandatory HOA and don’t have restrictive covenants. This confusion contributes to one of the biggest problems we have in the Gardens: obtaining compliance with the Restrictive Covenants.
GOH EDITOR: I can see how confusing this can be. What would be a good solution?
SUZANNE: I believe one of the best ways to alleviate this problem is to make HOA Dues mandatory for all future new residents. This way all new homeowners will learn about our Restrictive Covenants before purchasing their home instead of hearing about it after their home has been purchased. All existing residents, would be grandfathered with no mandatory HOA Dues.
GOH EDITOR: How did the Board respond to this idea?
SUZANNE: A concern was raised in the Board meeting that this would create two categories of residents – one with mandatory HOA Dues and one with non-mandatory HOA Dues. The Board voted to ask the residents to vote on making annual dues mandatory to new residents as of July 2022.
GOH EDITOR: Have you scheduled a vote for the Residents?
SUZANNE:
There are two more items to be discussed so that the Residents can vote on all of them at one time. In the past, our attorney for the HOA has made us aware that if we do not enforce all of our covenants, we could have a hard enforcing any of them.
ISSUE 1: One area that has not been enforced lately is the issue of trash cans. The covenants currently state that trash cans must be out of site (in garages or backyards). The board discussed what our options are:
- Do we enforce the covenants as written (all cans out of sight)?
- Do we request residents to vote on changing the restrictive covenants to allow trash cans in the alleys to stay (be visible), but not allow cans to be out in front of homes?
- Allow trash cans to be kept anywhere the homeowners wants? Unanimous: NO
The board voted to ask the homeowners to vote on whether we should:
- enforce the covenants as written or
- allow trash cans to be kept neatly visible in the alleys near the houses but not in front of houses.
ISSUE 2: Regulating parking in the commons is not stipulated in the covenants.
- Some GOH residents are parking in the common areas on a permanent basis. This has been causing problems, especially on the two Enfield commons. In some instances, visitors have not had a place to park because residents are using the commons for permanent parking.
- Outsiders have been parking in the Enfield East common and walking across the street to Hops and Hounds.
GOH EDITOR: So where do these issues stand now?
SUZANNE: First, I will consult with our HOA attorney, Tom Newton, of Allen, Stein, and Durton, to determine the correct procedure to make any changes to the Restrictive Covenants that the Residents may vote to enact. After that, the Board will set the procedure for our Residents to cast their votes.
So, I should have more information for the next newsletter.
GOH EDITOR: Thank you for detailing these issues for the Community.