Common areas

Started by SheilaH2 • 8 replies • 844 views

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SheilaH2 (Florida)
Posts: 11

Posted:

Good Morning.... I live in a golfing community in Manatee County FL. We have a conservation preserve behind our property along with several neighbors. Our docs a a bit vague, but states that this preserve (land) is part of the common areas and is to be maintained as such. It has overgrown with invasive trees and vines etc and encroaching on our property. After an email to the general manager, they came out and took care of my neighbor's and a small portion of ours. I asked when they were going to finish and he said it's really not their responsibility to maintain it and said the general manager said they had removed the invasive trees and vines but would try to come out and do some more work but couldn't guarantee when. So the rest of the preserve behind our property is not done and still has invasive trees and vines. Has anyone else had to deal with an issue like this? Sorry for the long post but I would appreciate any help or suggestions. Thank You

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Could you post the exact wording of the section(s) of your docs that refer to the preserve (redacting your community's name if necessary)? The devil is always in the details with this stuff. If this is common area, then I would expect that the HOA does have to maintain the land as a preserve - but the word "maintain" is vague and there may also be state environmental regulations that could govern what the HOA can and can't do.

We have a number of regular posters who live in Florida, so I expect they'll have more info soon.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

My prior association had a conservation area, there was an easement granted to the regional water management district that pretty much said it should be left alone in the natural state. In that county all recorded documents going back over 100 years were available online so it was easy to find the recorded easement. My current county only has records going back to 1981 online, any prior records require researching microfilm which has a fee associated.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Cathy raises a good point regarding the state's environmental regulations. Why not talk to the board about this, if you haven't already done so (sounds like you haven't). It can direct the property manager to contact the state agency that oversees preserves. There may also be a county or city office that does this, so I'd start there. Tell them about the problem with the invasive species and go on from there.

If you haven't already done so, you should also double-check that an invasive species is what you're really dealing with. The definition of invasive species is any organism (plant or animal) that's not native to a specific location and that has a tendency to spread in such a way that it damages the environment. That's not always the same as a tree or plant growing so wild it's coming onto your property (and remember, the trees were here first). This may require a plant expert to come out and identify what type of plants are doing this.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

We do not maintain all our common property. That said, let me clarify. All or our patio homes have a small backyard surrounded by a 6ft privacy fence. We do cut a 3ft swarth behind each fence but from there to the property edge, we do nothing to. We let it grow wild. The exception is if we believe a tree is not healthy and could fall on the house or the fence, we will cut the tree down. When we do that we leave the tree stump alone and we leave the rest of the tree down in the woods.

DeidreB (Virginia)
Posts: 113

Posted:

It sounds like similar situations I dealt with in two different communities (in states other than Florida so my experience is likely a bit different).

In both cases we had one or two people who were very committed to clearing out trees and vegetation in common areas that were planned to be conservation areas or green space with trees. In both cases, one or two adjacent or nearby homeowners raised concerns about the sudden clearing of trees as they chose to buy homes in proximity to those areas. We also discovered it was costly to remove vegetation and to some degree at odds with some county regs and site plans.

In one, there was a very explicit deed restriction that specified no disturbance other than dealing with a hazard tree. The other was a green space identified as a tree save area by the county and the original plat said the common areas must remain undisturbed with the exception of landscaping.

After review, in both cases we determined that "natural state" was the original intent of those areas and unless specific vegetation posed a credible threat to infrastructure or homes, we would leave them alone. This avoided unplanned and unnecessary cost, unnecessary conflict among homeowners and in one case, after removing trees we found the net result was not an aesthetic improvement anyway (on top of being reported to the county). We did however remove a tree that died and was partially overhanging a nearby house that was deemed a hazard.

Has a utility company or home owner reported a tree or vines as being a hazard to infrastructure or an adjacent home?

SheilaH2 (Florida)
Posts: 11

Posted:

After reading through the master association docs and the umbrella docs (which includes our association), it is noted that The umbrella docs state that it is their responsibility to maintain:

Article 8: Repair and maintenance by the Umbrella Association. The Umbrella Association shall be responsible for the maintenance, repair and replacement of the following: (a) The common property, including all improvements, facilities, equipment and supplies. (b) this section speaks of landscape, and aesthetic facilities and installations (quite lengthly) but just refers to Landscape. (c) Any lakes, ponds, ditches, culverts, swales or other similar features of facilities within (name of subdivision) that are not part of the Stormwater Management System as permitted and approved by the Governmental Approvals, as required by Section 11.04 by the Master Declaration, except to the extent that such items my lie within any Neighborhood and the maintenance thereof be the responsibility of a Neighborhood or Commons Association.

In the above last sentence, our neighborhood or Common Association is not where this area is included in as far as the Recorded Plat of our street. I have surveys of where my property ends and where the preserve starts.

Sorry this is so long and hope it's enough information from the declarations.

Thank You

SheilaH2 (Florida)
Posts: 11

Posted:

Thank you SheilaH. We have Brazilian pepper trees that are invasive to Florida as are certain vines as well. We have a list of invasive species that our county extension service provides. I will be reaching out to the County Comprehensive zoning and land development code dept and hopefully they can let me know if the area is a county maintenance issue as the preserve is a inflow and outflow to a reservoir close by.

I had contacted our neighborhood board as well as the property manager of the master association. I got a little information from our board.

Thank you everyone for your input.

SheilaH2 (Florida)
Posts: 11

Posted:

Thank you DeidreB from Virginia..... In answer to your question, as far as a hazard, vines have choked out pine trees and some oak trees killing them and some have fallen in the past but on the preserve land. Several are close to our property line and should they fall on our property it could cause damage. I relayed that message to the general manager in a previous email as well. My neighborhood board president says it sounds like he just wants to push the responsibility back on the homeowner, but why do some and not all. (The Umbrella Association has it's own lawn/grounds maintenance crew that are paid hourly through our assessments so an outside entity would not be required)

Our community has three Associations: The master association managed by an outside company, the umbrella association which manages all of the residences, the golf club, grounds and common areas, and our neighborhood association (one of many) which is 22 homes. We have approx 20 phases, units and sub phases.

As I stated in another post, I will be contacting our County in the morning for any information they can give me.

Sorry for going on so much, I'm sure ya'll think I'm a broken record = /

Thanks again

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