Inground Pools partially on HOA property

Uh, so the property owners supported this for 20;years?

Single family houses?
How many?
CCRs and Bylaws and Rules and Regulations?

But the lack of interest - obviously gross apathy - relates to the likelihood of it being “fixable.”

Dissolution as in there isn’t an HOA any longer? As in the state has already pulled the corporate status?

In NJ the state puts a Corporation into Administrative Dissolution after 6 years of not filing an annual report. That allows the Corporate officers to commence with the dissolving
of that corporation. The state never actually dissolved it. Oddly

Duplex in my experience would be multi-family, that is not the case here. Side by Side mirrored units are what we have. Individually owned. Sharing a common wall.

The Board has just appropriated funds for the website, I agree that is paramount to fair access. Everyone has been updated (by mail) with current Governing Docs which
at the moment consist of CC&R's and the Bylaws.

The Board has approved a rough draft of 5 Resolutions that are at counsel currently. Those include expansive R&R's, Trash, Rental, Fee Schedule, Collection Procedures & Policy.
I have established a virtual platform once these are greenlighted, for a public meeting.

The architectural guidelines are a little vague in areas, but VERY specific on such things as exterior color, size, of siding, trim.

Contained in the CC&R's are guidance for the exterior, such as the creation of an ARC (Arch. Review Committee), limits on shed placement, fencing, additions.

Once I recovered the Corporations EID in its creation documents, I approached the state online. That is when I discovered that the Annual Report had not been filed for over 20 years.
Thus, the State had placed the Corporation from "not in good standing" to "Administrative Dissolution". Luckily, the state was offering a one time window of 3 months for reconciliation
for a large fee. Simply filing an annual report and cutting a check avoided all the red tape and back fees that would have been owed. It might have even saved some money in the long run.
Currently we are in Good Standing with the State and are allowed to perform the actions needed for running the daily operations of the Corporation.

Our thought process in most of this is that the previous President was acting outside the scope of their authority if they performed any function other than the process of dissolving the corporation under the NJ statutes. They would most likely not be able to avail themselves of the D&O insurance while acting outside their fiduciary duty, should legal action be brought for past decisions.

I am confident with our process, I think we have covered many bases in 2 months with a quarantine going on. Our concern is regarding the liability of inground pools encroaching on HOA property.
One built as recently as last October, 2019

Yeah - agree with Cathy.

I would summarize options for the future and pick the one that offers least cost to benefits - I'm talking real benefits, not fighting over each inch of property, or who did what to who (unless criminal), but rather how to understand what happened over the last 20 years, development of a plan to re-establish control, communications that are clear and often, legal opinions to back up directions and decisions, and a non-board group to continue to work the issue that reports to the board.

-- I agree with the above, with the caveat that the OP said sale of the land is likely not possible (see below). Competent HOA attorneys are emphatic about the unacceptability of HOA members encroaching on HOA common area. The potential liability issues for the HOA are enormous. I think this HOA's insurer should be informed immediately of the situation and that the HOA is using an attorney to rectify it.-- Are you saying that the EPA approved the pools and encroachments? Or are you saying just the opposite? It sounds like a consultation with the EPA (along with a competent HOA attorney and the HOA's insurer) would be appropriate.

-- I believe the encroachment issues (with in-ground pools installed) could be a years long dispute with many attorneys (the HOA's, the City's, individual owners') involved.

-- I think many an owner will say something like, 'Things have been fine for decades. Why are you making all this fuss?' The answer is because corporate law and the covenants require you to. But these folks are likely not going to understand.

-- I understand adverse possession law is unlikely to kick in here, due to NJ's 20-year and other requirements. But there is a question in my mind about whether the covenants on who owns what land within the HOA have been abandoned. If so, perhaps the HOA can lawfully say this land, on which individual owners' in-ground pool sits, is not the HOA's land. Then inform the EPA and city as needed, putting the ball in the EPA's (and city's?) court. Drainage concerns are huge. New plats will probably have to be drawn up and recorded.

-- The OP referred to the corporation having been on the cusp of being administratively dissolved by the state. For the archives, a few observations on this. First states do not like doing this, and state law tends to be set up to allow a corporation to revive itself. Second, dissolution of a corporation does not dissolve the covenants. Third, dissolution of a corporation does not cause the ownership of the former corporation's real estate to, say, suddenly revert to the state. Even though the corporation is dissolved, the legal rights to the real estate do not change meaningfully.

From recent experience on a non-HOA land use dispute, I believe reviving the corporation is often not difficult.

Sound advice.

These particular pools are new (oct 2019) or Id agree with you. I'm very cautious about getting the HOA into an extensive and expensive battle. I have to offset that with the possibility
of selective enforcement if other people want to install pools in the future but don't have enough land to do so. I don't think this is an issue we can leave at rest no matter how much I would like to.

If even one Member hires an attorney and says we are not abiding by Corporate Law or the Governing Documents, we are going to court anyway. I'd rather go for the right reasons than be on the wrong end of that stick. If you do not act within your fiduciary duty, there is chance the D&O Insurance will not cover your defense. Also, the community has no idea of these encroachments yet. I am still in discovery with many issues until we can have a proper, public meeting.

Knowing how frustrated the members were at the General Election meeting, (2/3 showed to vote, which was record-breaking) I can only imagine the outrage when this and other items go public.

I'd say: At least until a court rules the covenants regarding lot boundaries have been abandoned. To me, this gives a good idea of the next steps:

-- Contact the EPA.

-- Explain what happened.

-- Consider the possibility of the corporation facing an EPA fine. Since the present board of the corporation was so honest, maybe the fine will be minimal.

-- Do what the EPA directs. Which could be expensive. Or it is possible the present design is acceptable with a few alterations or possibly a maintenance agreement between the City and your HOA.

(I am speaking from a bit of experience with subdivision development; statutory drainage requirements; and EPA approval.)

Please keep us informed as the war in your community unfolds. I can't imagine this in a real-life scenario where I seek and receive HOA approval AND Town Permit Office approval (thus following ALL protocol asked of me as a homeowner) only to have the new HOA president attempt to have me demolish a huge investment that I - and others - have legally installed by all measures.

I understand the easement part BUT the town permitting process is designed to prevent such occurrences. You sure these pools are permitted? If they were, you better watch out.

I have had the permits sent to me. They are signed off on and were buried. It took weeks digging in archive for my contact to find them. There are no surveys with setbacks in the documents. Just a rough sketch with no fence lines or property lines on the diagram. These were slid through as favors we have no doubt.

I will definitely circle back to this for you all.