How to change the CCR's?

AdamL1, on this proposed (inappropriate) amendment, I think your options are to either hire an attorney; send a letter certified mail, return receipt requested stating that the proposed amendment is not appropriate (because having your objection on legal record is a good idea); or to ignore it.

If the amendment passes, great (and whatever, as you already have the right to keep bees as long as they are kept per city ordinance).

If the amendment does not pass, so what. The current Declaration et cetera say you have the right to keep bees.

The voting instructions must be very clear.

You really need an attorney.

What do your CC&Rs say about amending the CC&Rs? Chances are an owners vote is required to do so. If the board does not conduct an owners vote, and amends the CC&Rs anyway, then the first step, again, is to submit a complaint to the HOA (cert mail, return receipt requested). If there is an unsatisfactory response, then one elevates the complaint to a "demand letter," essentially threatening suit if the board does not correct its violation. Then you get an attorney.

Bylaws, Article 7: Amendments to the Bylaws
These Bylaws may be amended by the Corporation at an annual meeting or at
a duly constituted meeting of the Corporation for such purpose as provided in the
Articles of Incorporation. No amendment to these Bylaws shall take effect unless
approved by at least a Majority of Members or such other percentage as herein
otherwise provided.

CCR, Article XIII: Miscellaneous, 13.4 Amendment
13.4.1 By Grantor --> not applicable anymore
13.4.2 By Owners
Except where a greater percentage is required by
express provision in this Master Declaration, the provisions of this Master
Declaration, other than this Article XIII, any amendment shall be by an
instrument in writing signed and acknowledged by the presidentand secretary
of the Master Association certifying and attesting that such amendment has
been approved by the votd or written consent of Owners representing more
than fifty percent (50%) of the votes in the Master Association, and such
amendment shall be effective upon its recordation with the Ada County
Recorder. Any amendment to this Article XIII shall require the vote or
written consent of Members holding ninety-five percent (95%) of the voting
power of the Master Association.

-----------------------

but then the CCR's say:
5.5, Power & Duties
5.5.1.4, Association Rules
The power to adopt, amend and
repeal by majority vote of the Board such rules and regulations as the
Master Association deems reasonable.
-------------------------------------

I'm not sure what this means really.....can the board just vote to change the CCR's within their secret round table?

What it means is that you need 95% approval to lower the approval process of the CCRs.

You can change all the CCRs with approval of more than 50% of the voting membership, but if you ever wanted to lower the approval to below the more than 50%, you need an approval of 95% of members.

yep, one would hope, however, the current board has already stated they will not allow any discussion or input from the membership.


one can dream....however the board is deadset on shutting down any opposition discussion.


Agreed, and this is something we initially tried discussing with the board, however, we were met with threats, deadlines, nastygrams, and now a sudden Agenda topic with no option for member input.

Thank you for quoting the amendments sections.

It would be best to also review what the Articles of Incorporation say on amending. For now, assuming the Articles of Incorp say no different:

Amendments to either the Bylaws or the CCRs require a vote of the owners. The board by itself may not amend these documents.

Furthermore, the requirement to amend the CCRs is that more than 50% of owners vote in favor of the amendment. If the annual meeting does not have 50+% of the owners present in person or by proxy, then it's not even mathematically possible to amend the covenants.

Third, "Association Rules" has an exact meaning in HOA lexicon. These are rules that the Board has the right to enact pursuant to the board powers the Bylaws, CC&Rs and Articles of Incorporation may allow. Such rules must not exceed any bylaw, covenant or article of incorporation provision.

The reason I keep saying, "You need an attorney" is because what you are reading here from others and me reflects years of study of covenants, bylaws, et cetera and often, the wisdom or opinions of bona fide HOA/COA attorneys (as relayed to HOA/COA directors, who then often post here what their HOA/COA attorneys have said.). It takes experience to parse them quickly. As a pedagogical matter, no one can absorb all the legalities being conveyed here in one or two sittings.

ahh, perfect. I think this is the decoder ring I was asking about. The board has the power to privately edit "Association Rules" is something totally separate and below hierarchy than the CCR's. The CCR's might have a paragraph saying "the board can make rules about parking as they see fit."

But if the board wants to actually edit the CCR's (Rules, same 'name'), then that means an actual amendment.

got it.

Perhaps this will help:

CC&Rs are deed restrictions and amended by the membership (typically 2/3 or greater). They apply restrictions to individual property and establish the general powers and reprehensibility of the Association.

Bylaws establish the procedures to run the Association. Are typically in alignment with applicable corporate laws and may or may not require membership approval to amend. Per your citation - your Bylaws require membership approval.

Articles of Incorporation is the document required by the State to establish the Association as a legal entity. Typically, these restate the purpose of the Association and tend to echo the bylaws but are often not as specific as the bylaws. Per your citation, membership approval is required to amend the Articles of incorporation.

Resolutions are formal decisions adopted by the board. The most typical resolution are architectural guidelines and rules/regulations for common areas. These may be adopted, amended or abolished at the boards discretion. No membership approval is required.

I see that Aug was faster at typing then I was.


Keep in mind, the Board can use a resolution to clarify a covenant (or anything in a higher precedent document).

For example: The board may use a resolution to identify what they consider a nuisance or to establish a policy on what procedure to follow for delinquent accounts.

Tim

Do you over 12 years of reading covenants, bylaws, rules and regs of different COAs/HOAs and a helluva lot of case law concerning the same?

You only quoted a piece of your bylaws – what comes before “amended through the majority of the members?” I’m betting it’s the Bylaws and CCRs, which AREN’T the same as rules and regulations deemed reasonable and necessary by the board, so I agree with John.

You said your CCRs don’t specifically state beekeeping is or isn’t a nuisance, so this discussion at the annual meeting is to ponder if the CCRs should be amended to state beekeeping is a nuisance or adopt the city code that defines nuisances. If that happens and beekeeping isn’t considered a nuisance, the association probably wouldn’t be able to ban hives in your community.

However, the bylaws also say the board has the authority to enact rules and regulations, which is usually done to flesh out the CCRS. If the homeowners did adopt the city code, you might be able to keep the bees, but the board would be within its rights to require things related to the hive, such as limiting ownership to one hive. Remember, the board still has to be sensitive to people who might be allergic or have some sort of phobia (something you still don’t seem to want to acknowledge). Maybe limiting the number of hives would help reduce the possibility of being stung. I don’t know how accurate Wikipedia is about this, but it’s said bees travel for up to 2 miles (sometimes a little more) from the hive to collect pollen and whatever else they do to create honey).

You can go around and around with us on this, but the fact is, we don’t live in your community and ultimately, this may end up before someone’s attorney (the association’s or yours, probably both), so if you want a useful answer, get out your checkbook for the legal fee and call the man (or woman).

Meanwhile, you might want to stop with emotional language like “the board is deadset on shutting down any opposition discussion” You may be right, but the correct response is to get a considerable number of homeowners on your side – they’re the ones who elect and re-elect the board, remember? That’s not going to help you educate the homeowners, who will also vote on amending the CCRs – and since you mentioned “we,” why aren’t you getting together with THEM to come up with a plan to address this at the meeting? I would suggest someone other than you – the board may not be listening to you anymore, but may find someone more reasonable (whatever that means).

And you STILL need to educate the homeowners – if enough of them can be persuaded to vote no or at least push for more study on the issue, that will take care of the proposal for now. Maybe there needs to be a special committee that can review the matter in more detail, educate everyone and then there can be a vote. If you win, great, if not, well, you don’t always get what you want – it’s called democracy.
Get to work and good luck in whatever you choose to do.

Max,

I don't understand your question.

I simply provided generalities of what the documents provide.
Do you disagree with those statements?
If so, which ones and why?

I agree.

I remain firm (in my long labored over position) that as long as your beekeeping meets city code, then because the CC&Rs reference city code on nuisances, you are not violating the HOA's covenants.

As long as it made you feel better.

Too bad, similar to this reply, it doesn't really help anyone.

And who is needing attention now?

Adam

The HOA governing document hierarchy is important to every HOA. While each document has an important purpose, some will take priority over the others. HOA governing documents are put in place to control the operation of the association along with the common interest development that the HOA was formed to manage.

Typically, the documents that are included in this hierarchy are:

1. Federal, State, and Local Laws
2. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs)
3.HOA Articles of Incorporation
4. Association Bylaws
5. Association Operating Rules & Regulations.

Typically, a majority of owners can make Amendments to above #2 and #4. The majority is usually higher (typically 2/3rds of all owners saying yes, no votes do not count) to change #2 and typically 51% of all owners saying yes to amend. The BOD alone cannot Amend either of these documents.

Typically a BOD, and a BOD alone, can make Rules and Regulations (R&Rs). An R&R cannot override #2 or #4. As an example a R&R cannot close a pool down but it can regulate its hours.

Your misuse of the terms confuses people.