Master Association ownership of retention pond

Not arguing, but it seems odd for the HOA to be under homeowner control and not have control of the common areas. Unless all of the common areas are in the parcels still owned by the developer and these contain the pond? Even if this were the case, he in no longer in control of the HOA and would have to abide by decisions made by the board. I'm assuming that these parcels are part of the HOA according to your CC&Rs.

Do you have an association attorney or someone you could talk to to verify your interpretation of what the board can and can't do?

This is general info:

Usually what happens that your Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (aka CC&Rs, aka that thick wad of paper you should have received when you bought your home) will describe your HOA including plat maps. The CC&Rs also spell out when the HOA is to be turned over to homeowner control - this is usually based on the percentage of homes sold but may include other milestones as well.

Once homeowners have control, the developer may still be a member of the association if he still owns lots inside of the HOA property but he will not be able to make decisions - and he would not be collecting assessments at that point. The HOA should have one or more accounts at a bank with the HOA as the owner. Assessments should be going into one of those accounts.

Depending on the size of the community, you may be self managed (in which case the Treasurer will be acting as a bookkeeper, will deposit assessment, and will pay the bills) or you may employ a professional manager who will handle the bookkeeping duties.

* End of general info *

It sounds like your transition to homeowner control either didn't happen smoothly or else something else is going on. For instance, the developer's lots may be part of a sub-association. Or your home may be in a sub-association that has its own board that manages only your area, and the developer's lots are part of the Master association. Sounds sort of like the latter but I'd have to read your CC&Rs and bylaws to figure it out.

Without sorting it out, it's hard to give suggestions on how to deal with the common areas. The bigger problem is the trespassers. Ideally any elected HOA board members could work with the developer on a solution since it sounds like he's still a player in this. And if he intends to develop his parcels, then he has an interest in not letting strangers come onto the property and damage things (or get hurt and sue everyone). I'd suggest the board meet with the developer, point out that you all share an interest in dealing with the trespassers, and see what he says.

The owners of the homes on the affected area of trespassing collected enough funds to put the trees in, but the developer then backed away from that permission and left it up to the HOA board who then denied and made us take out the trees. We are left with an area that is breached daily by those who walk into our yards uninhibited. The only thing the HOA put in in was a no trespassing sign which is ignored. We have called the police, but they can't do anything unless they are caught in the act. We are just destined to have this happen. According to the HOA if anyone gets injured in the pond, they can't sue the HOA because of the signs, but of course, what about the home owners who endure this? It's a real problem for us. No one expects others to put in a fence for us, we purchased our lots but we thought at least if we all paid for it (those who live on the pond) , we could secure our homes, but we cannot do this. However, again, the HOA doesn't even have ownership of the ponds, they are owned by the Master.

Marni

Seems like you all installed tress without the HOA's permission. If you are going to install fences be sure to get the HOA's permission. Most HOA's will have fence restrictions on things such as height, style, color, material, etc. Be sure to find out what you can and cannot do.

Some of our governing documents actually say that the developer still have authority to even create new by-laws whenever they want up to a certain amount of time. I would still tell OP to be cautious of this and check his documents to be sure.