CC&R's expired (?) No HOA

The allotment I live in has (had) a CC&R that stated in one of it's provisions:

"all of the (CC&R's and guidlines) in this instrument will run with the land..(usual legal jargon applying to buyers/developer).. until 90% of the lots are sold.

Before 90% of the lots were sold, the developer turned over the remaining lots to another builder. Before the allotment was completed, but after 90% of lots sold, both went out of business.
There is a provision in the CC&R for the creation of a HOA and the rules concerning voting rights etc.
About 2 years ago, the allotment was 100% complete, and still no HOA was formed.
There has never been a meeting held to form one and no one has ever brought it up.
Until now.

What rights do the homeowners and the newly formed (if we form one) HOA have? Is participation in the new HOA mandatory? Or, voluntary?
Can the new HOA enforce the developers CC&R's if a homeowner does not want to join the new HOA?

Dang! I wish I could edit my post!
There is no provision in the CC&R's for an extension either. The copy of the CC&R that I have I got from a neighbor who's lived here for 6 years.
He was one of the first to build here and he says that he was never notified of the creation of a HOA.

Good question. Do the homeowners who have been maintaining them ask for donations? Present a cost estimate and amount everyone should pay? Just let the ponds go?

Lonny, what do your neighbors say about an HOA? Do they want one? Do the "pond" neighbors want one?

Sounds like you have no management company. How many homes in your neighborhood?

(Someone please point him at that Best Practices and How To site.)

Yes, I have a copy of the old CC&R, It states:

“All the provisions of this instrument shall be deemed as covenants running with the land and not as conditions, and shall be binding on all owners of any part of this development and all persons claiming under them until 90% of lots are sold.”

"All of the provisions of this instrument" and "Until 90% of the lots are sold" Sounds like an expiration to me.

There is no record of any HOA for our allotment anywhere. I checked.

The name on the land where the ponds are is the developer who is no longer in business.
The neighbors who maintain the area around the ponds haven't asked for help or donations, both have been offered by many of their neighbors (myself included). The pond folks do not want a HOA, one of them has a violation of the old CC&R, but no one minds. The general concensus is to just fill them in, or let them fill themselves in naturally with runoff sediment.
Most of the homeowners have no problem with a voluntary HOA, they just don't want to be forced into mandatory one, so most shy away from both. We have been told (by one of our neighbors who is constantly feuding with those around him) that we are going to have a mandatory HOA and that the deed restrictions are still in place. If this is not the case, many of the members would not mind having a voluntary informal HOA. Most of the folks I've talked to like things the way they are.
There are 73 homes in our allotment. We are the back (phase 2) portion of our "estates". Phase 1 has no HOA. Phase 1 has all of the entrances to our allotment (there are none in Phase 2).

So, what you are saying is, even if a CC&R expires, if it says "runs with the land" the provisions of the CC&R never expire?

Phase 2 has no documents that say we are anything, HOA or otherwise. Nor does Phase 1.

There are 73 homeowners here, none of them are part of any neighborhood organization. We are part of a township.

It's not my "read" on the neighborhood, there is alot of animosity right now towards the one neighbor who's trying to force a mandatory HOA.

No documents were filed anywhere declaring us anything.

I am in the process of getting real legal advice.

I doubt very much that a HOA, voluntary or otherwise, is going to start here. Just due to the fact that most folks feel that a "voluntary" one could somehow be construed as "mandatory".

A HOA was attempted in Phase 1 and was quickly shot down for that very reason.

The copy of the CC&R I have is not even on file with the county/state. It was written by the developer and notorized by his daughter.

There are no deed restriction/Hoa in my deed.

Lonny,
I am not for you or against you. You need solid legal advice.

Don't confuse the issue by stating Google says they can/do expire. Most documents have some esoteric formula to determine when the are to be re-newed. Now suppose you are a active HOA and you don't renew your documents.................and you continue to operate. Does the expiration date void your association? It is a not a no or yes answer, I can assure you. Mostly it is state controlled and each state, by nature, is likely to have different enforcement procedures. Also, puzzle this, if the Board allows for the expiration date to pass are they then guilty of not abiding by their fiduciary responsibilities.

You seem happy with where you are and this lone ranger (if that is what he is) is not going to cause a problem if you all ignore him..........right.

Many CC&Rs do expire, but they often have a self-renewing clause if no x, y, or z action is taken.

while you are researching potential problems, here's one:

who is paying property taxes on the "ponds" (ie, common areas)?

Trust me, somewhere, somehow, even if the state has forgotten them now, there will be tax money due, and when it is, who pays it?

It is ownership of common areas, and the often impossibility of getting rid of said common areas, that keeps many HOA's in existence.

A second problem to think about: do you live somewhere that these ponds can be considered protected wetlands? if so, then there may be state or federal laws about what you can, cannot etc. do with them (like let them fill in, dam them, dike them, drain them, treat them, etc.)...

tread carefully: someone owes some regulatory agency some money for those parcels, somewhere down the line.