Is the Board wrong or am I wrong....

Hi:

I posted a few weeks ago the fact that the Board was going to grant three homes in the neighborhood a variance for the incorrect colored roof shingles they used even thought they did not submit an ARC request. Well the Board granted the variance and sent out this letter yesterday; my questions follow the letter:

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The Board of Directors wishes to explain an URGENT issue that has arisen over the past year.

Our neighborhood is aging and many external repairs are/or will need to be completed to maintain the integrity of the Arrowhead community.

ALL HOMEOWNERS ARE HEREBY ADVISED THAT ANY external changes made to your home MUST have a prior, written, approval from the Arrowhead Architectural Review Committee (ARC). Homeowners that replace roofs, paint, windows, concrete, landscape, or make any other changes to the exterior of the property will be required to submit a request to the Architectural Review Committee. If the request is denied, the homeowner may be required to remove or replace these changes should they not have a signed, approved ARC form for their change.

This review process is an important part of maintaining property values for ALL of us in the community.

Homeowners making changes citing that "well my neighbor has this or did that" will NOT BE AN ACCEPTED RESPONSE as several homeowners were granted variances for issues that were completed prior to this notification. Those exceptions will not be made in the future.

Please understand that it is the intent of the Board of Directors to maintain the integrity of the Arrowhead community in a continued effort to maintain property values for all in the community.

Your attention and compliance with this request is appreciated!!

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The letter makes it seem like these are new rules that have never been mentioned in the past and that the Board is excusing a few select homes because the violations they committed were done before this letter:

“several homeowners were granted variances for issues that were completed prior to this notification”

What about the covenants and bylaws every homeowner were given when they moved into this neighborhood?

I kind of wish I had some current fines against me because I would send this letter back to them with the above sentence highlighted and let them know I committed the violation before this letter was sent out so I must have been included in the variance.

I hope we have a few creative homeowners in this neighborhood that have current fines and start challenging them.

The other thing I find ironic is that the current law firm the HOA uses has a blog like site they maintain and the following articles/highlights are in it:

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Options in Covenant Enforcement
http://www.cohoalaw.com/covenant-enforcement-options-in-covenant-enforcement.html

- Arbitrary or capricious enforcement. Covenants and rules cannot be enforced in an arbitrary or capricious manner. That is, an Association cannot choose to fine one owner for parking his RV in front of his house, but ignore a similar violation by another owner (unless the Association has a valid business reason for doing so).

Covenant Enforcement - The Golden Rule
http://www.cohoalaw.com/covenant-enforcement-covenant-enforcement-the-golden-rule.html

- First, the Board could grant a variance and allow the home to stay golden yellow. The home looked nice after all, and the homeowner clearly could not afford to have it repainted. However, the Board was concerned that this would open the door to requests for variances from other homeowners, which would ultimately destroy the character of the community.

- However, the Board must treat all of its members uniformly, and not make decisions in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

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It sure would be kind of interesting to take the HOA to small claims court not for money, but to force them to enforce the rules in a fair and consistent manner...can this be done and do you think somehow this could backfire and and up costing me $1000's of dollars (yeah..being a little chicken)?

Let me know what you think about this.

Mitch

Mitch,

It seems that you are opposed to the granting of waivers and also opposed to the enforcement of the covenants. What would you have the Board do?

We are in a similar situation (see my topic from last week: "They did it Anyway") for a complete discussion. A good Board will do what it can to see that residents abide by the rules of the Association - regardless of what previous Boards ignored.

peter

Mitch from your other post you complained because of a lack of consistent enforcement; now you're upset because the BOD has put everyone on notice that the covenants will be strictly enforced; mainly it seems because of the way the letter is written. It sounds to me as if your BOD is getting its act together.

Mitch - you know that it is more difficult to correct than it is to start fresh.

THIS board is just reiterating the rules, since it sounds like there were several violations in the past that were not dealt with. The roof incident seemed quite big - but the driveway ones seems minor (at least to me)

In any case, ALL homeowners have been warned and everyone is on a level playing field, as of today.

Now the board can return to those past violations and determine what to do about them.

Mitch,

I agree with Glen. It seems to me the board has realized that some mistakes were made in the past and the best way to deal with it is to grant variances to those members who made improvements w/o prior approval and those "violations" were ignored by the board.

If and when you are elected to the BOD you will have a chance to see exactly what it takes to be an effective board member. You'll be faced with these same problems and you will have to do what is right for the whole community. Don't think you won't be criticized for your actions, either. No matter what you do someone will think your decision was the wrong one. May I ask, what "difference" are you hoping to make?

BTW, you said you will be running for Pres. Does that mean the members elect the officers? Usually the members elect the directors who, in turn, elect or appoint their fellow directors to the officer positions.

Um. The "Board" is shorthand for Board of Directors.

In many associations, the Board of Directors is voted in by the association membership.

The directors then generally elect from among themselves the officer positions on the board, President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, depending on which officer positions your by-laws specify.