ARC protocol/requirements into covenants?

Beth,

You kind of have it backwards. Covenants first and THEN you write the ARC list off of the protective covenants. They must match as you must not change anything away from the CC&Rs

Donna,
We have the Covenants in place, but they have now wrote up the ARC list. Does it need to go into the Covenants to be "legal"?

Beth,

The restrictive covenants, along with your Incorporation and bylaws are normally written before the developement starts to get built. Buyers upon purchase should know what the restrictive covenants say, such as no boats on any property, or fences are allowed but must be so high, maybe inground pools only. or that type of thing. Yours say that the ARC must approve changes or within 30 days, etc so therefore your ARC must approve or disapprove any application within the 30 day limit.

So next comes the ARC limitations or restrictions which must read---fences are allowed but must be white or black or wood or ? Inground pools must have safety fences or heater restrictions or whatever. These are written by the Board or a committee and are adopted usually just by the Board.

If your Covenants say-" no boats may be stored on any property" and the ARC says that a boat MAY be kept in a garage or out of site, that is a direct conflict to the CC&R, which would not be okay to approve that application.

To answer your question, NO, the ARC restrictions do not go into the Covenants. They can be changed without a vote of the membership but Covenants must be voted on by the membership in order to change them.

Beth,

Donna is correct. However, it would be a good idea to present them to the Board of Directors and have the Board adopt them as a resolution.

Tim

Please note this addition (in CAPS) to my statement:

"If this document is not elaborating upon something already written in the CCRs AND THE CCRs DO NOT GIVE THE ARC THE AUTHORITY TO ADOPT ARCHITECTURAL GUIDELINES" then it needs to be added to the CCRs to become enforceable."

Money would be lost on your part Donna.....the ONLY thing it states in building requirement is:
"'Residence.' Residential structure must be a minimum of 2,300 square feet plus a minimum of a two car garage. Residence must be of natural siding only (i.e., cedar, brick, stone, log, ect.). The building site for all structures and plans must be approved by the ARC. A residence shall not exceed two stories in height including a daylight basement. No other buildings shall exceed one story in height. There is no parking allowed on the roads. Exterior lighting should not interfere with other land owners. Each house shall not have any exterior light source visual to adjacent houses. The ARC shall also approve all other buildings in addition to the residence prior to construction. The residence must be completed within 24 months of commencement of construction and all other buildings must be completed within 12 months of commencement of construction."

-so there's the residence building requirements, straight from the Covenants....no limits on height or pitch of roof. Just the story, which, is the garage part of the house? or is it an "other building"? Regardless, we have a one story garage and want to have a 8/12 pitch to have reasonable, usable space above. Not anything out of reason. Not like we're building some honkin' thing sticking 40+ feet in the air. It's actually lower than the house and does not obstuct anyones view of anything, considering it's in front of our house.

here's what it says of the ARC:

"'Architectural Review Committee Approval.' Approval or disapproval by the ARC shall be in writing. In the event the ARC fails to act within thirty days after the proposed plans and specs of any structure are submitted, no specific approval shall be required for such structure and the pertinent provision of the Declaration shall be deemed to have benn fully complied with."

So what does that mean? Does that mean it has to be "in writing"? or does an email suffice?
The other things that need ARC approval are landscaping, lighting, damaged property repair, and logging. THAT IS IT.

I do appreciate the comments....all the help, the better for me to understand both sides.
Thanks!
Beth

hehe....

I was not aware you were speaking of local building codes. I will have to look into that.....

thanks Donna....going to do my checking...

Beth, you are somehow mistaken.

I can't think of a single municipality that does not have building codes. Most are for safety reasons, but they exist.

However, the point is that the ARC has the power through the covenants to determine what is and is not acceptable (and create guidelines) as long as they don't CONFLICT with what is actually spelled out in the covenants and any state or local ordinances or codes.

In other words, the covenants state that the homes cannot exceed 2 stories and must have a specific type of siding.

The ARC can then create guidelines for things like roof pitch, setback, window trim and gutters if it so decides.

As long as the setback does not conflict with local building codes.

The thing is, and this is where my comments might seem harsh, your ARC has the ability to approve or DISAPPROVE based on various guidelines it may create, that are not in conflict with the covenants or local codes. By that I mean, those can be MORE STRICT, but not LESS STRICT.

And the bottom line is that you were to get approval IN WRITING before you even began your project. You did not. You even delayed over a couple years, and now that there is a non-loosie-goosie ARC in place, you are stuck with its decision.

Had you obtained the WRITTEN approval for your current plans several years ago, when you claim the chairman gave his blessing (verbally), this would not even be an issue.

But it was your and your husband's failure to follow your own documents that have led to this conundrum.

Again, I hope you can appeal to the ARC to get your project completed as you want it to be.

But be prepared to take this to a legal solution (get an attorney) if they continue to insist that your plans conform to their now-established pitch requirement.

Just keep in mine you will have to overcome the fact that you did not follow your own documents from the beginning, that you let the project languish for several years, and that the ARC does have authority to approve or deny.

I wish there were an easy answer for this one, but, for our purposes, no it would not be sufficient.

You would have to have your association's determination on that.

The written approval/denial would require a signature of the ARC chair.

Email documents can be "manufactured," as can simply typed documents.

So we require a signature of the committee chair.

Glen:

In another post she states that the pitch of the main house is 6/12.

In our development (well, and in almost all other developments in our area), any outbuildings need to have the same pitch as the main house.

So this may actually be the reason why a 9/12 pitch and then an 8/12 pitch was not approved. Her main house is a 6/12 pitch. For our arch comm to approve the outbuilding, it would have to maintain the same pitch, 6/12.

Glen,
Thank you for this information. I couldn't find it anywhere and it only stated that ravalli county did not enforce any building codes except that permits were need.....obvious.

This information is very helpful though, especially with a "cold roof" and the snow load on it. It's not that big of a difference, however our 6/12 roof is "insulated and warm", our garage will not be, which with this information it gives that information with the minimum pitch it must be, being a "warm" or "cold" roof. Very helpful info.

Thank you, and yes, I was wrong with the no local building codes.

Thanks!

First of all, what I came here for is some advice on what could be done about the current situation. Also, if you read Glens post that I commented to, you would see that I said I was wrong about the local building codes, when I couldn't find them.

If the ARC has not drafted any guidlines concerning roof pitch than I'm pretty sure there are none. AND if local building codes require a minimum pitch, depending on where you live geographically, on snow load, than we cannot go under that and be passed for inspection. I am actually very thankful that Glen sent me that.

As far as my husband being a contractor.....he doesn't "build" the homes. He supplies the materials, so he is knowledgable in that area. And there is no concrete permit needed or concrete inspector....totally off what I am asking about.

Thanks again for your thoughts.