Need Help with HOA By-Law Amendment

I have a question about by-law amendments. We are trying to pass an amendment that will change the setbacks for our properties because they are more restrictive than the local county regs. Our HOA covenants state in order to make an amendment to the by-laws we need 2/3 affirmative vote by the membership and file the amendment with the local county. I'm OK with those 2 stipulations. What I was also told by another homeowner is that we must notify all of the current lein holders amendment. This one I cannot find and I'm unfamilier with. Can anyone help me with more information or steer me to where I can find it? I don't know if the notification has anything to do with our amendment making a change to setbacks which dictate land usage. I also want to know if this is a false assumption by the other homeowner

Thanks!

Richard K
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Thanks for the input. Our covenants only state the need for 2/3 and file with the county. The setbacks are hugely off from the county regs for our zoning. I believe that when the covenants were created they were "boiler plated" from someone else which is why they are so far off.

Up until now we have granted variances for setbacks not falling within the rules but our problem is more political (not unlike others). There is a select group of people who are consistently on the board and Arch. Review Committee (ARC) that want to "rule" the neighborhood and this is their way of holding power over people (come to me and I will decide if you get the waiver or not). It's been blatently unfair up to this point.

In my house's case the ARC ruled we did not meet setbacks for our new pool and needed a waiver. Weeks later we finally got it but created a huge stink because the ARC (aka "click" group) screwed up. They ruled incorrectly that we did not meet setbacks because they saw our lot line for the pool as the "rear" and we said "side" setback because we are a corner property. We ended up going to the county zoning for a "ruling" from them and the county said it was a "side" setback hence no need for the variance. We only found this out after a bitter fight and weeks passed.

In another case when the "click" group wanted to allow sheds (prohibited in the by-laws) for their properties instead of get a house by house variance or amending the by-laws they created a "temporary variance" for all shed structures and guidelines for the sheds. The only problem is the "temporary" never expires and they told everyone they amended the by-laws which was a lie.

I know all of this now because I am the president of the HOA and I have finally gotten to take a look at the box of HOA records and it's always interesting to see what people have done. After our pool screw-up I went from just a member showing up at meetings to taking an active role.

Sorry for the diatribe. I just wanted to get some type of guidance before I go off and tell everyone about the screw-ups and wrong rulings.

-Richard K