IMPORTANT: Request to Vote on Changes to the HOA Covenants

On September 6, 2011 the BOD sent out an email requesting changes to our current Declaration of Covenants:

1. That homeowners be allowed to keep no more than 6 chickens, no roosters, and be permitted to build chicken coops, or The Chicken Amendment.


2. That up to (8) horses be kept or boarded (including boarding for remuneration) on the Residue property (Eric Johnson), Lot 25 (Dan Kelly) and on Lot 7 (Sallie Hyman); that up to (6) horses may be kept or boarded on each Lot of 10 acres or more; and up to (4) horses may be kept on any Lot less than 10 acres, or The Horse Amendment.

These requests raise several serious concerns that all homeowners should consider:

1. Giving us only a 5 day response time without benefit of group discussion concerning altering existing covenants is absurd. Changes to the HOA Covenants are a serious matter that should be discussed by all homeowners. We should defer voting on these proposed amendments, and any additional changes homeowners may wish to discuss/contribute, until the Annual meeting on October 20th, at which time they may be presented, debated, edited, and added to a list of items for voting consideration. Send an email to the BOD - Sallie Hyman, salliethor@aol.com; Kim Kadesch, K2_ranger@yahoo.com; and Chris Renschen, crenschen@rstarmail.com  telling them that you want to defer voting until after the October 20th meeting, and please let everyone else know your opinion by using the forum on this site so the BOD cannot ignore community action.

2. The Horse Amendment as it relates to Lot 25 (Kelly) and Lot 7 (Hyman) is very serious. It introduces horse boarding for remuneration into residential areas essentially converting Lot 25 and Lot 7 into commercial properties. This is an issue because both lots are on private roads. They will now have the right to become businesses with private and commercial traffic, including vans - which is completely against the intent of this community. The Chicken Amendment was appropriate in stating no commercial purpose. The Horse Amendment should do the same. Boarding for remuneration must be deleted for any Lot unless it is located on a State rather than community road. Currently the Residual has always had the right to board for remuneration, and is located off a State, not community road.

Note also that the Residue lot already has the right to keep 8 horses. The Horse Amendment would however double the number of horses permitted on Lot 25 (Kelly), increase those on Lot 7 (Hyman) to 8, and permit all but 5 homeowners to increase their ownership from 4 to 6 horses. If everyone acted on this amendment, the change would raise the number of horses permitted in our community from the current limit of 166 to 240. Once this type of change is made it will be next to impossible to impose ownership restrictions in the future.

3. Regarding the Chicken Amendment - The current phrasing lacks sufficient definition of how chicken coops must be built what features they can/cannot have, and how they must be sited. If the Amendment is to be considered, the definitions regarding the actual construction and operational requirements must be clearly stated including lighting restrictions (stating limitations on timing and strength of illumination - unless you want a floodlight trained on you every night), building height, dimensions, setback from living quarters, buildings, sheds, and property lines.

The language on the proposed voting document "to be of similar architectural construction to the neighborhood barns and sheds" is an insufficient guideline because a chicken coop is a completely different type of building. The wording is also contradictory because barns and sheds have different limits on distances from the property line, and chicken coops can have two stories with elaborate walkways and surround fencing. They can also be quite malodorous if not properly maintained...more so than stables. Overly simplistic rules are of no benefit to us.

4. The Chicken Amendment is biased because, outside of household pets, it restricts animal ownership to chickens and horses, even though bees are already permitted. If livestock (chicken and horses) is to be considered, the list should be expanded to include other animals. Our entire community is in an Agricultural District. All lot owners, their children and grandchildren should at least be able to participate in 4H activities.

5. This site has a forum, and participation is encouraged for these types of discussions. Please connect with your fellow homeowners. Raise your concerns/needs online, discuss your improvement ideas with the community, and please attend the one and only HOA meeting the BOD chooses to hold.  Together we can make positive changes to our community that can truly benefit all of us.

6. The owner of Lot 26 (Corti) requests that a proposal for changing the covenants be added to the vote list. The house on Lot 26 was constructed by InterActive Builders (one of the original builders as well as one of the original ARB members) at 91.6 feet from the property line - without the homeowner's knowledge or approval. The fact that it was built as a nonconforming property clearly makes it impossible for the owner to adhere to that rule when it comes to keeping constructed improvements in line with the house while still meeting the 100 foot rule. Because it was positioned at 91.6 feet by InterActive Builders, Lot 26 should be exempted from the 100 foot line rule as stated in Article III, Section 3, p.6 of the Declaration of Covenants. The owner requests that all homeowners use the Amended Petition Concerning Additions/Amendments to Homeowners Association Covenants to vote Approve or Disapprove to the following amendment concerning construction distances from the property line. You can also copy the following text onto the vote sheet sent by the BOD (and indicate an Approve/Disapprove vote) as follows:

"Amend that portion of Article III, Section 3. (page 6) which reads "No building or similar structure will be allowed to be closer than 100 feet to any Lot line, except for existing structures, which may remain" to read "No building or similar structure will be allowed to be closer than 100 feet to any Lot line, except for existing structures, which may remain, and except for Lot 26 which is exempted from this rule. All construction on Lot 26 must adhere to applicable County and State laws, ordinances, and regulations concerning building improvements."

7. Now is the time for you to propose your changes/amendments to the HOA Covenants! The HOA is here for all of us (like it or not), so let's use it as we see fit. The current HOA regulations can be easily downloaded from this site.

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