I know someone who's HOA is nicknamed "The HOA Police", and with good reason. They have hours defined where a garbage container can be left in front of the home, leaves cannot remain on sidewalks for more than 24 hours, no weeds taller than 3 inches can exist in your front yard, and they have board members monitoring these infractions so closely, you'd think that's all they do 24 hours a day. Any infraction will get you a letter reminding you of the CC&R's and that a fine may be imminent.

The Board is required to enforce the CC&R’s but I don't believe the 4HRPOA Board wants to be the “CC&R Nazi’s” and be actively looking for CC&R rule breakers. They do need to enforce the rules with reasonableness in mind, especially where the upkeep and presence of the community is at stake, or where the infraction is disruptive (sight, sound, or smell) or harmful to other POA members.

Should the board be “seeking” violations such as un-permitted structures? I’d say no, unless the construction of the structure is such that it becomes an eyesore or other POA members complain because of the “shoddy” construction next to their property. Of course, the violator should be notified and given time to correct the situation before reporting them to the county. After all, the county is the enforcer of building construction and codes.

Here is an example of where I believe the Board should get involved. There is a Camper Shell on wooden saw-horses very visible from the road (a violation to the CC&R’s from the start). It appears to have been untouched by the owner for over 6 years. Old mattresses and garbage around the camper have rotted and been blown across other properties. Recently the camper was vandalized, windows broken, aluminum siding smashed, etc, and it is leaning over, soon to fall on its side. I doubt the owner knows the current condition of the camper. I feel the Board should notify the owner of the campers’ condition. If it isn’t cleaned up, it may take additional action. Because it is very visible, it does reflect poorly on the general upkeep of the 4HR community. Now, if this same camper was hidden from sight (from the road and other properties), and there were no complaints, I wouldn’t think the Board should go “hunting” for an infraction like this…

How about some other comments???

Tom, you are right on target. I live in Phx in 2 HOAs
at the same time, a master HOA and one for the townhomes
only. The master architectural committee is hot after
infractions all the time while the townhome committee is
more willing to discuss things with the owners to clear
up misunderstandings. They both work at keeping the
community looking good, but the one is a lot more
irksome to get along with.

I believe, as you do, that the key is how visably
annoying is the infraction/structure? If I can't see
it or smell it, I don't really care what someone else
is doing.

HOWEVER, although it will take a bunch more
years, 4HR will eventually be more crowded and have a
lot more smaller lots. At that point it will be a lot
harder to hide a crappy looking trailer behind a
scrim of trees. We might let this CCR police thing
slide for now (our board doesn't even know exactly
how many structures are on the land, in part because
of all the hidey hollows), but we may have future
boards feel it is something that must be addressed.
As far as notice to owners about what IS visible from
the road, yes, I believe we should try for that. As
the board positions are volunteer positions, it will
probably be only folks who actually live on the land
who might notice stuff like your nasty camper situation,
but--having a similar but not so severe situation
across the road from me--I think it could be that the
owners might just not be aware that what they left
in pretty good shape is now nearly destroyed by the
wind or vandals. Maybe a postcard with some checkboxes
that suggests the owners spend some time cleaning up
their property or that there is obvious property
damage they need to attend to?

But, Bruce, is this the question you were originally
asking? Did you mean 'should the board continue to
birddog structures that have already been ok'd by
Zoning' or 'should the board go hunting on property
to see if anything at all has not been approved
through Zoning'? Really stinky barrel of fish there
as the board has never fixed the illegal vote several
years ago that allowed unlimited stays for travel
trailers.

Tessa

OK, let's try this AGAIN--after losing my entire response just now after merely hitting the enter key to start a new paragraph AAAARGGGHH!!

Tess, I'm concerned about our Board having a bunch of eager beavers who proactively seek out "violators". For example, it is known that the Board has cross-checked with the County for on-file building permits when seeing construction on owners' lots. We have enough government as it is--we don't volunteers!

I don't see a future of 10-acre shanties as far as the eye can see. Even if the economy goes down the tubes, I don't see 4 Hills as the refuge of last resort. It's too hard/expensive/dry for a broke-*** owner to make a go of it out here compared to other locations. But I digress . . . .

I'm opposed to broken down trailers, abandoned vehicles, garbage and noxious/toxic waste left on properties. I don't have a problem with people living in their RVs. I don't care if someone uses too many blue tarps (the Wisconsin state flag as we smart-alecky Illinoisans used to say). I don't care if they have a corrugated steel garage (I may not like it, but I don't CARE). I don't care if someone puts up a ranch fence with t-posts improperly spaced.

In short, I only care about something that represents an egregious offense to the eye or environment.

I think the Board should concentrate on the roads--period. If they've got time for much else, they might need to find a worthwhile hobby.

Since Sherrian is on the Board, I'm a bit prejudiced, but I do believe we FINALLY have a decent Board. I just hope they can "chill" and let the rest of us live our lives without Big Brother sniffing up our bootays.

If 4 Hills were Mayberry, I'd say that I hope we can have a bunch of Andy's and NO Barney's in the mix.

Over and out.

I don't think that the Board should go out looking for violations but I do think that if a landowner puts in a complaint about a junky campershell just sitting on a lot, they should at least look into it! I have been complaining about that campershell that Tom's talking about since we bought our lot across the street and I keep getting the blow off. It's trashy and if I wanted to live around that, I would've bought somewhere else and paid a lot less!

Yeah, that's the kind of thing that I'd consider to be an offense. The Board needs to address these chronic violations. That and the roads--period.

I'm not sure what is the best way to encourage owner compliance. Maybe a graduated approach with x number of letters, fines, liens and finally a call to the County for removal of offending items. That may be the system (on paper anyway). Taking action is another thing. We'll see . . . .

So, with Sherrian and Tom both on the board now (and yes, Bruce, you are spot-on that this is the best board we ever had), maybe we can get some clarification at the next board meeting about what kind of action the board will be taking in the future. We have some situations that need, and have needed, attention for quite a while. We have some others that are perhaps better left to God and the Zoning Board. How involved does the board feel it needs to be?

I know for a fact that we have at least one owner who believes everyone should completely fence their land, we should pave all the roads, and we should lobby to bring in APS. I think he is probably in the minority. I HOPE he is in the minority. I think most of us would go with the idea that if it isn't an eyesore and it doesn't stink, what does it matter? I know I certainly don't want any board members patrolling my property to see what I'm up to. What if it were one of those days I had washed ALL the clothes and was hanging them out to dry? :-D

Tho I am some late on this discussion, I have to agree with most but that is because I have a glass house. So if the Board isn't going to police...what about the individuals who present self-published pamphlets on apparent offenders TO the Board? or go to the county and place a complaint?...not ALL those who are in non-compliance but two mentioned in those self-published pamphlet? Who made one person the spokesperson against residents or people who leave their trailers out here over three months as the county recommends? I have bitten my reactionary tongue as it crossed my mind to do a bit of reporting myself - but hell why would I want to stoop to that level? Why would I soil myself with such trashy behavior? Why get into litigation for the rest of my life? But someday I am going to BREAK! I am going to make a BIG STINK and call the police, the DEA, the sheriff's office and an attorney. SO there!!!

Why........ As long as the county codes are observed... I guarantee they will not pass any inspection if you are not to code. We have had to stop 3 times to correct our' problems. Its a hassle but you have to follow the plans- permits and any mistakes you make. They are efficent , they caught errors from our' arcitech cost $ 400.00 for their' mistake. Not alot of $$$ but alot of time wasted. Code guys are good!!! and helpful