November 16, 2023
Thursday November 16, 2023
6:30pm
Meetings are held virtually.
Despite some residents not getting notification that the meeting was happening, the board met. Supposedly a hardcopy letter, dated Oct 16th, was sent to residents on October 13th by HPS.
At the meeting, the board announced an increase in dues to start in 2024. Last year was the first time dues were increased in the community. This year the increase is nearly three times last year's increase. Single family homes will now pay $258.32 and townhouses will pay $241.33 (quarterly).
The board also voted unanimously to add a fining policy to our HOA documents. Hopefully they also reviewed the feedback that they requested from the community although it does not sound like there were any changes from that feedback. The fining policy will be effective in Feb 2024.
Residents should be aware that HPS will accompany a board member to do inspections of all of the homes in the neighborhood on December 7th and 8th.
Happy Holidays.
We sent the following feedback about the fining policy but we never heard back if there was a response to any of the points we made:
The biggest problem with this policy is that it was drafted by lawyers. If a lawyer is asked to solve a problem, they will do so in a litigious way, which is what they did. If our community was a community of lawyers, that would be a fantastic solution, but we are not.
The reason HOAs are supposed to be run by community members, and not lawyers or management companies, is so the policies and procedures align with how the community thinks and behaves. If someone can explain how this amendment does that, I think it would be valuable to share with the homeowners because in its current state, it does not.
The argument that [the fining amendment] "is standard for most HOAs" is beyond frustrating because it doesn’t address if this is actually effective or not. It doesn’t call out the number of supposed violations or how this will actually make it better. What are the numbers for the efficacy of these particular processes?
Not to mention HPS management is known for mismanaging our community. A quick search of the facebook group, and I’m sure the board’s email inbox, shows time and time again where they drop the ball and treat our community members poorly. To rely on them to accurately audit the neighborhood and get timely notices out is poorly placed confidence.
The language drafted by the HOA lawyers introduces two processes; one for notifying community members of violations and one for refuting the violation. Both processes are labor intensive for everyone involved; the lawyers, the management company, the board, and the homeowners - while also not being able to answer how it solves the goal of fewer violations. The lawyers even state that fines are already covered in the currnt documentation, so what are we actually gaining here other than overhead?
A “cease and desist letter” for every violation is very advantageous for the lawyers who coincidentally drafted the language. Our household received one such letter from them that turned out to be a waste of community funds and totally baseless. I’m not sure of the benefit for the community.
“If a Lot Owner fails to abate an alleged continuing violation of the Declaration, Bylaws and/or rules and regulations within 15 days of the cease and desist letter, or commits the same type of violation within 12 months of the cease and desist letter”
This is too broad to apply to every single violation. If someone put up their giant Taylor Swift statue and painted the exterior of their house for a sports season, (exaggerated scenarios that were suggested as plausible problems) it may take more than 15 days to fix. But if someone received a violation for uncut grass in the spring and another for uncut grass later in the fall, it doesn’t feel like the blanket statement should apply to the statue violation and the grass violation in the same way.
Much of the language lists timing as “not less than X days” but doesn’t provide similar accountability that it ‘will not take longer than X days’.
The sample fine list has “Architectural change without proper approval or other violations of the architectural control rules”: is the plan to fine people for not going through the ARC in addition to fining them for specific violations?
Per the documentation, if a violation has been assessed and not fixed, and the homeowner has been reminded of their ability to request a hearing, will the board just continue to fine them after every board meeting?
If the actual goal is to have pretty yards, a safe neighborhood, and homes that people want to buy, that is where the effort should be spent. Using community funds to pay lawyers and HPS to police the neighborhood is ill placed. Can we use our community funds and resources in creative, more community-focused ways that directly drive toward the above mentioned goals?
We should take a lesson from McKeldin Mall at the University of Maryland. Instead of creating squared paths and continuously landscaping the grounds to conform to an arbitrary plan, they allowed students to walk the paths that made sense and then paved over the areas where the grass died. We should be looking for solutions that let people own the homes the way they want to and then align the HOA to support and align with those needs instead of fighting them.
