In another thread the question of home owners associations was raised. I just did a post on 55places a month or so back where I said I did a quick Google search on HOA complaints and it came back with well over a million links. Frightening stuff, as those being gored often find respite by posting their anger online. It's always the perfect segue for me because I seldom fail to take the opportunity to post the Sun City Home Owners Association (SCHOA) story on 55places. I won't belabor the point here, there's been numerous threads in the past where we compare the good, the bad and the ugly of HOA's with ours. Suffice to say at $20 a year and on a voluntary basis, there's no better deal in town. Our CC&R's are mandatory. When you buy a property you agree to the deed restrictions, though there's less than a dozen of them and are easy to understand and comply with. When we rebuilt SCHOA in 2007, we added some things that have been a godsend. We created two programs that are still in place today. Residents who have compliance issues but can't afford it can apply for help and volunteers clean up their properties for them. Properties that have been left to sit by absentee owners who refuse to clean them up, face the association doing it for them and then billed for it. And we did create a stronger enforcement division, but our first goal was to work with owners, rather than hammer them. I will say I am hearing some troubling things, I hope they are just rumors, and not true. First up there's been mention of the financials not being available at meetings. As a non-profit we were totally transparent. Now I'm hearing you have to make an appointment to see them. Huh? The second thing is something that we have struggled with in the past. The one word most often used to describe HOA's is Gestapo. When we rebuilt it was with an eye for problem solving, not creating them. Seems there's some who think gazebo's are a problem. We don't allow visible storage sheds, but there's probably a 1000 or more gazebo's in Sun City. Covered outdoor areas are commonplace and apparently some of the folks are getting their shorts in a bind over it. We've been down that road before, and I just don't get it. Hopefully common sense will prevail and SCHOA will continue on with the same solid principles we built in a handful of years back.
Whoa now Bill. You know that there are 3 sides to all stories. One person's "gazebo" could be a nice redwood stained or prefab structure adding to the beauty and functionality of their home/neighborhood. Another person could be a handyman and build a unfinished 2x2 covered in sunscreen or plastic sheeting so it can double as a greenhouse. Which would you rather have as a neighbor? The building restrictions in Sun City are some of the most lenient in any home owners association and you can't beat the cost of the annual $20 per household. Hopefully a balance is struck between enforcement and flexibility.
I don't know the particulars ad it does matter, at least to me, what that structure likes like. That said, it wasn't all that long ago when some at SCHOA said no gazebo's of any kind. There's a catch all in the CC&R's called "condition of property" that covers ugly so there is flexibility. How about the financials aggie? what's up there?
Thank you Bill & Aggie for your comments. Things at SCHOA seem to change quite often these days and I try to keep up. As far as I know we are now allowing gazebos and pergolas on a case by case basis for the reasons Aggie stated. As far as the financial statements being available, I know any SCHOA member can come in any time without an appointment to see them. I will check into them being available at our monthly board meetings.
