Along with the annual assessment mailing the Board has included a member driven proposed 2024 Covenant Change and a notice of invitation to a special community meeting to be held on Tuesday, January 16th 2024, at the Madison West District Police Station community room at 1710 McKenna Blvd. Gammon Road.
The Current Covenents.
As you are aware, all our properties are subject to the Declaration of Covenants, which, among many things, establishes our Homeowners Association. These Covenants have not been modified since enactment by the developer of our subdivision in 1981. A copy of the Covenants is available to review on this website at www.westhaventrails.org/covenants.
During both the 2022 and 2023 annual meeting some Association Members have requested that we reevaluate and change our current Covenants with respect to voting rights and how assessments are made. These two items are linked in our Covenants. Under our current Covenants, each residential dwelling "unit" owner provided one (1) vote. For owners of single-family homes, a homeowner has one dwelling unit and thus one (1) vote, but an owner of a multiunit apartment building has many votes (i.e., a 50-unit apartment building has 50 votes exercised by the owner). Historically, this has resulted in owners of multiunit buildings having a greater impact on elections for Board members, relative to single family homeowners, though this is also because many owners do not participate in electing the Board.
Regarding assessments, under our Covenants the amount assessed to each owner is based on the number of residential dwelling units, using a formula which takes into consideration the number of bedrooms in that dwelling unit. Historically, this has resulted in a relatively low annual assessment to single family homeowners, but a much higher assessment to multiunit building owners, because of the number of dwelling units in those buildings. Assessments are used for the Association to pay for maintenance of common areas, including park equipment and park maintenance.
The Proposed Amendment.
Under a proposed amendment to the Covenants, voting rights and assessments would be calculated to be the same for each lot/parcel. In other words, single family homeowners would continue to have one (1) vote, but a lot/parcel owner of a multiunit building would also only have one (1) vote. In addition, assessments would also be based on parcels. A single-family homeowner would pay an assessment equal to his neighbor, but the parcel owner of a multiunit building would also pay the same amount of assessment.
These changes would result in an increase in voting power of single-family homeowners, since the voting power of multiunit owners would be reduced to one (1) vote per lot. By our calculations, there are currently 841 dwelling units in the subdivision, so there are that many votes. Under the proposed change, the number of votes would be reduced to 466, since the multiunit properties would be reduced to one (1) vote per lot. This change results in more weight being afforded to each single vote.
The change in the assessment process would result in a net decrease in the assessments to multiunit parcel owners but increase it for other parcel owners. We have an example below of how the change in the assessment process would affect an assessment of a single-family home, using our 2023 budget.
> Current assessment on a single-family home: $85 three (3) Bedrooms or more. $63.75 two (2) Bedrooms.
> Proposed assessment on a lot/parcel, including a single-family home, regardless of bedrooms: $120.11
Please note that the proposed amendment to the Covenants will not increase the Association’s budget or expenses; rather the same budget will be collected but in an equal amount from each lot owner. Additionally, the proposed assessment on the lot/parcel does not include any special assessments or private court fees.
For additional details please refer to the following documents:
If you have question or concerns regarding this proposal, please plan to attend our special community meeting where we plan to have an open and transparent discussion. In attendance will be our association Attorney who will be able to address any legal or process concerns. - Thank you, Board of Directors