The Rainbow Lakes West 3rd HOA Board has been working on changes and enhancements to our covenants over the last several months. We recently mailed a copy of the proposed new covenants and we are scheduled to have a meeting regarding the covenants this Thursday evening. The HOA board encourages you to come to the meeting this meeting so we can answer all of your questions, many of which have been misunderstood or misrepresented by a neighbor going door-to-door in our area.
Our sole intent in updating the covenants is to assure that our home values remain steady or increase due to the quality of our upkeep, appearance, and care of our properties. Your HOA board is made up of your neighbors who will also be abiding by these covenants. We would not propose anything that seemed unreasonable or unfair. The covenant changes would ensure that the HOA board could enforce covenants in a timely and effective manner and help enhance the visual appeal of our neighborhood.
We would ask that each homeowner read the proposed changes yourself and refrain from making judgments until you have attended the meeting or have spoken with a board member to hear the reasoning behind the changes.
We will welcome the opportunity to dialogue with you regarding any concerns you may have. Please come with an open mind and the understanding that we only want to improve our neighborhood.
Here is a description of some of the proposed changes that has one neighbor campaigning door-to-door and the thinking behind these changes.
G. No automobile, truck, motorcycle, boat, trailer of any type, camper, recreational vehicle or any other vehicle of any type or description may be stored or permanently, continually or regularly parked on any Building Site or driveway. “Stored, permanently, continually or regularly parked” shall mean parking or storing said vehicle on a Building Site for more then seventy-two (72) consecutive hours. Vehicle repairs other than ordinary light maintenance are not permitted on the Property unless taking place inside of the garage of a Residence.
In summary, this change is to prevent using your home driveways as a storage facility. The objective of this point is to prevent “project cars”, boats, trailers, RVs, etc. from being stored permanently in driveways. As long as you move/drive your vehicles parked on the driveway, there is no issue. –or– If you regularly move your vehicle(s) parked in the driveway it is not an issue. Inspections of the neighborhood are only done once every two weeks. If you have a vehicle, boat, trailer, RV, etc. that sits month after month (or year after year) in your driveway, we feel it detracts from the look of the neighborhood and hurts everyone’s property values.
M. Each Owner shall keep and maintain all Building Sites and all Improvements therein or thereon, in good order and repair including, by way of illustration and not by way of limitation, the seeding, watering and mowing of all lawns, the pruning and cutting of all trees, shrubbery and plantings, and the painting(or other appropriate external care) of all Improvements, all in a manner and with such frequency as in consistent with good property management in relation to the high quality residential neighborhood to be developed on the Property. Owners of Lots adjacent to lakes shall be required to maintain such Lots all the way to the water’s edge to include planting or seeding grass, mowing, watering, trimming and weed control.
In summary, this change documents what has been a verbal rule for many years. The objective is to put this into writing instead of just word-of-mouth. If you have a lake lot, you maintain the grass up to the water’s edge of the lake.
S. Notice of non-compliance and hearing. The Board of Directors or their agent shall have the authority to determine compliance with this Declaration. Upon receipt of an allegation of a Lot’s non-compliance, the Board of Directors shall review the allegations and determine if action is necessary. If the Board of Directors determines that action is necessary, the Owner of the Lot shall be notified in writing of the allegation and the Owner shall have ten (10) days to request a hearing with the Board of Directors to dispute the allegations. If the Owner fails to respond to the notification with ten (10) days, or after a hearing, the Board of Directors determines the Owner’s dispute of the allegation is without merit, the board or its agent shall notify the Owner in writing of the Board of Directors’ determination of non-compliance. The Owner shall have fifteen (15) days from the date of the notice of non-compliance to bring the Lot into compliance, determination of compliance to be the Board of Directors’ sole discretion.
In summary, this gives homeowners that are cited for being out of compliance a chance to present their case to the HOA Board. It outlines the number of days to make changes based on the citation and/or number of days to meet with the HOA Board.
S-1 Damages for breach of Declaration. In the event the Lot is not in compliance within fifteen (15) days from the date of the notice of non compliance, the Owner shall pay the Association an amount equal to $50 per occurrence of non-compliance issues from the date of the notice of non-compliance, not to exceed $500 per month of non-compliance, not as a penalty but as liquidated damages for the Owner’s breach of the Declaration.
In summary, this gives the HOA the ability to levy a fine for those homeowners that refuse to comply with the covenants. Without this section, the HOA can only ask an owner to make changes. If the homeowner refuses, there is nothing more the HOA Board can do.
The changes in our covenants have been reviewed and approved by HOA Management company which manages and reviews covenants of over 160+ Wichita area HOA’s. In addition, the proposed covenants have been review by an attorney that specializes in HOA covenants. The HOA board has been working for years to enhance and improve our covenants making them similar to other Wichita HOA’s. We are happy to finally have covenants at Rainbow Lakes West 3rd which are similar to other west-side HOAs.
Finally, the changes proposed to our covenants are standard with most other Wichita HOA’s covenants. If you want to read other HOA’s covenants, here are a few links.
The Moorings – http://mooringsfirsthoa.com/downloads/pdf/covenants.pdf
Forest Lakes – http://forestlakeshomeowners.com/Resources/Documents/covenants.PDF
Auburn Hills – http://auburnhills-hoa.org/user/file/DCCR-Auburn%20Hills%2013_search.pdf