Amending Covenants to include an Impact Fee and Damage Deposit for new home construction.

I have posted before on earlier activity regarding our Impact Fee and Damage Deposit, but did not want to confuse this new issue.

We are now planning to propose to our Members an amendment to our Covenants. Some of our Board think it is appropriate to simply add the wording from the resolution as follows:
4.02 Commencing on January 15th of the year following the Owner’s purchase of the Lot, there shall be assessed against each Lot owned by any Owner, an annual Assessment levied by the Declarant (or instead by the Board once the Association is formed) to be used exclusively for providing for the common welfare of the residents of the Development, including but not limited to, the acquisition, improvement, and maintenance of the Roads and Common Areas, the enforcement of this Declaration, and once formed, the payment of the necessary operating costs, debts and administrative and other expenses of the Association.
NEW WORDING TO BE ADDED
An additional Impact Fee of $ $750 and a Damage Deposit of $2000 will be paid to the Association before any new home construction begins. The Damage Deposit of $2000 will be refundable with interest in the event no discernable damage specifically caused by the owner or their contractors/subs. Fee and Deposit for improvements or remodeling to be prorated and assessed by the Board.

I am concerned that this approach does not provide for any flexibility in the future and am looking for a more generic way to include this.
Wording such as:
x.xx The Board of the Association shall have the right to levy assessments against a single, or multiple lots, Fees for certain activities/actions that are considered as having fiscal consequences, real or potential, for the Association. Before a fee can be levied for any described activity/action, that activity/action and the associated fee must be presented to all Members for a vote, and receive majority approval from all Members in good standing, not a majority of only those who choose to vote.

While our resolution was intended to provide teeth to one of our Covenants
3.02 Owners shall be liable to the Declarant or the Association, as the case may be, for any damage caused by the Owner, its invitees, employees and subcontractors, to the roads and common areas.
This does not appear to be a good place to add language about a fee.

Any advice would be welcome, including "Belly up and spend the money on an attorney." In reality that would have to wait for next years budget, but if necessary the wait may be appropriate.
Thanks,
Martyn

We are in Georgia.
We know of a number of HOA's that have these type Fees and Deposits that have been inplace for many years, but they do not appear in their Covenants as such. Possibly the largest to mention one well known example is Big Canoe.
Martyn

Roger,
The resolution was a resolution from the membership voted into place at our last AGM.
We are now wanting to pursue amending the Covenants (which I think you had suggested/endorsed) and my question is which wording is best for an amendement.
A.Simply adding the words from our resolution as follows:

An additional Impact Fee of $ $750 and a Damage Deposit of $2000 will be paid to the Association before any new home construction begins. The Damage Deposit of $2000 will be refundable with interest in the event no discernable damage specifically caused by the owner or their contractors/subs. Fee and Deposit for improvements or remodeling to be prorated by the Board.

Or B. Making the amendment more generic (thus avoiding the need for future amendment of the Covenants if we needed to change the Fee/Deposit in say 5 years: that is having the concept and mechanism in the Covenants not the Fee for 'this year'). Wording such as:

x.xx The Board of the Association shall have the right to levy assessments against a single, or multiple lots, Fees for certain activities/actions that are considered as having fiscal consequences, real or potential, for the Association. Before a fee can be levied for any described activity/action, that activity/action and the associated fee must be presented to all Members for a vote, and receive majority approval from all Members in good standing, not a majority of only those who choose to vote.

I would not think that we need to be changing the Covenants often, or is it normal to amend Covenants on a regular basis?

Hope this clarifies my question.
Thanks,
Martyn

Roger,
Many thanks I now understand what you were saying about combining.
We like the idea, a complete new section of the Covenants titled as you suggest.
We still have concern regarding the actual figures being in the Covenants re changing these at a later date, if necessary/appropriate. Looks OK to us with the figures omitted.
That is; the concept is clearly there in the Covenants, and AS YOU SAY BUYERS CAN ASK FOR THE CURRENT FIGURES THE SAME AS THEY ASK FOR THE CURRENT ANNUAL DUES. Great point thanks for drawing our attention to this viewpoint. Yesterday we said that is so obvious why didn't we think of it before!

Re the Board handling Special Assessments: We have concerns about writing in any absolute power of the Board to act without membership approval/knowledge when it comes to collecting money/imposing fines. Write the rules to avoid any chance of personalities (likes/dislikes) becoming involved now, or more, importantly in the future.

From conversation yesterday we thought that the By Laws could be expanded to address the methodology for the Board to take action re special assessments on INDIVIDUAL lots. We already have the By Laws controlling how special assessments on ALL lots gain approval. Appears to be a logical extension.
By Laws can more easily be addressed by the membership if there appears to be a problem than trying to undo an absolute power in the Covenants.

Any additional comments always welcome.
We very much appreciate your input.
Thanks,
Martyn