Suggestions/opinions on exterior standards

Elizabeth, usually the Board is authorized by the Declaration to approve the ARC guidelines. However, it is wise to present these to the members at a members meeting for ratification. The amount of detail varies greatly between HOAs. The following R&Rs provide four general guidelines plus information upon request on paint chips, roofing materials, etc. By contrast some associations desire details which can be over 35 pages in length. It depends on the amount of detail desired. One advantage of details is maintaining consistency as the members of the ARC change. Disadvantages of being very detailed are less flexibility and the more detail the more difficult to develop and get approved.

Rules and Regulations on Architectural Modifications

All exterior modifications to a Property must be approved by the Architectural Review Committee (ARC). The ARC members and chairperson are appointed by the Board and may be removed at any time by the Board. Members of the ARC shall serve for such term as may be designated by the Board or until they resign or are replaced by a new ARC member selected by a majority vote of the Board members. The objectives of the ARC, simply stated, are to keep the community attractive for the enjoyment of the residents and to maintain or improve property values. The ARC chairperson shall be responsible to make periodic reports to the Board of all ARC activities. The chairperson shall provide copies of all correspondence to the Managing Agent and shall coordinate with the Agent to achieve effective monitoring for Covenant
compliance.

A homeowner desiring to make modifications to the exterior of their property shall submit, in duplicate, a Request to Modify Exterior of Property form to the ARC. Currently there is no fee required with the submittal of a request. Approval of a request requires complete execution of the Request form and meeting such standards as may be set, from time to time, by the Board or the ARC. The ARC shall approve requests when, in their reasonable discretion, the requested
modification:
1) is compatible with and in harmony with the neighborhood;
2) will maintain or improve property values;
3) will maintain or improve the appearance of the neighborhood; and
4) will maintain or improve the beauty, wholesomeness, and attractiveness of the neighborhood and
the quality of life of other Owners.

If an Owner does not receive approval for their request, they have the right of appeal to the Board by requesting a Hearing. Refer to the Bylaws Article X, Notice and Hearing Procedures. If an Owner makes a modification without approval, or if the modification made is not in compliance with the approval received, the property and the Owner are in violation and subject to having the modification revised or removed and being assessed a fine. The Association shall
enforce such violations in the manner stated in the Rules and Regulations on Enforcement of
Covenants and Rules.

For a second, I thought you lived in my HOA - but you're not in Indiana!

Anyway, we have the same problem as you (my community consists of townhomes), and I've proposed us setting up design standards that might save us time when reviewing ACR requests (and perhaps encourage people to do what they should be doing anyway - submit an ACR for Board review and preapproval).

Our governing documents allow the board to set the standards, but I think a better approach might be for an architectural committee (we're still trying to set one up) to come up with proposals, we publish them for comment by the homeowners, tweak them some more, the board takes a formal vote, and then publishes the final version. This way, homeowners had a say in what the standards would be (and they can't scream about not knowing what they were).

Generally, I would think the standards should be flexible enough that people can take advantage of new technologies that will keep the work cost effective, energy efficient (since green living is the rage these days), etc. I'm not a fan of "cookie cutter" housing either, so there should be some flexibility within the standard that people could pick a variety of colors or designs, depending on what the standard is for.

For example, if one were writing design standards for a flower bed, you might say it can't contain invasive plants that might spread everywhere or climbing vines that will grow up and over the house. That still leaves lots of plants (annual or perennial) that people could plant.