Revivify Architectural Control

Started by WilliamS1 • 4 replies • 1901 views

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WilliamS1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 113

Posted:

We are a town home community with 110 units. Our bylaws require our HOA to have an Architectural Control Committee consisting of three or four members of the board and an equal amount or less of homeowners. We are an older HOA and this ACC has been overlooked (non-exisitent) for some time. There have never been any ACC rules put together or modified since inception. We are wanting to revive this because of some recent issues so...

Is there a good way to get some ACC rule set started?

It can be approved by the board but should it also go before the homeowners to get overall approval?

Would anyone have a sample of theirs that I could use as a type of template?

I will appreciate any ideas!!

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

William, I am surprised your By-laws require so many members on the ACC. Do you really have enough items to even need an ACC, if so does it need to have more than 3 members who could also be Board members?

WilliamS1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 113

Posted:

Hi Roger

Yes that what the by-laws suggests, and your thought is likely why it has been ignored. We have a hard time keeping that many people involved on the board let alone the AC. We should really amend the requirement and get on with it.

I have been studying this and I have found that we are a Tudor Style (mock) town home. We sit on the edge of a golf course and our landscape is full, mature and beautiful. After viewing the several web sites, this information (Tudor) would at least give us some initial guidelines to follow and return back to.

Here is some of the problems that we are encountering.
- excesive cable wires around,
- non uniforma and un- maintained exterior lighting,
-some people are wanting to do stone work in front of their homes,
- some are wanting to changing windows and doors.

We need guidelines and I am just not sure how to establish the initial draft.

GeraldT1 (<Not Specified>)
Posts: 519

Posted:

Hi William,

I am very well versed in the development of Architectural Review standards, I helped develop them in my community for ratification by our condo board.

The standards were developed in order to clarify details and to give unit owners the flexibility to personalize the exterior of their homes and surrounding area while maintaining visual harmony throughout the community.

The premise I started with was that the standards should permit a class of low impact modifications by documenting them on Application B, and a method for owners to modify and set new standards if they so desire by submitting Application A. Regarding landscaping we created a plant list of approved perennials and annual plantings (any annual with a mature height of 2 feet or less was permitted so long as it conformed to the locations). We developed guidelines for locations that plantings could occur. The standards did not permit something that the governing documents prohibited, but did expand the unit owners rights to personalize their environment within a relaxed set of rules.

Because your community is older, and owners have been modifying without checks and balances, you are opening up a pandora's box with the potential for unit owner objections. Enforcement of the standards needs to have a notification policy of violations, advertising your intentions to set standards needs to be on a published agenda well in advance of the meeting. Your gov docs may permit rules and regs to be developed cart blanch by the board, however it's a good policy to rise above this and let people know you are developing policies that may affect them. I will find my ARC standards and see if there is anything more I can add. I think the methodology, not the specifics, are more relevant because what the actual standards that works for my community will probably not work for yours.

GeraldT1

WilliamS1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 113

Posted:

Gerald

Thank you so much for your answer and any further information that you can pass on.

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