North Ranch POA Asked to Vote on New CC&Rs and By-Laws
By: Sher Hann
Earlier this month the 462 property owners within the North Ranch Property Owners’ Association received a packet via mail containing the proposed new CC&Rs and By-Laws. Within the week another smaller package arrived in the mailbox via hand delivery, this one asking for a vote to disapprove the CC&Rs and By-Laws.
The letter accompanying the first package explained that the current CC&Rs, being more than 30 years old, predate California state statutes governing all homeowner associations. New documents, the letter explained, are needed for the association to be in compliance with state law. Furthermore, the current documents are sometimes ambiguous and not “user-friendly,” the cover letter stated.
The bone of contention prompting the second letter focuses on the storage of recreational vehicles. The proposed new documents would allow for such storage provided RVs are not visible. The 14 property owners who issued the vote-to-disapprove letter argue that commercial storage is available for recreational vehicles and therefore no RVs should be allowed within the neighborhood.
Another issued posed by the concerned 14, which includes two current Board members, is the power Board members would gain in the new documents to create new rules without a vote of the property owners. In addition, the proposed By-Laws state there shall be one vote per lot, and that for election of Board members, owners may cast one vote for each open position but may not cumulate their votes for any one candidate.
In as letter to all property owners dated March 16, 2010, attorney Glen Kulik, whose law firm participated heavily in the development of the new documents, issued a rebuttal. In a nutshell, he indicated homeowners can disapprove just the items they dislike without disapproving the entire document, that banning RVs would be held illegal if challenged, and that other concerns would violate California Civil Code.
While this may be turgid stuff, if you are a North Ranch property owner, be sure to review the proposed package and subsequent letters, and then cast your vote – yeah or nay, no later than May 1.
If you are hoping for the CliffNotes on the significant changes, you won’t find them. There are too many changes to itemize them, according to North Ranch Center staff. For other questions, call the North Ranch Center at 805.373.3725 between 1:00 and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday.
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