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Dakota Ridge Homeowners Association
Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2006

A meeting of the Dakota Ridge Homeowners Association was held on August 17, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. in the Board Room of The Commercial Property Group, LLC at 3001 S. Lincoln, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Board Members: Diane Pietig
Will Bashan
David Zedeck
Tim DePuy


Guests: Jeff Couriveau Steve and Jackie Hoffman (by phone)
Tom Effinger
Medora Fralick Stephanie McDonald

The meeting of the Board of the Dakota Ridge Homeowners Association was called to order at 11:00 a.m.


Financials
Nancy Kounovsky of The Commercial Property Group, LLC presented the Financials for review and comment and is included with these minutes for the record. The road paving for Trail Ridge is not yet complete due to some finishing to be completed. Once completed any funds left will be returned to the lot owners that paid for the road to be paved.
It was suggested that the ARC committee review the Building Envelope Change Fee to consider whether it is adequate or not. Medora stated that each lot is being tracked during the building process to see if overages in cost occur. Tim suggested that any overages be traced back and billed to the individual lot owner.
The Board asked Medora to send a letter to all lot owners with information as to what is fineable according to the DRHOA Covenants.
Tim asked that information be provided as to what factors may be driving the overages to occur in any Budget line items and that the Association Fees may need to be adjusted to cover the costs. Medora stated that more will be known by the end of the year to adjust the budget for next year. Will stated that a pay-as-you-go system may be an alternative.

Will made a motion to send a letter to all lot owners stating that the DRHOA Covenants will be enforced without any further notices, providing a specific fine schedule to include the ARC Fees, Building Variance Requests and any other areas as provided for in the Covenants. It was seconded by David. The motion was approved unanimously.
Nancy provided information regarding Wells Fargo investments. A strategy of staggering maturity dates on brokered CD’s was suggested. After discussion, the item was tabled and the money will be left in the money market account until David talks to Jill Leary at Wells Fargo to negotiate better interest rates.

Tim made a motion to invest the money using a staggered maturity schedule not to exceed nine months for each CD which was seconded by Diane. The motion was approved unanimously.


Building Envelope Change Request – Lot 17, Hoffman
Medora stated that the DRHOA attorney, Bruce Jarchow, gave direction that the Hoffman’s request is substantially complete and that the Board could make a decision today. Tim did not feel he was informed enough at this point to vote today. David suggested postponing a vote and scheduling a special meeting to vote. Will stated that as a property owner adjacent to lot 17, he has not given his response yet as provided for by the DRHOA process and therefore the Board has not responded to his response. Diane stated that since this is the third request submitted by the Hoffman’s she would like the Board to review the request today. She noted that a previous envelope change request was recently approved with contingencies by the current Board. Diane also informed the Board she had walked the lot with Jim Nichols this morning prior to the meeting. David noted that Jim Nichols gave him his proxy to vote.
Jeff Couriveau, builder for the Hoffman’s, Tom Effinger, surveyor for the Hoffman’s and Steve and Jackie Hoffman (by phone) joined the meeting. Steve was informed that the Board is giving him the opportunity to present his request and that following Steve’s comments, Will Bashan would be given an opportunity to offer his comments. Then the Board would discuss the proposal. David informed the Hoffman’s he would like to postpone a decision until later and Tim expressed that he would like to have more information before voting. Steve explained that in his first proposal he did not want to encroach on the hillside vegetation and the envelope moved closer to the Bashan lot. In the new proposal, he tried to balance between backing away from the Simon lot but not too close to the Bashan lot. He feels this proposal puts the house in a more hidden position. Tom explained that due to the nature of the lot, this was best possible solution for all concerned. Medora noted that the house plans have gone through the ARC process and has been approved. Diane stated that the ARC recommends approval of third envelope change. Steve said that he had contractual liability with his builder and is committed to proceeding with the building process. He also noted that the DRHOA Covenants allow for a process of consideration for variances and that variances have been granted. The Hoffman’s and their representatives left the meeting at this time.
Will made a statement as a contiguous lot owner to lot 17. He objects to the building envelope change by the Hoffman’s. He stated that the view from his lot will be directly blocked. He also noted that he is allowed ten days to respond and that the ten days is not complete until tomorrow, August 18th. He also objected to the ARC recommending the change without having his response. Will noted for the record that he thinks the process is flawed and he feels the Board has acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner. He also noted that he had no knowledge that the Hoffman’s would have their surveyor and builder present at the meeting to answer questions regarding the change request. He stated that his architect, developer and real estate broker have all advised him that this proposal would negatively impact his lot. Will stated that he feels this process has been one sided and he does not think he has received no due process.
Diane said that Will’s previous objections to the request were reviewed by ARC and the committee felt this third proposal addresses the concerns stated in that objection letter. The ARC was told the third envelope proposal was the result of input provided by Simons, Valicenti and Will and that all three agreed to the new proposal from the Hoffman’s. Medora confirmed this for ARC with both Jim Simon and Tom Valicenti. In the past a lack of response has been interpreted by DRHOA as agreement per Bruce Jarchow. As of 9 days no response had been received from Will. Diane pointed out that ARC should have waited for 10 days. She also pointed out that ARC is merely making a recommendation and is not authorized to approve the request. David said that there was approval before the 10 day objection deadline. David also noted that even though a previous variance had been approved before the deadline with contingencies, the Board should not do it with this request.
At this time Will recused himself and left the room. Discussion ensued and it was determined that the vote would be deferred at this time.

Tim made a motion to schedule a vote for Tuesday, August 22nd at 1:00 p.m. at The Commercial Property Group, LLC board room to vote on the latest variance request by the Hoffman’s for lot 17 with any objections received in order to accommodate the 10 day period to either approve or deny the request and that all Board members will have the opportunity to walk the lot. The motion was seconded by David. The motion was approved unanimously.
Following the vote, Will Bashan returned to the meeting.

Roads
There was no update at this time.

ARC – Diane Pietig
A complaint regarding construction parking on the road was received by ARC. Construction workers are required to park on only one side of the road. Medora has sent a letter to the appropriate individuals at the Peterson and Valicenti projects reminding them of this requirement. In addition the workers at the Peterson site have been reminded that heavy equipment is not to be operated on the weekend. Future violations of these requirements will result in fines being levied.
CPG has received a complaint from Lot 4 regarding the noise being generated by mechanical equipment on the Peterson lot. Peterson also submitted a request for building a screen on one side of the equipment. After discussion the committee asked Medora to contact the Peterson landscape architect, Mike Campbell, and ask him to propose a solution to the noise and screening issues.
Diane reported that she received a telephone call from Marci Valicenti regarding the structure that has been constructed around mechanical equipment on Lot 5. The Board had requested the structure be removed within 30 days and landscaping be used to shield the equipment. Marci stated that the landscaping has been completed. Diane informed her that the information would be passed along to CPG and that Medora will view the completed work as part of her construction inspection.
Hoffman’s house plans were received from the DRHOA Architects and were approved by the committee with the usual contingencies for submittal of missing information cited by the reviewing architect.
The Hoffman’s will be informed of the decision made previously in the meeting. Will was also informed of the decision to postpone the vote. Will said he should have the same opportunity to have his own representatives present his case for objecting to the proposed envelope change at the next meeting. He said since he was on vacation, August 22nd, he would not be able to bring in his representatives at that time. Medora asked if he would be willing to telephone into the meeting. Will stated he would not be comfortable having his representatives here when he was on the telephone and not here in person. He said he thought he could arrange to meet with the Board mid-September. David said he felt we should address the request in August. Will then agreed to a meeting August 31st.

A motion was made by David to reschedule the August 22nd meeting to August 31st at 1:00 p.m. to be held at The Commercial Property Group, LLC Board room at which time Will can have representatives present for a 30 minute presentation, all letters to be received in accordance with the ten day period and a vote to be taken at that time. The motion was seconded by Tim. The vote was unanimously approved.
Water Bills – Brown
Diane suggested that watering be turned off at the North entrance due to the sprinklers not working efficiently and wasting water.

David made a motion to cap off the sprinkling system at the North entrance and rescind the water credit currently in effect with the Brown’s. Diane seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. A letter will be sent to the Brown’s informing them of the Board’s decision.

Other

Complaints have been received concerning barking dogs and dogs off owners property while not leashed in the neighborhood which are violations of the DRHOA Covenants. A letter will be sent to the owners in violation.

There was a request to expedite the minutes faster onto the DRHOA website.

A request was made to add the 7th Amendment of the Covenants to the website.

It was noted that the William’s have been remodeling their home for what appears to be an extended period of time. Their file will be reviewed to determine when their 18 month construction period expires.

Tim noted that political signs were placed on common areas at Dakota Ridge and as a homeowner he asked the candidate for their removal. According to Senate Bill 100, political signage is allowed on private lots even though the Association’s Covenants prohibit it. Political signage is not allowed on common areas however.


The next meeting is August 31, 2006 at 1:00 p.m.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,


Stephanie McDonald
Secretary for the meeting