If you’ve looked at our website’s Pages & Links area recently, you would have noticed a goodly number of new “Draft” and “Proposed” documents. What are those documents and why are they there?
Two factors gave birth to those documents, both of which have a profound impact on the processes and manner in which the Springs HOA is managed, as well as providing new or changed rules, restrictions, and permissions that each Springs homeowners is obligated to abide by:
1. The 82nd Texas Legislature that met in 2011 adopted 16 laws that directly affect HOAs and their members. All of those laws are in effect now, with the majority of them becoming effective on January 1, 2012. Those laws required the Springs HOA to modify its Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCRs), which provide the rules by which each owner must follow as a member of the Springs and its HOA, and our Bylaws, which provide the processes and rules by which the Springs HOA operates, such as the election of members to the Board of Directors, the conduct of Board and member meetings, etc. The specific documents that the Springs Board of Directors developed in order to incorporate the 16 new laws into our existing CCRs and Bylaws are indicated by the “DRAFT” designation preceding their title. So that you don’t have to read each of the DRAFT documents to learn what and where changes have been made to our CCRs and Bylaws, the Board has included two documents that have PROPOSED preceding their title – each of these documents incorporates the new DRAFT documents into the respective CCR or Bylaw article by using strikethrough text to identify the original text of the document that has been deleted (e.g., strikethrough) , while all added or changed text as a result of the new laws is identified by bold text. The “DRAFT” and “PROPOSED” annotations will be removed once each of those documents have been reviewed and approved by the HOA’s attorney and then properly recorded with the County Clerk’s Office.
2. One of the new laws added the requirement for HOAs to record all “dedicatory” or governing documents with the County Clerk’s office. These documents include the HOA’s CCRs, Bylaws, Board Resolutions, and amendments to either the CCRs or Bylaws. That law further stated that those dedicatory documents that were not recorded by January 1, 2012 “had no effect,” or became void and unenforceable on that date.
The Springs Board of Directors approved five amendments to the Bylaws in October 2000, which were subsequently approved by a majority of the Springs owners at the Annual General Members Meeting (AGMM) in November 2000:
a. Article 3.01 (Annual Meeting) – changed the annual member meeting from 2:00pm on the first business day of November of each year to a date and time designated by the Board of Directors
b. Article 3.06 (Quorum) – increased the quorum requirements for member meetings from 10% (9 owners) to 51% (44 owners).
c. Article 4.03 (Board of Directors Meetings) – changed the frequency of Board meetings from monthly to quarterly.
d. Article 11.04 (Dues) – added a Late Charge penalty of $25.00 to owners who failed to pay their special or annual assessment within 30 days of the due date.
e. Article 15.01 (Amendments to Bylaws) – transferred approval authority for amending the Bylaws from a majority of the Board of Directors to a majority of owners at a member meeting that achieves a quorum.
The HOA members approved a sixth amendment to the Bylaws at the AGMM in 2004: Article 4.02 (Board of Directors Tenure) – changed the term of office for members of the Board of Directors from staggered 1, 2, or 3 years to a standard term of 2 years.
Our CCRs have been modified or have had additional guidance or implementing instructions adopted through amendments or resolutions:
a. Article VII (Fences) – the Springs HOA’s Board of Directors approved a resolution that specified the stain color for privacy fences in the Springs, for owners who opt to stain their fence. That resolution was adopted in November 2006.
b. Article X (Temporary Structures) – the Springs developers adopted an amendment to the CCRs in December 1998 that allowed the parking of trailers, campers, motor homes, or recreational vehicles on a lot for the purpose of loading or unloading the vehicle; however, such parking was restricted to 4 times in any month, and for no more than 24 hours on any one occurrence (the original CCRs prohibited parking of those types of vehicles at any time).
c. Article XX (Dishes, Antennas, and Solar Collectors) – The Stone Oak Property Owner Association’s Board of Directors approved an amendment to their CCRs that deleted the restrictions on the placement of small satellite receiver dishes on Stone Oak homes (the original CCRs prohibited such dishes from being viewable by the public).
d. Article XXX (Enforcement) –The Springs HOA’s Board of Directors approved a resolution that authorized the Board to assess a monetary fine as a special assessment to a Springs owner who violates a CCR article and does not remedy that violation within the timeframe assigned by the Board. That resolution was adopted in April 2001.
e. Article XXXV (Covenants for Maintenance Assessments) - The Springs HOA’s Board of Directors approved a resolution that provided a specific sequence of events that would be followed for delinquent assessments that were not paid within a specific timeframe, followed by attorney actions that could lead to foreclosure of the property. That resolution was adopted in October 2007.
Unfortunately of all those modifying documents to our Bylaws and CCRs, the only ones that were properly recorded with the County Clerk’s Office were the CCR amendment approved by the Springs developers in 1998 (Temporary Structures), the CCR amendment approved by the Stone Oak POA (Satellite Dishes), and the CCR Resolution approved by the Springs HOA’s Board of Directors in 2007 (Covenants for Maintenance Assessments). Because the six Bylaw amendments and the remaining two Board resolutions approved by the Springs Board of Directors or owners were not properly recorded with the County Clerk’s Office by January 1, 2012, those documents became void on that date. As such, when your read the PROPOSED CCRs and Bylaws on our website, in addition to those documents being annotated to reflect the additions and modifications resulting from the new HOA laws, you will find that the text has reverted to its original form for those unrecorded and now void Bylaw amendments and CCR resolutions (i.e., the AGMM is once again required to be conducted at 2pm on November 1 (for 2012), the Board of Directors is the approving authority for Bylaw amendments, there is no standard stain color for privacy fences, etc.).
We hope that the above information provides the insight you need in order to understand the whys and what’s of the multitude of new documents available on our website’s Pages & Links area. If you have any questions concerning any of those DRAFT or PROPOSED documents, please contact any Springs Board member or our Association Manager.
