Wall Petition
Back in September, many homeowners signed a petition asking the HOA to help us find a solution to raise our perimeter walls. As I understand it, the issue is still being researched. However, I have found it very interesting that the HOA next door has raised their wall that separates their community from ours. This came about, as I have heard, from residents in that neighborhood complaining about the same issues The Orchards residents are having problems with.
The residents in The Orchards, namely those that live along Cabral Trail, are constantly dealing with trespassing in our yards, lack of privacy and a number of safety and security issues. Due to a lack of manpower, I was only able to visit with the residents along Cabral Trail and hear their issues. However, I am interested to know how many other homeowners are having safety and privacy issues with their low walls.
We need to encourage the HOA and our elected leaders to help us find a working solution to a very real issue.
Back in September, many homeowners signed a petition asking the HOA to help us find a solution to raise our perimeter walls. As I understand it, the issue is still being researched. However, I have found it very interesting that the HOA next door has raised their wall that separates their community from ours. This came about, as I have heard, from residents in that neighborhood complaining about the same issues The Orchards residents are having problems with.
The residents in The Orchards, namely those that live along Cabral Trail, are constantly dealing with trespassing in our yards, lack of privacy and a number of safety and security issues. Due to a lack of manpower, I was only able to visit with the residents along Cabral Trail and hear their issues. However, I am interested to know how many other homeowners are having safety and privacy issues with their low walls.
We need to encourage the HOA and our elected leaders to help us find a working solution to a very real issue.
Arina
I missed the annual meeting, but I have a suspicion that the reason the board hasn’t done anything is because they lack the funds to do so. In general, our community is not in a very good place financially. We have more homes that don’t pay their monthly dues than you’d think. What you are asking for is something that is needed, but it’s also something that the board simply can not greenlight to be taken on due to the poor financial state of the community.
@Arina,
Thanks for following up on this. I will follow up with Pat next week (she’s out all this week) and we’ll see if she was able to come up with anything new.
As Melissa pointed out, paying for the wall is probably the issue with getting the project started.
There were a few possible options discussed at the meeting – let me see if I can recap them all:
1. Special assessment – Homeowners along the perimeter wall would split the cost to raise the wall.
2. Special assessment to the entire community – All homeowners would split the cost to raise the entire perimeter wall.
3. Each homeowner can take care of their own section of the wall. (I just want to point out that there will probably not be ANY cohesiveness in this approach.)
Of course these possible options are for the financial part of it. There are some zoning and other requirements that must be met as well.
Please chime in if anyone can think of other possible solutions.
I’ll post here again when I hear from EnTrust.
Regards,
Chris
President – BoD
I have a huge concern with idea #2 posted above. We already can’t get people to pay the regular monthly assessments. I feel like if the board approved going this route, the community as a whole would end up eating a great deal of the cost because many people wouldn’t pay. I feel bad for the people living along that wall, but there’s no way that this is something the whole community will pay for if they don’t even see the need to pay their regular dues.
Melissa-
You posed a valid concern. If we went with a special assessment for the entire community, the cost would be divided among the three-hundred-plus residents. If we assume the same failure-to-pay rate that we have for regular monthly assessments, the HOA bank account will wind up paying for something like 30% (rough estimate) of the community’s share. The Board must decide if it is reasonable for the HOA to risk absorbing that cost. But that’s just the financial cost.
If the Board moves forward on the project, we must also be prepared to absorb the cost of repairs to the wall should the extra weight prove to be too much for the existing wall. As it is now, if a wall fails, it is up to the owner of that lot to pay for the repairs. Is the HOA willing to risk that expense? Or, is it legally possible for the HOA to assign responsibility for the new wall to each homeowner?
It’s one thing to pay for an improvement to a common area like the park or pool, but when the HOA begins “improving” individual lots, it is much more complicated…and those complications are part of the reason for the delay. The petition was a great way to demonstrate the desires of the people who signed it, but even with 100% support, we must consider as many facets of this proposal as we can before we make a go/no-go decision.
I’d like to assure the community that we are carefully considering this request, and we will make a decision…but likely not for a few months as we assess the request, its effects, and get quotes for the work.
Mark Racicot
Vice President, The Orchards HoA BoD
Thank you so much for your responses.
I agree and realize the financial aspect is the sticky part, but then again the entire thing is sticky. If we leave raising the wall to each homeowner, the problem I see is aesthetics. If I raise my walls as high as they can be raised without a city permit then my yard may be a “eye soar” when looking at the community. Keeping in mind that Cabral Trl has it’s perimeter walls along 118th St. So the “tetris-like” design will be very apparent. If we have individual homeowners take on the cost for their respective wall, then we’ll need to be prepared for some visual change to the community. Believe me, we have already received several quotes for raising our walls and are willing to pull the plug, but we have not because we are cognizant of our neighbors and community.
Also is the concern about the “weight.” As it is easily seen, none of the perimeter walls around the community are the same height. Some are already at the height that the residents along Cabral Trl would like. Perhaps this observation has already been looked at… Take the recently raised Western facing wall, near 118th St, that divides The Orchards from the community over… that wall is raised quite high and is holding weight.
On that note, I think it would be interesting to talk to the HOA next to us and see how they worked it out. How did they work the financials? How did they determine weight? I know they used a contractor called ” Aspen.”
If Pat needs help finding contractor quotes, I have a few numbers I can give her. So far the quotes I have received to raise ALL of our walls (not just the perimeter) has been around $1,600.00
I appreciate you all looking into this. I do not believe any of us want to put our community in a tough economical spot. we’ll just need to get our heads together.
If I can help with anything, I am happy to do so.
Happy New Year,
Arina
@Arina,
We have to remember that when it comes to financials with the community next to us that they are still developer controled & funded. The developer may have seen this as a problem and fixed it on their own. I don’t know if this is the case or not but just wanted to point that out.
As for the weight issue, just because their wall can handle it might not mean ours can. I would imagine the board would need to contact KB and get the design specs of the wall to find out what it can/can’t support.
I can’t imagine the board being in favor of each owner doing what they want with there wall as that would look disasterous.
I do know that the board has the ability to call for a special assesment in one of 2 ways. Either the entire community can be charged a special assemsent or it can be done by specific street ex. only Cabral Trail could be leveied a special assement. In either case a greater than 2/3 vote in favor of any special assement is needed to proceed.
To add to Arina’s last post, I can’t remember if it was brought up or asked at the last meeting, but is there any way to get financial assistance from Anderson Heights Master Association? If they helped resolve the community next to ours, the precedence has been set that they acknowledge there is a concern. I understand we are a gated community with our own dues, but we also pay to the Master. I’m not saying to have them cover the entire cost, but is it possible to have them HELP with some of the cost?
While I don’t live on the perimeter, I can understand those residents with these concerns. Also, I don’t have much construction knowledge, but were the brick walls built differently around the community? I only ask, because my wall is fairly high. While I haven’t taken a tape measure to it, my rough guess is that my side wall is at least 15′ high (at the highest point), and it’s holding all the dirt needed to keep my lot level against the slope of Fencik.
Arina- I agree that leaving each homeowner to raise their own walls (or not) would probably create an eyesore, and I agree that a single unified construction plan makes the most sense. If the $1,600 estimate you got is close to what Pat gets, this may not be as pricey as we fear and would be much easier to justify as an HOA expense. (I hope that is the case!!) Of course, that is not a promise the HOA will pick up the entire tab.
Kenneth- Great idea. We can ask Pat to see what, if anything, the Master might be willing to contribute. Heck, we might as well pose the same question to KB, since we can frame it as a way to enhance the security and privacy of the community. They might say yes.
Wouldn’t it be great to get a four-way split? Owners getting the improvement, the HOA, KB, and the Master could each contribute 25%! We could realistically look at improving the north, west, and south walls (I don’t think there is a problem on the east side). Whatever the final cost turns out to be, this could be a fairly inexpensive fix if we get enough people sharing the cost.
As for the actual construction, all I know is that (a) I’m not a civil engineer and (b) I read a few things in the city code a while back. There is a section regarding different construction requirements for free-standing walls versus walls that hold back dirt (with different ground levels on either side of the wall). There are different requirements for footings based on wall height, too, so I’d guess that there is both a maximum physical height they can be in addition to the city’s code for maximum wall height.
So, I guess we’ll see what we see…
Mark Racicot
Vice President, The Orchards HoA BoD
I too would be interested to know what the circumstances were for raising the walls in the community next door. Just so I’m clear, the wall that has been raised is between the Orchards and Sandstone?
I’m not sure if the master would have any direct responsibility for the Orchard’s perimeter walls. If there could be an equitable split it’s more likely going to be homeowners, KB and our HOA sharing the costs. And unless we can demonstrate that this impacts their ability to sell homes, I just don’t see KB going along with this. Even though we all would agree that the wall heights in this community are ridiculous. Something I didn’t pay close enough attention to when looking at these homes.
I do think obtaining quotes is the logical first step. We’ll ensure that Pat does this promptly when the new year begins. I apologize that this has taken so long.
Great ideas!
Mark– it would be terrific if we could get a 4-way split! It never hurts to ask! If we present a convincing argument (IE, safety) we may get what we ask for.
Kenneth & Robert– Yes, the wall that was raised was the sharing wall between us (the Orchards) and sandstone, along 118th. They raised the wall by 3 blocks. 2 of our Orchards neighbors reaped the benefits of the wall and said their wall is now about 15 feet. For comparison, my wall is about 4′. So, yes, the wall height varies around the community.
Thanks for all the ideas. I am very glad we can work together on this. Please let me know how I can help.
Arina