Development Ruined by Idiots!

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Breaking News!

The New Board Sides with the Old ARC!

According to our board, this fence does not violate the feeling of territorial openness? In the business they call this a “Spite” Fence, serving no purpose but to piss off your neighbors.

Territorial Openness My Ass

See the most current information at the bottom.

To the Board, <—Here’s their Information

Seems like the ARC should take a remedial course in reading and comprehension. Anyone with a six grade education can understand the rule on “no border fences”, “no fencing over 5 feet”, etc.

So will the Donzellis have to provide access for, painting and shrubbery that’s required for screening? Turns out the contractor just made themselves at home on the Donzelli property to finish the noncomplaint fence.

And people argue with me about subbing out things we aren’t capable of handling. The list of approvals that go against our rules is quite long.

Mike, I ask that you get into this please. We can’t have the ARC approving construction that doesn’t fit into this landscape and is against our rules. They are ruining the landscape along with neighbor relationships.Thanks

From Mike on September 12th

Greetings Jim, Colleen, and Mark, The WROA board has received your concerns about the fences through various emails. The board and ARC are working to address these issues with both fences. Sincerely, Mike

Not a word since. I was hoping for better community relationships with the BARC, with new volunteers. Business as usual, anything controversial goes into the black hole 🕳️!

What Could Have Been!

The red line represents 20 feet from the property line and 42″ tall.
So much for my territorial view, now blocking what was a great view.
Contractor trespassing while building a noncompliant fence on the Donzelli property

It’s a shame that our ARC would approve a structure that doesn’t meet Deschutes County code not to mention our own Rules & Regulations. So, who is liable?

And what was the justification, since fences are “Discouraged”? I love being outside and now a third of my frontage view has been hidden by a new noncomplaint fence which was approved by the ARC.

Before the planks went up I contacted the board indicating that this new fencing was not meeting the intent of the rules on fencing. They assured me that it did. I didn’t want my neighbor to spend his time and money unnecessarily on removing a section of fencing, that’s why I contacted the board early before the posts were planted.

When the ARC approves a project they need to assure the project actually was implemented per the approved application. All professional permitting agencies require a final inspection when the project is declared complete. Something that WROA doesn’t do and everyone seems to know it.

And here is a picture of the “5 foot” tall side yard fencing that serves no purpose. He builds it taller than 5 feet but throws down some gravel to try to meet the intent of the rule. The intent is to minimize the visual impact on the territory. His fencing doesn’t come close to accomplishing that intent.

Most all outside fences match the house or trim color which does a much better job when it comes to blending in. These fences serve no purpose and are a blight on our division”s landscape.

Taller than the required 5 foot height.

What a shame! What a beautiful setting ruined by fences, exposed RVs, shacks and lighting left on all night.

So ask yourself, would you be bothered if everyone broke the rules in a similar fashion? Once the Camel gets his nose under the tent, there’s no turning back.

The Board approved the new fencing that violates our rules!

  1. No Fencing can be constructed in the front yard 20 foot setback
  2. Fencing will be screened with vegetation
  3. Fencing to match the color of the primary structure
  4. Fencing shall not exceed 5 feet in height
  5. And the county states, no fencing shall exceed 42 inches in height for front yard fencing.
  6. Fencing will not block territorial openness

What could have been!

Budget Observations for the Board

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WROA 2024-2025 Budget 6-5-24Download

A New Budget should be accompanied by a narrative, explaining the rationale. Don’t you think we deserve an explanation on how you are planning on spending our money?

1. You can’t assume everyone will pay on time to receive the discount. You need to consider our history, if you can find it.

2. Fines and ARC Fees are like overtime, you should never count on that revenue.

3. Does the majority think mosquito abatement is a prudent expenditure?

4. How does tree care differ from the other common area expenses?

5. Who are we paying for bookkeeping and why?

6. With 5 board members,why are we paying for board assistance? Did we vote for incapable people?

7. Who is doing what on the reserve study?

8. What are the legal fees for?

9. What is reserve other for?

10. What happened to our money market account?

11. Where are The deposits for the real estate transfer fees?

June 5th Meeting – Comments to the Board

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6-5-24-Board-Meeting-MinutesDownload

It sure is nice not to have to wait a year for minutes! Lori must no longer be doing them?

1.) Where are our meeting minutes and treasurer’s reports being stored? I thought that is why we have a website. Maybe John can help since it seems that you have lost all our digital history. Typically people make copies on their PCs before uploading to a website. Another case of the dog eating your homework!

2.) Where is the plan for forest thinning? Once a comprehensive plan is developed and bids are acquired then you can ask the members to assist or you can phase the work to fit the budget. Mike and Phil’s observations of our forest would change dramatically after walking with ODoF, like I have on numerous occasions. See below.

From 2008 meeting minutes.

“The objective of meeting with Stu Otto of ODoF is to get a good understanding of how to bring our common ground back to ahealthy state. Stu recommends “thinning trees” . You will notice throughout the community thatthere are orange flags that have been placed on trees. The group is asking you to look at the trees location and the distance between the marked trees. If you find that a tree is better left alone you are allowed to remove the flag. The entrances will need to be assessed each year, however, the west side and the east side of the river will be assessed every 3 years. It is recommended that trees be limbed up 10’, thinned, remove fuel from drip lines, remove all beetle kill and beetle infested trees this year, and remove brush along road shoulders. This group recommends getting bids for this work to be performed and re-bidding every three years. They also recommend getting a separate bid for the removal of the log jam. Remember to not cut green limbs until the fall.Owners may, however, need to get common area access approval prior to downing trees. The Wood will need to be removed within one week of cutting. The Board will determine how to fund these efforts but would like to see the burden of cost first. Any increase in dues that might occur to pay for these projects will be held in a fund earmarked to be used only for this purpose.

3.) Why hire Tamarack Wildfire Consulting when ODoF will do it for free?

4.) Why is there no mention of dues regarding how much and when? Seems like with only $10k remaining in the operating fund we’ll be stealing from the road fund once again.

5.) What happened to our rainy day reserve fund? Did we close the Money Market Account? We used to have 3 accounts.

6.) What are the alternative options for Common Area Cleanup that have arisen that the president talks about? People have stated over and over again that they prefer to hire the necessary labor.

7.) If owners are hiring contractors to remove vegetation from their property, and using the huge hauls, what difference does it make? If contractors are bringing in vegetation from another development, then that’s a different story.

8.) Who is responsible for identifying the noxious and invasive weeds on the common areas?

9.) What is the plan for our roads? We need to conduct necessary repairs and shoulder gravel replacement to see if we can extend the life.

10. What is the planned assessment for the road replacement?

11.) Where is the estimate provided for our road replacement and the financial analysis?

12.) What’s the plan for a comprehensive reserve study and maintenance plan.

What could have been. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

Enforcement Resolution?

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Enforcement Resolution to what? Once again the lack of professionalism astounds me! An incomplete title and file name. Is it rule enforcement Resolution, ARC Enforcement Resolution,,,

WROA – Enforcement Resolution 2024Download

Email to Our Brain Trust

1.) Were there members besides the board that developed this? Seems like a one way street to me. You will never gain support with a top down approach. Please try to remember that this is a Homeowners Association not a Despotism.

2.) Who patrols the neighborhood for rule compliance, or is it up to the members to file a complaint? Most well run HOAs have a compliance officer in order to prevent neighbors from going after neighbors. Our ARC used to take care of compliance issues. With 5 Directors it seems that one of them could step up?

3.) When members file complaints, what happens to them? Is there follow up provided to the member filing the complaint on actions taken? Seems like the right thing to do, rather than to leave them guessing. Definitely should be a part of any well thought out procedure?

4.) The right to be heard should include a third party mediator, as the ability for the board to interpret our rules in an unbiased way is suspect. Just look around.

You are spending a lot of time and money on rules when our assets continue to be neglected.

What could have been.

🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

Dues Increase

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In less than 2 years the board has doubled our dues with nothing to show for it.

The following charts depict how we have been spending “our” money. We pay dues and assessments to take care of our common areas, not to crutch the board. Now with five volunteer directors our overhead has doubled while our common area assets are ignored.

Section 2. Purpose of Assessments or dues. The annual or regular periodic assessments, aka dues, levied by the Association shall be used exclusively for the improvement and maintenance of the Common Area and the payment of taxes and insurance on all or any part of the Common Area.

The chart below reflects how we’ve been spending our money along with what is being proposed. You should never spend more than 20% of your income on non-common area expenses.

Until bids are received based on a detailed scope of work, I’ll be withholding any increase in dues associated with the $50k being proposed for Common Area cleanup.

Where is the budget analysis for the $50k worth of work that is being proposed? Where is the budget analysis for replacing our roads?

We should be entitled to options as a membership, similar to what was done in 2008 when discussing the dues increase around forest maintenance.

Example: Option 1 is the full meal deal, Option 2 is à la carte (based on what the majority wants) and Option 3 is to do nothing. But not with this administration, you don’t get a choice!

This seems to be our only leverage, so please join me on holding the line.

Under different circumstances I would have voted for some of the proposed amendments to our dox. If there was a hell no option, that is how I would have voted.

Budget Analysis – WE ARE BROKE!

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We haven’t had a balanced budget in over 10 years and once again we are planning on spending more than we are taking in.

The Road Fund is no longer a part of our expenditures and is expected to fund itself.

We are spending more money than what’s in our budget on attorneys. rather than common area maintenance.

Another dues increase heading your way, without explanation, again!

It is vital that we conduct a reserve study. Here is the reason why. Click Here

Neglected Maintenance

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1 Remove boulders blocking north emergency exit on the west side of the river before fire season.

2. Forest – With decreasing rainfall, we must begin taking measures to thin our 40 acres of forest to deal with this weather phenomenon. This includes the removal of vegetation along our roadsides which is also preventing snowplows from maintaining maximum road width during the winter months.

3. Roadways – We need to take monies from our Road Fund to take care of shoulder gravel replacement and repairs to the severe bumps and dips in our roadway. Once the necessary repairs have been completed we then need to reassess our entire roadway so we can better understand the “how much and when?“ We need to survey our members on how much they would be willing to spend on an assessment. The last was $600 in 2006 for a $300,000 repave.

4. Fire Hydrants -Inspect, flush and certify our fire hydrants annually.

5. Perimeter Fence – Our perimeter fence is 10 years past its expiration date. Start at those various Nat’l Forest access points.

6. Mail Stations – What a cluster! For less than $200 per key, we can start over. Install different Kelvin rated lights set on motion detectors.

7. Invasive Weeds – Identify and eradicate invasive & noxious weeds in our common areas in the spring, before going to seed.

8. Log Jam -Remove log jam preventing full flow to our rivulets.

9. Road Markers – Remove road markers preventing the snowplows from maintaining the full road width during the winter months. Remove the road markers at our mail stations and replace with markers that can be removed during the summer months and replaced just before winter.

10. Pump Houses – Conduct a full assessment of the condition of our pumphouse buildings by gaining access through Avion. Replace 50 year old asphalt shingles with corrugated steel, similar to mail stations.

11. Signage – Remove all unnecessary signage beginning with the two large and obnoxious “Dog Park Rules” billboards in the pristine river delta habitat! This is a private development, not a public park. In the past the membership would drive any changes or additions to our signage. When WROA went with Becky’s sign recommendations in 2008, we reused the metal blanks rather than buying new ones. Some people do not have any regard for how other people’s monies are spent.

12. Conduct a thorough Reserve Study and Annual Maintenance Plan. Click Here