Politics & Government

Homeowners' Association Resolution on its Way

A resolution that would streamline the city's homeowners' associations has received final revisions and will soon be presented to City Council for a vote

The made final modifications Tuesday to a resolution that would consolidate the separate resolutions governing the design review processes for the city's five homeowners' associations.

Each homeowners' association has its own resolution regulating architectural design and other standards. This makes for a lack of consistency among the different associations, often creating confusion for the associations' architectural review boards and even developers.

The proposed resolution addresses this, among other issues, and will go before the council for a vote at an upcoming meeting.

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Santa Anita Oaks Association President Mary Dougherty said she felt pleased with the outcome of Tuesday's meeting and looks forward to having the resolution become part of city code.

"We got most of what we wanted," she said, noting the meeting's positive tone.

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Since their inceptions, the city's five homeowners' associations — Santa Anita Oaks, Rancho Santa Anita Property Owners', Santa Anita Village, Highlands and Rancho Santa Anita Residents' — have operated under completely separate rules.

Efforts to streamline the groups began more than a year ago, and the homeowners' associations began crafting a resolution to do this. The proposed resolution seeks to amend and consolidate the development standards, design guidelines and design review processes of the five separate HOA resolutions into one resolution utilized by all five HOAs.

Getting several parties to agree on one set of standards meant the process met with several starts and stops. The Council first convened in July to discuss the resolution presented jointly by the HOAs. In September, the Council made a number of modifications to the resolution draft.

Tuesday's study session cleared up several points of contention and further amended the revised draft, notably in regards to whether homeowners should be required to get their neighbors to sign off on minor additions and remodels in a process termed short review. Laurie Thompson, chair of Santa Anita Village's architectural review board, argued the requirement puts undue pressure on homeowners concerned with straining their relationships with their neighbors.

"I can't tell you how many people I've had call and say 'I signed off on it, but I didn't want it,'" Thompson said. 

Deputy Mayor Bob Harbicht agreed.

"The whole point of this short review process is to make things more convenient," he said.

In the end, the Council modified the resolution so that a homeowner planning minor additions and remodels only has to notify his or her neighbors, rather than gather their signatures. Neighbors with objections regarding a proposed remodel can go directly to their ARB chair to voice their complaints under the cloak of anonymity.

Whether liquidambar trees will keep their spot on the resolution's list of protected trees remains to be seen. The Council objected to allowing the trees, which the city no longer plants in public spaces due to their destructive roots and stickler-covered seedpods, to remain on the list.

The Council agreed to discuss the issue with an aborist before making any changed to the resolution.

The next City Council meeting takes place Nov. 15 at 7 p.m.


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