45-Day Notice: Proposed Architectural Standards Fee Changes

Changes to the Covenants Fine Schedule will be considered for action by the Tahoe Donner Board of Directors. The board is expected to take action to adopt the proposed fee schedule changes, as they are presented here or with some modification, at its February 2019 meeting, currently scheduled for Saturday, February 23, 2019. The board welcomes any input you may wish to offer regarding this process.

Pursuant to Tahoe Donner Covenants Rules and Restrictions Article V: Environmental and Architectural Regulation, modifications to the Architectural Standards Fee Schedule must go out for 45-day member notification prior to consideration and approval by the Tahoe Donner Board of Directors.

Changes to the Architectural Standards
Fee Schedule will be considered for action by the board, which is expected to take action to adopt the proposed fee and fine schedule change – as they are presented here or with some modification – at its March 2019 meeting, currently scheduled for Saturday, March 23. The board welcomes
any input you wish to offer regarding the proposed changes. 

Background

At the Aug. 15, 2018 Architectural Standards Committee (ASC) meeting, the ASC reviewed the Architectural Standards Fee Schedule. The ASC reviews the schedule
every August in order to provide any recommendations for change in advance of budget drafting and the new fiscal year. Additionally, the ASO/ASC Task Force had presented their recommendations for changes and improvements to the board of directors this fall, with subsequent board direction to the ASC and staff to consider recommendations for implementation.  

Administrative Project Fees

At its February 2018 meeting, the board of directors decided to not approve a $170 (20%) increase, from $850 to $1,020, to the Major Project Administration Fee due to pending work by the ASO/ASC Task Force. Board direction at the time was to come back with a proposal after the task force had completed their review. Now that the ASO/ASC Task Force recommendations are final, the committee is again proposing this increase to the Major Projects Administration Fee of 20%, from $850 to $1020, for the 2019 construction year. No increases have been made since 2017.

Maintenance Project Fees

Maintenance project applications and permits are free for members. A one-year permit is issued with the requirement for members or their agent to provide “before” photos and then to close out the project by providing “after” photos. The Architectural Standards Office (ASO) has reported both to the ASC and the ASO/ASC Task Force that members and their agents regularly neglect to close out their maintenance project, even with reminders. The ASO sends two notices that the permit is nearing its expiration, and then a notice when the permit has expired. Both the committee and task force agreed that this was an area to be addressed. The purpose of any action related to this project category is to provide notice of project completion to the association. 

Initially, a recommendation by the committee,
agreed upon by the task force, was to require a project deposit to motivate
owners/agent to close out projects. However, after further review of this recommendation, management identified that requiring a deposit would increase administrative tasks (therefore costs) both in ASO and Accounting, for the free maintenance project permit. Management is recommending, and the committee and task force agree, that a procedure can be put into place whereby if an owner does not notify the association of project completion by the end of the one-year permit, the association would provide notice to the owner for inspection and apply a Project Inspection Fee of $90, as is
consistent with all other Project Inspection Fees. This inspection would not be required, but only used to verify the project
completion if an owner does not indicate that a project has
been completed after multiple reminder notices that the permit
is nearing expiration and then has expired.

Project Resubmittal Fees

The ASC also discussed Resubmittal Fees on projects that require neighbor notification. Currently, if an owner makes a material
(significant) change to their project that has already been sent out to neighbor notification, or increases the scope of a project through a revision to then require neighbor notification, a fee of $140 was charged – being the lowest Administration Fee for
projects that require neighbor notification (e.g., fences, solar
panels w/ tree removal). 

The committee agreed that this fee should be formalized as a “Full Committee Resubmittal” on the fee sheet because the occurrence of these situations have increased over recent years. Recent examples include: a new single-story house was proposed and a permit was issued, then the owner wanted to completely change the house to a two-story house and re-sited it on the lot; or a minor deck project that increased in scope to include a backyard shed or dog fence within the same permit.

Purpose and Effect of the Proposed Changes to the Architectural Standards Fee and Fine Schedule

Increase to the Administration Fee for major projects are proposed to offset increasing administrative costs like insurance and credit card processing fees. Effect would be a $170 increase to the Major Project Administration Fee.

Maintenance Inspection Fee would encourage project closure and be consistent with all other Project Inspection Fees. Effect would be a possible $90 Inspection Fee if a maintenance project owner/agent does not notify of project completion and project subsequently expires without owner submittal of completion photos.

Formalize Resubmittal Fee for major changes requiring new neighbor notification on a project. There is no effect to members, as the fee is currently being charged under other Project Administration Fee category.

The purpose of the proposed changes to the Covenants Fine Schedule is to improve the deterrence of violations through higher fine amounts, and gain compliance for properties in violation.

The effect of the proposed changes to the fine schedule is to:

• Increase to the Private Property Fine Schedule for 1st, 2nd and 3rd violations
• Separate and increase the Noxious Activity fine by creating a minimum-to- maximum range for the first offense
• Separate and increase the Business Activities fine and create a minimum-to- maximum range for the first offense
• Increase to the Tree and/or Vegetation Removal minimum fine value
• Increase to the General Common Area and Amenity Rule fines
• Increase to the Vegetation Removal minimum fine value
• No change to the Fire Safety violation range

PROPOSED CHANGES TO ARCHITECTURAL STANDARDS FEE SCHEDULE