Saturday, November 15, 2003
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Zionsville Municipal Services Building
The purpose of this neighborhood meeting was to start the
dialogue with the neighbors on potential updates of the covenants.
The meeting started with an introduction of the people
present at the meeting.
Tim Isle, acting president of the Homeowners Association
Board of Directors, started the meeting with some opening remarks concerning
the Covenants, Section 9.a. Vehicle Parking. The board had received confirmation
from David P. Effler (Town Marshal) and Ed Mitro (Director of Zoning and
Administration of the Town of Zionsville) that a covenant can not supercede a
Town Ordinance. Thus the parking of vehicles in public streets (including those
within Huntington Woods) is governed by the town ordinance, which allows
parking of trucks up to a certain weight limitation. In view of this
regulation, it seems meaningless to enforce the covenants, as it would only
move the trucks from the driveways onto the street.
The general consensus at the meeting was that the covenant
concerning vehicle parking needs to be updated in line with the town ordinance
on truck parking.
Several other
restrictions in the current covenants were mentioned at the meeting that should
be reviewed and updated, one example being the restriction on the installation
of satellite dishes.
Lisa Tabor pointed out that if the
community chooses to strictly enforce identified covenants than we have no
identified pathway for enforcing those covenants. We as a neighborhood need to
agree what the enforcement should be.
The board also extended an open invitation to all neighbors
to review the covenants and bring forward suggestions for changes. Input will
also be solicited via the newsletter and website.
An electronic copy of the covenants will be posted on the http://www.huntington-woods.com
website.
A further discussion
point was the procedure to change the covenants. The procedure as outlined in
our covenants requires calling a special meeting of the owners specifically for
the purpose of amending the declaration. At the meeting, the amendment will
pass if 2/3rds of the owners present approve the amendment. Depending on the number of neighbors
attending the meeting, it is conceivable that the covenants could be changed by
a very small number of homeowners. This may not be in the interest of the majority
of the homeowners. To prevent this, the board proposed that a minimum number of
votes need to be cast (actual number to be decided) to make a change to the
covenants. To get the whole community involved in the process, several
neighbors present at the meeting volunteered to go from door to door and
collect voting ballots once we are at the point that the neighborhood can vote
on proposed changes.
Tim Isle closed the meeting with a call for volunteers to
join the board. Three board positions are currently open.