Snow Plow Update

We recently met with three Lehi city employees from the Public Works department including the street superintendent and the plow driver whose assigned area includes our neighborhood. The meeting was very enlightening. Here are some things to be aware of:

• Lehi city has an extremely large geographic footprint. The city only has 8 plows in operation; and by law the plow drivers can only work so many hours a day before needing to switch drivers. The city’s priority is obviously to first clear the major roads. As would be expected, our neighborhood’s streets (especially the cul-de-sacs) are low on the priority list. On days when it snows and stops, we can probably expect that the plows will get to us the same day or day after. On days when it snows and continues to snow, it will likely take several days before the plows get to us because they have to keep revisiting the main roads to keep them clear of continual snow fall.
• For liability reasons, the plow drivers must push snow to the sides of the street. The same thing typically applies to cul-de-sacs (i.e. snow cannot be collected in the middle). This means that when the plows come through, your driveways will get plowed in. There’s nothing the city can do about that. It is your responsibility to clear the snow drifts at the bottom of your driveway. It is against city law to shovel or snow-blow the snow back into the street.
• Cars parked on the streets are a huge impediment to the plow drivers. This is even more so the case on cul-de-sacs because the plows are difficult to turn. The combination of making a sharp turn while pushing a large amount of snow can sometimes cause the plows to skid (no different than your car). The laws of physics apply to snow plows too. For obvious reasons, the plow drivers do not want to be responsible for totaling someone’s parked car. Due to the length of the plow blade, it becomes extremely precarious for the plow driver to maneuver between parked cars—especially in cul-de-sacs. For this reason, the plow drivers will often skip past streets or cul-de-sacs that have parked cars on them.
• It is against Lehi city law to park vehicles in the street during snowfall or anytime thereafter prior to when the plows come through. The city would prefer to not tow violators’ vehicles, but they do have the right to do so. Due to the problems we’ve had in our neighborhood, the city did come through the neighborhood this morning and place warnings on cars which have obviously been parked on the street without being moved for several days (i.e. cars still covered in snow). The warnings give the vehicle owners 72 hours to move the vehicle or be towed. So, if you have a vehicle parked on the street, be sure to check if you have a warning from the city on your windshield. If so, please move your vehicle or the city will tow you.

In conclusion, it does appear that regarding snow removal (as with many things) the squeaky gear gets the grease. As an HOA board, we have been doing a lot of “squeaking” and we believe this will help to ensure that our neighborhood gets more attention from the snow plows than it has previously. However, there are some real constraints that the city faces when it comes to snow removal. As neighbors and citizens, we need to have reasonable expectations of what can and cannot be done. Most importantly, we need to do our part by keeping our vehicles off the street. Let’s make good use of those garages and driveways we all have!

Because the streets in our neighborhood are city-owned, not HOA-owned, the HOA itself is not empowered to enforce parking. However, if you see cars parked on the streets that are causing a nuisance or in violation of any city ordinances, you can contact the Lehi Street Department at 801-836-1070 (836-1072 after hours) or, if necessary, the Lehi City police at 801-768-7110.

Snow Plows

So far this winter, the snow plows have not been giving our streets as much attention as we all would like them to. The board is working with city officials to remedy the situation. In the meantime, we remind all homeowners to please do your part by keeping the roads clear on nights when snow is being forecast. Please try to not park cars on the street. Also, please remember to leave your trash containers on the curb as briefly as possible. Doing these things will help remove any excuses the city may make for why our streets are not getting plowed regularly. It will also help ensure that when the plows do come through, that they can do a better and more thorough job of clearing the snow.

You can also contact the Snow Removal department at Lehi City Public Works by calling 801-768-9167. They are opened Monday-Friday between 7 am and 6 pm.

Click on an image to make it larger

Recap of the October 1st Meeting

Homeowners from the Pointe Meadows neighborhood met on Thursday, October 1, 2009 for our second semi-annual community HOA meeting of the year. There were well over 50 people in attendance, which resulted in a lot of great information and feedback throughout the evening.

Based on an overwhelming response from those in attendance at the meeting, the proposed renter cap amendment as currently written was withdrawn from consideration. The homeowners that attended the meeting did, however, express interest in a revised version of the amendment which would remove the renter cap language, but leave in those sections that seek to better empower the HOA to hold renters and landlords accountable to the CC&Rs and bylaws. The board will work with its attorney to draft the homeowner-recommended version of the amendment, following which another community meeting will be held during which the homeowners can discuss whether or not to put the revised amendment to a vote.

Another topic of discussion was a proposal to transfer maintenance responsibilities of grass strips and sidewalks along Pointe Meadow Drive to adjacent homeowner lots. The potential pros and cons of such an undertaking were discussed, with the homeowners in attendance ultimately voting to table the idea. The board will accordingly cease further inquiry into the concept.

The 2009 YTD budget and 2010 proposed budget were also presented during the meeting as well as a handout detailing some of the HOA board's accomplishments for 2009. An election was held in which the homeowners voted in Wes Ward to fill a vacancy on the HOA board. Wes will fill the remainder of the two-year term, which was vacated last March and terminates in September 2010.

Several guests also attended the meeting and presented updates on projects which impact our neighborhood, including:

• 2300 West (Mark Johnson - City Councilman, Lehi City)
• 2100 North (Justin Smart and Siobhan Locke - UDOT)
• FrontRunner South (Marc Bowman and Robyn Geist - UTA)
• MATC (Randy Gunn, Layton Construction)
  

We want to thank everyone who participated in the meeting.

Proposed Amendment to Limit Rental Properties

We have received many emails from homeowners who are concerned that the overall upkeep of properties in our neighborhood has been deteriorating as more and more homes are being rented out, rather than owner-occupied. Generally speaking, renters do not take care of a property as well as a homeowner would. While this is certainly not always case (and sometimes the complete opposite is true), most would agree that pride-of-ownership is more prevalent among homeowners than among renters. As a result, neighborhoods with a disproportionate number of renters can oftentimes show signs of poor maintenance and upkeep (e.g. weed-infested lawns, minimal landscaping, un-shoveled walks, home disrepair, peeling paint, etc). As the overall aesthetic appearance of homes and yards in a neighborhood diminish, so do property values. For this reason, many HOAs elect to restrict the number of rental properties within their community.

As mentioned in previous correspondence, we will be holding our second annual community HOA meeting on Thursday, October 1, 2009 at the Cranberry Farms Clubhouse (2451 West 2400 North) beginning at 7:00 p.m. One of the key topics that we will be discussing at the meeting is a proposal to amend our CC&Rs to include a provision by which the number of rental properties permissible within the neighborhood would be capped at 10% of all homes within the HOA. As there are 165 homes in the HOA, the passing of this amendment would mean that only 16 homes in the neighborhood could be rented out at a given time; and that all other homes would therefore need to be owner-occupied.

Because we currently have more than 16 rental units in the neighborhood (24 as of last count) the proposed amendment includes a clause by which existing rental properties would be grandfathered in. This would mean that no homes which are currently owner-occupied could be rented out until the total number of rental units falls below the 10% cap. It would also mean that upon sale of an existing rental property, the home would have to be occupied by the new owners (i.e. not rented out again). Once the number of rental properties falls below the 10% cap, homeowners wishing to rent out their home would need to first inform the HOA board. Requests for converting an owner-occupied home to a rental property would be granted on a first come first serve basis, assuming that approval of the request would not again put the number of total rental units above the 10% cap.

If passed, the amendment would also require landlords to hold tenants accountable for renter infractions and give the HOA board the ability to demand the termination of a tenant with multiple CC&R violations. You can click here to review the proposed amendment in full.

Assuming there is general interest among those in attendance at the October 1st meeting to adopt the above amendment, we will put it to a vote during the meeting. Any change to the CC&Rs requires a two-thirds vote in the affirmative among all homeowners. With 165 homes in the neighborhood, that’s 110 homeowners who must vote in favor of the amendment in order for us to proceed with adopting it. We would next need to secure approval from Lehi City, after which we could record the amendment against our CC&Rs, thus putting it into effect. (Note: the amendment also includes a clause which would remove the stipulation requiring city approval to further amend our CC&Rs.)

If you would like to see this amendment adopted, it is imperative that you attend the community HOA meeting on October 1st so that you can make your opinions heard and (if put to a vote) cast your ballot. If you will be unable to attend, please email the HOA board (pmchoa@gmail.com) so that we can provide you with a ballot. Or you can print one off here and deliver it to an HOA board member.

We have also arranged for HOA attorney Sam Bell (with the Law Offices of Kirk A. Cullimore) to be at the October 1st meeting to answer questions on the proposed amendment and any other legal matter or concerns which may come up. We hope to see you there.

Second Semi-Annual HOA Community Meeting

We will be holding our second semi-annual community HOA meeting on Thursday, October 1, 2009 at the Cranberry Farms Clubhouse (2451 West 2400 North) beginning at 7:00 p.m. We encourage all homeowners to come and participate in the meeting. The following is a brief outline of the planned agenda:

• Overview of 2010 budget
• Reassessment of HOA dues for 2010
• Proposal to cap the number of rental properties permissible within the neighborhood
• Proposal to transfer maintenance responsibilities of grass strips and sidewalks along Pointe Meadow Drive to adjacent homeowner lots
• Election of new board member to fill the current vacancy (send nominations to pmchoa@gmail.com)

In addition, we will have several guests in attendance to answer your questions on the following planned projects:

• 2100 North (UDOT representative)
• 2300 West (Lehi city representative)
• FrontRunner South (UTA representative)

Since we will be voting on several issues during the meeting, it is important that all who are able to attend do so. If you will be unable to attend, please email the HOA board (pmchoa@gmail.com) so that we can provide you with an owners ballot. Or you can print one off here and deliver it to an HOA board member. In addition, you may also want to fill out a proxy voter form authorizing a person of your choosing to cast a vote in your place for the new board member to be elected during the meeting.

Please come and make your voice heard. We look forward to seeing you there.

FrontRunner South

As you are likely already aware, UTA is currently working on constructing a commuter rail from Provo to Salt Lake City. Construction on this project, called FrontRunner South, began August 2008. The rail is being constructed on the west side of the Union Pacific Railroad track between Provo and 9800 South in Sandy. At 9800 South, the rail crosses over to the east side of the Union Pacific Railroad track the rest of the way north to Salt Lake City.

We have received many questions and heard many rumors regarding the impact of the FrontRunner South project on the Pointe Meadows Community. In an effort to separate fact from fiction, we arranged an HOA board member meeting last month with representatives from UTA and Commuter Rail Constructors (the company contracted to do much of the FrontRunner South project).

The following are some highlights from that meeting, which will hopefully help to correct some of the misinformation being circulated:

• The portion of the FrontRunner rail directly west of our neighborhood will be on the Cranberry Farms side of the existing Union Pacific rail
• The section of the existing Union Pacific rail directly west of our neighborhood will not be relocated further east
• The project requires no land to be purchased from residents of Pointe Meadows
  
• Upon completion, FrontRunner trains will pass approximately 68 times daily between 4:30 a.m. and midnight, Monday through Saturday (no routes on Sundays)
• Due to planned grade-separation of 2300 West and 2100 North from both the FrontRunner and Union Pacific rails, train conductors will not be required to blow their whistles when passing
  

A presentation including more information on FrontRunner South can be seen by clicking here.

Regarding 2300 West (i.e. the street running east-west along the north end of the neighborhood):

• The street will be grade-separated; passing under the Union Pacific and FrontRunner rails
• Construction on the underpass structure is estimated to begin August 2009 and complete August 2010
• Lehi City will be responsible for connecting 2300 West into Cranberry Farms (i.e. UTA is only building the structure by which the completed road will pass under)
• At this time, no estimates have been provided by Lehi City as to when they will commence working on the street
  

Regarding 2100 North (i.e. the street running east-west along the south end of the neighborhood):

• The street will be grade-separated; passing under the Union Pacific and FrontRunner rails
• Construction on the underpass structure is estimated to begin August 2009 and complete August 2010
• UDOT will be responsible for re-connecting 2100 North (i.e. UTA is only building the structure by which the completed road will pass under)
• UDOT estimates work on 2100 North to begin September 2009 and complete by the end of 2010
• Access to Cranberry Farms via 2100 North will be shut-off until both UTA and UDOT complete their respective portions of the project
• During this time, the bus route to North Point Elementary will cross the tracks at 1500 North

The underpass structures which UDOT will be constructing at 2300 West and 2100 North will look very similar to the underpass structure currently being built at 14400 South in Bluffdale (except that they will be wider to accommodate more lanes). Below are some pictures:

Pouring north abutment:

Pouring connecting walls:

An aerial of the substructure:

As we receive more information, we will be sure to keep you informed. In the meantime, if you require further information, please visit the FrontRunner South website or contact Marc Bowman to receive weekly construction updates via email. Information is also available by calling (888) 800-8854.

UDOT Announces 2100 North Timeline

We thought you might be interested in knowing that UDOT and Lehi City officials recently met to discuss details on the 2100 North project. The road, which currently runs along the south side of our neighborhood, will be transformed into a multi-lane boulevard extending from Redwood Road to I-15.

During the meeting, UDOT representatives said that they expect bids to go out in June and July and have the project awarded in August or September with construction on the major corridor beginning in September at the latest. UDOT says that the 2100 North Boulevard should be completed by the end of 2010.

For more information on what was discussed at the meeting, please see the Daily Herald article.

North Point Elementary Nearly Complete

Parents of elementary school-aged children in the Pointe Meadows subdivision, take note...

New Elementary School Information

The new elementary school, North Point, is nearly finished. It is ahead of schedule and will be ready for students this coming August. The principal, Mr. Kim Roper, has been educating young minds since 1979 and has been a principal in Alpine School District during the past 19 years.

School Safety Issues

A concern voiced by many parents is how to help children get safely to and from school. Parents and other concerned residents of Lehi brought to the school board’s attention just how dangerous the current situation is. Currently, the only way for kids from the Pointe Meadows area to get to the new school is to walk west on 2100 North, cross the railroad tracks, and then turn south on 2300 West.

For most parents, this is not an option. The railroad crossing at 2100 North is unprotected and trains routinely travel at high speeds through the area. Furthermore, 2100 North is in disrepair, there is hardly enough room for two cars to squeeze by each other, and there are no sidewalks between Pointe Meadows and North Point Elementary. The thought of our kids trying to cross the tracks there frightens most parents we have talked with. Allowing children, especially younger children, to try and navigate those dangers twice daily would be irresponsible.

Robert Smith, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services for Alpine School District, met with Lehi City, UDOT, and UTA in April. He informed us that children from Pointe Meadows will be bused to North Point until a safe walking route is established.

If your neighbors have elementary school-aged children, please let them know.

Freeway Fencing

On behalf of those homeowners who still need to put in vinyl fencing, we have negotiated a discounted bulk rate with Freeway Fencing to help offset some of the associated cost. For members of the Pointe Meadows Community HOA, Freeway Fencing will take 15% off its regular price of $16.00/foot for materials, for a reduced price of $13.60/foot. They will also reduce their regular price for installation from $7.00/foot to $6.50/foot. This offer expires June 30th. If you are interested, please contact Freeway Fencing at 801-798-3943. Make sure to ask for either Shawn or Curt; and tell them that you live within the Pointe Meadows Community HOA.

Road Resurfacing Update

Geneva Rock will be both patching and resurfacing Pointe Meadow Loop starting the morning of Wednesday, May 27th. Lehi City's street superintendent has asked that those living on Pointe Meadow Loop please remove their cars from the street as this will greatly aid Geneva Rock in the process.

Lehi City has contracted Geneva Rock to resurface Pointe Meadow Loop first as it is in the worst shape. The other streets in our neighborhood will likely be repaired later in the summer. However, please note that we do not yet have a commitment from the city as to when or to what extent the other roads will be repaired. The city's current plan is to do patchwork on the other streets this summer. Once completed, the patchwork would leave the roads very smooth and the manholes would no longer be sunken in. Then at a later date (likely summer of 2010), the city would come out to resurface the roads. The resurfacing acts as a coat of paint which covers the patchwork so that the roads look nice and consistent in color. These plans, however, are not yet confirmed. We will update you as soon as we have more information.

Yards, Fences, Driveways, and Trailers

We have received complaints about several CC&R violations that we plan to more proactively address moving forward.

Yards
Section 12.6 (a) of the CC&Rs states that “the front yard of each Lot shall be landscaped within a period of one (1) year following completion or occupancy of the Living Unit” and that “side and rear yards shall be landscaped within a period of two (2) years following completion or occupancy of each Living Unit.” These one- and two-year deadlines do not reset with a change of homeowner. Also, the obligation to landscape ones yard does not cease to exist if a previous homeowner failed to complete the landscaping within the specified timeline. Therefore, all homeowners in our neighborhood should already have landscaped their entire yard by now (i.e. there are no homes that have not been completed/inhabited for less than two years). If your yard has not yet been landscaped, please begin making plans now to get this done as soon as possible.

Fences
Section 11.3 (h) of the CC&Rs states that “each Owner of a Lot shall be required to install, within two (2) years of the purchase of a Lot, and shall thereafter maintain at his own expense, a fence along the rear boundary and side yards of his Lot behind the face of his Living Unit, provided, however that when such Lot abuts another Lot located within the Project the cost of such fence shall be divided equally between the Owners of the adjacent Lots based upon the cost of such fencing per linear foot.” The CC&Rs also state that fences constructed “shall be six (6) feet in height and shall be white vinyl privacy fences.” Once again, this two-year deadline does not reset with a change of homeowner, nor does the obligation to put in a fence cease to exist if a previous homeowner failed to put the fence in within the specified timeline. Therefore, all homeowners in our neighborhood should already have fenced-in their entire back and side yards by now. If your back and/or side yards are not already fenced-in, please begin making plans now to get this done as soon as possible.

Driveways
Section 11.3 (i) of the CC&Rs states that “driveway and other flat paved areas may be concrete, exposed aggregate concrete, stamped concrete, quarry tile, brick or paving blocks. Gravel areas and asphalt are not permitted.” If you have extended your driveway using gravel, it needs to be paved using one of the aforementioned materials. Please begin making plans now to get this done as soon as possible.

Trailers
Section 11.5 of the CC&Rs states that “no boats, trailers, large trucks or commercial vehicles belonging to Owners or other residents of the Property shall be parked on any side, rear, or front yard of any Lot or upon the public streets within the Development, except temporary parking upon public streets not to exceed twenty-four (24) hours.” If you have a boat, trailer, RV, etc. that you are currently parking in your driveway or on the street, please begin making plans to park it elsewhere.

If you are in violation of one or more the above, please begin to make plans now to remedy these violations over the course of summer months. If you have questions or concerns, please contact a member of the HOA board.

Street Conditions

We wanted to report back to our fellow homeowners on some of the progress we’ve made in working with the city to address your concerns regarding street conditions. As many have made note, we’ve had several issues with the streets throughout our neighborhood including:

1. Snow removal has been inadequate at times
2. Garbage and debris has collected in the gutters
3. Streets are bumpy and manholes are sunken in

First off, we want to clarify the difference between HOA-owned and city-owned streets. The streets located within the part of our neighborhood which makes up the Pointe Meadows Community HOA are in fact city-owned streets. This means that the HOA has no control over or responsibility for the streets. However, it also means that the HOA does not need to collect funds from its homeowners to maintain those streets. This is a much different situation than the Pointe Meadows Townhomes HOA, whose streets are HOA-owned and are therefore maintained (including snow plowing, street cleaning, and road resurfacing) at its homeowners’ expense.

In short, the good news is we don’t have to pay to maintain our own streets (more specifically, maintenance of our streets is a city-provided service paid for in part by our property taxes). The bad news, however, is that we are on the city’s good graces as to the frequency and quality of said street maintenance. This is where the HOA can play a influential role, as we collectively represent more than 150 households consisting of approximately 300+ taxpayers. We on the HOA board have been working with several people in the city’s administration to address the aforementioned issues with our street conditions.

Snow Removal
As previously reported, we worked with members of city council this past winter to increase the attention being given to our streets by the snow plows. Most would agree that snow removal improved during the latter half of the winter months. We will, however, continue to work with the city to make sure our streets are getting cleared quickly and efficiently whenever it snows.

Street Sweeping
After making a personal visit to the Public Works department, we were able to get the street sweepers to come out to our neighborhood last week to finally clean our streets and gutters. There was some confusion among the street sweeper staff, who initially thought our streets were HOA-owned. Now that we’ve cleared up that confusion, we are optimistic that our streets will be cleaned more regularly in the future.

Road Resurfacing
Lastly, we have also been working with the Public Works director to expedite the resurfacing of our streets. Thus far, the city has postponed doing so, saying that they have been waiting for the ground beneath the streets to finish settling (incidentally, ground settling is the principal cause for the unevenness of the streets). However, the Public Works director has since told us that he believes adequate time has passed for the ground to settle and that the city plans to resurface our roads this summer. We are currently working with him to get a commitment on when exactly that will happen. We will keep you all posted as more information becomes available.

Trash Containers

We have received a number of complaints about trash containers being left out in the street for longer than they should be and/or being stored in plain view of one’s neighbors. Driving around the neighborhood, it’s easy to see why there have been so many complaints. Many homeowners are regularly in violation of the community’s guidelines regarding trash containers. Here is what our CC&Rs stipulate:

Section 11.13
Trash Containers and Collection. All garbage and trash shall be placed and kept in covered containers of a type and style which shall be approved by the Architectural Control Committee or the City. Insofar as possible, such containers shall be maintained as not to be visible from neighboring Lots except to make them available for collection and then only for the shortest time necessary to effect such collection. Each Owner must at all times and at his expense provide garbage cans.

In observance of the CC&Rs and as a general courtesy to your neighbors, all homeowners should abide by the following guidelines regarding trash containers:

1. Lehi City’s trash collection for our neighborhood occurs every Thursday morning. Do not place your trash containers on the street sooner than the evening before the city’s trash collection (i.e. Wednesday evening). Bring your trash containers back in no later than the evening following the city’s trash collection (i.e. Thursday evening). If you are going to be out of town during trash collection and want your trash containers to be emptied, arrange with a neighbor to bring out and retrieve your trash containers for you (e.g. don’t bring your trash containers out to the street the night before leaving on your week-long summer vacation).
2. Keep in mind that on weeks in which there is a city-observed holiday, the city’s trash collection will occur one day later than normal (i.e. Friday morning). If you realize that you accidentally brought your trash containers out a day early, bring them back in until it is time to bring them out again.
3. When bringing your trash containers out to the street for trash collection, make sure that your trash containers are placed directly in front of the street curb. Do not place your trash containers in an area where they could potentially block driveway access or street traffic.
4. Always keep the lids closed on your trash containers. If wind blows the lid open or blows the container over, make sure to pick up any trash that fell out of the trash container as a result. If you are consistently unable to fit all of your garbage in your trash containers, consider purchasing an extra container from the city.
5. To the exception of trash collection days, your trash containers should be kept out of sight. This means that they should be stored either in your garage or behind your fence. If your trash containers can be clearly seen from the street, then they are not being kept out of sight.

For those who are not adhering to the above guidelines, please consider this a friendly warning. If we continue to receive complaints about homeowners who are repeatedly disregarding these guidelines, we will send warning letters which may result in the assessment of fines. So, please make a concerted effort to honor these guidelines. It’s the neighborly thing to do and it will keep our neighborhood looking nice.

New Groundskeeper Hired

As many of you are undoubtedly aware, the HOA-maintained landscaping has been in pretty bad shape. The weeds have overtaken the grass, the sprinkler system over-waters in some areas while under-watering in others, and several trees have been badly damaged by wind—some of which are now dead. Snow removal has also been poorly-executed along the HOA-maintained sidewalks with a number of no-shows during major snowfalls.

With spring just around the corner, we are for the first time in the position of choosing who we want to hire for our neighborhood's landscaping and snow removal needs. Due to the aforementioned reasons, we have decided to not renew the contract with our current groundskeeper. (Note: this contract was entered into by Advantage Management, which managed our neighborhood's HOA prior to it being handed over to the homeowners the end of last year.)

Over the past month, we have received bid proposals from and met with several grounds keeping companies in the area. After much consideration, we have elected to hire Garrett's Lawn Care for our landscaping and snow removal. Garrett's is a small, family-owned and operated outfit that comes highly recommended. We are optimistic that they will do an excellent job of drastically improving our neighborhood's landscaping throughout the spring, summer, and fall. In addition, they have committed to being out early in the morning (i.e. before the school children walk to the bus stop) to clear our sidewalks next winter. They will also be replacing the dead trees and re-staking several of the crooked trees.

For those who may be wondering, the following is a list of those grounds (including both sidewalks and landscaping) which are currently maintained by HOA dues:

• All property between the city curb and the fence line along the east side of Pointe Meadow Drive (except for in front of the LDS meetinghouse)
• All property between the city curb and the fence line along the west side of Pointe Meadow Drive north of the townhomes (Note: the grass strips and walks along the townhomes are maintained by the townhomes' HOA)
• The two islands located in the east and west cul-de-sacs on the north end of Pointe Meadow Drive

We know that a few of you living adjacent to Pointe Meadow Drive have expressed concerns with the sprinkler system. Garrett's will be working diligently to adjust the sprinkler heads so that the water applications aren't causing problems any longer. This will, however, take some trial and error, during which we ask that you please not try to "help them out" by tampering with any of the sprinkler boxes. If you have a problem or notice a broken sprinkler head, please contact a member of the HOA board and we will promptly contact Garrett's to come out and resolve it.

A Reminder About 2009 HOA Dues

Please be reminded that HOA dues for 2009 are $60 and due tomorrow, March 1st. However, we have added a two-week grace period during which dues can be paid without being charged a late fee. Homeowners whose dues have not been received by March 15th will be assessed a $10 late fee.

As a reminder, dues can be paid online by clicking the "Pay Now" link located on the sidebar to the right-hand side of this blog (a $3 fee applies). Alternatively, you can avoid PayPal’s transaction fee by either mailing or hand-delivering a check to an HOA board member. We cannot accept cash payments.

Recap of the January 30th Meeting

Homeowners from the Pointe Meadows neighborhood met on Friday, January 30, 2009 for our first community meeting since we homeowners were given control of our HOA. During the meeting, the budget for 2009 was presented, a very productive Q&A session was held, and the homeowners elected two new members—Mindy McKnight and Martha Spoor—to serve on the HOA board. We also got to hear from Mark Johnson of the Lehi City Council. We want to thank everyone who participated. A lot of great information and feedback was shared during the meeting.

We also want to thank Councilman Mark Johnson for taking time out of his schedule to come and answer questions and speak to issues which concern our neighborhood. As many of you may already know, Councilman Johnson has been a strong advocate for our neighborhood. He was integral in finding a solution to the water staining issue which plagued our neighborhood the summer before last; and has been an excellent ally in negotiating on behalf of our community the postponement (and potential rejection) of UDOT’s proposed freeway project on 2300 West.

One concern in particular that many at the meeting inquired about was snow removal. Councilman Johnson gave an excellent overview about what Lehi City is doing to keep the roads plowed. He also shared some feedback on how we as citizens can help the city to keep the streets clear of snow. The most important thing we can do is honor the city ordinance of not parking vehicles overnight on city streets during heavy snowfall. Below are scans of the city’s Snow Removal Plan, which contains a lot of information, including the contact information for city officials responsible for snow removal.

Click on an image to make it larger

Introduction Letter

Members of the Pointe Meadows neighborhood met on Friday, September 19, 2008 to assume stewardship of the Pointe Meadows Homeowners Association (HOA). During this meeting, we as community members elected three board members to see to the affairs of our HOA.

The board members elected are:

• Melanie Marlowe
• Matt Imbler
• Larry Furr

As board members, we serve on a voluntary basis. Our responsibilities include managing the HOA's finances, enforcing the neighborhood's CC&Rs, and representing the consensus viewpoint of our community's homeowners when making decisions which affect our neighborhood. You are welcome to call us with questions or concerns. However, our preferred manner of contact is to email us as a group at pmchoa@gmail.com.

Next Meeting
The Pointe Meadows Community HOA will hold its second community meeting on Friday, January 30, 2009 from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. at The Business Center at Thanksgiving Point located at 2975 West Executive Parkway. For directions, click here. During the meeting, we will discuss the proposed budget for 2009 (including landscaping and snow removal), CC&R enforcement, and dues. We will also be electing two additional board members.

History
While developing our neighborhood, Ivory Homes and Reliance Homes became aware that they would need to establish an HOA due to the fact the Lehi City had zoned some common area within the neighborhood. Rather than deal with this themselves, Ivory and Reliance arranged for American Housing (the company which developed the Pointe Meadows Townhomes) to assume responsibility for our HOA. Subsequently, American Housing hired Advantage Management to manage the HOAs for both the Pointe Meadows community (those homes built by Ivory and Reliance) and the Pointe Meadows Townhomes (those homes built by American Housing). As mentioned at the start of this letter, Advantage Management organized the neighborhood's first community meeting on September 19th, at which point stewardship of the HOA was for the first time handed over to us, the homeowners.

CC&Rs
Like all master associations, Pointe Meadows has certain Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) by which members of the community must abide. Neighborhoods which utilize and adhere to CC&Rs typically see greater increases to their home values than neighborhoods which do not have CC&Rs (or have them, but fail to enforce to them). When closing on your home, your loan officer and/or Realtor should have made you aware of the Pointe Meadows Community CC&Rs. A link to a download-able copy of these CC&Rs can be found here.

Common Area
Unlike most communities which require an HOA, the Pointe Meadows neighborhood has a very small amount of common area. The only common area within the neighborhood is the sidewalk running along the east side of Pointe Meadow Drive, the strip of grass in between that sidewalk and the street, and the islands located in the two cul-de-sacs on the north end of Pointe Meadow Drive. The common area is not maintained by Lehi City. It is instead the responsibility of our HOA to maintain the common area, which includes landscaping, watering, and snow removal.

Dues
Like all HOAs, there are bills to paid. It is the responsibility of the HOA's homeowners to pay dues which go toward the payment of these bills. Fortunately, due to the small amount of common area in our neighborhood, our costs are very small, which means our dues should remain low. As part of the closing costs you paid when closing on your home, you were assessed HOA dues. These monies were put into the HOA's account, which until recently was managed by Advantage Management. As these funds are now running low, we need to begin annual collection of HOA dues as outlined in our CC&Rs. The collection for 2009 is $60, and must be paid by March 1st. Payments made after March 1st will be subject to an additional $10 late fee.

Payment Methods
The easiest way to pay your 2009 HOA dues is by making an online payment via PayPal. Just click on the "Pay Now" link located on the sidebar to the right hand side of this blog. It should be noted, however, that if you choose to pay your dues online, there is an additional $3 fee which covers the transaction charge assessed by PayPal. If you wish to avoid paying this fee, you can pay your HOA dues with a check. Checks should be either mailed or hand-delivered to an HOA board member. We cannot accept cash payments.

New Board Members
As mentioned previously, we will be electing two additional board members during our next community meeting on Friday, January 30, 2009 from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. at The Business Center at Thanksgiving Point. If you are interested in serving on the board, all you need to do is come to the meeting and have someone nominate you (or nominate yourself) as a candidate. Each candidate will then give a brief introduction, including why he/she wants to serve on the board, after which those in attendance will cast their votes (only one vote per household).

Communications
As your HOA board, we plan to use two main forms of communication. The first is this blog. The second is email. When possible, we will use these two modes of communications in favor of standard mail, so as to reduce postage and paper costs, thus helping us to keep our dues low. You can join the HOA's email list by sending your email address to pmchoa@gmail.com. Inclusion on the email list is optional, as all emailed communications will also be published on the HOA's blog. Please note that future communications will likely not be mailed. Therefore, it is your responsibility to make sure that you either request to be added to the email list or check the blog on a regular basis. If you prefer to receive communication by standard post, please let us know.

We look forward to serving you and welcome any comments, suggestions, or questions that you may have. It is our desire to do everything possible to manage our HOA in a way that keeps costs down while maintaining homeowners' property values. With your help, Pointe Meadows will always be a neighborhood where people want to live.