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[151949]

I'm still waiting for a reply from my inquiry to the manager. I'm sure he got a real pile of e mails.I'm thinking the person on the board who sent out the first e mail just did not word it correctly, but it definitely said we can't drive on the street for 5 days.

Just to clarify - our plan is one street - at one end is a hospital, at the other end is water. behind our plan is jungle and in front is water. I suppose we could all go park in the hospital parking lot but I wonder how the hospital would feel about having a few dozen cars left in their parking lot over a week. 

[BirkiLady]

@151949It would possibly be a safe place to park vehicles, but is the parking lot large enough for their visitors as well as residents from your HOA? If not, be careful! There may be a bunch of cars towed away from the hospital parking lot. Towing is expensive! Would your HOA pay for that? Either contact the hospital and ask if they would mind (five days is a lengthy time IMO) or have the HOA make arrangements for the residents on your street. Seems like you need to be on the Board. Have you ever thought of running for office? 

I have a couple of suggestions if you do run for office! (1) Why do they leave paper on residents front doors? Why isn't communication done by email? It would save paper, as well as money. (2) Why does the HOA bill $17.00 per month for the dues? Would seem to be much more cost effective and efficient to pay such a small amount annually. Our HOA is more per month than what you'd be paying annually. (3) Send statements and minutes by email. Save paper, printing costs and trash. It works for many HOA's in most cities; should work in a small community.  (4.) How does asphalt paving hold up in the FL heat? Doesn't seem to make sense to resurface your street periodically when it should have been paved in the first place. (Is this done by the City or your HOA?) Or, is there a reason for asphalt in your area that I don't understand?  

[Carmie]

HAn HOA sending a letter about a street that needs resurfaced is weird to me.  Where I live, the developer was responsible for putting in the streets when the development was built.

After one year, the streets are owned  and maintained by our township.  The developer does not own the streets, nor do they do repairs.

i have never heard of such a thing.  Streets are public property, not private.

Do you live in a gated community whereby everything is private property.  Do you have a well and septic or do you use public water and sewer?

Maybe things are different in Florida, but I have never, ever heard of such a thing as an HOA being responsible to resurface a public street...a drive way, yes, a parking lot, yes, but not a street.

[GingerPeach]

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@Carmie wrote:

HAn HOA sending a letter about a street that needs resurfaced is weird to me.  Where I live, the developer was responsible for putting in the streets when the development was built.

After one year, the streets are owned  and maintained by our township.  The developer does not own the streets, nor do they do repairs.

i have never heard of such a thing.  Streets are public property, not private.

Do you live in a gated community whereby everything is private property.  Do you have a well and septic or do you use public water and sewer?

Maybe things are different in Florida, but I have never, ever heard of such a thing as an HOA being responsible to resurface a public street...a drive way, yes, a parking lot, yes, but not a street.

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@Carmie

I live in a community governed by a Homeowners Association (HOA) also.  I'm in California.

Some of our community's streets are public, some are private.  It is not a gated community.

Our Association is responsible for the private streets, up to and including resurfacing.  In fact, the street on which I live is private and the Association resurfaced it maybe 10-15 years ago.

As you probably know, these are just some of the things an Association budgets for over the years.  We've had relatively decent boards and relatively decent management, both of which take care to make sure we have adequate reserve money in our account to cover all this kind of thing for future years.

[GingerPeach]

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@BirkiLady wrote:

@151949It would possibly be a safe place to park vehicles, but is the parking lot large enough for their visitors as well as residents from your HOA? If not, be careful! There may be a bunch of cars towed away from the hospital parking lot. Towing is expensive! Would your HOA pay for that? Either contact the hospital and ask if they would mind (five days is a lengthy time IMO) or have the HOA make arrangements for the residents on your street. Seems like you need to be on the Board. Have you ever thought of running for office? 

I have a couple of suggestions if you do run for office! (1) Why do they leave paper on residents front doors? Why isn't communication done by email? It would save paper, as well as money. (2) Why does the HOA bill $17.00 per month for the dues? Would seem to be much more cost effective and efficient to pay such a small amount annually. Our HOA is more per month than what you'd be paying annually. (3) Send statements and minutes by email. Save paper, printing costs and trash. It works for many HOA's in most cities; should work in a small community.  (4.) How does asphalt paving hold up in the FL heat? Doesn't seem to make sense to resurface your street periodically when it should have been paved in the first place. (Is this done by the City or your HOA?) Or, is there a reason for asphalt in your area that I don't understand?  

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@BirkiLady

It's likely the same in Florida as in California as to providing notice.  Only those who specifically opt in to electronic notification receive notices via email.  Others must have things mailed or posted on garage doors or on whatever other place is designated by the Association.  It is not allowed to send e-notices to those who do not allow it. 

Logic doesn't trump the law, as much as we might like it to.

Asphalt is less expensive than concrete or other street surfaces.  In addition, if there are any kind of lines for utitilities under the street, it is much easier to dig through asphalt than other materials.  At least this is what we learned here in CA in our community.

[homedecor1]

@Carmie

I live in a private gated community in FL & yes, the streets are maintained by our community.  The re-surfacing fees were paid for by our community reserves -- not sure if it's the same all over but the streets were turned over to the community.  The developer has nothing to do with it as far as I'm aware.

[BirkiLady]

@GingerPeach  Thank you for taking the time to respond about CA. I believe our HOA also asked each homeowner for their email before sending out annual statements and the minutes. That's the only time we hear from our HOA; no other reason. Haven't been on the Board in a few years and don't know the percentage of homeowners who opted out of the emails. Would imagine it is very, very small. Our city provides all streets and none are asphalt. I don't remember the streets in Tampa (the area where my sister lives near the Bay) to be asphalt. I'll be more observant in later this month when driving around in FL.  

Guess @151949 didn't have the manners to respond . . .  yet, she's has been complaining about the HOA on a daily basis since I started reading these forums. Same story; different day. Hope she finds happiness and peace in her life soon.     

[DeniseColo]

Deleted...duplicate post.

[DeniseColo]

@BirkiLady

Where I live in Colorado, all the neighborhood streets are asphalt and lots of the state and interstate highways. Periodic resurfacing or sealing of asphalt is just part of the normal maintenance regardless of the condition of the street.   It costs significantly more initially  to do concrete and doesn't make sense here on our neighborhood side streets.  I don't know how/why the decisions are made about whether to use concrete or asphalt on our major highways.

Regarding HOA dues...When I lived in an HOA, we could choose to pay monthly or annually but the monthly fee x 12 was slightly higher than the yearly fee.  The higher monthly fee was most likely a service fee.  My car insurance is like that. 

I don't see how an HOA could require email only notices as that obligates the homeowner to have a working computer/tablet/phone and Internet service.  Or, they would need to frequently go to the library or a friends house to check for any email notices.  Some utility companies give you a choice between regular mail and email but add a minimal fee for paper statements.

[BirkiLady]

@DeniseColoMy car insurance could be paid monthly, also. But there is a "service fee" added to it. I don't see any sense in having to go through the hassle of paying for it monthly if I'm able to pay for it at one time. I've always paid for it in one payment. Same with my homeowner's insurance. I simply mentioned it on the HOA since it was only $17 per month. Never heard of such a low HOA fee! Seems like a waste of the manager's time and office materials for such a small fee each month. I'm surprised other homeowner's haven't asked to pay annually to avoid the hassle of monthly payments. The more I hear, the more I'm beginning to agree it's a weird community. But they apparently didn't feel the need to read the By-laws prior to buying into the area . . . or perhaps didn't compare enough HOA's. There are many, many excellent HOA's.

I would never buy into one without owning the land! If the house burns down, I want to be able to rebuild right where I currently live . . . on my own lot with the six acres of private commons area behind me! That is prime land . . . and my lot is one of the best in the association because no one will ever live behind me.    

ETA: See my response to Homegirl regarding HOA emails. I've addressed that.