A Homeowners Association, also known as a Common Interest Development (CID) or a community association, is a non-profit organization that oversees the upkeep of a neighborhood’s common areas and establishes general rules and standards for the community. Homeowners associations are established with the intent of protecting community assets and establishing a code of conduct for owners and residents, while instituting proper and sound financial management practices. Note that membership is mandatory.

Decisions concerning homeowner association operations are made by a Board of Directors, which is made up of volunteers who are initially appointed by the developer and thereafter elected by the community’s residents during the annual membership meeting. The Board appoints officers and depending on the number of units or homes in the association will usually determine how extensive a role the Board takes. The Board may appoint a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and member-at-large and in many cases the By-Laws allow for one person to hold more than one office. Additionally, the Board may appoint other owners to serve on committees to assist with the operations. Examples include: Landscaping, Finance and Budgeting, Maintenance, Social, and Architectural Committees.

The Board of Directors are responsible for making most operating and enforcement decisions on behalf of the HOA. These decisions include but are not limited to: establishing budgets, preparing reserve studies and enforcing the collection of assessments; making sure contracts are in place for the maintenance of the common area and vendors are providing the work they were contracted for; having proper insurance for the association, and establishing and enforcing the rules and regulations.

The Governing Documents are documents that help to govern the powers, rights, and responsibilities of the Board of Directors of the Association and the Owners. These documents will include Articles of Incorporation for incorporated associations; By-Laws; CC&R's which stands for Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions, and sometimes called the Declaration or Declaration of Restrictions; and the Rules and Regulations.

Note that Covenants and By-Laws, these are the “rules” or ordinances of our neighborhood. They are in place to keep our neighborhood uniform as well as pleasing to the eye. These legal/registered documents were presented to the homeowner during your closing by the title company. You as a homeowner signed a form stating that you accepted them and would uphold them while owning a home in St. Claire Place. If you would like copies, please go to “Residents" folder on the web site. You will see Covenants and HOA By-Laws.

The general term that a homeowners' association or Community Association refers to is a Common Interest Subdivision or Common Interest Development. These pertain to any development where there is some property owned exclusively and some property owned in common by owners in the development. They include Condominium Projects, Planned Unit Developments-usually made up of single-family homes, Stock Cooperatives and Community Apartment Projects. Note: Although homeowners associations refer to residential property, a common interest property can also include commercial or office space and are governed similarly to a homeowners' association.

All homeowners should assume responsibility to protect property values and secure a lifestyle that all residents can enjoy. As a member of your community association, your legal responsibilities to the community association include: complying with the governing documents, rules and regulations, architectural guidelines, policies and procedures, and paying the monthly/annual assesment necessary to operate the community association. Should you wish to influence the direction of the association it is advisable that you volunteer to serve on the Board of Directors.

The assessment covers the operating expenses that the comunity is legally responsible for. Typical expenses include: insurance, water and sewer, gas and electricity, landscaping services, street sweeping, janitorial, pest control, pool and spa, elevator, maintenance and mangagement. Assessments also cover the funding of reserves, which are funds accumulated to pay for future repair or replacement of major components for which the community association is responsible. These include: water heater replacements and plumbing, roofing, painting, street repairs, pool and spa, elevator upgrades, and clubhouse refurbishment.

TBD

The City of Lawrence requires a building permit for any work on a property or dwelling that costs $1500.00 or more and it is the responsibility of the contractor to obtain the permit.

When reporting lights that are out or damaged, please be specific with street location and yellow tag numbers. Only the AES/IPL light posts have yellow tags that are located on the post about 8 ft high. You will need to have this number for the repair request form for AES/IPL. AES/IPL generally takes between 4-6 weeks to repair/replace bulbs. If not done by 6 weeks, report this to the board via the Contact page.

The annual meeting to discuss the financial paperwork, as well as the following years’ budget, is generally in Oct/Nov. If you would like to attend one of the monthly board member meetings to discuss an idea or concern, please use the Contact Us section of the web site. Each year, if and when the board members term is up, we elect new board members. If you are interested in being on the board please use the "Contact Us" tab on the web site. It is suggested to volunteer as a committee member first to make sure you would like to do this. We have several committees and  you can join these by using the Contact Us tab on the web site.

TBD

Request a permit at https://cityoflawrencein.nwerp.tylerapp.com/nwprod/eSuite.permits/

Visit the City of Lawrence website for details. https://www.cityoflawrence.org/solid-waste