While many are aware we have an area, beyond the Golf Course, for our Townhouses, very few understand the original set-up for Village Commons.
The idea was to create a townhouse, apartment and duplex style living for those who do not wish to own a residential house with property. Thus eliminating the requirements for lawn and/or land maintenance. But all of this comes with added costs.
Residential homes are personally responsible for their homes, buildings, driveways, lawns, septic systems, landscaping, trees and shrubs — the list goes on. While the residents of the Village Commons area(s) have documentation that indicates they are only responsible for their actual living space. This means when units share an outside wall and/or roof – they must come together to fund, care for, coordinate and style their “home” exterior while each one is solely responsible for the interior.
It is said, at one time there were more families living in the Village Commons’ area than the residential or single-family home areas. And because Village Commons pay more dues, on average, they have been under the assumption they support the vast majority of Pine Mountain’s single-family homes.
On a side note, what is comical is… while Village Commons believe they support the residential homes, the residential homes believe they support the Golf Course and the Golf Course believes they support the POA. Whew, a vicious circle of believing.
Back in 1973, Pine Mountain’s forefathers decided to set up Pine Mountain with two very distinctive areas: single-family homes and multi-family homes. Each one has it’s own set of rules that fit into and under the direct guidelines of Pine Mountain’s Property Owners Association. This is why you can locate two different (but very similar) Articles of Incorporation and both have distinct rules and guidelines in the Covenants & Restrictions.
While Village Commons is authorized to have their own Board of Directors create their own Annual Assessments creating their own set of dues, they are still responsible to meet all of Pine Mountain’s Association’s rules, guidelines and financial responsibilities.
Discussions (talks) have started within the Village Commons area on whether they’re going to activate their Articles of Incorporation, set-up their own Board of Directors, approve their own By-Laws, etc. or become completely woven into Pine Mountain like the single-family residential areas.
Time will tell. We’ll keep you posted.
Way back when, 1973 I think, when the first townhouses were developed and sold, only 5 sold. In the mean time development was taking place in the single family home areas. When the first association was formed there were still only 5 townhome owners, so everyone that lived on Pine Mountain worked together because that was the only way to keep the place going. One association was formed with “village commons” being part of that one association. Everyone that was a homeowner on the mountain paid the same dues, I was told. I see no reason after 40+ years to change the status quo. We are one community. We should all get along, and help each other.
My personal opinion only:
I do feel that townhouse owners pay more than their fair share of POA dues. There should be a way to come up with an equitable, fair distribution of the common bills that are paid by the POA. Maybe based on footprint on the mountain. There is only a fraction of land mass that the townhouses occupy on the mountain, a fraction of the roads, a fraction of water lines. Time spent on maintenance along these roads. employee salary, equipment repairs, gas, and other things that are common to all of us should be distributed fairly based on the time spent in these two different areas. If anyone has a solution, I would be interested in hearing from you
.
Some people believe that the townhouse owners are the owners of the greenways, and parking lots in the area. The fact is that we own from the front of our home, 100 feet back, and the width of the home. The rest is “greenway”. We do not own the parking lots. Burke County GIS shows this on their maps.Thus they should be maintained by the POA. This is why we pay dues.
Bottom line, I just want us to feel like we are getting what we pay for.