Rules and Regs Q&A Recap

Here's a recap of the excellent questions (and their answers!) from our 2023 Rules and Regulations Q&A!

The Rules and Regulations Q&A was hosted in the grassy area at the end of the back lot, and was followed by a Board hosted community picnic.

I thought you weren't allowed to change the Rules and Regulations without an overwhelming majority vote from the community?

This is true for Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation. Our community bylaws are legal documents filed with the county, while the rules and regulations are simply those rules that come with living in a Mandatory HOA Community. In fact, per Coronado Wood's Bylaws, the HOA Board of Directors is required to review the Rules and Regs every year and make changes as needed. These Rules and Regulations are in place to keep our community safe, aesthetically pleasing, and as cohesive as possible. I don't agree with the Collection Policy and I think it's missing details. The current Collection Policy for Coronado Woods has been a standing document since 2013. Having a collection policy is important because it establishes the standard for collecting delinquent dues. With a policy in place, board members can treat every case in a consistent manner and avoid selective enforcement, which can cause more problems. This is a legal document that was written not by the board, but by the legal counsel of Coronado Woods Condominium Association. We will look into updating the Collection Policy in 2024 for more clarity of language. I never received any of these documents when I moved in, this is the first time I'm seeing any of this.

The real estate seller is required to disclose HOA bylaws. In most states, it is a legal requirement for sellers to provide buyers with a copy of the HOA's bylaws, covenants, and any other relevant documents before closing on a sale. You should have received copies of these documents from your realtor or the previous owner. Buying property in a Mandatory HOA Community means these documents are always available to you; previous updates were mailed out, and they are always available upon request, and now all of our governing documents are also available on the website. To locate these, log into your account and select "Forms and Documents" in the top navigation bar, and then select the "Documents" folder. Is it legal for you to say I cannot carry my firearms around the Coronado Woods Campus?

Yes, it is legal for Coronado Woods to disallow firearms to be carried on the grounds, even if the owner has a concealed carry license. Coronado Woods Condominium Community is private property, and not public land. This does not prohibit residents from owning firearms in any way; but as a residential neighborhood with children and families, we did feel it was in the best interest of the neighborhood to do everything in our power to reduce the risk of a firearm going off. Am I going to be penalized if I take my gun from my house to my car if I want to take it to the shooting range or to go hunting? No.

Why are you implementing parking passes? Over the last year, we've noticed an increase in vehicle traffic in the Coronado Woods parking facilities. We've received numerous complaints in regards to vehicles, including but not limited to; parking illegally, littering, damaging curbs, blaring music, abandoned vehicles, leaking fluids and vehicles being used for illegal activities. In an effort to keep our community safe and address some of these issues, we are implementing Parking Passes. Not only that, but this will allow us to remove the addresses from inside the carports and replace them with your parking number. This is a huge step in making Coronado Woods a safer community. Having your address listed in your parking place is a fantastic way of letting criminals know when you're not at home - and we don't want to make it that easy for them! Can we add 'Reserved Parking' inside the carports if we're going to have pass numbers instead of addresses so strangers don't use our spots? That's a fantastic suggestion! Yes, absolutely.

Why is Coronado Woods limiting the time I can have a guest over? The short answer is: we're not!Residents are welcome to have guests come and stay with them; we want you to be able to spend time with friends and family, host people over the holidays, and see the people who you love as much as you want for as long as you want. That being said, we are trying to better monitor the vehicles that are using the Coronado Woods parking facilities for all the reasons listed above under 'Why are we implementing parking passes'. We are asking that you let us know if you have a guest whose vehicle will be staying on site for more than 3 nights, just so we can issue the appropriate guest tag for them - who your guest is and why they're visiting is your private information and not something you need to share with us. This is only to help us monitor our community campus better to keep it safe for all of our residents (and their guests!). We received a lot of questions about this one in particular, and we will work on re-wording this for clarity in our 2024 update. Why did you limit the number of vehicles we're allowed to have onsite? Not including the single carport space each unit is assigned, Coronado Woods only has 39 official spots. We simply do not have the parking space available for every unit to have 3 or 4 vehicles. With that in mind, if you do have a household that requires more than 2 vehicles onsite, please, just let us know. Once we determine how many spaces we have available - by seeing how many Units have only 1 vehicle, for example, we will do our best to ensure that the needs of your family are met. What if someone can't afford to put a muffler on their car, are you going to fine them? It is against Ohio Law to operate any motor vehicle that is not equipped with an adequate muffler, be that a car, truck or motorcycle. Having this in our community Rules and Regulations is an easy to parse reminder of this for residents. It also allows the Board to address any noise complaints internally without having our first and only recourse to be a call to the police. By doing it this way, we can start with a warning letter, which gives residents a chance to contact us personally and let us know if there's outstanding circumstances the Board should be aware of [such as a car accident that has damaged their vehicle or financial hardship]. This actually allows us to work with community members to a more personal degree. Can you legally tell people they have to maintain the trees and foliage inside their patios? If the homeowner didn't plant it, why should they have to maintain it?

Yes, we are asking owners to maintain the trees and foliage inside your patios. The inside of patio areas belongs to residents, just like your condo belongs to you; but the fences and the outside of the buildings belong to the association. When foliage is left unchecked, it can cause damage to community property - such as scraping against the siding on the buildings, dropping debris into the gutters, and rubbing against the fences. In some cases, unkept plants can even attract unwanted pests that may be a hazard to the community. Consider it this way; if you were to purchase a house that had a yard, you would be responsible for cutting the grass and trimming the trees, even if you didn't plant them. Why do we have to put our unit numbers on our trash cans?

The Board has received numerous complaints from residents about overflowing trash bins, bins that are full of maggots, and bins that have been left out for multiple days after the trash has been collected. Labeling your trash bins will help us address these issues. Is the Board going to pay for me to label my trash bins? No, this is the residents responsibility. You can pick up number stickers from almost any hardware store for around a dollar, or you can use paint, or some people even use a permanent marker on duct tape. I cannot put my trash bin where the Rules and Regs say I have to put them. Why can't I put them where we've been putting them? This was a rule that carried over from previous renditions of the Rules and Regulations, and we can see from the community response it is not a practical one. If you have a spot that works for you for trash pick-up and isn't impeding other residents, please continue to place your bins where you have been. We will look into changing this wording in the 2024 Rules and Regulations What if I want to bring more than two guests to the pool? We put this rule in place so that residents of Coronado are able to use this amenity first and foremost. The Coronado Woods Pool is a very small facility, and it would be unfair and unkind to your neighbors to use that limited space for just your personal friends and family.

How are you going to enforce these Rules and Regulations?

The HOA Board of Directors performs frequent walk-throughs of the neighborhood, along with our Property Management Company. Typically, our first step for violations is a warning letter notifying 1) What the violation is 2) The appropriate steps to fix it and 3) A time frame to make these changes. If the violation is not corrected, additional steps may be taken such as fines or legal actions. If you are experiencing extenuating circumstances in regards to a violation letter, you can always reach out to the Board to open a discussion. Now, the board can't be everywhere all at once, so if you see something you think needs to be addressed, feel free to reach out to us through the website or by emailing coronadowoodscondos@gmail.com directly and we will do our due diligence following. Why does it say that the fining amount may vary upon board discretion?How am I protected from unfair fines?

The board outlined the way most fines will work in the Rules and Regulations; but for violations that may endanger people's safety or cause damage to community property we wanted a way to combat that to a stronger degree. For example, if someone were to cause $300 worth of damage to the community, this gives us the ability to fine them the cost of the repairs - instead of it coming out of the community's budget. The Rules and Regulations may seem strict, but they are just as much to protect individual homeowners as they are the community interests. You can rest assured, you will only be charged more than the fine schedule established in the Rules and Regulations if you cause property damage or endanger a person's safety. The board will look at clarifying this in the 2024 Rules and Regs update. Why don't you inform owners of violations in person? Why are you sending letters? This is for a few reasons. For better or for worse, the world we live in now is not the same world it was 20 years ago. Sending out letters gives us a physical paper trail we can refer back to if needed. In the past, there have been residents who feel like they are being singled out, and we hope that having a form letter will help residents see and feel that everything is being handled fairly across the board.