2009 Homeowner's Association Meeting Agenda

North Haven Annual Homeowner’s Association Meeting
Date: January 13, 2009
Time: 7:00-8:00 PM
Location: Chapel Hill Public Library meeting room
Agenda:
I. Introductions

II. Review and approval of January 2008 minutes (Roman Pendzich)

III. Summary of 2008 neighborhood activities.

IV. Treasurer’s report (Patti McKnight).

V. A thank you to Robin Richardson for her service on the board.

VI. 2009 board member nominations and election.

VII. Committee solicitation

VIII. New Business

IX. Adjourn.

North Haven Cares 2008!

ANNUAL NORTH HAVEN CARES FOOD DRIVE 2008!

Hi Neighbors! We know times are tough, but if you can help, it will be appreciated AND it will make a difference!

OPTION #1. Again this year, to make our “North Haven Cares” food drive even easier, we now have a customized VIRTUAL option! Just go to

http://www.foodbankcenc.org/VFD_NorthHaven

(note that there is an “underscore” between VFD and NorthHaven!)

And select the amount you wish to contribute. With this option, you can securely use your Visa or MasterCard.


OPTION # 2. Write a check to “Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina” and mail it to 3808 Tarheel Drive, Raleigh, NC 27609 OR call Fred at 932-7860 if you want him to pick it up. Please Put NHHOA in the memo line on your check.


OPTION # 3. If you want to donate a bag of groceries, just give Fred a call to have it picked up.

The Heart of Carolina Drive runs until December 31st!

Again, For every $1 donated, the FBCENC can provide over $10 worth of food and non-food essentials!

THANKS FOR CARING, North Haven Neighbors!

Info, Contact: Fred Black (206 Woodleaf Dr.) at 932-7860 or fhblack@nc.rr.com

Annual holiday party: Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008

Annual North Haven Holiday Party: Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008

Saturday, December 13th

7pm-9pm

at the home of Robin & Ted Richardson

107 North Haven Drive

Please bring a dish or dessert to share.

Children are invited and welcome. There will be a G-rated holiday movie for children to watch.

Enjoy the beautiful luminaries as you walk through the neighborhood. A special thank you to Debbie Long for coordinating the luminary orders.

Fall Barbecue, 2008

Mark your calendars for the annual North Haven neighborhood fall barbecue: Sunday, October 19, 2008, starting at 5:00pm.

Dinner will be catered by Gillis BBQ (http://www.gillisscatering.com/page2.html).
The menu includes pork BBQ, BBQ chicken, potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw, hushpuppies, dessert, iced tea, and lemonade.

Date: Sunday, October 19, 2008
Time: 5:00pm
Location: Woodleaf Cul-de-sac
Price: $10.25/adult, $5.25/child (Deadline!
RSVP [with money] to Emma McAdams at 111 North Haven Drive, by Monday, Oct. 13 (emma_mcadams@mindspring.com). Make checks payable to NH HOA.

Other Information
- Bring your own chairs and alcoholic beverages.
- Contact Robin Richardson (robinbrichardson@earthlink.net) if you can help with setup, and/or donate a folding table for the food.
- Make checks payable to NH HOA.

Streetlamps

Did you know that Duke Energy (was Duke Power) owns our streetlamps? They're usually on the ball about maintaining them, but from time to time they burn out.

If your streetlamp is out you can let them know and request service by visiting:

https://mdenote1.duke-energy.com/custweb/customerservice.nsf/LP?OpenForm

This is the form to report the outage. It's easy to find by Googling "Duke Power Report Light".

Back-to-School Ice Cream Social, Sat. 8/23/08

Please join your friends and neighbors for a Back-to-School Ice Cream Social on
Saturday, August 23 beginning at 6:30 PM in the Woodleaf Cul-de-sac. Ice cream will
be provided. Please bring your favorite ice cream topping to share.

I hope to see you and your family there! Regards, Margaret Pendzich (110 NH)

Ladies Night Out - June 3, 2008

The next North Haven Ladies Night Out is Tuesday, June 3, 2008. Meet in Robin Richardson's driveway (107 North Haven Dr) at 6:15 pm to carpool.

Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2007

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: restaurant TBD (Flying Burrito??)

RSVP to robinbrichardson@earthlink.net so we can make a dinner reservation.

AND THE VERDICT IS ...

...in favor of the students who are not a "single-family!"

The N.C. Supreme Court has ruled that four UNC college students did legally inhabit a house in a neighborhood with a covenant restricting the use of the property to a single-family residential dwelling.

Beth Velliquette writes in today's CHH:

"The restrictive covenant is only a limitation on the type of structure that may be placed on the property and not a restriction on the type of occupancy permitted within the dwelling," according to the ruling.

The case did not come down to whether unrelated college students can be restricted from living in certain residential neighborhoods, but rather on the meaning of the words, "single-family residential dwelling" as they were used in the Winding Ridge Homeowners Association's restrictive covenants.

The ruling may mean that homeowners associations must be more precise in the wording of their restrictive covenants if they want to exclude unrelated groups of people, including college students, from living in their neighborhoods.

The case worked its way up from Orange County Superior Court to the N.C. Court of Appeals and finally to the N.C. Supreme Court. Superior Court Judge Carl Fox ruled in favor of the homeowners association, as did the Court of Appeals, but the N.C. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Joffe and the students.

The homeowners association argued through its attorney Gordon Brown that the words "single family residential dwelling" meant that only a family could live in a house in the neighborhood.

Joffe and the college students argued through their attorney Nick Herman that the words described a type of structure such as a house, and that it restricted anyone from putting a duplex, an apartment building, a mobile home, a tent or a commercial or industrial building on the property, and did not restrict who could live in the dwelling.

Two of the N.C. Court of Appeals judges ruled in favor of the homeowners association, but Judge Martha Geer wrote a dissenting opinion, and the members of the N.C. Supreme Court referred to her opinion as the same reason they ruled in favor of Jaffe and the students.

Geer pointed out that the homeowners covenant allowed for a small housekeeper's apartment, which could result in the house being inhabited by two families.

She also wrote that if there was ambiguity in the covenant, then the judges must rule in favor of the freest use of the property.

"I believe the law is clear, but the restrictive covenant is not," Geer wrote in her opinion. "This Court may not restrict the use of the property when the restrictive covenant has failed to do so in a clear manner."

Neither Gordon nor Brown returned calls seeking comment.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Court of Appeals for further proceedings not inconsistent with its decision.

I suspect that HOAs might want to spend some time considering the implications of this decision.

Interesting NC Supreme Court Case

If you saw the February 15th Chapel Hill News, you might have noticed an interesting case that has made its way to the NC Supreme Court dealing with a homeowners association's covenants.

The facts are simple. A Winding Ridge subdivision resident named Zalman Joffe leased his home to some students who happened to be members of the UNC-CH baseball team. The Winding Ridge Homeowners Association filed a suit against Joffe, his wife and the baseball players, alleging they violated the association's restrictive covenant that limits the use of the property to a single-family residence.

The facts may be simple but what isn't is what does "single-family" mean, the structure or who's inside? As reported in the story, "The case went through Orange County Superior Court, where Judge Carl Fox ruled the baseball team could not be considered a family. It then went to the N.C. Court of Appeals, where the judges split, but with the majority of them supporting Fox's ruling."

Nick Herman, the attorney for the resident argued the case saying:

"The restrictive covenant is solely a restriction on the types of structures that may exist on the lot," Herman said. "It is not a restriction on the types of persons who may live in those constructions."

Herman pointed out that in the homeowners covenant, it states that no apartments or duplexes are allowed to be built on a lot. The covenant, however, does allow for a "light housekeeping" apartment to exist in a house that would be used for one or two people, presumably for domestic help or for a caregiver.

A single-family structure would be a house with a single front doorway that is not divided into apartments inside of it, as opposed to apartments or duplexes, Herman said. People living in it would share the living space.

The attorney for the association argued the opposite:

Gordon Brown, representing the homeowners association, said that taken as a whole and referring to captions on certain sections, it's clear that when the words single-family structure were used, it meant that the structure was supposed to be for the use of a single family.

"It's not just the words themselves, but the entirety of the document," he said.

Brown explained that domestic partners, unmarried but committed couples and their children, could live in the house as a single-family unit, but five unrelated students living in a house, even though they share the kitchen, living room, and bathrooms, would not be a single- family unit.

That type of situation would be more like a boarding house, Brown said.

But Herman argued that the language wasn't clear, and if there is ambiguity in the wording, the justices should rule in favor of the freest use of the property.

He also said, "restrictive covenants need to be written clearly so that people making investments of hundreds of thousands of dollars will know in advance how they can use their property."

There is no timetable for a decision, but guess what? The North Haven at Ironwoods Homeowners' Association's covenants say the same thing. In Article VI, Section 4, it reads "No building shall be erected, altered, placed, or permitted to remain on any lot other than one detached, single family dwelling ..."

This is not surprising as most of the developers used the same template for their covenants. Developer Mark Daley specifically patterned ours on The Oaks. Since day 1, we have also had leased homes, but in every case, they were occupied by a single family in the traditional sense. I'm not sure what "traditional family" means these days, but I suspect that knowing the answer might become important, and this court case might influence it.

When the decision on this comes, there is no guarantee that the case will be resolved and not move forward in federal court. Whatever happens, our Association, like all others will be affected.

So, what do you think, is "single-family" a description of a dwelling or the description of the occupants? What do you think the NC Supreme Court will rule? How will you feel about it, whichever way they rule?

Minutes of 2008 NHHOA Meeting and subsequent NHHOA Board Meeting

North Haven Homeowners’ Association

North Haven at Ironwoods Subdivision, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Annual Meeting Minutes – January 15, 2008

Board members in attendance (3): Al Burk (President Emeritus), Robin Richardson (2007 President), Roman Pendzich (2008 President), Treasurer – Patti McKnight. Additional homeowners in attendance (6)

I. Meeting was called to order by Robin Richardson.

II. Review and approval of last year’s minutes.

III. Summary of 2007 neighborhood activities:

a. New Neighbor/Welcoming (thanks to Emma McAdams)

b. North Haven Blog (thanks to John Ager)

c. Easter egg hunt (organized by Margaret Pendzich; thanks to volunteers who donated candy and stuffed eggs)

d. Fall Barbecue (organized by Emma McAdams, Diane Leusky)

e. Ladies Night Out

f. Year-end Holiday party (hosted by Patti & Greg McKnight)

g. Year-end holiday luminaries (organized by Debbie Long)

h. Year-end Food Drive (organized by Fred Black)

IV. Treasurer’s report (Patti Mcknight) – Total assets at year-end were $14,994.72. All homeowners paid the annual dues in May; special thanks to Patti for making that happen. There was general consensus that dues should be left at the current rate, thanks to the stable fiscal situation.

V. A thank you was presented from Robin Richardson (2007 President) to Al Burk for serving three consecutive years on the board, including as President during 2006.

VI. Nominations were solicited for a new 2008 board member. Lisa Parks was nominated and unanimously elected to serve on the board for the next three years (2008 - 2011).

VII. Robin Richardson announced that the architectural committee has reformed for 2008. Members include: Amy Mulcahy-Dunn, Joe Bauers and Ginny Fogg

VIII. Tamara Baker has volunteered to head the Hospitality committee, which welcomes new neighbors as they come in to the neighborhood.

IX. New Business –

a. UNC Innovation Center and Carolina North: Fred Black provided a rundown of the latest presentations from UNC leadership concerning plans for developing the Innovation Center separately from Carolina North.

Here are the minutes for the board meeting that was held immediately after the NHHOA meeting:

Board Meeting Minutes – January 15, 2008

I. Meeting was called to order by Robin Richardson.

II. Roman Pendzich was elected to the position of Home Owner’s Association Board President.

III. The board appointed Patti McKnight as treasurer for 2008.

IV. Meeting adjourned.