Brief Synopsis of the 2024

Third Amended and Restated Declaration of Condominium for

Sunset Ridge, at 647 Town Mountain Road, Asheville, NC 28804

For the past two years the Board of Directors has worked in concert with our Association attorneys (Allen, Stahl & Kilbourne) to update our Covenants in accordance with revisions in the North Carolina State legal code. This close and meticulous reworking has, essentially, changed nothing affecting our Association as it is currently constituted. However, certain details of operations have had to be more clearly written in order to preserve the financial integrity and non-profit status of our common property. Our intent has been to incorporate the several amendments into a single, clear and modern document to facilitate the ease of administration of the Association for the coming decades.

Any change, however small, to our foundational documents must, by state law, be voted on by a 67% majority of current homeowners. We encourage everyone to read the document in its entirety. To whit, we list here the points clarified in this Third Declaration.

1. Section 1.16: “Limited Common Areas” definition clarified to include the parking lots which are part of the commonly held areas such as the lobby, halls, pool, cabana and grounds.

2. Section 5.9: Clarified our common security elements to read “Security Cameras. The Association maintains security monitoring equipment throughout the property.” (There are currently three cameras monitoring the front entrance, the lobby, and the rear entrance, including the trash/recycling area and pool.)

3. Section 5.12: Renting. We needed to ensure that our founding, not-for-profit declarations remain intact and that the Association exists, as stated in our original declarations, to “protect and to preserve the character and the scheme of development of the Condominium as a single-family residential community of predominantly Owner-occupied Units, and to prevent the Condominium from assuming the character of a renter-occupied apartment complex.” To this end, the Board and Attorneys needed to bring our document in line with NC State law emphasizing that any and all rentals are limited “to hardship rentals only, see 5.12.D (in the revised Covenants, attached), and all leases shall only be at the discretion of Board of Directors,” as stated in the original Covenants.

4. Section 5.21: Rules and Regulations. Here again, on advise of our Attorneys and to bring our Covenants inline with current NC State law, we had to remove the call to vote on rule changes for the Association. In North Carolina, the Board has the responsibility to create and then to enforce whatever rules are deemed necessary by the Association, i.e.: use of commonly held property such as, but not limited to, the pool, laundry, trash, recycling and parking facilities, as well as those few issues that help maintain a harmonious environment for all owners.

Essentially nothing else has changed except to remove antiquated or unnecessary facilities: for instance we no longer maintain an electronic gate, there have never been private oil burners or stairways with private railings on the property.

The Board, with our attorneys, feels it is important to maintain the integrity and fiduciary health of both our personal property and our Association by keeping our Covenants in line with current law and regulations. The Board intends to have a discussion at the 2024 Annual Meeting and to then present those notes by mail and email to the Association. Subsequent to that, we will then call for your vote. Please be mindful that we must have 67% of homeowners vote, but we sincerely hope that everyone will do so.

 

The Proposed Amendment to the Bylaws modernizes this language and allows for electronic options for notice and conduct of meetings to provide more accessible meetings and member voting.