City Fined HOA $3300...and Counting.

The City fined the HOA $3300 on April 16, for violations during occurring from April 1 to April 16.  The fines are due to the deteriorated landscape and the lack of response by the HOA to repeated communication from the City.  There is a one day violation costing $100.  There are two continuing violations costing $100 each for 16 days (2 x $100 x 16 days=$3200).  The continuing fines costing $100 may increase to $1000 per violation per day.  The City is also considering pursuing cost recovery for staff time spent on this matter.

Fine amount.JPG

The Notice of Violation (pdf) also instructs the HOA to only install plants that are approved, and to remove the prohibited Rosemary that was planted in various places in the community.  It also states that the HOA must Prevent erosion of all slopes and flat areas throughout the property by installing temporary erosion control BMPs.

In addition to the erosion control measures that are overdue, the HOA has not yet submitted their plan to rectify the violations.

City Deadline March 31

Under penalty of additional fines, the City has instructed our community to fix the landscape and prevent erosion.

On March 15, the City, with good cause, rejected the 2nd HOA "plan" for the community landscape. The new plan is the same as the first submission, except it includes a new letter from the landscape contractor. Based on the documents that I have the HOA did not revise the landscape proposal plant list which has the HOA installing plants prohibited by our CC&Rs.

Because of the delays in creating a plan the City states, "We are requesting that you implement temporary erosion controls for the interim." [pdf of email] "We are setting a separate corrective action timeline for the installation of temporary BMPs to be completed no later than 3/31/21." Examples of temporary measures include "straw wattle installed along slope grade breaks and above brow ditches, straw or coconut matts placed on barren slopes, etc." The City included a photo of what another HOA in La Mesa did for their slopes.

Can Sky Ranch meet the La Mesa standard?

Can Sky Ranch meet the La Mesa standard?

Despite the interim measures, the HOA is still required to submit plans to fix the issues permanently. The City rejected the HOA plans because they do not address the following:

-Corrective action timeline, identified by phases

-Plant materials selected and quantities to be purchased

-Recommendations for soil restoration- to return life to soils

-Recommendations for alternate plant materials- if applicable- for areas where the current

landscape plans are determined to be ineffective/inadequate

-Specific locations identified on the site plan that will be addressed

-Irrigation system audit

-Repairs needed or new irrigation systems needed / or that need to be revised

-Mulch and /or rock stabilization for bare areas

-...etc.

The Sky Ranch HOA settled the lawsuit with Lennar regarding drainage, landscape, and irrigation, on December 16, 2019. It is baffling that we don't even have plans to fix this yet.

Prohibited Plants

In January, the HOA submitted landscape proposals to the City in response to a notice of violation regarding community landscape. Being in a fire prone area I would not have approved landscape proposals to plant 620 prohibited plants in common areas. (SPP stands for species pluralis, Latin for multiple species).

I’ll post notes from the March meeting soon.

Summary of landscape proposal (left), Do not plant list from HOA Design Guidelines and CC&Rs (right)

Summary of landscape proposal (left), Do not plant list from HOA Design Guidelines and CC&Rs (right)