Backlash Within Boulder Ridge: Residents Sound Off

The Fairway and Greens residents living within the Boulder Ridge community wanted a change.

They wanted to know why their assessment costs had gone up 30 percent over two years. They wanted to know why $100,000 was being spent for brick repair on a gate entrance instead of spreading smaller maintenance costs out over several years. And at the most basic level, they wanted more forewarning and a better idea when property association meetings were being held.

“There was a move among the Fairway and Greens folks, which was about 373 of the 533 homes, to come together to the meetings and start to watch the spending,” said Bob Seiser, a 16-year resident within the Greens.

Even at the meetings, they felt there wasn't enough transparency, and they questioned the board's desire to communicate with residents when one board member addressed their presence at the meeting. 

“They said that ‘They didn’t really need our input,’” said Patrick Loveless, a six-year Greens resident. “We didn’t really feel that was a way to run that board.”

The board consisted of three residents living within the Estates, one from the Greens and one from the Fairways. So when residents received notice that elections for the property owners’ association were coming up, Loveless said a group living within the Fairways and Greens subdivision organized a get-out-the-vote effort with the hopes of sparking a change and voting in five new faces to the five-member board.  

With 10 days before the June 7 election meeting, the group needed to have a quorum present, or present by proxy, to hold a vote for a new board. That equated to 268 of the 533 homeowners living within in Boulder Ridge.

“We went door to door and shared our concerns, and they shared their concerns,” Loveless said.

Estates, Greens, Fairways: Why The Division?

While out speaking with Fairway and Greens residents, Loveless said many expressed anger over having to pay two assessments while the Esates’ residents only paid one assessment annually.

The Boulder Ridge community is a gated community consisting of three subdivisions with 533 single-family homes and is located east of Frank Road and between Algonquin and Miller roads.

The Estates residents belong solely to the Boulder Ridge Property Association, or master association, and are responsible for the costs associated with the “common area” — an area traveled by all residents of the community with the main entrance along Frank Road — and where the Estates homes are.

The Fairways and Greens residents belong to the master association and to another homeowners association that is responsible for upkeep of their specific subdivisions.

June 7 Meeting: New Board Elected

While there were about 100 actually present at the June 7 meeting at Boulder Ridge Country Club, enough had given their proxy for the meeting to be held and the election for a new board to be brought to a vote.

With an overwhelming 280 votes, five new members— two women living in the Greens and three men living in the Fairways — were voted onto the property owner’s association, Loveless said. Only 75 votes were cast for the old board.

Loveless, who was selected as the new board president, said he hopes his board will address many of the issues raised by residents and avoid such divisions among residents in the future.

“We are hoping that this new board can bring all of these three subdivisions together as one community,” Loveless said.