Jason

I also note that voting members must be owners of residential property;
Associate members do not, but they have no vote.

Does the offer of voting membership include owners of residential property who do not themselves live in those properties? This would include parents who own properties their children reside in while at N.C. State and owners of rental property. I believe something around 60% of properties in Trailwood Springs fall into these categories.

I support the concept of organizations that foster community health and prosperity, I doubt you will find a single rental property owner who wants property values to go down.

I will not support and will actively oppose an organization which has as its foundation premise that more than 50% of the current residents within the proposed Lineberry Alliance geographical should not be there.

I would support this organization if Objective 2 were removed or modified to include all members of the community – i.e. Residents and owners of all categories.

I will be very interested to read the respoonse to my comments

Thanks for your participation and feedback about this proposal. I think we’ve been able to grab all the questions and concerns that were posed and have provided some insights, clarification, and answers. We have spent a several hours preparing this for all of you.

Again, this proposal IS NOT SUGGESTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION (“HOA”).

Please read through all the Q&A and if we haven’t addressed something, please *ask* more questions so that all of us are on the same page. It is important to note that moving forward with this proposal is not a done deal. It’s a proposal–and your feedback is critical to improve it for our community.

Thanks,
Danielle, Sondra, Sheryl, Chad, Jason

We’ll first start off with why are we proposing to get better organized and adopt by-laws.

It’s about formalizing the group. We’ve heard several times that, in general, people like the concept of the Lineberry Alliance and are currently benefiting from the loose-association that we have. However, this is not sustainable for the medium or long-term. Just a handful of us will not be able to lead the organization forever. For example, if Jason were to cease his involvement, what would happen to the Lineberry Alliance?

The folks working on the proposed by-laws felt that a change was needed and moving forward with a set of governance for the organization is the right solution. We’ve been working on them over the past few months and felt that we communicated that this was happening (but perhaps the purpose was not clear). We hope this helps you understand that if we can all agree that the Lineberry Alliance concept is good for our area, then the organization is something we want to keep growing, formalizing, progressing, and evolving.

The following 4 items were sent from one of your neighbors, Lee. We think it’s a good way to kick off the Q&A.

1. Nothing in the proposed bylaws (or any other document) gives the Lineberry Alliance any kind of legal authority to regulate or impose its will upon any member, homeowner, or property within the boundaries. Only HOA’s have that kind of authority. L.A.C is not an HOA, and it never will be. (and, I’m assuming that you have no such intention anyway).

2. Instead, L.A.C. is essentially a Club (“Community” and “Organization” are more inclusive terms, but with essentially identical legal meanings in this context).

3. As with any club, it will have a membership; and rules (by-laws) that apply to the management of the club and its membership. And as with most clubs, those “in-charge” (the board) will have a right to require a membership fee – any amount they see fit (which might even be: $0.00). The bylaws make it clear who is allowed to become a member. It should also be noted that, existing members would have the right to quit at any time, and non-members would always have a right to stay non-members.

4. In any case, as I read it, no one would ever be required to become a member for any reason. There would be no ill effects to a property or property-owner, if they choose not to participate. Indeed, the organization would have no authority to impose any such ill effect — even if that were the intention (which it’s certainly not).

Thanks Lee for your interpretation. They are all correct and accurately reflect what we are attempting to do. Here is the rest of the Q&A:

a) Dues
- if legally possible, change “DUES” to “Donation.”
- Will there be dues involved?

We debated the dues part several times while drafting the by-laws. Eventually, we felt it was best to put a version of dues into the draft by-laws so that we could have the discussion that we are having now.

Changing dues to donations is a good suggestion. The Pleasant Ridge and Ramsgate community watch currently uses that model, although the funding and income is limited.

Dues do not have to be involved in the maturation of the organization.

b) What specifically are you trying to do and why do you need the money?

We are trying to create a governance model for the long-term stability of the organization.

We believe that money is needed in order to do things that would benefit the community and promote the neighborhood. Which is very vague, but in our discussions, we talked about hosting neighborhood-wide events, socials, investing in the future park, having a home-tour to promote home sales in our area. Things of this nature.

It sounds like we need to include a phrase in the by-laws that states something to the effect of, “money can only be spent to support the purpose of the organization.”

c) What kind of dues are you looking for?

The range we discussed was from $0-$25. We left it flexible in the by-laws to be able to adjust for economic times like we are faced with now.

We thought, for at least the first year, no dues would be charged so that the organization would have time to provide value to its members.

One good idea from this is to include a cap on the amount of dues that could be set by the board. (i.e., a cap at $25/member)

d) Why would someone who is not under a HOA ever agree to join a group that didn’t have power over their neighbors?

The group would have to show value for individuals wanting to be members either through social functions, increased property value, or representation of the neighborhood for developments happening in and around our area.

e) What is the Lineberry Alliance (legally and geographically)?

Legally, it would be a neighborhood association or group. Some people have referred to it as a club. It would *not* be a HOA.

Geographically, it would include the communities along Lineberry Drive and the surrounding area: Broad Oaks, Camden Crossings, Evergreen Avenue, Orchard Pointe, Pleasant Ridge & Ramsgate Community Watch, Sterling Townhomes, Trailwood Commons, Trailwood Drive Community, Trailwood Heights, Trailwood Hills, Trailwood Knoll, Trailwood Springs, Trailwood Valley, and Whitehurst Townhomes.

f) What was the original idea [behind forming a board]?

To create sustainable neighborhood leadership, so that all the burden does not fall on a few people.

g) How can you think that a paid membership to some arbitrary Alliance Board can even be legal without the entire neighborhood agreeing to it in a publically accepted format?

We think the answer is because we have the right to self-organize. However, it would not be wise of the leadership to adopt the proposed by-laws without the consent of a majority represented at the tentative organizational meeting.

Note: the board members would not receive payment for their service. See (i) below.

h) Is this document the beginning of an HOA presence in our neighborhood?

Some neighborhoods outlined above (e) already have a HOA, Others who currently are not in a HOA, would remain HOA free.

i) Will membership in this organization be voluntary?

Yes. Membership is opt-in.

j) What power will it have, as far as consequences go? i.e., what happens if I ignore it?

The Lineberry Alliance would not have any legal power to enforce any type of home improvements or have authority like a HOA. The power would be in the governance of the organization, i.e. how membership is defined, officers elected, etc.

Also, the board would set the direction on the promotion of the neighborhood through events, socials, and things previously mentioned in (d).

k) Legally, if homeowners didn’t sign an agreement when they moved in, what power, by law, can it have?

See above (j). Again, membership would be opt-in.

l) Will there be a paid board running this HOA?

The proposed by-laws do not allow board members to be paid. However, the board would have the authority to hire services to conduct business. Services such as accounting, marketing, etc, if needed.

m) If this board will have no power why do we need a board?

The board would represent the neighborhoods on matters concerning our area. It would be a unified voice for our area. The board would also allow for leadership and representation to cycle annually.

n) No one said the board will be paid but we will have to be paying members of this “club” in order to a. vote and b. be voted/appointed onto the board.

There were two problems we were trying to solve with the membership fees. 1) how to generate money and 2) what’s the hook to get members.

From the feedback we’ve received so far, it seems that paying for membership to get a vote is not the best direction. If you have further suggestions on what the “hook” to have people contribute who find value in the organization or a better way to define memberships, please let us know.

o) Concerned that this has gotten this far with out this discussion happening already.

We felt we communicated that this was happening. It’s also a situation where it’s hard to react to something if it’s only a concept. By providing a draft and letting you ask questions and provide feedback, we felt that it the first step in making progress towards getting better organized.

In retrospect, a focus group should have been created first to review the first draft before sending it to the larger group. We could have then alleviated a lot of these questions.

p) I see no mention of an annual audit of the funds set, collected by, and disbursed by the Board of Directors?

This is a good suggestion and was an oversight to the draft. This should be added in to the next version.

Q: First let me say that I don’t understand the why having a “a loose association of neighborhood organizations and HOA groups that collaborate over email, share solutions to neighborhood problems, and connect with each other to swap recommendations, recipes, babysitters, etc.” is a problem. Why is there the desire to make the Lineberry Alliance into a corporation?

A: There is a desire to have more formalized leadership and direction for our communities. We want to ensure that what is currently loosely organized, can grow, attract new neighborhood leadership, and have a stronger, unified voice in matters concerning the collective neighborhoods.

Specifically on the ramifications the by-laws:

Q: I was looking over the by-laws and I was wondering who will be a member and who will be required to pay for an annual membership. I’m am wondering because of the wording of Article III, Section 1. How is the member going to be required? Does this mean that if the membership is not paid then an owner cannot participate in the voting process of the Lineberry Alliance?

A: In the current wording, members who want a vote would be required to pay an annual membership fee, if the board decided to enact that. We wanted to include a membership fee in the first draft of the by-laws because we feel that in order to do certain things, funding would be needed. We actually explored fees that an HOA could pay or a business could pay to become a member, but it got too complicated for this first round.

Ideally, the organization would not charge a membership for access to the email or website, all associate members would be provided those rights.

Q: Also, can an owner opt out of abiding by the “rules” adopted by the Lineberry Alliance members if the owner chooses?

A: I do not believe it is the desire of the organization to enact rules, in the sense of architectural guidelines like current HOA’s do. This organization would not have that type of authority. Each HOA’s rules would continue to dictate what’s enforceable in their individual neighborhood.

That’s not to say that the organization could lobby for, or against, a city-wide policy that would benefit our area.

Q: How will “rules” adopted by the Lineberry Alliance be enforced in the “area defined”?

A: The Lineberry Alliance would not have the authority to define such rules and regulations like a normal HOA. The current form of the by-laws are not creating a neighborhood association that would create any regulatory rules on individual homes or neighborhoods.