Cove Connection A publication for the residents of Waterbury Cove

Volume XXNumber 1January-February 2008

Calendar

Visit our new WEB site for Calendar

Events for Waterbury Cove:

Waterburycove.com

President's Report:

New/Proposed Covenants for Waterbury Cove - Please Turn in Your Consent Forms!

Since our last newsletter, a number of you have turned in your consent forms for our proposed new covenants. A big thanks to those homeowners! However, there are still many of you whom have not turned in your consent form. Please take a look at the proposed new covenants and turn in your form indicating if you 'Approve' or 'Reject' these proposed covenants. You can mail your consent form to address shown on the form or simply give it to any board member. If you have misplaced the packet that was mailed to you that contained a copy of proposed new covenants and a consent form, you can now view the proposed covenants on line at our new Waterbury Cove website and also download another consent form. On the website, you can also see our current covenants that are in effect now and which expire soon. See the article on this page of this newsletter with information about our new Waterbury Cove website and how to access it. I want to thank Jim Herman for all his time in creating our new website.

One section of the proposed covenants generating a lot of questions is the 'No Leasing' section; see Section 9.1 of the proposed new covenants. I will be the first to admit that this is a controversial section of the proposed covenants. The 'No Leasing' clause states that homeowners are not allowed to lease (rent) their property. Existing leases in place today can continue with that current tenant allowed to lease the house indefinitely through a grandfathering clause. No Waterbury Cove (continued on page 2)

Mike Inderrieden, (770) 995-9642mike.inderrieden@ncr.com

Our Waterbury Cove WEBSite is active immediately!

The URL access is:

http://www.waterburycove.com

Our site includes our covenants,ACC guidelines, Activities,Recreation/Social, Residents, Calendar, Feedback, Newsletterand much, much more!

Note: you will need an ID and apassword to access the residentinformation page. Every six months, or when needed, the ID and password will change.

ID = wbc PW = myhome(both are lower case)

Please explore the site and sendFeedback on any problems andwhat can be done to improve it!

Waterbury Cove NeighborhoodWEBMASTER

EMAIL: directors@waterburycove.com

residents currently leasing a home will be required to leave. The goal of this clause is "to protect the equity of the individual Lot Owners within the Community, to carry out the purpose for which the Community was formed by preserving the character of the Community as a residential property of predominantly owner-occupied homes, to prevent the Community from assuming the character of a renter-occupied complex." The most important aspect of this provision is eliminating the individuals purchasing Waterbury Cove homes for the purpose of investment properties with no intention of living in our neighborhood and being part of our community. Edgewater subdivision on Collins Hill Road is a 'No Leasing' community.

The no leasing provision has a "hardship clause" which basically means the board can allow a homeowner to lease/rent their home under specific circumstances such as you have to relocate for employment purposes and you cannot get a fair market price value for your home after a 90-day period on the market. Another example is if you temporarily re-locate but intend to move back into your house within a 6 or 12 month period then you would most likely be allowed to lease/rent your home under the hardship clause. The board would evaluate any 'hardship clause' request by a homeowner on a case-by-case basis. This "hardship clause" allows the board to use some common sense when evaluating a homeowners' particular situation. Common sense says to me that if a homeowner decided to move from Waterbury Cove to a house in McKendree Park then that is not a hardship and would not be permitted to lease their home.

Another section of the proposed covenants that has generated questions is clarification on whether any and all home based businesses would be allowed in our community. The answer is no. The proposed new covenants have strict guidelines for any home based business and anything outside those strict guidelines would have to be authorized in writing by the board; see Section 8.1 of the proposed covenants. First of all, any business would have to comply with all county zoning requirements which eliminates the vast majority of all businesses. Any type of business that would generate traffic into the neighborhood or create a nuisance or potentially hazardous situation would have to be explicitly approved by the board. For example, someone wanting to operate a day-care, give piano lessons or provide tutoring in their home would have to make a request to the board who would either approve or deny their request based on the specific circumstances. For those that have a home office, you would not have to gain any board approval with the proposed covenants. Some homeowners say that the board will have too much power regarding granting (or denying) a 'hardship" for leasing your home or operating a home-based business. All I can say is, that is why you have elected a board of directors....to make decisions that represent the best interests of our entire community. Remember, your nine elected volunteer board of directors are also Waterbury Cove homeowners… and your neighbors. Why would the board want to do something to have a negative impact on property values? I am no different than any homeowner in that we all want our property values to increase. In any case, there are checks and balances in place with our proposed covenants for the homeowners to have any board member removed if you feel they are not acting in the best interest of the community. To wrap up, please do your part and turn in your consent forms to any board member. If you have questions or concerns about the new proposed covenants then please email me or call me so I can answer your questions.

Mike Inderrieden(770) 995-9642 mike.inderrieden@ncr.com

Page 2 (presidents report continued from p 1) Cove Connection