Some Title Companies are still providing
the wrong “2001 Covenant” Version
Back in 2001
there was an attempt to modify our Covenants, however they had been Sealed some
5 years earlier and could not be legally modified for another 5 years.
To provide stability community Covenants often
have a provision where they are only unsealed and open for changes in a specific
window. Ours currently can only be modified or changed every 10 years.
While
Colorado does allow the Seal to be broken, it requires a 100% approval of the
owners to do so. While this vote in 2001 had a slim majority it did not have the
necessary 100% and as such the Covenants remained Sealed – Unchanged. The
problem is that this vote was recorded and now when Title Companies do a Douglas
County Record search, they will often pull up this 2001 Version and incorrectly
provide it to new owners. Our Covenant ACC Officers have continued to work with
the Title Companies over the years to correct this, but occasionally the wrong
version still goes out.
If you were incorrectly provided with a “2001
Version” of our Convents you can download the correct and current 1971 Version
here
Our Covenants were last open for modification
In the Summer of 2016 when our owners overwhelmingly rejected making any changes
and they were once again Sealed and extended – unchanged - to 2026.
Sage Port #2 is a Covenant Community but without any Regulatory HOA
As we noted
in our recent mailing, we are fortunate that Sage Port #2, unlike most
communities in CO, has NO regulatory HOA under our Covenants nor is required to
have one under Colorado Law!
Many of you may be
aware of the
excessive
financial abuses
being carried out by Regulatory HOA’s in Colorado over the last few years.
A
recent report by the Rocky Mountain PBS and ProPublica
(https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/news/colorado-hoa-foreclosure-investigation/
) stated that these Regulatory HOA’s
have
filed more than
2,400 foreclosure
cases from January 2018 through February 2022 – Many think only a Bank can force
a foreclosure, but a Regulatory HOA (often with more legal power than a City
Gov.) can file to recover payments for dues, fines and related legal fees.
Yes, they can
even take your home!
Over 215 of the cases initiated by CO. HOAs in the last few years have resulted in
sheriff’s sales in which the homeowners have lost their homes!
The most recent extreme
example, which forced some necessary corrective legislation action this year,
was the Homeowners
Association For Green Valley Ranch which initiated more HOA foreclosures in 2021
than any other Denver HOA, and has taken in more than $600,000 in one year from
fines levied against its homeowners and the HOA has more than $1 million dollars
on hand in checking accounts, CDs, saving accounts and cash, and the HOA lists
its total assets at more than $2.2 million dollars, according to a CBS4 review
of its financial reports covering the last four years. (https://denver.cbslocal.com/2022/05/09/foreclosures-profitable-controversial-hoa-1-million-bank/)
Our Sage Port #2 Covenants do not establish an HOA of any kind and only created
an Architectural Control Committee (ACC), with limited power, which is the only
organization with Regulatory Authority in our community.
While our Protective Covenants do place legal restrictions on your property and while these restrictions can be legally enforced – our current Covenants do not provide any method to assess dues, fines or fees of any kind – our ACC has no legal authority to do so – NO Covenant initiated liens or foreclosures of any kind are possible in Sage Port #2 under our current Covenants!
Now
for this so-called private “Sage Port HOA and ACC” group.
Well without going through some 30+ years of history in detail the short story is that back in the 80’s our owner’s setup a voluntary organization to take care of community issues like welcome wagons, plowing the streets before the County took over, and even end of the year parties. The organization was well supported but then around 2000 a number of new “community control activists” joined, took over leadership and quickly moved to forcibly change it from a voluntary group into a full Regulatory HOA. One of their first moves was to attempt to (unsuccessfully) change the Covenants in 2001 quickly followed in 2003 when this private HOA, under the leadership of the then President Mark Hesse (still an active director) recorded 64 liens against Sage Port #2 Owners for back dues in an attempt to force / require membership. They had NO legal authority to do so and this act was quickly escalated to the Douglas County District Attorney who immediately declared the liens illegal and ordered their removal under penalty of legal action (they were quickly removed). What then followed were years of court actions and the expenditure of 100’s of thousand in legal fees effectively to block a number of other attempts to impose a Regulatory HOA on Sage Port #2 owners. All attempts were blocked / failed.
Their last
actions were during the Spring and Summer of 2016 when our Covenants were open
for modification. This private HOA group, which by then was down
to maybe 30 or fewer members (some not even owners in Sage Port #2), put
forward 2 ballot issues.
The first would have codified the "2001
Covenants" replacing our original 1971 Version. In doing so it would have
established a full Regulatory HOA – their “Sage Port HOA” – with full financial
and legal
control of Sage Port #2. It did not go well, as after about a month of voting
they pulled the ballot issue. They claimed the
owners just did not understand the issues.
Turns our that they had been secretly opening the ballots as they had been coming in.
When confronted on this at a community meeting their President was forced to admit
and confirm they had in fact been opening ballots - but he stressed they never
looked at the votes?? – yet they somehow knew the vote was not going their way?
This
was followed by a 2nd ballot to simply modify our 1971 Covenants
effectively just a change to allow modifications every year and also recognizing
the “Sage Port HOA” as a Voluntary HOA under our Covenants.
At this point (after some 4 months of this) the
overwhelming majority of owners were totally fed-up and this 2nd
ballot also failed. A clear consistent message from our owners – a Regulatory
HOA was not needed or wanted in Sage Port #2.
At the end of Aug 2016, likely as a result of the total rejection of this groups positions by our owners, and primarily their failure to secure a change in our Covenants, most of the directors and officers just quit – for the last 5+ years this organization has been effectively inactive - effectively dead – no member meetings and all their officer and director terms expiring years ago. However about a month ago they did post their first update in 5+ years with apparently their last 2 members ( http://thesageporthoa.com/about-sphoa/board-of-directors/) reappointing themselves to director positions. They are now looking to fill 5 open director slots and 4 officer positions (likely getting ready for another run on the Covenants in 2026) along with a new fund raising campaign looking for our owners to send them dues! - Not Required or Recommended
While this "Sage Port HOA" presents themselves to our owners, and others in the general Sage Port area, as Our HOA the question is legally what is it - an HOA or just a Private Business? The answer is simple: The "Sage Port HOA" is registered with the CO Secretary of State as a Nonprofit Corporation / Business : https://www.sos.state.co.us/ucc/pages/biz/bizSearch.xhtml (enter: SAGE PORT HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION) Listing Mark Hesse (current director) as the Registered Agent
Now an actual HOA in Colorado (not just a business with "HOA" in their name) is required - by Law - that they must be registered with The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)
DORA maintains records of all HOA's in Colorado: https://apps.colorado.gov/dre/licensing/Lookup/GenerateRoster.aspx you can download this list and you will see that the so called "Sage Port HOA" is NOT LISTED
So despite their attempt to wrap themselves in the HOA banner in the end this is just Private Business - looking for money - but with no regulatory / HOA powers.
Over the last
20+ years, effectively this group’s primary goal has been the establishment of a
full Regulatory HOA for our Community (with them in full regulatory and
financial charge) – so if you think an
HOA is a good thing – then this is your group!
If
however,
like most of our owners, you would like Sage Port #2 to remain free and
protective of your home and personal property rights - well a better option for that $50
is to invest it in a good night
out.
The Sage Port #2 Covenants ACC vs. the private Sage Port’s ACC members
A bit confusing - that is their plan
As noted, this private group will often contact owners looking for a Building Permit, they are on the Building Departments notification list. So, whenever a permit is being pulled the Dept. will send emails to any group asking to be notified. Being notified, a member of this private group will then often contact the owner claiming the "ACC" needs to approve the permit and at times have even told owners the President of the “HOA” will also need to approve them. While this group has NO Covenant authority of any kind they have continued this activity for years and when challenged on it they will often claim they somehow have “absorbed” or “inherited” Covenant ACC “powers” in the past and currently only the officers of this private group / business can appoint our Sage Port #2 ACC officers.
Well, this is simple. Our Protective Covenants clearly list only 2 ways an owner
can be appointed to our Covenants ACC.
·
First, by a current ACC officer(s) appointing a new
member to fill on opening (we have up to 3)
·
Second, by a
general election to select new officers (this has never taken place)
That’s it – there is noting in the Covenants that gives this private
(with 2 members) “Sage Port HOA / ACC” the authority to appoint our Covenant ACC
Officers To do so it would have required the removal of the current two
provisions on appointments, and specifically listing the authority to this
private group.
It would require a formal change in the
Protective Covenants passed by a majority of our owners, and as we have
discussed, our original Covenants have NEVER been changed!
Actually,
they did attempt to make this change in their first ballot issue in 2016, which
they pulled after a month, not to be resubmitted.
Yet somehow – without any vote or approval by
our owners – they now claim this authority – can’t win the vote – just make up
your own rules and reality.
From the 3 original
ACC Officers named in the 1971 document, there has been a
continuous and unbroken
series of appointments over the last 50+ years! In each recording of a new
officer the document specifically references the previous filing to establish
that the officer listed has the legal standing to appoint the new officer. This
provides the traceability necessary in record searches. Each new appointment is
then formally filed with Douglas County as a formal update to the Covenants,
providing a legal record of the appointment and who the current Sage Port #2 ACC
Officers are.
To be in good legal standing and compliant with the Covenants, all Building
Permits must be approved by our Covenants ACC Officers – approvals by this
private "HOA/ACC" group has no legal standing – same as if you asked the local
Book or Garden
Club
for an approval – WORTHLESS.