HOA News
March 2021
Hello Neighbors,
The HOA held a community-wide meeting late last month to discuss many of the improvements being made recently and in particular the transition from a voluntary membership association to a permanent or mandatory homeowners association, which requires the introduction of community covenants. We understand that our busy lives prevent us from attending HOA meetings so we wanted to take a few minutes to detail how the membership options will look under the new covenants and why this transition is important to undertake.
First, it is important to note that our covenants are being introduced solely to facilitate the transition to permanent membership status. The covenants will not dictate how you keep your yard or property. No rules are being introduced and no restrictions will be introduced. The transition to permanent or mandatory status is simply to ensure that the community has the necessary funds, and if necessary, the borrowing ability to maintain and improve our common areas and therefore improve the appearance of our community. With these necessary improvements and ongoing maintenance, our community can stay up to date with neighboring communities and as a result help stabilize and improve home values. As of now, in our voluntary format, approximately 50% of the households in the community contribute to the community, yet 100% of us are affected by the quality of our community and facilities. If our facilities and entrances are well maintained and kept updated, our community remains in high demand and home values increase, with dilapidated facilities our home values decrease accordingly.
Under the new covenants you will have an initial choice to make which is to:
Option 1) Convert to Permanent Member Status - Agree to become a home under the new covenants and agree to pay a small annual membership fee of $400 for Swim/Tennis use or only $100 if you choose not to use the pool, tennis or pavilion. These members will have HOA voting rights and will pay the lowest annual fee. Your home will be recorded with Gwinnett County as being under the covenants of Maple Ridge Subdivision and the HOA will pay for and handle the notarizing and recording of the document.
Option 2) Convert to Planned Permanent Member Status - Agree to become a home under the new covenants only when your home sells to a new owner. Your annual fee will remain voluntary, however as a non-member there will be no HOA voting rights and swim/tennis use annually will be $450. Each year you would still receive an invoice and at that time you may voluntarily choose to pay $450 to use the swim/tennis/pavilion facilities or voluntarily pay a maintenance contribution of $50 or more. Your home will be recorded with Gwinnett County as agreeing to transition to the community covenants at the sale of your home. Maple Ridge Subdivision and the HOA will pay for and handle the notarizing and recording of the document. At any time those in this category may choose to permanently transition to Permanent Member status.
Option 3) Non-Member - Not Agree to become a home under the new covenants. Your annual fee will remain voluntary, however as a non-member there will be no HOA voting rights and swim/tennis use annually will be $550 if you would choose to use the facilities. Each year you would still receive an invoice and at that time you may voluntarily choose to pay $550 to use the swim/tennis/pavilion facilities or voluntarily pay a maintenance contribution of $50 or more. Your home will not be recorded with Gwinnett County as agreeing to transition to the community covenants. At any time those in this category may choose to permanently transition to Permanent Member status. or Planned Member Status.
It is our hope that our community will come together for the future of Maple Ridge and all agree to become Permanent Members and agree to pay just $400 per year for swim/tennis usage or $100 for maintenance. With average HOA fees in Suwanee at approximately $850 per year, we feel the very low rates and the option of paying only $100 when the pool and tennis courts aren't needed will make this the ideal option for those who want to see Maple Ridge continue on an upward trajectory.
There will be much more information on this next month at our Mid-April meeting where we will officially announce the new covenants and begin the process of requesting your decision of the three options above.
Thank you very much for your time and reading this letter and if you have any questions please feel free to click the "Reply to the Letter" button below.
Have a great day!
Colleen Kingery
President, Maple Ridge Homeowners Association