The Parkways

The parkway is the patch of land that runs between the sidewalk and road. As we understand it, this land is owned by the City, but managed by the HOA. Modifications to these parkways are prohibited per the only newsletter sent out to the HOA in June 2025, but it appears this rule is not being enforced by the developer-controlled HOA given the multitude of homes in the Alder and Sycamore communities which have modified the parkways in front of their respective homes.

We were disappointed to learn that one of the candidates for the new homeowner board has modified the parkway in front of their home. Essentially, the concern we now have is that our new homeowner board may prove to be no better than the current developer-controlled board if candidates such as this individual are not well-informed regarding our community's rules. What type of leadership can we expect if a prospective board member is not familiar with the rules of the community's governing documents? We tried to speak to this individual regarding the unpermitted modifications to the parkway in front of their home, but the individual ghosted us. What type of leadership can we expect if a prospective board member is unable or willing to communicate with concerned members to, as in this case, discuss potentially uncomfortable issues? If this individual is elected to the new homeowner board, it is clear that relations between our household and the HOA will not improve and that we will be forced to continue rely on the guidance of our legal counsel.

Anyway, the parkways are another important issue for us since the development is too densely populated to allow for such a high level of homeowner personalization. From our perspective, personalization without adherence to an aesthetic standard in a development in which homes are located so closely together, combined with the fact that the HOA is not enforcing (among other things) required garage usage which has led to very limited street parking on Bergamot Street and numbers of vehicles in the respective driveways of many of the homes in the Alder and Sycamore communities, has led to a development that feels increasingly chaotic and cluttered. Our bet is that architectural permits were not pulled for these front yard landscaping projects because, had they been, upon Management's required initial review of project plans- or, at the very least, at project sign-off- it would have communicated to applicant homeowners that modifications to the parkways are not permitted. Of course, it would have also ensured adherence to an aesthetic standard and quality of work. From our perspective, this is not the case for a preponderance of the front yard modifications which, in our opinion, are tacky and shoddy at best. We do our best to avoid walking in these neighborhoods, but the modifications are quickly mushrooming all around us in the Live Oak development.

It was inconceivable to us that there were HOA boards that did not enforce their own CC&Rs since this is one of their fundamental responsibilities. This is not what we expected from Meritage and, certainly, not what we thought we were buying into. We are convinced that our respective property values will steadily decline given the Meritage-controlled board's failure (and apparent refusal) to maintain aesthetic standards and enforce the rules of the community's governing documents. We are gravely concerned that, without the leadership of a board that understands its responsibility to provide consistent enforcement in the interest of preserving our property values, before it even transfers Management of the HOA to a homeowner board, Meritage's Live Oak will be, for lack of a better word, a dump, and precisely the type of place we ran from when searching for a home in an HOA.

We have no expectation that the Meritage-controlled HOA will rectify this issue by requiring violating homeowners to return modified parkways to their original landscaping. Instead, we fully expect that our Meritage-controlled board will amend the rules to allow for these modifications, so as to avoid having to deal with enforcement and the uproar this would surely create on the part of violating homeowners and, more importantly, the negative PR that could scare away prospective buyers. It is incredibly frustrating to witness that the goal posts are so swiftly moved when it is in Meritage's interest.