Lantana Ridge POA


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FAQs and Helpful Information ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE (ACC) The Architectural Control Committee (ACC) works with the Architectural Review Committee (ARC). The ARC reviews all the improvement that are submitted by the residents. The ACC is the committee charged with making sure residents do what they proposed to do on the improvement forms. The ACC is a volunteer committee. These volunteers go to the property periodically to check on the progress of the improvement. The following are some of the duties and responsibilities of the ACC members: 1. Ensure that the correct building materials are used 2. Ensure the correct color of the roof, paint or stucco are used 3. Ensure that the improvement is in the correct location 4. Ensure that the improvement does not encroach on an easement 5. Ensure that the construction area is kept clean 6. Ensure that the improvement and equipment does not encroach on the neighbors’ property 7. Ensure that the contractors, if any, do not damage roads or any other property 8. Ensure contractors, if any, adhere to the starting and stopping work times 9. Ensure contractors, if any, do not work on Sundays 10. Ensure that contractors, if any, adhere to the Oak Wilt policy These are not all the duties of an ACC volunteer. ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE (ARC) and HOW TO SUBMIT AN IMPROVEMENT FORM The Architectural Review Committee (ARC) performs a very important role in not only Lantana Ridge, but in also any other gated community. The purpose of the ARC is to ensure that all structures including new houses, sheds, detached garages, towers, pools, fences, sidewalks, driveways and other structures adhere to the rules set by the CC&Rs. All these structures are called improvements. By controlling what is built in Lantana Ridge it will maintain the property values. The ARC is run by volunteers who are dedicated to keeping high standards in Lantana Ridge. All residents are encouraged to review the CC&Rs before starting any project to be sure that the approval process will proceed smoothly and quickly. It also ensures that you do not have to tear any structure down because it did not follow the CC&Rs. You could also be fined by the POA. All residents who decide they want to build an improvement must submit the proper improvement forms. It is very important that the forms are completed accurately. THE ARC, BY STATE LAW, HAS 21 DAYS TO APPROVE ANY PROJECT. HOWEVER, THE 21 DAY PERIOD STARTS WHEN ALL THE CORRECT INFORMATION HAS BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE ARC. IF THE ARC ASKS THE RESIDENT FOR MORE INFORMATION THE 21 DAY APPROVAL DEADLINE RESTARTS. IF ALL CORRECT INFORMATION HAS BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE ARC AND THE ARC DOES NOT RESPOND TO THE RESIDENT IN THE 21 DAY DEADLINE, THE RESIDENT CAN PROCEED WITH THE IMPROVEMENT. SUBMITTING AN IMPROVEMENT FORM: Please see ARC Information, under Resident Resources for more information. NEW HOME CONSTUCTION: If your improvement is a new house, you will also have to submit builders’ rules forms. Please check the culvert size for the unit and lot number of your property. The correct culvert size must be installed or you may lose your construction deposit. POOLS Only underground pools are allowed in Lantana Ridge. Above ground pools are strictly prohibited. If you are planning to build a pool REMEMBER TO SUBMIT AN IMPROVEMENT FORM TO THE ARC. DO NOT START CONSTRUCTION UNTIL YOUR IMPROVEMENT HAS BEEN APPROVED. There are no restrictions to the size of the pool. The main concerns are the placement of the pool on the property, ingress and egress of large equipment and the placement of the pool equipment. The placement of the pool is important so that it does not encroach on the side or rear setback easements. During the construction process it is important not to encroach on your neighbors’ property and hiding or screening the pool equipment will be good for the aesthetics of Lantana Ridge. GATE CODES AND GATE REMOTES Each resident or owner of a lot should have an assigned gate code for entry into Lantana Ridge. These codes should only be given to family members and should not be given out to friends or service companies such as a pest or septic company. GATE CODES CAN BE REVOKED BY THE POA FOR ABUSE OF YOUR ASSIGNED CODE. Remotes are available to residents for a fee. Your remote should work on ALL gates in Lantana Ridge. Should your remote stop working, please try to replace the battery first. If it continues to not work new remotes are available by calling DAMC. AS A SIDE NOTE, TO ALLOW SERVICE COMPANIES ENTRY INTO LANTANA RIDGE, GIVE THE COMPANY THE THREE (3) DIGIT CODE ON THE KIOSK FOR YOUR RESIDENCE. WHEN YOUR THREE DIGIT CODE IS ENTERED IT WILL CALL YOUR PHONE. YOU CAN THEN PRESS THE NUMBER 9 ON YOUR PHONE TO OPEN THE GATE. GATES AND GATE OPENING/CLOSING Lantana Ridge is a private neighborhood. Currently, there are four (4) gates that are in use. Since Lantana Ridge is private, the purpose of the gates is to help ensure that only residents and approved service companies can have access. Each resident should have an assigned code that will work at all of the gates except the Park gate. MESA GATE: The Mesa gate is located at the end of Heimer-Lange Road and the beginning of Lantana Mesa. This gate was built initially around 2005, about 4 years after the initial construction of Lantana Ridge. This gate was built for residents of Lantana Ridge exclusively. But, it has become the main ingress and egress for contractors and service companies. Much discussion over the years to alleviate contractors using this gate has proved futile. The Mesa gate is the most used gate by the residents and thus opens and closes more than 250 times (each side) a day and requires the most maintenance. Therefore, to save on wear and tear, this gate is programmed to stay open in the morning and evening when most residents leave and return for work or school. This gate has been painted several times and the wood in the gate has been replaced once. CONSTRUCTION GATE: The construction gate is located on Lantana Canyon. The main purpose of this gate was to force contractors and service companies to use this gate when entering Lantana Ridge. It is programmed to help prevent non-residents from cutting through to Cypress Springs by only opening the exit and entrance by using a remote at certain times of the day. VALLEY GATE: The Valley gate is located at the end of Firethorn Path and the beginning of Lantana Valley. This gate was built in 2000 and was the main entrance and exit. Currently, this gate is in poor condition and the Board has decided that it needs to be replaced soon. Since it is made of wood it has required more maintenance over the years. When we receive large amounts of rain this gate sometimes floods as the large volume of water causes Skunk Creek (west of the Valley Gate) to back up and flood the gate. PARK GATE: The Park gate is located at the entrance to the Park on Lantana Valley. This gate is programmed to not allow residents to enter the Park after dark. The purpose of this is to help prevent vandalism. Over the years there has been numerous incidents involving all kinds destruction of POA property. HEIMER-LANGE EASEMENT When Lantana Ridge was originally established in 2000 the only gates available for the residents to enter and exit was the Valley gate and the construction gate. The Mesa gate was not there. The reason that the Mesa gate was not built at the same time as the Valley and construction gate, was the fact that a rancher owned the land just outside the Mesa gate and would not let residents cross his land. As you leave Lantana Ridge the land on the left is owned by a rancher. The road is part of an easement that the rancher sold to the developers after several years of negotiations. The easement goes from the gate to the large culvert around the first sharp curve to the right. This is also the point that at one time Heimer-Lange road ended. It took the developers several years to convince the rancher to give Lantana Ridge access to Heimer-Lange. MESA GATE ROUNDABOUT The Roundabout located just outside the Mesa Gate was originally built by the developers at the same time the Mesa gate was constructed, around 2005. However, the original roundabout was much larger. The outline of the original design can be seen when exiting or entering the gate by noticing the difference in the concrete of the road. The roundabout was rebuilt to its present size around 2016. The purpose of rebuilding it was to prevent continual damage done by large trucks attempting to enter the gate or turn around. Since there is not a place for large trucks to turn around the drivers were constantly trying to go around the roundabout. Many times these drivers knocked over the kiosk, drove over landscaping, damaged the sprinkler systems, damaged the curb and ran into the gates. Over the years the POA has spent thousands of dollars in repairs. Reducing the size of the roundabout costly but has also greatly reduced the damage done to the gates and the roundabout. WHY DOES THE POA NOT BUILD A POOL IN THE PARK AREA? The original developers for Lantana Ridge established the Park in the area by Lantana Valley because that area is in the flood zone. In 2015 Spring Branch received approximately 8-10”” of rain in a very short period of time. The Park was completely flooded. There was at least 12” or more of raging water covering the whole Park. There are several residents that took pictures and the POA should have some also. The other main factor to consider in building a pool is the cost. The building of a pool for a large number of people would be well over $100,000. The POA would also need to have liability insurance, hire lifeguards, hire a pool manager plus the cost of chemicals and regular maintenance. There would also have to be bathrooms available which would have to have septic tanks. Comal County would not approve septic tanks in a flood zone. One more factor needs to be considered. There are many residents in Lantana Ridge that have swimming pools. Those residents would probably vote against any monies being spent for a POA pool since they already have one. ROADS Lantana Ridge has approximately 8 miles of roads. The POA is responsible for maintaining and replacing the road if necessary. Part of the dues that members pay is placed in reserve accounts, managed by our management company, to be used exclusively for road maintenance. The percentage of dues dedicated to these road reserve accounts is dictated by the Board of Directors each year during budget time. Lantana Ridge has a large volume of cars, trucks and construction vehicles that cause a large amount of wear and tear. Lantana Ridge (the road) is approximately 20 years old while Lantana Crossing is the youngest road being approximately 2 years old. The other roads vary in age. Maintenance of the roads requires the following: CRACK SEALING: Crack sealing should be performed annually or at least semi-annually. Crack sealing is a procedure where hot tar is forced into cracks that have formed in the road. This is very important to help prevent the cracks from getting larger and prevents water from entering the crack. When there is a crack in the road water can get into the crack and erode the gravel underneath. This causes a weak area. When cars and trucks drive over that area it may cause the area to crack more or even make it crumble. Differences in temperature will also cause the road to expand during hot weather and contract in cold weather causing the cracks to get larger. The lines that you see when driving on the road are cracks that have been previously sealed. Although these lines are not very pretty they are very important. SEAL COATING: Sealcoating is a procedure where the whole road is sprayed with a special type of oil. The purpose of this is to help prevent water from entering any cracks. It also puts a layer of protection on the road by preventing small particles of the road from being rubbed off. There is debate among experts as to how much seal coating does to help prevent aging of the road. This procedure will make the road look better but may only contribute a small amount of prevention. Therefore, seal coating should be carefully considered before investing a large amount of capital. SHOULDERS OF THE ROAD: Ideally, the shoulders of the road should be the same level as the road itself. When the shoulder is below the level of the road, the edges may crumble when vehicles move off the road. This can be easily seen around the neighborhood especially near the mailboxes as the mailman moves off the road every day to deposit the mail. This is an ongoing problem and should be carefully monitored. Some residents have done a great job installing concrete or crushed granite around their mailboxes. The shoulders of the roads in Lantana Ridge are made of a base gravel. This gravel needs to be replaced periodically. Ideally, the shoulders should be made of concrete like Kestrell Air Park. This however is very expensive. Over the years there have been many experts that have looked at our roads. All of them have stated that our roads are in pretty good shape considering their age. But, all the experts say that our shoulders need to up graded. ROLE OF OUR MANAGEMENT COMPANY Currently, our management company is Diamond Association Management and Consulting (DAMC). The following is a list, though not comprehensive, of many of the services they provide: 1. Maintaining all financial information 2. Soliciting insurance for the POA and the Board of Directors 3. Sending out billing notices to all residents regarding dues and fines 4. Providing answers to residents’ questions regarding all aspects of the POA 5. Providing guidance at all POA meetings 6. Providing all financial information, counting ballots and voting procedures at Annual Meeting 7. Maintaining close ties with the POA lawyer regarding any legal situations 8. Providing all information to the title company when a home is bought or sold 9. Paying all POA bills SHEDS AND STORAGE BUILDINGS In 2011 the State of Texas changed the rules on outbuildings and sheds for POAs. The State determined that there are two types of outbuilding, portable and permanent. Only one type of each structure can be built per lot. REMEMBER THAT YOU MUST SUBMIT IMPROVEMENT FORMS BEFORE BUILDING AND IT MUST BE APPROVED BY THE ARC PORTABLE OUTBUILDINGS: This refers to storage buildings that cannot exceed 500 square feet. This type of structure must be constructed on a concrete slab or pressure treated wood. The maximum height cannot exceed 12 feet and must match the same color scheme of the main residence. The roof of this building must also match the main residence. This structure cannot encroach the easement lines of the property. It cannot have electricity or running water. PERMANENT OUTBUILDINGS: This refers to a structure that cannot exceed 1,500 square feet. This type of structure might include a pool house, guest house, a detached garage, or a workshop. These structures can have electricity and running water. This type of structure must be built on a concrete slab. The roof and color scheme must match the main residence. PLEASE REFER TO THE CC&RS FOR A MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EACH TYPE OF STRUCTURE. HOW DOES THE WATERFALL WORK?** The waterfall was a natural area improved by the developers around the year 2000. They installed a well, pumps in the lagoon, a barrier and pipelines to move the water. Originally, the well house was very small and was located where the shed is now. It was so small that to work on it you had to crawl on your hands and knees to get inside. Around 2004 the Board decided to build a bigger shed around the pump to better able to work on it and for storage for the POA. Inside the shed is the water storage tank for the well pump. The well pump is approximately 180’ feet deep and has never gone dry even in the worst of droughts. The well pump was replaced in 2013. A sky light was installed at the time on the roof of the shed so the well company could have access for the booms required to remove and replace the pump. A new storage tank and plumbing for the well was also updated at that time. The pump that was rebuilt in 2019 is located in one of the two round cement structures in the lagoon. This 350 pound pump moves the water underground and up the hill to the top of the waterfall where the water is discharged so that it flows over the edge. Also located in the cement structures are 3 floats that monitor the water level of the lagoon. When the water in the lagoon gets to the desired height, one of the floats sends a message to shut the pump off. When the water level in the lagoon gets too low, one of the floats sends a message to the well pump in the shed to turn on and add water. At the top of the waterfall there are two pipes, one for recycling the water already in the lagoon and one to add more water. The waterfall can be controlled electronically to set starting and stopping times.