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22 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | DECEMBER 2020 We live in a well-planned, beautiful community. The members of ARC work hard to insure that homeowner modification not only meet the requirements set forth in the Architectural Guidelines and Standards (which is available at www.fourseasonsbeaumont.org), we also try to find acceptable alternatives that will help homeowners have the yard they want and stay within the requirements. Recently ARC has helped homeowners find acceptable alternatives for the following: • Patio covers where setback requirements could not be met. • Installing hot tubs where setback requirements could not be met. • Water softeners where it was banned by state law. • Hillside patios where excavation was prohibited. We have seen a rash of modifications that have been made without the required approvals from both the ARC and the city of Beaumont. When these become known, the only alternative is to require the homeowner to make an application and determine if the modification can be allowed. In some instances, the modification must be removed and may involve significant fines, particularly if City Codes were not followed. ARC believes that many of these unapproved modifications were encouraged by contractors who advised homeowners to ignore ARC and or City requirements. We have determined that homeowners have been told that no one will ever know, or that it is easier to gain forgiveness than to follow the rules and guidelines. This simply is not true. In some instances, homeowners are being required to remove the modifications and are incurring costs in the thousands to cure their problem. Many of these unapproved modifications generate significant income to the contractor who should know that it cannot be approved, and may be the reason why the homeowner is told to ignore the requirements. Often when the homeowner is required to correct the problem, the contractor refuses to help the homeowner claiming that the homeowner was responsible to make sure the proper permits and permission was obtained. The most common issues ARC and the City of Beaumont are seeing are the following: • Starting and/or doing work without permission or permits. • Building retaining walls without permits (often the contractor claims no permit is required). • Installing water conditioners. • Removing trees from front yards. If your contractor, landscaper, or handyman advises you that you do not need ARC approval or city permits, protect yourself by double checking with ARC and the city. You can contact any ARC member or the city at (951) 769-8520) for clarification. ~ Steve Cooley, (801) 815-5302, cooleyaudit@gmail.com Architectural Review Committee Check with your committee chair to confirm meeting place, date, and time. Ad Hoc Conservancy Committee The Buffer Zone: When the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) mandated compensation for the disturbance of the land where K. Hovnanian wanted to build Four Seasons at Beaumont, the builder decided to make this area the marquis attraction for marketing. No other 55+ HOA in the area had a similar feature and making/keeping this unique place was paramount to sales. In fact, the Boardwalk and Park Place models were the first ones built adjacent to the Conservancy. The Conservancy area is divided into two distinct parts separated by a three-wire fence: the actual conservation area (green area) and the buffer zone (brown area). The conservation area is to be left pristine as Mother Nature dictates while the buffer zone protects this area from human and plant incursions. It is also the area where prospective home buyers were, and now our HOA members are, allowed to walk. K. Hovnanian established landscape standards for the buffer zone trails that promoted their interests, keeping new homebuyers happy with their purchases and enchanting prospective buyers. As the HOA developed, these landscape standards extended beyond Trails A and B with their 84 adjacent homes to the Edison easement (95 homes) and the C (30 homes) and D (45 homes) trails with the HOA picking up the tab as property was transferred. Our urban park, the Laurel Paseo, is encompassed by 30 homes with an even higher landscape standard. The actual conservancy area requires no landscaping, only sufficient water in times of drought and removal of invasive plants. These costs are minimal compared to the buffer zone. When the Conservancy is finally transferred to the HOA, the question will be to what landscape standard should be maintained for the buffer zone. In the meantime, the Finance and Landscape Committees will begin asking bidders to isolate the costs of maintaining similar areas so we are able to compare costs. ~ Len Tavernetti, ltavernetti@hotmail. com

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