A quick glance at the
medians in the North Hills subdivision and it’s obvious to see they
have been neglected.
Long, overgrown weeds
sprout out from the otherwise manicured medians. But who is
responsible for maintaining the weeds? It depends on who you
ask.
The City of Rio Rancho
and the North Hills Property Owners’ Association both claim the
other is responsible for maintaining the medians. And while the two
point fingers over ownership, the weeds continue to grow. The
association said it’s considering legal options.
Rio Rancho Spokesman
Peter Wells said the city’s position is the association owns the
medians and had maintained the medians until recently.
“They have been
responsible for maintenance of these medians for decades,” Wells
said in a statement.
Wells refers to a 1986
development plan for North Hills that states, “The establishment of
a legally created property owners’ association to administer
commonly-held areas.”
Also, according to
Wells, in the development plan was a clause stating the developer
of North Hills, AMREP Southwest Inc., would install and maintain a
landscaped median strip.
Wells points out that
the association’s covenant states the purpose of the assessment it
collects is for “the improvement and maintenance of the common
areas” and that collected assessments may be used for landscaping
in the public right-of-way and a portion of front
yards.
“Something which has
been done historically,” Wells said.
But the head of the
property owners’ association said the medians are the city’s
responsibility.
“We have never owned
the streets, medians or any other right-of-ways in North Hills,”
said Jo-Ann Reap, president of the North Hills Property Owners’
Association.
Reap said the city’s
claim that the association should use the assessments it collects
to maintain the medians is unfair.
“We feel like we’re
being double taxed,” she said. “We pay our property taxes to
maintain public right-of-ways. To use assessments is a double
tax.”
Property owners are
required to pay a monthly $35 assessment to the
association.
In May, according to
Reap, the association presented the city with land plat signatures
showing AMREP had vacated the streets to the city.
However, the city
argues that alone doesn’t leave the city with the responsibility of
the medians.
“Dedication and
acceptance of right-of-way via plat signature and recording by the
city is not
acceptance and ownership of median,”
Wells said in a statement. “Acceptance by the city of a median, or
constructed road, curb and gutter, is done by a completely separate
process and is accomplished through documentary procedures
following city inspection that all city codes and specifications
have been met.”
Wells said the medians
and the irrigation system in North Hills are not “constructed in
manner that is acceptable per city standards for city
ownership.”
Reap said the city
claims medians and streets aren’t the same things; the association
disagrees.
Reap said the city is
treating North Hills differently than it does other
associations.
“Could they name any
other homeowners’ association that is not gated that maintains the
streets and medians?” she said. “Our point is what is said in city
records is not happening.”
The city argues the
association has been maintaining the medians for years and is only
now claiming they are the property of the city.
“That is because the
city has told North Hills that we own the medians,” Reap
said.
Reap is part of the new
leadership of North Hills Property Owners’ Association, which has
approximately 1,539 property owners. She was elected in October; a
new board of directors was also recently selected.
“If we own the medians,
why didn’t they ask us to cut down a tree (located on a median)?”
she said, referring to a roundabout construction project last year
at the corner of 17th Avenue and Cherry Road.
Wells said when the
city was doing the construction project, it was able to alter the
medians because they encroached on city property.
“The city can take
actions necessary with regards to encroachments in its inherent
health, safety and welfare police powers,” Wells said, adding that
the roundabout is a traffic safety improvement. “The city’s actions
with regard to the encroaching medians does not mean the city had
perpetual maintenance responsibilities for North Hills
medians.”
The two sides had in
the past come to agreement on ownership of property in North
Hills.
In 2004, at the request
of the property owners’ association, the City Council passed a
resolution accepting three parcels of land identified as parks from
the association. The land was deeded over to the city, and the city
currently maintains this property.
The spat over the
medians is unrelated to the association’s recent financial woes,
Reap said.
“This has nothing to do
with the association’s money problems,” she said. “It was having
money problems but we have already turned that around and it is on
stable ground.”
Reap said the
association has discussed its legal options with an attorney and is
waiting for a formal reply from the city.
“Some of us think it’s
about time that we (homeowners) stood up for ourselves,” Reap said.
“If you look around, all the common ground the city owns is
overgrown with weeds.”
DGallegos posted at 11:24 am on Mon, May 30, 2011.
I'm totally disgusted with the NHPOA. When I bought my house (brand new) back in 1994 I was told that the Association would maintain the front yard of my property. That included watering and cutting of grass, trimming and maintaining bushes and trees. Well that all seems to have been a lie. The trees and bushes in my front yard are all dead with exception of 1 tree that is barely hanging on. The grass is more weeds than grass and very rarely gets watered if at all. To top things off, I recently received a nasty gram from the Association that there was a dead tree in my front yard (which they planted) and if I didnt remove it, they would remove it and charge me! They have backed out of everything they said they would do, yet are very quick to threaten and put a lean on your home if you don't pay. My question is WHAT AM I PAYING FOR? The NHPOA says that the city of Rio Rancho owns all common areas, parks, medians, streets. So if they're not using funds on common areas and not maintaining our front yards, what are they doing with the money?
Edited by staff.
ConcernedResident posted at 12:57 pm on Wed, Mar 16, 2011.
I would bet that if High Resort had this issue the city wouldn't let weeds grow in that neighborhood. This is how slums start. The city stops ensuring that the area is kept up and then undesirable move there because its not an important part of the city.
wolverine87144 posted at 1:32 pm on Fri, Nov 19, 2010.
Have a neighborhood party and smoke dem weeds!
sr2009 posted at 2:08 pm on Tue, Nov 2, 2010.
After living in North Hills for a very short time, this is what I noticed. The parks, the streets and the medians were taken care of by the HOA (though it was about 10 years ago). Then all of the sudden it stopped. What exactly are the dues going to? Lawns are not mowed --the HOA was supposed to do that. If you don't pay those dues the HOA puts a lein on YOUR PROPERTY OR THE BANKS PROPERTY IF YOU STILL HAVE A MORTGAGE. I finally came to the conclusion that the HOA is just a bunch of bullarky to get money out of homeowners and telling them how they HAVE to maintain their property. What they can and cannot do on their property and so forth. Sounds pretty communist to me. If I want to fly a flag or plant a tree on MY property then I will darn sure do so! I would never live in an area where an HOA existed.