45-Day Notice: Architectural Standards Fee Schedule Changes

Pursuant to Tahoe Donner Covenants and Restrictions Article V Environmental and Architectural Regulation, modifications to the architectural standards fees and fines must go out for 45-day member notification prior to board of director consideration and approval.

Changes to the Architectural Standards Fee Schedule will be considered for action by the board of directors. The board of directors is expected to take action to adopt the proposed fee schedule changes, as they are presented here or with some modification, at its February 2020 meeting, currently scheduled for Saturday, February 22, 2020. The board welcomes any input you may wish to offer regarding this process.

BACKGROUND

At the September 11, 2019 Architectural Standards Committee (ASC) meeting, the committee reviewed the Architectural Standards Fee schedule. The committee reviews the schedule every year in order to provide any recommendations for change in the new fiscal year.

The committee discussed the 2020 fee schedule and proposed the following changes:

ADMINISTRATION FEES 

• Reduce Administration Fee for Major Projects
• Reduce Minor Projects with Neighbor Notification

The changes reflect the reduced administration time per project type as a result of process and digitization improvement made this last year and a half. The Major Projects and Minor Projects with Neighbor Notification normally have a design professional familiar with Tahoe Donner rules submitting the application leading to a more efficient processing of the completed application package. The reduction in Minor Projects with Neighbor Notification of $85 was to also recognize the differing scope of the actual project when comparing to the major project category.

INSPECTION FEES 

• Increase Site Inspection and Final Inspection fees, if required, from $90 to $100 per inspection.

The changes reflect a modest increase from the last change to inspection fees four years ago in 2016. The cost of inspections continues to rise despite staff-led efficiency gains, primarily due to rising vehicle and fuel costs. For example, the average fuel price in California was $2.93 a gallon in 2016 compared to $4.04 in 2019.

The ASC proposes to leave the Deposit and the Extension Fee for each type of project the same as 2019. Maintenance Projects continue to have a $0 administration fee.

REVISION FEES 

The committee proposes fees per revision for revisions made to the ASC approved set of project plans. Proposed new fees follow:

• Major Project – $200 per revision
  (2nd revision or greater)
• Minor Project – $100 per revision
  (2nd revision or greater)

The changes reflect the time taken in a revision process of revisiting the particular project, identifying the proposed changes, illustrating the proposed changes on the approved set of plans, preparing the project for an additional review with the committee chair for the Major Projects and Minor Projects with Neighbor Notification or the ASO Manager for minor project revisions and communicating the review results back to the property owner and their hired professionals. The committee agreed that only one revision (or change request) to the project is to be built in to the administration fee compared to the current practice where an unlimited number routing through the same above timely process is conducted where a revision fee does not exist. For simple revisions, like color changes, the ASC reviewer may waive the revision fee that will be deducted from the available deposit.

NON-PERMITTED IMPROVEMENT FEE

For Minor projects completed without permit, the committee proposes an administration fee of $100 plus the administration fee for that type of project. For a Maintenance Project completed without permit, the administration fee is $100.

Small increases to miscellaneous fees are as shown on the proposed 2020 ASC Fee Schedule to reflect expense increases related above along with the increased costs of office supply materials.

Purpose and effect of the proposed changes to the Architectural Standards Fee Schedule:

• Decrease to the administration fee for projects with notification are proposed due to greater efficiencies gained through operational improvements and design professional submittal completeness.
• Increase of inspection fees by $10 due to inflationary factors affecting operational expenses related to inspections.
• Create a fee for revisions to address additional administration time on projects resulting in more than one revision and encourage reduction of the number of revisions occurring.

Proposed Changes to Architectural Standards Fee Schedule

KEY DATES:

January 1-February 22, 2020:
45-Day Member Notification and Comment Period

January 31, 2020:
Board of Directors meeting; hears member comment, discussion item only

February 22, 2020:
Board of Directors consider acting on proposed changes to the Architectural Standards Fee Schedule with or without some modifications.

LEAVE A COMMENT

Written comments can be submitted between January 1-February 21, 2020. To ensure the board of directors has time to review all member comments, written comments must be submitted by 12PM on February 21, 2020.

Please submit your written comments to: 45daynotice@tahoedonner.com, or US Mail: Tahoe Donner Association, Attn: Annie Rosenfeld, 11509 Northwoods Blvd., Truckee, CA 96161.

SEND FEEDBACK