ARC Frequently Asked Questions

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What If I Need to Re-Roof My Home?

Your Pinery Architectural Review Committee (ARC) wants you to know that only roofs approved by the Committee can be re-roofed onto Pinery homes.

Approved roofs can be found on the Pinery Approved Materials List.

To expedite your approval, please refer to the pre-approved materials list to find manufacturers and product examples, and submit a property change application by email to ARC@pinery.org. Be sure to include your:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Telephone Number
  • Roof Selected
  • Color Name (must be earth-tone)

Office staff will verify that 1) the roof has been pre-approved, and 2) the color selected is an earth-tone, and 3) confirm with a telephone call or email within one week. You are then free to proceed with installation. At the subsequent ARC meeting, the submittal will appear on a ‘pre-approved projects portion of the agenda and be noted by the Committee. 

Roofs not appearing on the list and those with the words ‘with approval’ beside them must be reviewed by the ARC on an individual basis. 

What are the requiremets for installing an air conditioner?

All filings in the Pinery require that any air conditioning equipment be at the rear of the residence and out of view of the frontage road (not on the roof)

As a 'change' to your exterior, any new installation of air conditioning should be reviewed and approved by the ARC prior to installation.

A photograph or plot plan with the unit drawn in will suffice to submit a new/placement of your unit, along with a brochure showing it's appearance. Signatures are required from adjacent neighbors indicating that they're aware of your plan to present, especially if for some reason, the unit cannot be placed in the rear, requiring a variance from the committee. If a variance is needed, submittal should include plans for screening from the frontage road.

 

Explain Easements And Right-of-Ways

Easements: The great majority of lots in Pinery filings 1-8A have ten feet (10’) of property inside the rear and side boundaries set aside as ‘Easements’. This property is set aside on the recorded plats and will appear on property surveys as such. Typical wording in Protective Covenants regarding easements is as follows:

Easements for installation and maintenance of utilities and drainage facilities are reserved as shown on the recorded plat. Within these easements, no structure, planting or other material shall be placed or permitted to remain which may damage or interfere with the installation and maintenance of utilities, or which may change the direction of flow of drainage channels in the easements. The easement of each lot and all improvements in it shall be maintained continuously by the owner of the lot, except for those improvements for which a public authority or utility company is responsible.

In addition to the above, the presence of these easements has had the effect of ensuring that spacing between houses is maintained, which is one of the elements that gives the Pinery its unique quality. Property owners should be aware that items within the easement could be subject to destruction or reinstallation at their expense should utility access be required.

Right-of-Ways: All streets within the Pinery are owned and maintained by Douglas County. The streets reside on Douglas County property called ‘right-of-way’. Right-of-ways for streets in the Pinery are sixty feet (60’). Typically, street asphalt is NOT 60’ wide. Therefore, to find a front property line, an owner can measure the asphalt 30’ from the center line of the street to their front property line. Residents are responsible to maintain the strip of land between the edge of the street and their boundary.

Pinery Signage Policy

Pinery ARC Standards limit signage to two signs per property. The maxium size is 18" by 24". Pinery policy is that signs may not be posted off the property. However, for real estate open houses, one directional sign, present for one day is allowed. For garage sales, one directional sign at a major intersection, may be present for up to 3 days. No commercial signs are allowed. Signs not meeting this policy will be removed and brought to the PHA office.

What If I Want To Repaint My Home?

To blend buildings as much as possible with our beautiful natural environment, covenants require all structures in the Pinery to be in earth tones indigenous to the area. This covenant restriction is a primary factor in the unique character of the Pinery. A sample board of approved shades is available in the PARC office or at this link. House colors must have a light reflective value (LRV) of 6-60. Trim can have a LRV of 6-70. Some colors not allowed are white, black, red, blue, yellow, purple, orange, and pink.

Submittal for architectural review is not required if repainting using the same colors previously approved by the ARC. If your current colors pre-date your ownership or you are in any way unsure of the approval status of the colors on your house (e.g., if you don’t have an ARC approval letter on file), please submit samples of the colors prior to repainting. Reapplication of an unapproved color represents a new violation, initiating appropriate ARC enforcement.

If changing colors, samples must be submitted to the ARC for review.

For shades which clearly appear within the range presented by the office color board, the ARC administrator can confirm the colors to be pre-approved. You can at this point begin painting, the change will be noted by the ARC at the subsequent meeting, and you will receive a confirmation letter for your files.

If there is any question as to whether or not a color falls within the desired earth tone range, color chips submitted will be reviewed by the ARC at the subsequent meeting. Be sure to have confirmation of ARC approval, either verbally if pre-approved, or through an ARC approval letter as described above before you start to paint!

What If I Want To Remove A Tree?

Within the Pinery areas contained in Filings 1 through 8a, all homeowners must receive approval before removing any living tree. This restriction is for the preservation of trees either originally here before construction or planted during landscaping. In our covenants, this restriction is contained in the "LANDSCAPING" section and reads as follows:

"Upon approval and/or completion of the landscaping plan pursuant to this section, no healthy tree shall be removed, nor other major changes be made without approval of the architectural Review committee." This covenant also goes on to say that all diseased or dead trees must be removed when identified. Some filings stipulate removal within a reasonable time after the condition is discovered, others within 120 days from when the condition was discovered or after receipt of notification from the ARC. In some filings, two for one replacement of removed trees is required. If you have dead or diseased trees on your property, inform our office and make arrangements for removal of the tree(s). This will ensure compliance with covenants, maintenance of the beauty of the neighborhood and reduction of fire danger.

 

What If I Want Recreational Equipment In My Yard?

Swing sets, trampolines and other recreational equipment should be located at the rear of the house and placed in such a location as to minimize the impact on neighboring views as much as possible. Swing sets that are installed into the ground cannot be on the 10' utility easements. No submittal is required, but residents are encouraged to talk with their neighbors.

 While it is understood that basketball goals typically make use of hard-surfaced driveways, they must be near enough to the dwelling so that they are not placed in Douglas County right-of-way

 Submittals for architectural review for basketball goals should include at minimum:  

  • Plot plan for property showing

         −     Location of existing dwelling
         −     Location of property lines and easements
         −     Location of proposed addition location
         −     Measurements between all of the above.

  • Drawing or photo of proposed equipment to be added
  • Signatures of affected neighbors to indicate that they are aware of the proposed change, the meeting date, and time the plan will be presented to the ARC.

 

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