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Websites, Covenants & Bylaws of Local Associations

 

All Associations
If your website or rules aren't posted here, please send us a link to where you have them posted, or send the covenants themselves by email , and we can post them here. Also please see the message on the home page about association officers.

 

The following list shows, where available:
Mailbox of association
Date subdivision founded, Size, Fee, Road type
Special clauses, Votes needed for amendments

 

Please send us any additional information you have.

 

Breckenridge North
Shenandoah Junction WV 25442

2000, 21 lots?, paved
67% vote to amend. Developer may add or remove land from covenants until 2010. Fines are allowed. Supplement B applies different rules to different areas

 

Blue Ridge Acres
96 Blue Ridge Acres, Harpers Ferry WV 25425
$20-$50/yr, gravel roads. Fees revised by circuit court case 85-C-379; see deed book 562, page 430 in courthouse.
100% vote to amend covenants.

 

Cloverdale Heights Homeowners' Association
209 Cloverdale Road, Charles Town WV 25414

 

Est. October 18, 1988, a planned community nestled in a retired apple orchard, 137 lots, and 128 homes on 1 to 3 acres. Annual assessment of $275, paved, lighted roads, sheltered school bus stop, participant in Neighborhood Watch and Adopt-A-Highway. Amendments to the Cloverdale Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions require a 67% vote though not universally applicable as some clauses require 100% vote to be changed (Section 14.4). It is a vote of "all" units. The unofficial Cloverdale Web Site is a community work-in-progress and subject to change throughout the coming year(s).

 

Deer Mountain Estates
1989, $90/yr, paved roads
51% vote to amend covenants in 2014 & every 10 years; 100% otherwise

 

Huntfield

 

Keyes Ferry Acres
100% vote to amend covenants

 

Locust Hill

 

Mechlenberg Maintenance Association
PO Box 1464, Shepherdstown, WV 25443
Founded long ago! Over 160 lots, $100/ house, $25/ unimproved lot, gravel roads
No covenants (?). Bylaws amended by 51% of members at a meeting; new fee must be proposed by certified mail.

 

Riverside Acres Property Owners Association    Covenants 3/25/2010, book 1076 p.607,   Articles of incorporation, Bylaws
PO Box 1841, Shepherdstown, WV 25443
1969, 90 lots, 35 homes, typ. 1 acre, $100/yr, paved main road, gravel side roads

Neighbors' right to match price on each sale, $1,000 Road impact fee for each new house plus $1,000 deposit against road damage during construction, 51% vote to amend covenants

 

River View Park

 

Shannondale
Association has dissolved. Neighborhood website  .  Another
1955, 4063 lots, approx: 1100 homes, 700 buildable lots, 2200 unbuildable (fail perc test, too small, etc.), gravel & paved state roads
100% vote to amend covenants

 

Spruce Hill Estates

 

Tuscawilla Hills

 

Uvilla Estates
Shenandoah Junction, WV 25442-9538
100% vote to amend covenants

 

Covenants are often false reassurance. People do break them. If people don't respond to a letter, usually no action is taken. (but see site opposing HOAs .)

 

It costs thousands of dollars to enforce covenants in court. The WV rule appears to be that an Association has to speak through a lawyer, which means substantial costs. Lawyers in this area typically charge $125-$175 per hour.

 

The person who broke the covenant will try to argue that it was ambiguous, or minor, or unreasonable.

 

The most-cited case on homeowner associations in WV seems to be Wallace v. St. Clair, which the WV Supreme Court decided in 1962. It is published in volume 127 of the "Southeastern Reporter, 2nd series" at page 742, available in law libraries.

 

However to win this opinion, three neighbors had to go all the way to the WV Supreme Court, since the Circuit Court ruled against them. One of the three was a lawyer (who had lived in the subdivision for 54 years), and his son was also a lawyer, so they made a good case.

 

updated on: 9/8/04