At the September 29 meeting, the SCOV HOA Board laid out its plan for the Community Spaces Initiative. Homeowners will be asked again to approve spending on the Copper Center. In April 2025, a request for up to $3 million failed by 44 votes.

The rest of the initiative, the Artisan Center, Welcome Center, and Cart Barn remodels, won’t be on the ballot at all. According to a response from a board member at the meeting, those will be paid for out of the asset reserve fund.

The owners only get to vote on one building out of the four.

Section 6.3b of the SCOV bylaws requires owner approval for any capital improvement project costing more than 10% of the prior year’s gross revenue. Right now that’s about $1.355 million. The bylaw defines a capital improvement project this way:

“A capital improvement project is one that involves the acquisition of an additional capital asset, the renovation or remodel of an existing capital asset, or components of both which may be distinct but are logically connected and carried out in a coordinated fashion.” Two parts of that stand out.

First, remodels are included in this. The only exclusions are repairs, replacements, emergency fixes, and purchases paid for with donations or grants. Nothing in the bylaw says a project is exempt because it’s paid from reserves. Moving walls to make room for new uses is a remodel, not a repair.

Second, connected projects count as one. The Board’s own materials describe these buildings as a chain. The October newsletter says the Copper Center move “sets the stage” for the Artisan Center remodel, which then frees space for the Welcome Center and Cart Barn. The 10-Year Development Plan says the same thing. That sounds a lot like “logically connected and carried out in a coordinated fashion.”

Arizona also has a new law on the books. A.R.S. 33-1821, signed in June, says HOAs must use their discretionary powers neutrally, fairly, without favoritism, and in a nonarbitrary way.

Owners deserve straight answers before they vote:

• Does the Board consider the Community Spaces Initiative one capital improvement project under Section 6.3b? If not,why not, given how its own materials describe it?
• Which bylaw exclusion does the Board believe allows the other remodels to be paid from reserves without a vote?
• Will the Board share the association attorney’s written opinion on these questions?

If a No vote only stops one piece of a four-building plan, owners should know that before they cast it.

The Board presents plans and costs on Thursday, October 29, at 1 pm in the Auditorium and on Zoom. These are good questions to bring.

A new name. Same question.