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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
Keyes Ferry Acres
100% vote to amend covenants
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,
bylaws, articles of incorporation
PO Box 1841, Shepherdstown, WV 25443
1969, 90 lots, 35 homes, typ. 1 acre, $50/yr, gravel roads
Neighbors' right to match price on each sale, $500
Road impact fee for each new house plus $1,500 deposit against road damage
during construction, 51% vote to amend covenants
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
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