Summer 2024 Newsletter
Thompson Highlands Homeowners Association
Celebrating 28 Years of a Good Thing
Table of Contents
● A Vote on Adding Rental Restrictions to Our CC&R’s
● Annual Neighborhood Picnic
● Storm Clean-up and Insurance Claim
● Thompson Highlands Homeowners Association Website Updates
A VOTE ON ADDING RENTAL RESTRICTIONS TO OUR CC&R’S
The Thompson Highlands Homeowners Association Board of Directors is preparing to conduct a neighborhood-wide vote on rental restrictions. Written ballots will be mailed to homeowners beginning July 29, 2024. As part of this process, we are glad to have the help of the Vial Fotheringham law firm’s Lake Oswego office as a neutral party, collecting and counting ballots.
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE VOTE
In response to concerns raised by our HOA community, the HOA Board of Directors has looked into short-term rentals (such as Airbnb), gathered feedback from the community, researched how other communities are responding to this issue, and consulted with an HOA attorney.
First, most respondents to an informal survey favored restricting short-term rentals in Thompson Highlands HOA.
Second, as part of our review we have learned that:
● The short-term rental industry is growing quickly.
● Though hosts and renters may find short-term rentals financially rewarding, there are growing concerns about the impact of short-term rentals on the surrounding community, leading to ongoing attempts to restrict this new practice across the country.
● In addition to a concern that rentals reduce property values for neighboring homes, there is a newer concern that the presence of neighboring short-term rentals may affect home sales, particularly if homeowners are required in the future to disclose the presence of neighboring short-term rentals or potential buyers find such listings nearby on their own.
● Beyond a concern about home values, other important concerns have been raised about short-term rentals:
○ a change in the character of a residential community through a revolving door of
renters in the neighborhood
○ increased noise, traffic, parking, and safety issues
And, finally, in consultation with an HOA attorney we understand that In Oregon, HOA’s legally can and do modify CC&R’s to restrict and prohibit short-term rentals. And we are reassured that if short-term rentals are restricted by our HOA, this would not prevent homeowners from renting their homes longer term if desired.
Therefore, for the purpose of maintaining property values, fostering community engagement, and promoting community standards, we propose an amendment to our HOA’s community standards or covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&R’s) which would limit rentals to a minimum of 6 months and make clear the importance of tenants adhering to our community standards.
Ballots will be sent to homeowners’ Thompson Highlands street addresses. Please email us at thha.org@gmail.com if you prefer to have your ballot sent instead to an alternate address.
OWNERS’ RIGHT TO REQUEST SECRECY PROCEDURES
A vote by written ballot must be conducted by the secrecy procedure specified below if at least three (3) days before written ballots are scheduled to be mailed or otherwise delivered, at least ten percent (10%) of the owners petition the Board of Directors requesting that the secrecy procedure be followed (Oregon Revised Statute 94.647.)
This means that if at least ten percent (10%) of the owners request the secrecy procedure, for all mailings a written ballot will be accompanied by:
(1) A secrecy envelope.
(2) A return identification envelope to be signed by the owner.
(3) Instructions for marking and returning the ballot.
Any petition or request for the secrecy procedure must be received by the Board of Directors by July 26, 2024, at the following email address: thha.org@gmail.com
ANNUAL NEIGHBORHOOD PICNIC
Save the Date!
Thompson HIghlands Homeowners Association announces an end-of-summer festivity…Oktoberfest!
Sunday, September 15, 2024
4:00pm to 7:00pm
Cul-de-sac NW Loy Ct. East
We are looking forward to the chance to celebrate, get reacquainted with
old neighbors, and meet new ones.
STORM CLEAN-UP AND INSURANCE CLAIM
You may have noticed that we have begun some clean-up of the entrance to our neighborhood after the winter storm. Thompson Highlands is insured through State Farm Insurance, and we have been working hard on getting our claim processed so that we can continue this clean-up and make repairs. Thank you to all who have helped with this effort, with a special thank you to past president Pat Goodell, for her continued hard work on this front. We anticipate restoring the entrance grass and brick wall in the next few months.
THOMPSON HIGHLANDS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION WEBSITE UPDATES
Our website thha.org is a great neighborhood resource. The site houses meeting minutes, CC&R’s, Design Guidelines, a form for requesting approval of improvements, our neighborhood maps, and newsletters. We recently updated our website’s linked CC&R’s to include previous CC&R addenda and have updated the maps linked here to include a full set of plat maps with notations about easements and rights-of-way for the Thompson Highlands neighborhood. Thank you to Veronica and Hans George for their work maintaining this site for our community.
Thank you,
Stacey Wainwright, Hans George, Mike Mitlehner, Rosemary Casamassa, Shelley Michel
Thompson Highlands Board of Directors
New board contact email: thha.org@gmail.com