From the photo in the Independent it looks huge. Must have been the perspective. Sometimes I do worry about such an issue not because of appearance but because a next door second story would block my solar panels. Fingers crossed for me. Anyway, I’m due for a trip next week and I’ll be sure to drive by too. I’ll remember to pack some snacks for the trip.
You won't have far to go C, it's right around the corner. Good topic E, and one that isn't new to SCHOA. The CC&R's are challenging in that they do have dueling statements. From my days on the board, our attorneys made it clear that garages that met the setbacks were perfectly legal. Of course the oddity was, sheds not attached and painted to match weren't. That is illogical. This garage issue has become commonplace and should come as no surprise. Boomers love their toys and storing them has been problematic. Throwing up a second garage was a solution and was primarily done on corner lots. Most folks don't know this, but DEVCO sold "premium" lots for a minimum of $500 more (some higher if larger). They typically were on the corners where the bigger homes went. Access is easy with a side street adjacent and there's dozens of new garages spread across the community. I know the argument by the home owners is their property value is reduced, but that's a tough sell. The general rule of thumb has been rising home values around you drive your value up, not down. Adding a $10 or 15 K garage adds to the value of the home and the sell-ability. I still get a chuckle when i think back to the Letter to the Editor whining about the "mud huts" (stucco jobs) being done around Sun City written back around 2000. People hate change. They moaned when fences started appearing around the community. They complained when the RCSC started painting the centers with anything other than white. Hell, they used to bitch about people posting garage sale signs on street lamps and stop signs. In the first magazine i did while on the board at SCHOA, i wrote the beauty of Sun City was we had far more freedom than most age restricted communities. Whether we kept our homes in the original condition when built or remodeled them to look like Santa Fe adobe's, it was all good. The only requirement under the CC&R's was to maintain them, keep the yard free of weeds and not have farm animals (okay, so there's a couple more, but not many). Finally, one only has to look to the west of us to see the difference. Sun City Grand has become crazed with CC&R enforcement. My wife plays a lot of tennis in Surprise and virtually everyone of her team mates has gotten letters from their version of the home owners association in SCG. They have become fanatical about everything; color of rock, type of bush, shade of the pavers that have become popular, placement of chairs on the patio, the list is endless. By the way, over there you can neither build a detached garage, nor have fences for privacy, nor sell a golf car from your front drive. Not my kind of place, but i imagine for some, they love those kind of stringent rules. Word to the wise: Shop around before you buy, become familiar with community documents and then purchase where it best suits your requirements.
I just want to point out that I don't believe the photo in the Independent/Daily News Sun is the HUGE garage in question. The photo is another case brought before SCHOA. You have to go to 98th Drive south of Thunderbird and just around the corner. The garage actually fronts on Branding Iron. This garage dwarfs what's pictured in the newspaper photo. The garage doesn't currently violate SCHOA's CC&Rs but wow IMHO does it look out of place for the neighborhood. This is the type of building you'd see in the ranchettes east of 111th and south of Peoria Avenue.
Rancho Estates has some huge buildings, but they look like they belong there. I wonder what people keep inside them since no one owns horses there anymore.
I saw a driving tour online of SC Grand. While the landscaping looked beautiful my first thought was all the houses look alike...how do you find your place? I’m sure on closer inspection that’s not exactly true, but one of the reasons I did prefer SC is the variety of architecture and the flexibility. And as I stated before, I love SC’s mid century modern. I’m happy with my choice and I saw no where else that could I live on a big beautiful lake with birds like I do. First world complaints are often silly when you really look at them. I’m sure all the 55+ places have issues. Maybe I just know more now about SC than I know about other places. But although we seemingly have input on the outside, something that attracted me in the first place, sometimes it seems we really don’t. SC has the potential to be the best place, despite its age. I hope future residents can look forwards (or backwards like BP says) and make that happen.
Dang E, i would take all the criticism i could get to have the RCSC own that 38,000 square foot building on Viewpoint lake. It was the crown jewel in the DEVCO amenity package, and sadly the one piece of property they never gave us. We've had two chances to buy it and blown both of them. One because they didn't have the money, the second because we didn't have the vision. And so i am clear, because i think we should own it, doesn't make it so. My point always was we should have opened up the discussion to the community rather than keeping it a secret between a handful of board members and staff. As noted from Meeker's journals, virtually everything they did in those early years centered around getting input and feedback from those living here. What a novel freaking idea eh?
[QUOTE="BPearson, post: 15516, My point always was we should have opened up the discussion to the community /QUOTE] "Ditto" so Brilliant. Key: pro active approach no vaccums. About Community.
I finally had my chance to visit the Big Garage. It is big. Not as big as those in Rancho Estates, IMHO, but larger than most. It is not, however, taller than many houses around it, and it’s not sandwiched between two small house, so I don’t see the problem with this one. A contractor bought the house next to me and is adding a large amount of square footage, mostly in the back. Its changed the quiet atmosphere of my backyard yard entirely and the giant patio looks into my living room. New fence is in order. And strangely, he put large picture windows in the bathroom which are on the side of the house a few feet from my walkway. Yes, they are darkened, but when someone turns a light on in that bath, which I assume they will, I’ll see all their business. The original architects designed houses in a certain way that fit well with those houses next to them. When people remodel it can interfere with that balance. But if its allowed by the rules there’s nothing that can be done.
