Sands Scottsdale Homeowners Association
June 2022
An AZ Supreme Court case was issued having a direct impact on our efforts to amend the Sands Scottsdale CC&Rs. The case Kalway v. Calabria Ranch HOA, LLC is available here. Until this case is amended, we are forced to have 100% membership approval of new CCRs which is unreasonable. Our efforts are on hold until new laws are passed.
In the opinion, Kalway v. Calabria Ranch HOA, LLC, CV-20-0152-PR, 2022 WL 840185 (Ariz. Mar. 22, 2022), the AZ Supreme Court stated that the “original declaration must give sufficient notice of the possibility of a future amendment; that is, amendments must be reasonable and foreseeable.” Even a broad grant of authority to amend an original declaration is insufficient to allow a majority of property owners to adopt and enforce restrictions on the minority without notice. The Court ruled that the Calabria Ranch Declaration’s one-sentence general purpose statement was overly broad and was insufficient to give notice to homeowners of the scope of the amendments that were adopted. Although contracts are generally enforced as written, in special types of contracts – such as CC&Rs – Arizona courts “do not enforce unknown terms which are beyond the range of reasonable expectation.” The Court stated that it will give effect to the original intent of the parties, with any doubts resolved against the validity of a restriction. However, the Court specified that the original declaration does “not necessarily [have to] give notice of the particular details of a future amendment,” because “that would rarely happen.” Kalway at *3. The original declaration must give notice that “a restrictive or affirmative covenant exists and that the covenant can be amended to refine it, correct an error, fill in a gap, or change it in a particular way.” Importantly, an amendment to the declaration cannot be “entirely new and different in character,” and must be “tethered to an original covenant.”
Sands Scottsdale Master Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions
Revision Project
CCR Amendment Project Background
The Sands Scottsdale Board of Director’s has been working on revising our Master Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CCRs).
Why revise the Sands Scottsdale Master CCRs?
- Our community was developed in the early 1970’s and our CCRs are amongst the first filed in Arizona. Much of the language and terms are outdated.
- Current CCRs are excellent for architectural changes and process. Landscape changes are not well defined
- Ability to address potential issues with short-term rentals (less than one month).
- Allow for clearly defined Rules and Regulations.
- Establish equality within the Master Association. Our community was developed in phases. The intent of the builder was to combine all the phases under a single Master CCR making each homeowner equal within the Master Community. There are three building phases that are missing this language.
Why is this important for you?
- Commitment to maintaining the beauty and livability of Sands Scottsdale for the next several decades.
- Protect/increase your property value.
- NO proposed changes to dues and special assessment process.
Successfully updating our CCRs will protect our community for the next several decades.