FAQ

Q.  What will HOA fees cover?

A.  Home Owner Association fees will cover maintenance, replacement reserve deposits, insurance for all structures, water and sewer, trash and recycling, common area electricity, and required registration fees and tax prep for the association. Detailed budget

Q.  How will parking work?

A.  There will be 22 off-street parking spaces for cars.  Two of these spaces will be owned by the HOA and reserved for guests.  The remaining 20 spaces (12 carports and 8 uncovered) will be available for purchase by residents.  Street parking is available on NE Going St., although we have committed to neighbors to limit such parking to the frontage of our property.  Finally, there will be ~38 bike parking spaces in common structures.

Q.  Will the units include solar water and/or solar photovoltaic (PV) systems?

A.  There is roof space for each unit to have both solar water and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.  The Oregon Department of Energy granted 13 of 16 requests for High Performance Home state tax credits.  The sales price of each unit contains all of the cost for solar water and 3kW PV systems with the exception of $6,900 that homebuyers will be able to receive back in the form of 1-year state and federal tax credits.

Q.  What will happen with the 2 existing homes on the property?

A.  The small home at 4821 NE Going St. is in poor condition and has low ceilings.  We will tear it down, salvaging and recycling what we can.  We hope to relocate the house at 4745 NE Going St. to a nearby property.

Q.  Can I have a home-based business?

A.  Portland’s zoning code is fairly friendly to home businesses.  Our rules place no restrictions on home business uses (including in-home child care) beyond what is covered by existing city codes.  For more information on this, please review Portland’s home occupation regulations.

Q.  What rules will the community have?

A.  Typical covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) regulate the use and appearance of homes and common spaces, including restrictions on signage, exterior lighting, drying clothes outside, pets, items that can be stored on porches/balconies, exterior colors of homes, and modifications to building exteriors.  Our default approach is to leave these rules out of our CC&Rs, which are relatively hard to change, knowing that we can always adopt additional rules by resolution of the HOA on an as-needed basis once the community has assembled.

That said, there are a few rules that we have included in our CC&Rs:

• No pets in the common building or other common interior structures
• All pets must be on leash while in common outdoor areas.  Exceptions might be granted for certain pets ‘grandfathered in’ and for chickens/bees.
• No smoking in common interior or exterior portions of the property

Additional rules can be found in Section 8 of the Bylaws.

Q.  Are there any restrictions on renting out units?

A.  We expect this community to be predominantly owner-occupied, and that 1-2 homes may be rented to increase economic diversity in the group.  That said, other types of rental situations consistent with our vision and allowed by our bylaws, include:

• Renting of rooms within owner-occupied homes for family members and/or lower-income renters (ie. Students, farmers…)
• Limited duration renting of homes while the owner travels, studies, and/or lives abroad.  Such stints might range from 2 months to 2 years

No more than 25% of homes may be rented out at any one time.  This limit should ensure that owner-occupant buyers can get owner-occupant mortgage financing.

Q.  How will the community deal with conflict?

A.  Conflict is a natural part of human interaction. There will be times when not every community member gets along with everyone else.  The key is to have resources and tools close at hand to help the community work through break downs.   Two community members will be trained in mediation and trainings will be available in:

• Consensus and meeting facilitation
• Non-violent communication

Q.  What is the zoning for the site and how can you fit 16 homes on it?

This 80,000 square foot site is zoned R5, allowing one house per 5,000sf of site area.  Instead of dividing the property into multiple lots through a subdivision process, we did a Planned Development, which provides more flexibility in the site layout.  This allowed us to site homes and parking on the periphery and locate indoor and outdoor common spaces towards the center of the property.

Q.  Where is Cully Grove in the development process and when will the homes be finished?

A.  The mandatory preapplication conference with the City of Portland took place in Feb. 2010 and the land use decision in favor of the project was issued on Nov. 4, 2010.  Building permits were submitted in early April, 2011 and were complete in October 2011.  In order to break ground, we will need either to pre-sell 13 homes or pre-sell 10 homes and secure additional capital (equivalent to 3 homes).  We hope to break ground in November, 2011 and complete construction of all homes by December 2012.  This timeline is an estimate and may change.

Q.  What will the legal ownership structure be?

A.  The homes will be owned as condominiums.  Each residential unit will include a home and a private front, back, and/or side yard, much like in a typical subdivision.  Each owner will have the opportunity to purchase 1-2 off-site parking spaces.  Certain residential units will also come with private storage lockers.  Yards and storage lockers will be designated as ‘limited common elements.’  In addition, 2 craft spaces on top of the bike storage rooms are available for independent purchase as ‘craft space units.’  The community garden, central courtyard, pedestrian and car circulation areas, bike storage rooms, and guest parking spaces will be owned and managed collectively.  Legally, these are referred to as ‘general common elements.’

Q. Will there be restrictions on resales?

A.  Legally, there will be no barriers to re-sale on the open market.  In practice, we expect to create an informal system that allows remaining residents to help recruit prospective buyers and provide input into who will purchase homes as they turn over, so long as this process does not jeopardize the seller’s ability to close the sale within a reasonable timeframe.  We will also provide opportunities (such as informal pot-luck dinners) for prospective buyers to meet existing residents and vice-versa to share information, answer questions, and increase the odds that new residents become familiar with the community they are joining to foster a good match.

Q.  Who will provide construction financing for the project?

A.  Pacific Continental Bank, equity from the developers, and private loans assembled from a combination of family, friends, and prospective buyers at interest rates to be negotiated.  There is no expectation that all purchasers will make loans to the project, but some will need to have that capacity for the project to proceed. Ask Eli for details.