THE REPORT
THE COVENANTS COMMITTEE + UNDERSTANDING COVENANTS RULES
TREVOR CLARK
By SHERYL WALKER, Architectural Standards Office Manager
The Tahoe Donner Association Covenants Committee is comprised of volunteer members; five members and two alternate members, tasked by the Tahoe Donner Board of Directors with hearing and deciding on alleged violations of the Covenants Rules as outlined in the Governing Documents. The Covenants Rules are the rules for the neighborhood, which govern what you can, cannot or must do with respect to your home and lot. The goal of the Covenants Rules, in conjunction with other governing documents—including Covenants and Restrictions, Bylaws and other rule sets such as Architectural Standards— is to preserve, protect and enhance neighborhood property values. The Covenants Rules fall into two broad categories: 1. General Common Area + Amenity Rules 2. Private Property Rules The Committee may levy fines and abridge a member’s amenity-usage rights when they find that a provision has been violated. The board of directors acts as the appeals authority for all committee decisions. A broad summary of the Covenants Rules follows (note that many have limitations or
exceptions). A complete listing of the Tahoe Donner Association Governing Documents and Covenant Rules including enforcement procedures may be found on the Tahoe Donner website at tahoedonner.com/covenants.
GENERAL COMMON AREA + AMENITY RULES In general, the following is prohibited in common areas, including amenities and parking lots: camping, off-road vehicle use, skating/skateboarding, vegetation removal, after-hours use, dumping of refuse and ashen materials, fires and fireworks, firearms use, archery use, hunting, fishing on golf course grounds, after-hours parking, off-pavement parking, loose animals and noxious activities.
PRIVATE PROPERTY RULES In general, the following is prohibited on private lots: camping, living in garages and recreational vehicles, noxious activities, keeping animals for commercial purposes, business activities which have exterior advertising, increased traffic or parking, visible storage of goods, excessive noise or deliveries, garbage accumulation, outside storage, including non-recreational trailers,
slide-in campers or cab-over campers not mounted on a vehicle, vegetation removal (trees with a diameter greater than 4 inches) without a permit from the TDA Forestry Department, machinery and equipment larger than a lawn and garden tractor, outside vehicle repair, inoperative vehicles, large commercial vehicles, commercial trailers, parking on unimproved lots, parking on an un-surfaced portion of an improved lot or more than one recreational trailer (travel trailer, boat trailer, snowmobile trailer, personal watercraft trailer, etc.), and motorhomes or slide-in campers mounted on a vehicle parked on a lot. Property owners are responsible for maintaining their lots in a fire-safe condition and in a manner that is conducive to forest health. Recently, light pollution, noise, and STR rules have been added with approval from the board in 2018 as well as the seasonal outdoor woodburning fire ban, forest health and fire safety and prevention rules added in 2019. If you, your tenants or guests are unfamiliar with any of the above provisions, please take the time to review the Covenants Rules available at tahoedonner.com/covenants or stop by the Architectural Standards Office if you have any questions.
