back to newsletters

Originally delivered on 6/10/2022 3:09 pm

SUBJECT: June newsletter

Westover Estates

Homeowners Association

June 2022

Plano City Council and Short Term Rentals

In 2020 the Westover Estates HOA Board of Directors sent out a questionnaire to get a pulse on the opinions of our property owners. One of the questions asked concerned short term rentals. The feedback showed that a majority of residents in Westover Estates were not in favor of short term rentals in residential neighborhoods such as ours.  Short term rentals could be defined as those homes rented via VRBO or AirBnB for periods of less than one week.   

Currently the City of Plano has no ordinance prohibiting short term rentals in Plano.   If you are concerned about the problems that short term rentals can bring to a residential neighborhood, then you have an opportunity this Monday evening to attend the Plano City Council meeting and voice your support.  Bill France, a resident in Glen Meadows neighborhood, has asked for 3 minutes in front of the microphone to implore the Plano city council to put in place an ordinance banning short term rentals in residential neighborhoods. Bill and several other Plano residents have joined the Texas Neighborhood Coalition to put pressure on lawmakers to ban short term rentals in residential neighborhoods.

These neighbors have requested time to speak at Monday's Plano City Council meeting June 13th, at 7:00pm.   You can help by showing up and showing your support.  The meeting will end by 7:30pm.     1520 Avenue K    Plano, TX 75074

If you are unable to attend, you can send your comments to councilcomments@plano.gov.  Your comments are tallied and will make a difference.  Here is an example of what your email could say:

"My name is , and I live at .  I do not want short term rentals in my single family residential neighborhood.  Thank you for listening.

If you would like to follow the Plano Chapter of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition, request to join their private Facebook group

 

Property Maintenance

Routine maintenance of your home, fence, lawn, shrubs, bushes, trees and flower beds plays an important part of improving property values in our community. The HOA Board is responsible for enforcing the covenants of the association.  The decision to purchase inside a neighborhood with an HOA means that you will abide by the covenants, deeds and restrictions of the HOA.  Our Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions requires that your property be kept in a sanitary, healthful and attractive manner and appearance, with your lawn edged near the street curbs and sidewalks.

The HOA Board has received numerous complaints regarding the following issues.  Please take a moment to examine your property for: 

1) Peeling paint on trim/fascia/soffits/drip edges.

2) Fence in need of staining, missing or chewed pickets, or fences leaning more than 5 degrees

3) Tall grass.  Our covenants require lawns to be edged along all the sidewalks and the curb.

4) Grassy weeds/weeds in flower beds.    

5) Weeds (thistle, dandelions, dallis grass, chickweed, henbit, etc.) Take a good look at your lawn, especially in the parkway.  Is it grass, or does it primarily consist of weeds?

6)  Dead (or mostly dead) shrubs or trees.  By now, if a tree or shrub has not leafed out, it is not going to come back.  If a tree or shrub has dead (brown) leaves, and some new green growth at the base, the plant or shrub will have a better shot at survival if the dead (brown) leaves/branches are clipped off/removed.  This may require taking off a substantial part of the plant.

7) Overgrown shrubs.  

8) Dead branches hanging in trees. 

9) Shooters or suckers.  Growth at the base of a tree, or along the root system of a tree that takes energy and nutrients from the top of the tree or shrub.   Removing shooters or suckers will encourage growth at the top of a tree or shrub, and provides a cleaner look to your landscaped beds.

10) Uneven or non-level tree rings.  Tree roots are generally the cause of non-level stone pavers, cracks in a brick tree ring, or green steel edging that has come up out of the ground.  

11) Tree stumps in tree rings.    Please remove stump and ring unless you are getting ready to replace the stump with a new tree.

12) The small patch of grass behind the fence next to the alley should be maintained like the rest of your lawn.  (i.e. mowed and/or kept weed free.)

13) Open storage of bicycles, strollers, lawn equipment, tools etc.  These items should be stored inside the house/garage/backyard.

For more information about routine landscape maintenance, we recommend subscribing to Neil Sperry's weekly e-newsletter.  Mr. Sperry is a noted North Texas horticulturist, and offers great advice on how to maintain and beautify your property here in North Texas.


Do you need assistance with property maintenance or a code violation? The Plano CARES or Tool Lending Program may be able to help! The Plano CARES program assists residents who cannot correct violations because of physical or financial hardship. The Tool Lending Program provides equipment to those who do not own or have access to the equipment needed for lawn care! Learn more about these programs: plano.gov/969/Plano-CARES


Street Parking

A reminder that when parking on the street, please park in the direction of traffic, (passenger side closest to the curb).  If you are unable to park in front of your own home for whatever reason and have to temporarily park in front of your neighbor's home, please be courteous and move your vehicle to your driveway or in front of your own house when possible.  Your cooperation is greatly appreciated!   The streets in Westover Estates are public streets, so all City of Plano parking ordinances apply.   Several homeowners have asked about gating our neighborhood. This is not feasible in our neighborhood due to the location of homeowner properties near all three entrances.

The Board is actively looking for volunteers to help with our Social Committee and with our Website.  Our HOA tries to have a couple of fun activities throughout the year - and we need someone to help plan them. The HOA would like to take advantage of the City of Plano's free Pop Up Theatre or Neighborhood Games Trailer - but we need someone who is able to coordinate the date(s), reserve on the City of Plano website, and facilitate delivery on the chosen weekend.   If you are interested, please contact Tammy Shamburger.

Now that we have this awesome tool called Membership Toolkit to help manage our community, we need YOUR help!  Are you creative? Have an eye for graphic design?   We need a Webmaster to add content to the website, and a Communications chair to help edit the e-newsletter template.   If you are interested, or want to know more about time commitment, please email the Board.

HOA Entrance Landscaping Projects

The City of Plano completed the rebuild of the screening walls along Communications Pkwy, Parker Rd and Midway Rd in October 2021.    

The HOA Board applied for and received a City of Plano Neighborhood Vitality and Beautification Grant to re-do the landscaping at the Parker and Midway corner, and the entrance at Westover and Parker Rd.   The Parker Midway corner was completed in November 2021 for a total cost of $3,410.  The City of Plano reimbursed the HOA $1,705.00.

The Westover/Parker entrance was completed in April 2022.  The total cost was $12,016.20, and receipts have been submitted to the City of Plano for reimbursement amount totaling $5,606.85.  (The City of Plano does not reimburse for annual seasonal color.)  The HOA will submit a new application for the Fall 2022 grant cycle of the Plano Neighborhood Vitality and Beautification program for the Communications and Westerley entrance, and the Westblanc/Midway corner will be addressed in the Spring 2023 grant cycle.  The deadline to submit the preliminary grant application for Fall 2022 is July 1st.   If you would be interested in helping write the grant application, please contact Brian Bunker, HOA Landscape Chairman.  

The current bank balance as of June 10, 2022 is $59,865.83.

Thank you to all of our homeowners who have paid their dues for 2022.  
If you need a statement showing you have paid your 2022 dues, you can login to Membership Toolkit, select My Account -> Previous Orders.  You can then print the "order" showing full payment of your dues.

The Westover Estates HOA Board of Directors hopes that the ease of paying with a credit card or mailing a check was a positive experience. If you have any feedback you wish to share, please email westoverestateshoa@gmail.com to let us know how we can improve the process.


Click here for a copy of the 2021 Financial Report

Click here for a copy of the 2022 Adopted Budget

Tips for watering your Plano lawn

St. Augustine, Zoysia, Bermuda, and fescue….these are some of the most common types of lawn grass found in North Texas, and the watering requirements vary.   Click here for more information about how and when to water your lawn, and remember to follow the City of Plano Watering Guidelines for Spring and Summer.   It is prohibited by the City of Plano to water using a sprinkler or irrigation system between the hours of 10:00am and 6pm.

MOVING?

If you are planning to sell or refinance your home and need a resale certificate or statement of your account, please send an email to westoverestateshoa@gmail.com with your request.   Turnaround is typically less than 72 hours.  The fee for a resale certificate is $250, payable to Westover Estates HOA.  The TREC resale certificate and required documents will be provided by e-mail.

Who Places the American Flags?

In case you were wondering…. the HOA pays a small fee to the Plano Metro Rotary Club to place 1 flag at each of our three entrances on each of the 7 flag holidays each year.   If you are interested in having a flag placed at your residence, you can contact the Plano Metro Rotary Club and for $50 they will place a flag in your parkway on these same holidays.

Architectural Change Committee Requests

Thinking about changing the paint color of your front door?  Trim color?  New roof? Different color stain on your fence? Major landscaping project? If you plan on changes to the paint or stain color, or making home improvements to the exterior of your property (where they can be be seen from the street or alley), please complete and return a ACC Home Improvement Change Application to Mike Gullatt or mailed to: 3405 Westwind Drive, Plano, TX 75093.

If you have any other questions, please reach out to:
Mike Gullatt, HOA President  (214) 718-1247 

Arun Meyyappan, ACC Committee Member  (479) 236-0170

Delia Laws, ACC Committee Member (214) 534-7605

HOA WEBSITE & DIRECTORY

To access the HOA Directory and Member Only Content on the Website:

  • Go to www.westoverestates.org.  
  • Click on Homeowner Login (provide location on website).
  • If this is your first time logging in you will need to create a new account. Use your email address and choose your own password.
  • You will receive an email with a link to verify that you are the owner of that email address. Once you click on the link you will have the option to update any of your contact information and directory publish preferences. Do both steps: (1) update any of your contact information and (2) approve your directory preferences. 

If you have any questions on how to get connected to the HOA Website and Member Only Content which includes the HOA Directory, please send an email to westoverestateshoa@gmail.com.


Westover Estates HOA Board

Mike Gullatt, President                         (214)718-1247
Crystal Kachmar, Vice President          (214)395-6865
Susan Valesano, Secretary-Treasurer  (972)333-4743
Brian Bunker, Landscape Chairman     (817)229-5316
Tammy Shamburger, Social Committee Chairwoman  (972)974-1950
Arun Meyyappan, ACC Committee Member
Delia Laws, ACC Committee Member

Your comments and feedback are always welcome at westoverestateshoa@gmail.com.

Governing Documents

The Governing Documents for the Westover Estates HOA can be found at www.westoverestates.org

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -