This information was published on Saturday, December 7. Any future edits to this page will be noted here.
Update: Sunday, January 5, 2025
Update Wednesday, December 18
Update: Monday, December 16
A message from the C&R Subcommittee:
"We want to thank you for your patience with this process and we hope this provides you all with some additional clarity. These potential changes affect the entire neighborhood - not just one individual or household. We wanted to ensure that the process was conducted legally and thoroughly! No single person or board can legally make changes to the community covenants alone.
This has been a labor of love for our community and we are excited for you to see our hard work and to put these proposed changes to a vote. Below you'll find a thorough look at our process, community feedback, the proposed changes, the voting process, and some frequently asked questions. We look forward to seeing you at the December 17 meeting!"
-The Covenants & Restrictions Subcommittee
Contents
Background
The Covenants & Restrictions Subcommittee (C&R Subcommittee) was formed following the BCA meeting in March 2024.
Subcommittee Membership
Miriam Baumgardner - Joined June 2024
Michael Clarke
Walter Desmond - Resigned in June 2024
Sarah Harrison
Claire Jenkins
Anna Linder - Joined June 2024
Patrick Ma
Mary Ann Snell
Maryann Weiss - Resigned in June 2024
Angela Woodruff
The subcommittee was tasked with proposing changes to the current (2017) BCA Covenants & Restrictions (C&Rs). In June 2024, they drafted proposed changes to the C&Rs and distributed ballots. Community response to the ballots indicated that further research needed to be done and wording needed to be revised.
Process
Following the June ballot, the C&R Subcommittee proposed a plan of action and timeline to ensure that all neighbors had an opportunity to be heard and provide feedback. During the process, unanticipated additional steps were identified and timelines needed to shift.
60-Day Comment Period (June through August): Comments were submitted via email, Facebook, in person, and submitted in writing to the Secretary. Specifically, residents were asked to comment on swimming pools, backyard chickens, personal work vehicles, signboards, or any other section of the C&Rs
30-Day Revisioning Period (August & September): During this period, the C&R Subcommittee met weekly to review all feedback, look for commonalities, review Dorchester County regulations, and draft proposed changes to the C&Rs.
Community Feedback Received (View the Original PDF Document)
To view all comments, click the arrow to expand the category.
General Comments
As anyone in the Legal Community reviewed subject proposed changes to the BOA Covenants and Restrictions for legality/enforceability with respect to current County and State statutes?
Does approval of the proposed changes to the BOA Covenants and Restrictions increase the liability ofthe Association?
Where does the Compliance Inspection Committee derive the authority to enter resident’s property (especially backyards) to assess compliance?
Why are renters given the opportunity/ability to vote/weight in on these proposed changes to BOA Covenants and Restrictions?
We noticed that it looks like the votes per property changed at some point to 2 votes per property and allows renter’s participation.. Request the Board look at possibly amending that to allow only one vote per property. I have served on Boards for about 20 years including developer representative on some.
Have never seen two votes per property. The only variation would be condos or townhomes where a unit owns a percentage (based on square feet) of common property and hold the same percentage in voting rights with the exception of selecting Board members. Also bothers us that renters have voting rights when they have no financial investment in the community.
Briarwood was built as a single-family community. Realize “single family” could be debated by some. We know of some cases where there are four generations living in a home. Realizing the world has changed since 1975, we can understand taking in children (and family) and parents as needed. The problem that brings is vehicles. The numbers are such that the vehicles end up in yards or on the street at times, there are so many cars on the street on Dunmow that it is a safety issue. On the south end, there have been times we felt emergency vehicles would have a hard time getting through. I’m not sure what the solution is or even if there is one.
There should not be a compliance committee. we already have those matters being handled by the Management company. No home should have more than one vote.
I am concerned about the fact that should I want to I can’t have a small business, like a home daycare, or have individual massage clients come to my house. even dog sitting.
There should only be 1 vote per home (address)
Compliance inspection committee: What kind of inspection, how often. Shouldn’t the management company handle the complaints?
Is there something in the Covenants about some of these back yards not being kept?
Residential Use of Property
Swimming Pools
Walls & Fences
Animals & Livestock (Backyard Chickens)
Sign Boards
Aesthetics - Garbage Cans & Approval of Plans
Trailers, Trucks, School Buses, Boats & Boat Trailers
Commercial Use of Property
Modification to Voting
Subcommittee Research Materials
Town Hall (October): The C&R Subcommittee planned to share the revised proposed changes and provide clarity to the amendments to the proposed changes to the covenants in October.
However, due to potentially conflicting language, the document was sent for attorney review with an anticipated turnaround of 4-6 weeks. The actual turnaround was 8 weeks (received the initial draft on 11/27). The subcommittee was unable to host the town hall as anticipated.
When the attorney's revised ballot was delivered, the subcommittee was also informed that per the South Carolina Homeowners Association Act, any amendments to governing documents needed to be filed with the Dorchester County Register of Deeds by January 10 of the year they are to be implemented.
Final ballot administration and voting (November 2024): Following the Town Hall, the subcommittee planned to distribute a new ballot with the revised proposed changes to the C&Rs with the BCA newsletter. BCA members would have until the end of the month to cast their vote for each proposed change to the C&Rs.
Because the subcommittee had not yet received the revised ballot from the attorney, they were unable to distribute it with the November newsletter and voting did not take place in November.
Finalized Proposed Changes & Important Dates
Despite the unanticipated challenges and changes to the process/timeline, the C&R Subcommittee would like to move forward with a vote on the proposed changes in 2024 so that any revisions may go into effect in 2025.
UPDATED: A motion passed at the December 17, 2024 community meeting will postpone voting on the proposed changes beyond the original deadline of December 30, 2024. A new timeline is still to be announced.
Ballots are available below and will be distributed to all residents on Monday, December 9, 2024.
How to vote*: You may send your completed ballot to:
Briarwood Civic Association
P.O. Box 116
St. George, SC 29477
OR
Email your completed ballot to bcaboardsec.2024@gmail.com.
*The first page of the ballot outlines why our community can vote electronically in this case and not in others. All submitted ballots will be counted by DRES.
Due to the shortened timeline, the C&R Subcommittee will present at the December 17 BCA Community Meeting instead of hosting a Town Hall. They will also be available to answer questions there and will be available by appointment to community members between now and December 30, 2024. Please send questions and any meeting requests to bcaboardsec.2024@gmail.com.
Questions for the Subcommittee:
Why did the process change in June?
The process changed because the subcommittee recognized that the original approach to revising the C&Rs did not include feedback beyond the 8 people involved. We wanted to ensure that voices and opinions from our entire community were heard.
Why were the proposed changes submitted for attorney review before the community voted on them?
Legal review was needed on the proposed covenant language for cohesiveness and legal terminology. Additionally, we encountered several redundancies regarding language on fines and fees, throughout the document. Amending the document for these redundancies and total document cohesion fell outside of the scope of work of the subcommittee.
Why aren't we having a Town Hall as promised?
Unfortunately, the legal review took longer than we anticipated and during that process, we were advised that we are legally required to submit amendments to our governing documents by January 10, 2025, if we want changes to go into effect in 2025.
Why do the changes to the C&Rs need to go into effect in 2025?
We would like to push the changes forward so that community members may take advantage of the changes as soon as possible. If we don't move forward now, the changes would not be effective until 2026 and residents would be held to the 2017 C&Rs until then.
Full Timeline of Events
To view details, click the arrow to expand the month.
March 2024
Following the 3/19/24 HOA meeting, Maryann Weiss gathered the list of community members who volunteered to be part of the subcommittee. Maryann contacted each community member to schedule the first meeting.
The first meeting of the C&R Subcommittee was held at Bob & Maryann Weiss's residence on 3/23/24.
May 2024
June 2024
August 2024
September 2024
October 2024
November 2024
December 2024
January 2025