LOA Community Update

October 31, 2012

To: All Brushy Top Landowners
From: Thomas H. Sharpe, President, LOA Board
Subject: Community Update

I hope this letter finds you well! I wanted to take the opportunity to update you on a few important matters.

North Boundary Game Fence. I am happy to report that the North Boundary Game Fence construction has been completed. Please join me in thanking DB Ranch Management for a job well done! Thank you also to all landowners who promptly paid the special assessment for this purpose so that work was completed on time.

Construction update. I am also pleased to report that work has been completed for the new mailbox pavilion, including the installation of enough PO Boxes to serve the community at full buildout. Additionally, the Developer constructed a "mail service driveway" that will provide easier ingress and egress from the area surrounding the sales center and PO boxes. Finally, the Developer has completed a bypass for the footbridge along the nature trail to allow for safer traffic by horse or ATV along that particular stretch of the trail system.

Re-plat activity. The County Commissioner recently approved two re-plat requests submitted by the Developer. The first was to provide for the footbridge-bypass described above, which had the net effect of removing 1.5 acres from lot 118A and transferring it to the nature preserve. As a consequence of this re-plat, lot 118A will now be identified as "118D" and the Common Area formerly known as E-1 will now be identified as "E-1A." The second re-plat was in response to a prospective buyer who wanted to purchase lot 7A but wished to locate their improvements near the southwest corner of the property (in a location that would have violated minimum setback requirements of the CCRs). Therefore, the boundary between 7A and 7B was shifted 40 feet west to allow the buyer to purchase the desired homesite with enough land to construct a home in their desired location and still comply with the CCRs. As a result of this re-plat, lots 7A and 7B were renamed "7C" and "7D" respectively.

LOA Board transition. After several years of faithfully serving the community as a Director on the LOA Board, David Mulvaney has expressed his intention to resign from the Board by the end of 2012. Please join me in thanking David for the many hours volunteered in this capacity on behalf Brushy Top! Oak Smith has indicated a willingness to serve as a replacement Director(1), and the remaining Directors view him to be a strong candidate given his long history within Brushy Top. However, the Board is willing to consider additional candidates as well. Please communicate any ideas or suggestions related to a replacement Director directly to the LOA Board (in writing to the email address above) prior to the November 9 Board Meeting for further consideration.

Board Meeting. As previously mentioned, the next meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on Friday, November 9 @ 1:00 pm in the Brushy Top sales center. We hope to see you there next Friday!

Best regards,

Thomas H. Sharpe
President, Ranches of Brushy Top Landowners Association, Inc.
 
8111 Preston Road  | Suite 600 | Dallas, TX 75225 
214.443.1931 (phone)
214.443.1921 (fax)
tom@brushytop.com

(1) As a reminder, pursuant to the ByLaws, any vacancy on the LOA Board created by a resignation shall be filled by the remaining Directors for the duration of the unexpired term of the resigning Director (through May 2013 for David Mulvaney's board position).

LOA Community Update

June 22, 2012

To: All Brushy Top Landowners
From: Thomas H. Sharpe, President, LOA Board
Subject: Community Update

I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful summer! Brushy Top has been fortunate to receive steady rainfall over the spring, and the community is looking better than ever! I wanted to take the opportunity to update you on a few important issues affecting all landowners.

New CCRs. A working draft of the new document was provided to all landowners on Friday, June 1, 2012, and I’m pleased to report that many landowners wrote back to the Declarant sharing their thoughts and concerns. At the end of the day, I believe that the new CCRs are significantly better-suited to the unique needs and desires of our entire community as a result of the contributions of many landowners. Thank you for your insightful comments and suggestions! These new CCRs were recorded on June 15, 2012, and are effective as of that date. You can find a copy of the new CCRs on the website.

Construction update. Work has begun on the new mailbox pavilion that will be located just north of the existing “goat shed.” This structure will accommodate enough PO boxes for the entire community at full buildout, and it will also afford some protection against the elements. In conjunction with this pavilion, the Developer is constructing a “mail service driveway” that will provide easier ingress and egress from the area surrounding the sales center and PO boxes. Both projects are estimated to be completed by mid-July.

North Boundary Game Fence special assessment. As you will remember, the cost allocation resulting in the special assessment of $700/lot was predicated on the notion that the Developer would NOT participate with its unsold lots in the incremental cost of approximately $58,000 for a game fence (since the Developer was already contributing $848/unsold lot in lieu of constructing the 5-strand fence). I am pleased to report that, over the past several weeks subsequent to the annual meeting, the Board has successfully negotiated with the Developer such that the Developer will now participate on a pro rata portion for the $58,000 incremental cost of the game fence, with the effect of bringing down the total cost for each Owner to $400/lot vs. the $700/lot that was approved by the Owners at the annual meeting.

Community Manager. Please join me in welcoming Jessica Benavidez as the new community manager who will supervise the administrative and operational affairs of the LOA going forward. Jessica is with Hill Country HOA Management, out of San Antonio, and she will be increasingly involved in the ongoing affairs of the LOA. You can reach her at manager@brushytop.com or 800-998-6721. You will notice that the special assessment for the North Boundary Game Fence will be issued by Jessica, with instructions for payment back to her address. Please be sure to pay this promptly so that the LOA can complete the construction of the fence on time!

Board Meeting. As previously mentioned, the next meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on Friday, July 27 @ 1:00 pm in the Brushy Top sales center. Until then, have a wonderful summer!

Best regards,

Thomas H. Sharpe
President, Ranches of Brushy Top Landowners Association, Inc.
 
8111 Preston Road  | Suite 600 | Dallas, TX 75225 
214.443.1931 (phone)
214.443.1921 (fax)
tom@brushytop.com

LOA Community Update

May 31, 2012

To: All Brushy Top Landowners
From: Thomas H. Sharpe, President, LOA Board
Subject: Community Update

Thank you all for your attendance and participation at our Annual Meeting of Landowners on Saturday, May 19, 2012 at Uptown Blanco Restaurant. With approximately 50 people in attendance, we were able to cover a wide variety of topics and communicate openly about concerns, recommendations and future plans. Specifically, 114 out of 146 Owners were represented, either in person or by proxy, representing well more than the required quorum to conduct all the business items on the agenda. A draft version of minutes from the meeting has been posted to the private LOA website, and the minutes will be ratified at the next Board meeting scheduled for Friday, July 27 at 1:00pm in the Brushy Top sales center.
 
Election of new Board Member.  Michael Guenthardt was the only individual nominated to fill the vacancy created by expiration of Carolyn Boden's term (Agenda Item 4). Michael was elected to serve through May 2015 by a vote of 110 in favor and 4 abstentions. As a reminder, as a result of the votes at the May 2011 annual meeting, Isabelle Orrick and David Mulvaney will continue to serve as Directors until their terms expire in May 2013, and Scott Haire and I will continue to serve until our terms expire in May 2014.
 
15% increase in annual LOA dues. After a lengthy discussion about the financial status of the LOA, the Members approved an increase of $49.37 (15%) to the annual LOA dues for a total of $380.00 effective beginning in 2013 (Agenda Item 6) by an overwhelming majority with 108 in favor and 6 opposed. A copy of the latest financials of the LOA will be posted on the website following the May 31 closeout of the books (so as to incorporate several collections that occurred at the Annual Meeting and shortly thereafter).
 
North Boundary Game Fence special assessment. David Mulvaney, Scott Haire and others discussed the various reasons for installing a game fence along the northern boundary of Brushy Top next to our neighbor to the north (Bucky Cunningham). Ranches at Brushy Top Partners, LP (the "Developer") has already agreed to finance the full cost of a 5-strand fence (approximately $55,000), as called for in the initial purchase contract by the Developer, but the vast majority of landowners have stated a preference to have a high game fence along that boundary. In conjunction with the Developer's commitment to contribute $60,400 ($848 for every unsold lot), the Members of the LOA voted on a one-time special assessment of $700 per lot to fund the extra amount needed to install a game fence (Agenda Item 8). The measure was approved by an overwhelming majority of votes with 108 in favor and 6 opposed.  
 
I wanted all LOA landowners to be aware of these votes because the special assessment for the North Game Boundary Fence will be mailed out soon and requested to be paid in June since construction of the game fence is scheduled to commence in early July.  
 
Wildlife Management update. The Board continues to refine "best practices" for management of the wildlife and the habitat of Brushy Top, under the leadership of David Mulvaney and other interested landowners. Many of the actions that individual landowners are already undertaking to preserve and enhance the habitat should be recorded in a central location for purposes of documenting the community's efforts to manage the livestock and retain the 1-D-1 exemption currently maintained by all property owners. To that end, please send copies of all receipts related to cedar clearing and any other wildlife or habitat maintenance efforts directly to David at david_mulvaney@hotmail.com. David will add these to his records of actions undertaken by authorized agents of the Board to ensure that we have the best possible ability to maintain the 1-D-1 exemption into perpetuity.
 
Community Manager.  I am pleased to announce that the LOA Board has engaged an outside, third-party manager to manage the administrative and operational affairs of the LOA going forward. Hill Country HOA Management, Inc., out of San Antonio, will conduct a variety of services on behalf of the community, taking over responsibility for a number of tasks that have heretofore been conducted by various independent contractors working on behalf of the Developer. The Developer has agreed to cover the cost of the community manager ($800/month) for the remainder of 2012, after which the cost shall be borne by the LOA. Brushy Top's primary contact will be Sylvia Howard, and each of you will be receiving correspondence from her shortly. Posted on the LOA website under "Annual LOA Meeting - Minutes" is a list of services to be provided by the Manager.
 
Transition in Developer Management.  As most of you probably have heard by now, Joel Robuck has made the decision to transition out of his leadership role within Brushy Top. I would like to publicly thank him for the many ways that he has served Brushy Top, and I wish him the best of success in his future endeavors. Joel resigned as President and Director of the LOA Board on April 4, 2012. As noted in the April meeting of the Board of Directors, I was elected by the remaining Directors to serve the remainder of Joel's term as Director, and I was also elected to replace Joel as President of the Board. Today is Joel's last day as the supervisor of the Developer's sales & marketing efforts. Rusty Nichols, a Kerrville resident with a long development career in residential communities all over the country, will be succeeding Joel as a consultant to the Partnership supervising the marketing and sales of its remaining unsold lots. Rusty has also been recently added to the ACC, and he will take more and more of a leadership role in that capacity in the coming months. (Joel Robuck will resign from the ACC following a proper turnover with Rusty during the month of June.)
 
New CCRs. The Developer, as Declarant, has worked extensively over the past several months with Joel Robuck, outside attorneys, and other individuals to draft a restated version of the CCRs governing the community. Among other things, these new CCRs consolidate several amendments into one document, provide for easier navigation of the document by instituting a table of contents, document several recent actions by the landowners, provide further guidance for the ACC standards and review process, and provide for increased flexibility for the LOA in the future as it relates to dues increases and modifications to the CCRs. As you will recall, the Declarant retains the authority to change the CCRs without approval or consent of landowners, but in an effort to work in a collaborative fashion, the Declarant plans to distribute this draft and solicit input from landowners prior to recording the amended and restated document. To that end, you will be receiving shortly a draft of the new CCRs; please direct any comments directly via email to tom@brushytop.com prior to Monday, June 11, 2012, for consideration before the new document is recorded in the Blanco County records.  
 
Construction pipeline. In the coming summer months, the Developer intends to expand the PO Box area to provide boxes to accommodate the full community at build-out and will construct a small structure overhead to provide protection against the elements. Additionally, the Developer will construct a circular driveway immediately north of the "goat shed" outside of the sales center to provide better traffic flow for those visiting the sales center, using the PO Boxes, or just congregating at the East Lake. Finally, in July, the Developer intends to provide a short bypass around the footbridge to allow for the safe passage of ATVs and horses along the Nature Trail in that area of Brushy Top along the northern edge of Tract 118C. Dennis Bradford has been chosen to complete all of this work on behalf of the Developer.
 
As you can see, this is an exciting time for Brushy Top, with much activity that I am confident will result in an even stronger community for the future. I appreciate each and every landowner's contribution to the collective efforts. I plan to provide additional updates over the coming months as some of these efforts come to fruition.

Best regards,

Thomas H. Sharpe
President, Ranches of Brushy Top Landowners Association, Inc.
 
8111 Preston Road  | Suite 600 | Dallas, TX 75225 
214.443.1931 (phone)
214.443.1921 (fax)
tom@brushytop.com