News Articles

Block Walls in Applewood
Posted on Feb 14th, 2022

There was discussion and questions regarding block walls in Applewood at the annual meeting so the HOA would like to give some history and information on them.
 
The perimeter block walls that run along Shockley Rd, Keene Rd, the east side, and Westcliffe Blvd are owned by the HOA. They are all built on the HOA common area land - just off the homeowner property lines.
 
The developer put in Shockley, Keene, and the east side block walls in during the initial Phase #1 building of the development and the HOA put in the Westcliffe Blvd block wall in 2012 after the HOA settled a lawsuit with the City.
 
Back Story:
Back in 2007, the city changed the land use just east of Applewood Estates allowing a dentist office to be built. Back then the HOA Board and homeowners had not determined who owned the block wall and some homeowners obtained permission from the city to add blocks to their portion to shield their back yard from that commercial property.
 
Fast forward to 2013, the HOA board hired Capital Reserve Consultants, LLC out of Oregon to complete a Level 1 Capital Reserve Study and later in 2016 a Level 3 study. This is where the HOA learned the block walls were not owned by the individual homeowners but by the HOA.
 
Moving Forward Now:
At the annual meeting in 2021, homeowners discussed helping those who lived along Keene Rd raise the block wall for numerous reasons including dust, noise, and most important - safety.
 
It was clear there would not be enough support from all Applewood homeowners for the HOA to spend $40,000 plus to raise the entire length of the wall. So, during the 2021 annual meeting, the homeowners agreed to have the HOA Board look into obtaining a city variant to allow those homeowners to raise their portion of the wall at their own cost.
 
After the annual meeting, the Board voted and approved to spend $440 and apply for a city variance for those homeowners. The variance was submitted and approved.
 
Since then, some homeowners have paid for and added blocks to the HOA block wall. The block wall is still owned by the HOA with some additional blocks added by individual homeowners. If something were to happen to the block wall, the HOA would restore it "as is" to include the homeowner's additional blocks.
 
You can read and learn more by looking at the Capital Reserve Study by clicking HERE.