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QUESTION: |
ANSWER: |
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| Recurring |
Why are there different covenants for each
section in Fairwinds? Who do we report covenant infractions to and how
are they handled? |
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Fairwinds Community has transferred ownership/development
companies 6 times since
conception in 1985. Over the years, as each phase was developed, the
developers at the time of building wrote the covenants without reference to
those of other phases already in existence. Therefore each phase has it own set of
regulations or its own wording for a common issue. You need to check
the covenants for the phase you are in. Each purchaser has received a copy of those
covenants pertaining to their home when their signed the transfer papers at time of purchase.
Fairwinds Development Corporation and the Fairwinds
Community Association do not police covenant infractions. The FCA sought legal advice about how a violation of a
covenant can be handled and whether the organization could take the offender
to court. The advice received was that only somebody who proves that
the violation affects the value of their property
would have any success in a court of law. This would be a neighbour.
The FCA could not be the complainant as the FCA does not own property.
If your neighbour does not comply to the covenant your options are:
 | speak to them; |
| check with the RDN By-Law inspector to see if
the infraction is covered by the RDN by-laws |
| seek legal advice as to whether you could take
them to court for the violation. |
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| Recurring |
Recently I was walking my dog on the course and
was approached by a worker who told me I had to leave. I own a home in
Fairwinds and pay taxes, why am I not allowed to walk in my back yard? |
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Fairwinds Golf Course is
private property owned by Fairwinds Golf Course and Resort (FGC&R)
and they have the authority to ask anyone to leave their property. The
golf course is not a park for private use which would be covered by your
property taxes. Just as you can regulate who uses your home and
property, so can FGC&R. They operate the golf course as a private
business: a public golf course. For the players, they pay in
excess of $75 to play a round of golf and if the game is delayed because
they have to wait for a walker to clear their line of sight, this interupts
their train of thought, delays their game & delays everyone behind them as
well. For the walker, a golf ball hitting you or your pet could
cause serious damage as at full velocity it is comparable to a bullet.
For your safety, you should not be walking on the course while golfers are
at play - which is dawn to dusk. |
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| Recurring |
Deer seem to lose a lot of
weight over the winters when natural food is not readily available.
What can I do to help them? |
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Excerpt taken from the Oceansite Star: April 1, 2010 Page A25 "You're not
helping deer when you feed them"
Feeding deer during the winter months can cause them
severe problems. The deer have a large habitat, so their diet may
differ throughout the country, but one thing common to all deer is that they
need roughage. During summer they feed on herbaceous vegetation and
the green leaves of shrubs. During winter, they are restricted to
evergreen forbs and woody browse - food like red cedar, douglas fir, western
hemlock, blueberry, deer fern, salal and arboreal beard lechins.
In Winter, they lose 20-25% of their autumn weight. During
spring, most of the important nutrients in newly grown material is readily
digestible to them and they gain this back. A problem arises
when deer are fed by humans as the they are fed high-protein grain mixes
such as goat mash, hay, fruit & vegetables. It is very rich and causes
diarrhea. There seems to be no coming back from this intestinal
problem and can cause death. You will never see an overweight
deer in the wild as they regulate their weight quite well and most have good
muscle mass. Humans seem to be more of the problem as they see
the deer losing weight and feel they need to help. The deer really
don't need it, but are very opportunistic and of course will dine on
whatever we leave out for them. We must remember that it is not
the right thing to do. Enjoy wildlife from a distance and let them eat
what is naturally there for them. For more information
about wildlife, please call the North Island Wildlife Recovery Center at
250-248-8534. |
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| Jul 2009 |
Dolphin Lake is getting low
on water. What is being done to rectify this and who is responsible
for keeping the lake(s) at reasonable levels? |
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The
lakes are low because there has been a record low rainfall this year coupled
with high temperatures and therefore higher than usual evaporation.
Golf course watering was banned for most of June & July in recognition of
this. Fairwinds Golf Management & the RDN share the responsibility of
managing these lakes. |
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| Jul 2009 |
What is the FCA stance on
operating a home based business? |
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The
Fairwinds' covenants do not prohibit running a business from your home, only
that visible signage (i.e. a shingle in front of your house) should not be
used. |
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| Mar 2009 |
It
states in the building guidelines that "Trees may not be allowed to grow to
a height which unreasonable obscures the view from the building on another
lot." Does this apply in a situation where a home is being built and
trees on an adjacent obscures the view even though the trees were on the
adjacent lot prior to the house being built? |
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We do
not have any test cases on this matter. The recommended course of action is
to try and work with neighbours to reach a mutually agreeable compromise.
If that is not successful we suggest trying the community dispute resolution
procedure of the Arrowsmith Community Justice Society (more details
available on our web site). A final recourse is the civil court. |
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| Mar 2009 |
I
note that the building guidelines for the area I wish to built the roofing
materials are only shake shingles, clay tiles or concrete tiles. Other
areas have asphalt or fiberglass shingles. Are there any plans to
allow the same type of roofing now being used in the earlier phases? |
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We
have recently had an ad hoc committee investigate the roofing regulation. A
summary of that report will be presented at our AGM on April 1, 7 P.M. in
the Anchor Room of the old Hotel, physical copies will also be available
there. Some of the key points of the report are:
- "Fibreglass" shingles with a
life of 40+ years are allowed in Bonnington and Arbutus Hill because the
developer (Fairwinds) has modified the building scheme to allow this.
What one phase does, does not affect the building
schemes for other phases.
- A B.C. judge has ruled that
"fibreglass" shingles are a "duroid" type shingle.
- Duroid shingles are
specifically prohibited by the building scheme in all phases
other than Bonnington & Arbutus Hill. (The
condos do not have a building scheme)
- Anyone contravening the
building scheme can be sued for non compliance and damages by any
materially affected party (neighbouring land owner but not the FCA).
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| Dec 2008 |
Area residents refer to 'Building guidelines', 'covenants' and 'by-laws'.
What is the difference between these items and do we call the local police
to handle any of these? |
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BUILDING GUIDELINES - are the guidelines used when building or landscaping a
home in Fairwinds Community. They regulate the materials used, the
designs of the home and the setbacks. The overseeing agent for
building guidelines is the Fairwinds Development Co
COVENANTS - are the area rules and
regulations for living in the area and cover such things as parking RV's on
your property, leaving Christmas lights up all year, unsightly materials
lying around, etc. The people breaking these covenants can be taken to
court by neighbours affected. The police are not involved with these
issues.
BY-LAWS - are put in place by
the municipality, the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN), and cover noise
complaints, some unsightly yard complaints, etc. These are policed by
the RDN and will be dealt with by either their By-law enforcement agent or
the RCMP. |
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| Nov 2008 |
I
would like to get a copy of the Fairwinds By-laws, can the FCA give me a
copy? |
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The
response is two-fold. Do you want the Fairwinds Community Association
By-laws or the Regional District of Nanaimo By-Laws for Area E (Nanoose
Bay)? FCA By-Laws
can be viewed on-line or printed by
clicking here.
RDN By-Laws can be searched on
the RDN Website at
http://www.rdn.bc.ca/cms.asp?wpID=370 As each RDN Area has
different by-laws you will need to search for Area E references. As
these by-laws are ever changing there is no way of receiving current
documentation on ALL of the by-laws. |
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| July 2008 |
The sidewalks in the
established phases are starting to show disrepair. Some sections are
broken and heaving. Most have grass and weeds growing thru any crack
of opening, which in turn make it worse. Who is responsible for the
maintenance of the sidewalks in Fairwinds? |
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This
is a difficult question to answer. When contacted the replies were:
- Regional District of
Nanaimo - "Fairwinds sidewalks are constructed within the highway
road allowance property and therefore fall under the exclusive
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transportation."
- Ministry of Transportation
- "The MOT's rural subdivision standard for roads consists of open
ditch design. Fairwinds Development Corporation in the late 1980's,
wanted to have a community look and feel to their development, so the MOT
approved the subdivisions within Fairwinds with the agreement from the
Fairwinds Development Corp that they would be responsible for maintenance
and repairs."
- Fairwinds Development Corp
- "The agreement was made with a previous company. We did not
assume this responsibility when we purchased the development."
March 2009 UPDATE -
Members of the community are forming work parties to go out and clean up the
areas where no home is built. |
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| April 2006 |
I have two concerns
regarding unnecessary noise in the early morning hours. The first with
the mowers on the fairways and the other with construction noise. What
are the noise bylaws for Fairwinds? |
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FROM
THE RDN BY-LAW DEPARTMENT: The RDN noise bylaws have two exemptions
which cover these items. Golf courses have no hour restrictions for
the use of their equipment. In reference to Construction: due to the cost of large machinery, having
it sit idle at a construction site is high so it is also exempt from the
noise bylaw. Construction sites have a time restriction of 7:00am to
dusk, every day of the week. |
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