Poplar Hill
Lebanon, Ohio
For the Homeowners and Residents of Poplar Hill
Hello! My name is Jo Roth and I have been a Resident of Poplar Hill since 1999 and a resident of Warren County most of my life.
This website was created September 1, 2024, with the goal of sharing documents and information to the Homeowners and Residents in an open and accessible format. I do not represent the Poplar Hill HOA, the Board, Management Plus, nor PMI Buckeye Services. The term Residents will be used to include both Homeowners AND Renters who live here. Each one of us is part of this neighborhood and community, and decisions made and actions taken affect us all. Hopefully our Renters will discover how great Poplar Hill is and want to one day become a Homeowner here.
The Poplar Hill HOA was created to "own, operate and manage for the benefit of homeowners" "certain common elements and facilities" and should be a resource helping to unify a community. The management company, if one is used, should provide support and services to the HOA Board members AND Residents. We are paying them to help with the areas where we may not have the experience or resources needed.
Lot owners should have received the Annual & Special Meeting Notice in the postal mail. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 2025, beginning at 6:15 p.m., in the Cafetorium at Lebanon Junior High School, 160A Miller Road in Lebanon.
The packet of information contains Proposed Amended and Restated Declaration [of Easements and Protective Covenants for Poplar Hill Subdivision] AND Adoption of By-Laws (this is hyphenated throughout the document, but bylaws is not a hyphenated word). It is a great deal of information to read and digest, and seems to have an overabundance of legalese to wade through.
At first glance, I have a good number of concerns. On the positive side, it is nice to get actual advance notice of the meeting that will be held in a place that is accessible for those wishing to attend. It is good to get the names of our Board members and their contact information. I still have questions about how and when these Board members were elected.
The Meeting Agenda includes Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes. I am curious as to when and where this would have been, as it seems we have not had enough attendance to constitute a quorum in quite a while. Without a quorum, no business can be conducted, and therefore no minutes should exist. At the meeting in May 2024 there were only 10 people present. It was stated we did not have 55 people, which was pronounced to be 50% of the homeowners, so they could not have an actual meeting, only an informational meeting. Oddly, when I ran the numbers using the Recorder's website at the time, it appears there were approximately 191 distinct homeowners, meaning a quorum would be 96, which is far greater than the 55 they declared were needed.
As it stands a quorum consists of 50% of the homeowners. As it is proposed, a quorum would consist of the members present in person or by proxy at a meeting. WOW! What a way to railroad things through on the say of a minimum number of people! It is also proposed that any provision of the Declaration may be amended by the consent of at least sixty percent (60%) of the total number of votes held by the Members of the Association. Currently, seventy percent (70%) is required.
Part of the old Covenants and Restrictions expired January 1, 2013, and our neighborhood seems to have managed to get along without these extra rules. Several people have voiced that it may be time to just get rid of the HOA. Nowhere in this packet is any information about that being an option. It would be interesting to find out how many of the Lot Owners here (who are voting members of this HOA) think that is the best solution. Feel free to get in touch with me using the Contact Form on this website. I am happy to hear what you think about our neighborhood, the HOA, and these proposals.