Happy Spring to our neighbors in Stonebrook! My name is Richard Beem and I am serving as HOA president for Stonebrook. We want to encourage all of you to join our legendary garage sale extravaganza. We will have new signage for our entrances, newspaper ads and our website announcement for Saturday, May 21st sale. Let’s hope for a little better weather than we had last year. We compliment residents of Stonebrook for the beauty of your homes and gardens. Some examples of your talents are breathtaking.

Along with the beauty, there are some issues we unfortunately must revisit again. Homeowners report that trailers can still be seen in front of fences in violation of our covenants and by-laws. Even owners who rent their homes to others are responsible to comply with our by-laws. We understand that trailers can be out temporarily while preparing for trips, but driveways or the street in front of your home is not a permanent daily place for your trailers. Also, poultry of any kind has never been permitted in our by-laws. We talked about this item at our last annual meeting, but until the by-laws are changed (which I hope they won’t) they are not permitted. Please make any necessary changes as soon as possible if you are in violation of either of these covenants.

We are subject to city requirements when keeping tees trimmed to the proper height. There are streets where the city cannot drive their vehicles and others cannot drive their pickups with trailers without risking damage to their paint or equipment. Trees must be trimmed 15’ above any public street and 8’ above the curb or sidewalk. They cannot obstruct a stop sign. If you have any questions, you can call Genene Eddins at the City of Idaho Falls at 612-8479. Those who do not comply with this requirement risk having the city do the trimming and sending a bill to the homeowner. Again, the majority of our HOA follows the covenants they made when they chose to live in Stonebrook. Your homes and yards are in impeccable shape. Friends and family who have stayed with us complimented our neighborhood as a great place to live. I agree wholeheartedly, but if you find yourself or your tenants living outside of these simple guidelines, take action as soon as possible. Also, help keep our neighborhood safe and advise your neighbors and/or police of any strange or unusual occurrences. I love living here and I think you do also.

Due to term limits, our entire board cannot serve past October 2016. All of us are busy, but if you have a little time and love our neighborhood, we hope you will run for HOA office or convince other friends to do so. We will have another newsletter before election time at our August meeting. Like last year, we will have door hangers to remind you of the meeting. Last year I enjoyed going around the subdivision to place door hangers. This provided an opportunity to meet some of you and, as I suspected, you are amazing neighbors. We are more than an association, we are friends and neighbors, and I have been happy to serve you.