Building an HOA so you can be proud of where you live
and how it’s run

Every board has day-to-day responsibilities for running the association, and our reform board will handle those responsibilities too.

Where we will be different is in the changes and improvements we bring to the experience of living in Brighton Forest. We’ve listened to what neighbors want improved, and these are the focus areas and practical changes that will guide our work.

Illustration of Brighton Forest neighbors and homes connected around a shared community green.

Our principles

Transparency and accountability

Transparency is the foundation of every other principle on this page. Homeowners cannot know whether rules are fair, enforcement is consistent, or concerns are being heard unless they can see how decisions are made, how each director votes and how the Association uses its authority and dues.

The problem today

Board decisions about rules, enforcement, spending and appeals affect every homeowner. Yet homeowners cannot hold a board accountable when meeting records are missing or delayed, decisions are made outside regular meetings and votes are not recorded. “The board discussed it” is not the same as a vote, and a vote without a record is not accountability.

Without useful records and conflict disclosures, owners cannot tell who made a decision, why it was made or whether personal interests played a role.

TownSq document directory · captured August 9, 2026

Owners should not have to wait months for a usable record.

The TownSq folders showed only four sets of minutes for 2025 and four for January through April 2026. Several were posted months after the meeting dates, leaving long gaps in the record available to owners.

2025 4 sets postedCaptured August 9, 2026
TownSq 2025 Minutes folder showing four files and their last-modified dates.
TownSq showed minutes for February, April, October and the annual meeting. The February and April files were not posted until October.
2026 4 sets postedJanuary through April
TownSq 2026 Minutes folder showing January through April files and their last-modified dates.
As of August 9, the folder contained minutes for January through April. No later 2026 minutes were posted.
Source: Brighton Forest TownSq “Board Meeting Minutes” folders. Dates shown are TownSq’s displayed “Last modified” timestamps.

Our solution

Adopt written board-conduct and oversight policies so transparent, accountable governance is the rule rather than a matter of preference. Every director should be responsible for what the board does as a body.

Read the proposed Board Conduct and Transparency Policy.

Review all proposed oversight policies.

What homeowners can expect
  • Useful minutes published within 14 days, showing what the board decided, the principal reason and how each director voted on major matters.
  • No policy changes made quietly. Homeowners see the complete proposal, rationale, authority, and expected effect, can submit comments, and see the final text before the vote.
  • One public Policy Register containing every current policy and every prior version, so rules cannot be quietly deleted, overwritten, or rewritten.
  • Written questions and concerns distributed to every director, with the minutes showing how each subject was answered, referred, deferred, or closed.
  • Private information protected through limited redactions without hiding the existence of a decision, policy, vote, conflict, or expenditure.
  • Disclosed conflicts and recusals recorded in the minutes, with directors required to oppose and document retaliation against homeowners and other unethical, bad-faith behavior.

Clear rules homeowners can rely on

A homeowner should be able to read the guidelines and know what to expect before spending time on a project.

The problem today

Vague and subjective architectural rules leave too much room for personal opinions to determine what homeowners may do with their own property. They also make it difficult for the Architectural Review Committee to give consistent answers or for a homeowner to know what will be approved before investing time and money in a project.

Architectural standards should protect the neighborhood without turning personal opinions into an enforceable restriction. When the rules do not clearly say what matters, similar projects can receive different answers depending on who reviews them.

Why this matters

In the skylight and attic-fan example, the current wording never defines “overall aesthetics” or “overall appearance.” With no measurable criteria, the decision can turn on an individual reviewer’s personal bias and tastes, and two similar projects can receive different answers.

The proposed version still accounts for aesthetics by requiring a flush-mounted or low-profile installation that matches or complements the roof. It turns that concern into an objective standard the ARC can apply consistently without allowing personal preference to interfere with a homeowner’s right to use and improve their property.

A before-and-after example

Skylights and attic fans show how a subjective rule becomes a clear standard.

Current guideline

Skylights and attic fans are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, with approval depending on the unit’s “overall aesthetics” and the “overall appearance of the neighborhood.”

Proposed guideline

Skylights and attic fans will be approved when they are flush-mounted or low-profile and match or complement the roof color. Other designs may still be considered on application.

Our solution

Keep legitimate protections for safety, drainage and impacts on neighbors, but state them clearly. Replace subjective language with objective standards that follow North Carolina law and apply equally to every property.

Review the proposed guideline changes.

What homeowners can expect
  • Published criteria the ARC can apply consistently to every application.
  • Clear submission requirements and a predictable review timeline.
  • Written decisions that identify the exact guideline supporting the result.
  • A fair hearing and appeal process when a request is denied.

Fair and reasonable enforcement

Homeowners should expect enforcement to focus on meaningful, ongoing problems, and follow published standards. The board should always attempt to work directly with homeowners via communication and mediation before spending dues on legal escalation.

The problem today

Enforcement has drifted away from protecting the neighborhood from meaningful harm and toward searching for anything that can produce a violation letter. These are the kinds of examples neighbors have raised.

When an enforcement issue moves directly from a notice to legal counsel, the cost and stakes rise before anyone has tried to solve the underlying problem with the homeowner.

Temporary condition

A soccer goal blows over in a storm, and the violation photo is taken while the storm is still happening.

No published standard

A homeowner receives a demand to pressure wash a driveway even though no guideline defines when that is required.

Anything to cite

Inspections treat conditions that may be only minutes or hours old as violations rather than using common sense.

Who is responsible: Associa is the management company hired by the HOA. The board directs its work and is responsible for the enforcement priorities it carries out on the Association’s behalf.

Our solution

Enforcement should focus on meaningful problems and apply standards a reasonable neighbor would recognize as fair. The board should give the management company clear written instructions and review how those instructions are being carried out. Direct conversation and informal resolution should come before counsel or litigation whenever possible.

Read the proposed enforcement policy.

What homeowners can expect
  • No citations for temporary conditions a homeowner would obviously resolve on their own.
  • Enforcement tied to a specific, published standard and supported by documentation.
  • Notice and a reasonable opportunity to correct a problem before fines begin, except for an immediate hazard.
  • A consistent appeal process and regular reporting that makes selective enforcement visible.
  • Conversation, informal resolution or mediation before legal escalation whenever appropriate.

Respect and listen to the community

A board should seek community input throughout the year, not just once at the annual meeting. Quarterly surveys should give every homeowner a regular voice, and directors should be willing to engage homeowners directly when questions or disputes arise.

The problem today

A number of neighbors have independently described experiences with the board that left them feeling dismissed, intimidated or treated unfairly. When people feel they cannot raise a concern without being talked down to or pushed aside, that is not a personality issue. It is a governance problem.

When communication is routed only through the management company or attorneys, ordinary questions become unnecessarily formal and homeowners lose a meaningful voice in their own community’s governance.

A board’s choice of legal counsel and its instructions to that counsel also shape how disagreements are handled. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and routine questions can become costly legal disputes before dialogue or mediation has been attempted.

← Adversarial Cooperative →

Counsel that litigates against homeowners

A “Foreclosure Factory” assembly-line approach to liens and foreclosure.

Selective enforcement

The same condition is a violation for one neighbor and acceptable for another.

Decisions made in secrecy

No notice, recorded vote or useful account of what was decided.

Open records and recorded votes

Every decision is traceable, including who voted and why.

A board that listens

Questions are answered directly and concerns receive a fair hearing.

Counsel that helps solve problems

Advice centered on lawful governance, fair process and resolution.

Our solution

Serving on the board should be us working for us, not us versus them. Directors are stewards of the community’s rules and dues and should engage directly and respectfully with the people they serve. Problems should be discussed with homeowners before the board reaches for litigation. Legal action should be a last resort after reasonable efforts to resolve a meaningful problem have failed.

Review the proposed conduct standards.

Read the proposed vendor-selection safeguards.

What homeowners can expect
  • Regular opportunities for homeowners to speak and submit written concerns.
  • Direct, respectful answers from the board rather than avoidance behind Associa or legal counsel.
  • No retaliation against a homeowner for questioning a decision or asking for records.
  • Minutes that show what homeowners raised, what the board discussed and how the concern was resolved.
  • Clear conduct standards that apply to every director, current and incoming.
  • Informal resolution or mediation before litigation whenever appropriate.
  • A documented board decision and clear spending oversight before major legal action.
  • Independent selection of counsel based on fair process, practical advice and respect for homeowner rights.

Putting the plan into practice

Electing a reform board is only the beginning. The board will still handle the everyday responsibilities homeowners expect, including budgets, maintenance, vendors, architectural applications, enforcement, and community operations. What changes is that, for the first time, Brighton Forest residents will have a meaningful voice and a direct say in how their HOA is run.

The reform candidates have already done much of the groundwork. We have drafted policies and guideline changes that can move through open review, homeowner feedback, board votes, and published implementation.

Where we’ll begin

Homeowners will be able to see what is being proposed, provide input before decisions are made, and track whether the board keeps its commitments.

Meet the candidates See the proposed policies View the implementation timeline Download the proxy form