ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL AT AERO COUNTRY
BACKGROUND
RESTRICTIONS
The restrictions at Aero Country require that no building, fence or wall, or other structure shall be commenced, erected, maintained, or modified nor shall any landscaping be undertaken until the plans and specifications shall be approved by the Architectural Control Committee.
Unlike most planned subdivisions, there is not a single set of Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions at Aero Country which establish the architectural requirements. Most lots have requirements which fall into one of three general categories:
- Aero Country West with its Restrictive Covenants which were established in November of 1993 and modified in late 1997,
- Residential Lots – the six 1.3 acre lots adjacent to the north end of the paved portion of the runway.
- Commercial Lots – those lots on Aeronca Lane to Luscombe Lane and Mooney Drive to Yak Drive.
The restrictions on the Residential Lots and the Commercial Lots are found in the deeds themselves. These restrictions can most often be found in the first deed from Jack Hurst, Aero Country’s founder, or his company, Aero Country Aviation, Inc., but additional restrictions were sometimes added by subsequent lot owners. These additional restrictions generally appear in subsequent deeds as opposed to stand-alone documents enumerating the restrictions. A thorough search of the public records available in the Collin County Clerk’s Office is necessary to determine the restrictions applicable to any given lot.
COMPLIANCE & ENFORCEMENT
The restrictive documents do provide for an Architectural Control Committee (“the Committee”) to monitor compliance with the restrictions. Most of the restrictions have little room for interpretation (such as ‘the property conveyed shall be used for residential purposes only’) but a few restrictions leave interpretation to the judgment of the committee (such as ‘the harmony of external design and location in relation to surrounding structures and topography’). As the Committee has no separate funding, it must rely upon Aero Country Property Owners Association (“the Association”) to fund any enforcement action which may be required when lot owners violate the restrictions.
DEVIATIONS
The restrictions on Aero Country West do allow the Committee to permit minor deviations and allow a two-thirds majority of the owners to permit substantial deviations. The restrictions on the Residential and Commercial Lots do not provide any mechanism for deviations and therefore neither the Committee nor the Association has the power to permit deviations. It is understood that deviations for the Residential and Commercial Lots must either be approved by 100% of the lot owners or by a petition of 75% of the lot owners to a Texas court which may grant a modification of the restrictions.
APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL
GENERAL
The Committee is composed of volunteers and because of the small number of submissions meets as they are received and not on a scheduled basis. The lot owner can generally expect a response from a complete submission within thirty days. Incomplete submissions will, at the Committee’s discretion, either be rejected or be reviewed as a Preliminary Inquiry.
DOCUMENTING RESTRICTIONS
Prior to finalizing building plans or requesting approval from the Committee, it is required that the lot owner research the public records for the lot back to the earliest deed granted by either Jack Hurst or Aero Country Aviation. The knowledge from this research will assist in project modifications and delays due to non-compliance with a restriction. Also, such documents are a required component of the submission package to the Committee. The official documents are maintained by the Collin County Clerk’s Office. Many of the documents are available through the Clerk’s Public Inquiry website while older documents are maintained only on microfilm and must be obtained in person at the Clerk’s Office.
The lot owner may be able to obtain the assistance of a title company in identifying the documents pertinent to the lot. The Association is also in the process of building a database of all Aero Country deeds and, as a starting point only, may be able to assist in providing electronic copies of some documents; the lot owner must not rely on such provided documents as containing all restrictions applicable to the lot.
PRELIMINARY SUBMISSIONS
The Committee will review a preliminary/partial submission or two from the lot owner but any response from such an inquiry shall be non-binding on the Committee due to its being based on incomplete information. All Preliminary Submissions must include the above described documentation of restrictions.
SUBMISSION PACKAGE
The documents required for a complete submission are indicated on the Submission Form. Arrangements for submitting the package, which will often be inconvenient to mail, can be made by contacting the Committee via email at board@aerocountry.org.