Neighbors,

We have a problem. When the Mile Post neighborhood was built 15 years ago, the builder (Stafford) put in section 13 of our CC&Rs (covenants) that "All roofs are to be resawn wood." And to our dismay, they have made no provision in the covenants to change it.

Our cedar roofs are getting OLD, and many are beginning to fail. When it comes time to replace our roofs, do we really want to be limited to putting another "resawn wood" AKA cedar roof on our houses? Cedar shake is a fire hazard, it decays over a fairly short period of time, requires expensive periodic maintenance to clean and treat it to keep it from rotting, and we're now to the point where further treatment may cause more damage than it prevents.

Many neighborhoods have made changes to their CC&Rs to allow for more than just cedar - Klahanie, Olympus and Summerwind have done just that over the last few years.

Proposal: Since the CC&Rs are a legal document that each of us signed when purchasing our houses, it seems that the only recourse to getting this provision changed is to contact a lawyer to get an opinion about what it will take to do this. This, of course, costs money. If you would like to donate to the cause, or if you know of a lawyer who specializes in residential real estate and CC&Rs, don't hesitate to contact me.

We don't want to just get rid of the provision, but rather change it to allow for more choices than simply "resawn wood". I'd propose that whatever we adopt not change the overall character of the neighborhood, but to allow for better fireproofing, use of longer lasting and more durable materials, with colors and styles similar to that of cedar - various shades of browns and grays. There are many alternatives - various composite materials, imitation shake, stone-coated metal tile or shake, concrete tile - or cedar if that's what you prefer.

Disclosure - I am not affiliated with any roofing company, I'm just a concerned resident who hates the idea of putting another cedar roof on my house in the next couple of years.