HENDERSON (KTNV) — You might remember the Renaissance Townhomes community, we introduced you to early April. It's a Henderson HOA community that was facing a more than $1.3 million possible water system fix.
Plans have changed though and many hope a new law could help them fix the issue.
WATCH | Renaissance Townhomes and Somerset Park residents speak out about extensive repairs
“I’m thrilled. I mean it’s a step in the right direction, we can use all the help we can get right now," said 4-year Renaissance Townhomes resident and new HOA board member Lisa O'Connor. "Yeah, I just got elected last month.”
She and the new board agree they need to fix their water system.
“Each of those lines is a faulty pipe basically, so eventually they’re going to break," said O'Connor.
When the community's property management company, Colonial Property Management, notified residents the water system replacement project would cost $1,367,168, several people on the HOA board told me the HOA did not have enough reserve funds to cover the cost of the project.
This means that the homeowners would have to foot the bill.
The breakdown Colonial Property Management provided to residents shows homeowners would have to pay $16,879 in four installments of around $4,220 paid within a four month span.
“But there’s no way, we realized that people in here cannot afford that kind of money up front," said O'Connor.
O'Connor tells me the community voted no, but they still have to fix the water system so they're trying to come up with other repair options.
“We’re going to look for alternatives like maybe through the city or through the state, like grants or something like that," said O'Connor.
One idea suggests using AB 10, which was just signed into law by Governor Joe Lombardo last week in Carson City.
This changes the Nevada Revised Statutes section 271 of Local Improvements making several amendments adding specific language to include these HOA communities.
The new law is now in place. According to the law, cities or counties statewide can now step in to fix water or sewer system in HOA communities, before those problems turn into an emergency.
Either the local municipality could see that a fix is needed in a community and place it on an agenda, or the community itself could come to the local county commission or city council to request this to be heard on an agenda.
The city council or county commission would then hold a public meeting, then vote whether to fix it or not.
If the municipality decides to fix the issue they will have a company look at the system that needs a fix and quote a price, the city or county will notify the homeowners of the total cost and what the repayment plan will look like.
The repayment plan is expected to follow Local Improvement Districts (LID) which are already established in our valley.
This whole process is similar to what happened in Somerset Park, also in Henderson. The city replaced the failing water system there, which caused sinkholes, leaks and flooded roads.
One of the reasons why several residents at Renaissance Townhomes tell me they want the city to step in, is because the price was nearly cut in half for the Somerset Park fix.
Before the city decided to replace the Somerset Park failing water system, the HOA management company had several quotes, at cheapest about $1.2 million. The city ended up fully replacing it all for $682,293.74.
That's a savings of almost $600,000.
Homeowners now have a tax lien on their properties for $8,026.99. The payment is broken up in eight installments of $1,003,37. The first payment is due in August 2025 and the last will be collected in March 2027.
Renaissance Townhomes residents hope the city can do the same with their system, cutting the projected more than $1.3 million fix in half.
The community has a HOA board meeting scheduled Monday, June 2 at 5:30 p.m. We will update you with any new developments that come out of this meeting.
Somerset Park homeowner Kenny Kester is thrilled with the fix, but unhappy that he has to pay for it.
“Oh they fixed it, they did it in the time they said they would, so I have to commend them for that," said Kester. "It’s frustrating, I know life is unfair in one sense."
Whether Renaissance Townhomes fixes the pipes themselves or the city steps in, the residents will have to foot the bill — So they'll hold out and hope that the cost goes down.
