Governance
Background
As a private corporation managing commonly owned property, the Association and our members are regulated by many laws, rules and policies. We are primarily governed by two types of law: corporate and property. Many of the acts passed to regulate corporations and land sales expand upon preceding acts and derive authority from them, creating a “stack” of governing law and instruments. According to our Bylaws, in any situation where a conflict arises between any two or more of these documents, the higher authority (i.e. higher in the stack) shall prevail.
The Amended Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act of 1950 applies to SLPA because we are registered as a nonstock (private) corporation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is also explicitly incorporated into the Declarations and Plats of the Skyline Lakes subdivision.
The Amended Virginia Subdivided Land Sales Act of 2019 (October 1, 2019) was created in response to a wave of fraudulent land sale practices such as those of Martin I. Price, the developer of Skyline Lakes. It also has jurisdiction over the subdivision, and is also incorporated by reference into our Declarations.
Virginia POA Governance
The Amended Virginia Property Owners Association Act (POAA) of 1989 largely replaced the Subdivided Land Sales Act, although the latter still applies to SLPA. As the name suggests, this Act is the most relevant to SLPA operations and policy. All three of these Acts have authority over SLPA, and furthermore are all expressly incorporated in the Declarations. You can find the official, current (October 1, 2019) online version here.
Skyline Lakes Governance
The Skyline Lakes Governance documents can be found here.
Roberts Rules of Order
Our bylaws also incorporate the current version of Robert’s Rules of Order. Written by General Henry M. Robert in 1876, RR is the authority on Parliamentary Procedure–the process of running public meetings. The current version (11th Edition) is under copyright, and can be obtained through the Official RR Site, which also contains information about the use of RR.
