Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

Thanks for Saturday’s article concerning park & landscape upkeep.

This same situation happened to my daughter and son-in-law in the Standard-Pacific-Subdivision.

Fact: Everyone was made aware of the fact there would be a landscape maintenance district formed when they were in escrow.

Fact: We were also made aware the landscape fees could not go up more than .25% per year (I’m going on my memory here). Because of such a small % increase/yearly, it did not seem an issue at the time, but we were never told the following:

What they don’t tell you in escrow is: The .25% could be overruled if it were to go to & approved by vote. Now what homeowner in their right mind would vote this in? One vote = one parcel, not one “homeowner”. Something else they don’t tell you.

And who do you think owns most of the lots/parcels? The developer!

My question is: While each homeowner was paying their “fair” share of the monthly costs for a few years, were these costs paid by each “parcel/lot” owner also prior to this vote? Did their costs also go up the 275+% after the approved vote?

Conclusion: I personally feel there was intentional withholding of information, neglect and exploitation of every homeowner because of this non-disclosure, by those who knew what the future end result would be. I hold the developer, real estate agent, escrow, and city personnel accountable for not disclosing this loop-hole.

You can’t tell me the city did not know what the end result is going to be here? If it looks like a skunk and smells like a skunk.... what do you think it’s going to be?

Charles Cook III
Manteca
May 16, 2011