Here is the full story behind the Spyglass Ridge HOA confiscating Pam & Greg Smith’s $2000 landscape deposit because their backyard deciduous tree trunk caliper was short of the required 1.5″ caliper. That’s right, and yes, it is hard to believe, but that is what can happen when HOA leadership loses their way.

Here is our Story: In 2022, I reconnected with my high school girlfriend, Pam, thanks to our upcoming 50th HS reunion. We never really broke up; we just went our separate ways and had not communicated for 40 years. I led my life of adventure, and Pam served as a school teacher in Ohio. Once we got back together in Indiana, I took Pam on a 5-week trip throughout the West to show her my life’s story. I was also searching for a place for us to start our new life together. I had a feeling that Grand Junction, CO, could become our new home. I had lived there through the oil shale boom and bust, and it was halfway between our families.

Once our decision to move to Grand Junction solidified, we dove into the real estate search. The process of online house hunting has improved greatly, and for some reason, I was drawn to an empty lot for sale in the Spyglass Ridge Community in the Orchard Mesa district. Should I click on the option to have an agent contact me? Normally, I would never open such a random door, but there was a greater power driving my interest. My click put me in touch with an agent, and I told him that my overriding goal was to have a view of Mount Garfield and that if there was a lot for sale in Spyglass with that northern view, I would be interested.

Three days later, an owner who had an empty lot next to their house decided to sell. Whoa, what a decision I was faced with; could we commit to such a house-building journey from across the country? This is where my faith in God paid great dividends. The unknowns for me generated great anxiety that I would have never survived except for God’s guiding light.

I never imagined that I would be involved in building a house, let alone making that decision from across the country. Well, the realtor with whom I originally connected became our advisor and advocate, working with a local builder. It was now the spring of 2023, and we had been on a roller coaster ride of house design and financing decisions. I knew how to compute what our budget options would allow, only made more difficult because I was waiting to take my Social Security until I turned 70. Then, Alpine Bank, with whom we had been working in GJ, declined to finance us. Wow, talk about stress created from all of our plans being totally up in the air. Again, we would have never completed this journey without God’s touch. Bank of Colorado came to the rescue with a combined construction/mortgage package, but at 7% interest, the budget was getting tight.

We needed to come out to finalize our commitment with the bank and builder, so I parlayed that trip into the opportunity to get married in the Steamboat Spring Courthouse. Everything was perfect, and we were so excited about our future home.

We moved to Grand Junction as construction was beginning so that we could more effectively participate in the process. We found a church and began to meet great friends. There were glitches with the builder’s schedule, heavily influenced by questionable HOA construction rules, but all were overcome after adding 6 months to the build time. The budget was tight, especially after adding the 41 30 ft micropiles to counteract the instability of bentonite in the soil. Many of the early homes at Spyglass Ridge ended up with foundation problems due to the expansion and contraction of that bentonite.

We were able to take possession of our new house on June 1, 2024, at which time we realized what “landscape ready” meant from our builder. This is when I first realized the extent of the HOA’s landscaping requirements based on our $2000 deposit (the deposit has since been raised to $5000). My assumption was that the purpose of the deposit was to ensure that we would landscape our property, which we were really excited about doing. There were many obvious regulations relating to drainage, irrigation, and fences that had to be pre-approved by the HOA. The stumbling block for us in their approval process was their request that we provide a full blueprint size copy (24 inch x 36 inch) of the landscape plan with a clear key to what the location of the plants would be. The HOA’s mentality on this was that we should pay to have a professional landscaper do it all $$. We decided to work with a young man who was just building his landscaping business and did not have the ability to produce such a blueprint, so I had to digitally modify a plan that I received from our builder’s landscaper, making guesstimates about what plants we would use. My plan was approved; however, I never planned to follow it to complete detail; it was just a plan. I think this is when our HOA President, started to get annoyed with my lack of dedication to his requests.

We were able to come up with the money needed to put in a complete drip system and fencing for our landscape foundation. We began planting desert zone appropriate plants, but it was obvious that we had missed the planting window as we were now in the heat of the end of summer. The HOA performed the main house inspection on August 2nd knowing that we would need an extension for the required plants. They gave us a 30 day extension for an end of August inspection but the actual Final Inspection was done on September 16th. The most important rules from the HOA’s perspective were to have a deciduous and evergreen tree in the front and back yards. Of course no flexibility was given to the fact that we have the smallest front yard in Spyglass. We planted a qualifying Golden Rain Tree but we were supposed to have a 6′ evergreen but our small pie shaped front yard had no place for a serious evergreen. I opted to plant a 4.5′ spiral alberta spruce (right) on the front east side assuming the HOA would understand.

The HOA rejected our evergreen and gave us until June 1st of 2025 to complete all of the required plantings. Not getting our $2000 back was a bummer, however, Pam and I looked forward to planting in the Spring. We learned alot about desert landscaping that first year. I became an expert with the maintenance of our drip system and we only lost a few plants to the winter. The flowers that made it through the winter looked great and we enjoyed adding more in the Spring. We had a 6′ Cedar in the backyard and a 7′ maple in the back of our side yard which qualified for the back. I just needed a 6′ evergreen. I suppose I could have paid a lot of money for a local nursery to bring a large evergreen out but money was tight. I opted to buy an evergreen at Lowes, unfortunately I could not lift the 6′ arborvitae so I bought 4.5′ version instead. I actually thought that our HOA would be impressed enough with its placement behind a beautiful Russian Sage to accept it. Wrong, we failed their inspection on July 1st due to the lack of a 6′ evergreen and now they added that our maple tree’s trunk caliper did not meet the 1.5″ requirement.

Of course, I was disappointed, but I was not angry; I actually felt sorry for the HOA inspector’s lack of humanity. It was sad to see that an HOA President would feel it was necessary to bend down to measure the caliper of our maple tree when it was obvious it was a healthy 7′ tree. So I asked him if the purpose of the landscaping deposit was to ensure that landscaping was provided by a lot owner or if it meant only that the “HOA’s landscaping design” was implemented. His response was: “That is how it is written.” I guess we weren’t receiving any grace from him. I then asked him how many lots had failed a landscaping inspection. He said 15, and that 14 of the 15 had remediated their problems. Oh, that’s when I sensed this guy wanted to bat 100%. I had 30 days to bring my landscaping into compliance or to request a hearing with the HOA Board of Directors.

I didn’t want to lose $2000, so we opted for another inspection. I asked my neighbor to help me lift and transport the only acceptable evergreen I could find in Grand Junction. I replaced the arborvitae with an Alaska Weeping Cedar (the only 6’+ evergreen for sale in town) and transplanted the arborvitae in the backyard.

I didn’t have a realistic option for the small-trunked maple that we planted in 2024. The tree had weathered incredible winds and was looking great. I had no place to put another deciduous tree, and I wasn’t going to dig up this maple, especially after the fate of the arborvitae that I transplanted. Again, I never would have imagined that my landscaping deposit would be rejected due to my maple tree caliper coming up at worst just 1/8th of an inch too narrow. The HOA then inspected my trees on July 22nd. They responded on the same day:

Greg & Pam: Per our follow up inspection completed today we found that the number and size of evergreen trees on your lot meets the SGR minimum requirements.  As for the deciduous trees it was found that the HOA will consider the maple tree towards meeting the required trees for the backyard however it still does not meet the minimum caliper required.

I thought this was a bit ambiguous so I replied to on July 23rd:

SGR HOA: What does being considered mean? Is my Landscaping Rejected or is that decision coming?

I was expecting some sort of a response from the HOA but did not receive one so on August 15th I emailed the HOA:

SGR HOA: What is the status of our Landscape Deposit? Do I need to schedule an HOA Board Review?

On August 19 I received the official letter from the HOA informing me that since I had not requested a review within the required 30 days and that we had failed to bring our landscaping into compliance so our $2000 deposit would not be returned to us. Here is a link to the Compliance Rejection Letter.
Wow, I was shocked that my HOA would reject our landscaping efforts for being at worst just 1/8″ short of the required caliper for our maple tree. I was also disappointed in how they did not want to communicate that they would use the 30 day requirement for a board review request even though it was obvious that their final review findings were a bit ambiguous. Of course I would have requested a board review if I would have ever imagined that we would be rejected for such a small caliper shortfall.

Our Back and Front Yards at the time that our Landscaping Compliance was Rejected.

What makes this rejection so frustrating is that Pam and I feel like we have made great progress in creating one of the more beautiful landscapes in Spyglass. There are so many homes that obviously fulfill the tree and bush requirements and stop there. We feel pretty good about the progress we have made in just over a year. So what purpose does this HOA landscaping rejection serve other than to satisfy a president’s need for power? Our maple tree’s trunk is probably wide enough now.

Now you know the story, so what is my plan?

This has been a fascinating journey for us considering I had served as an officer for 15 years in an extremely successful HOA managing Coastal Properties in Neskowin, Oregon. And guess what, we never had to fine any of our owners; disputes were always resolved. This was part of my previous life, so I had no ambition to get involved with my new HOA. However, it was obvious from the first HOA Board meeting that we attended that this organization had serious problems. There is no open discussion allowed at the Board Meetings and there is no use of email for members to communicate with each other, however, there is potential for their Private Facebook Group.

My interactions with my neighbors/co-owners have brought up many previous incidents of how they had been mistreated by the HOA. I got the sense that their dislike of the HOA just propagated the problem because, once burned by the HOA, they wanted nothing to do with it.

I decided that this HOA decision to withhold our Landscaping Deposit because of such a miniscule shortfall of a tree trunk caliper was possibly the most egregious HOA action I could ever imagine. So first, I need to make sure all of the other owners in Spyglass are aware of this travesty, but the HOA provides no means for community communication, so I will need to find a way to alert all of the owners of this website. Our desired action items for Spyglass may be found at the Action Page.

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