FAQs
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Currently, the RPOA Board of Directors also operates as the Architectural and Building Committee (ABC). The ABC's purpose is use the Radiance Restrictive Covenants as a guide to review and approve homeowner requests for property improvements. The ABC has also published guidelines for homeowners/lot owners in the Radiance community.
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These guidelines are delineated by the ABC and may be revised at any time by the members of the ABC or the RPOA Board. Variances to these guidelines and the Restrictive Covenants may be granted case-by-case, but Variances are determined by context and should not be considered as precedent for future improvements within the community.
All changes and property improvements must apply for approval from the ABC, even if the improvements are in keeping with these guidelines.
Roofing materials: tile, metal, asphalt, slate, copper, etc. No shiny metal. Garden homes must devise shared guidelines for shared roofing and paint colors.
Paint: Earthen colors that do not draw attention away from natural landscape Example: no houses painted with magenta trim or lime-green garage doors.
Garbage disposals: prohibited due to the undue load on septic systems.
Clotheslines: not allowed if visible to other neighbors or from the street.
AC window units are not allowed if visible to neighbors or from the street.
Trash containers: Trash cans will be stored either out of sight or minimally visible from the street, either on the side of the house, in a garage, or behind a privacy fence.
Building style: Texas contemporary and southwestern styles of the Spanish tradition are encouraged. Victorian gingerbread, Tudor, A-frames, domes, and flat-roofed homes are discouraged. Houses should blend with the Texas Hill Country and not contrast harshly with other houses or landscapes.
Fences: height and size of fence determined along the following parameters:
Decorative fences (under 4 feet) and gardening fences (6 feet plus) are generally acceptable and contingent upon design, proximity of other fences, proximity to walking paths, street, etc.
Privacy fences are generally limited to backyards and smaller areas:
Detached dwellings: no larger than the privacy area at 4 Concord (Buchanan) in 2001. (square feet)
Garden homes: not to exceed the privacy area at 13 Concord(Levinson) in 2001. (square feet)
Driveways: Unpaved driveways are accepted for up to 2 years after construction. Then, a permanent surface is required. If constructed adequately, crushed granite or gravel with a defined perimeter or curb may be acceptable for parking extensions to driveways.
Trapping: No trapping allowed except for live traps used for relocation.
Firearms/Fireworks: The Covenant’s restrictions on firearms include BB guns. Fireworks on July 4th and New Year’s Eve only, with direct adult supervision and weather conditions permitting (i.e., no burn ban).
Gardenhomes: Design changes must be collectively agreed upon by a simple majority of the Gardenhome owners in that area. This would include paint color, roofing material, room additions, etc.
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Whether you are building a new house or modifying your existing property, such as painting your home or replacing a fence, patio, garden, driveway, shed, or any other property improvement, you’ll likley need approval from the Radiance Architectural Building Committee. The only exception is if you are not changing the look. For example, if you are repainting your house the same color it already was, you do not need to submit an ABC application and receive an approval. If you are replacing your roof with the same color and materials that was previously there, you do not need approval.
For any changes, additions, enhancements, and for new construction, you do need to get approval from the ABC.
Here are the steps to follow:
Review the Restrictive Covenants and ABC guidelines above. Determine if your proposed home improvement complies with the RRC and ABC policies.
Submit a completed application form to the community manager via email. Drawings, dimensions, and details are essential. The Radiance Board of Directors currently serves as the committee, and will often ask you to gather written feedback from your neighbors on your proposed plan. This typically includes feedback from all the neighbors within a set of garden homes or all the neighbors within line of sight for detached dwellings.
We suggest you follow up with the community manager within 5-7 days to see if the ABC needs further information. This is in your best interest because the ABC might require more information, which could delay a decision on your project. The committee is allowed 21 days after receiving all the information they request to make a decision.
ABC members will review your application.
Once approved, you will receive an approval email from the community manager.
Please be advised:
Beginning construction on an unapproved project will immediately incur a $100 penalty fee, and the RPOA Board could force your improvement to be removed at your expense.
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An RPOA Board member will contact you to discuss a plan to resolve the violation. Together, you will generate a written agreement and timeline. This discussion and written agreement are considered your first notice of violation.
If you do not keep your agreement, you will receive a 2nd notice letter giving you 30 days to correct your violation.
If you have not corrected the violation within 30 days, you’ll receive another letter, now certified, from the RPOA for possible legal action.
Plats, Maps, Surveys
Plats
Why are the property lines so weird?
In a word: loans. In the 1980s, DevCo (the Development Co-operative responsible for turning Christal Ranch into Goldenwood, Goldenwood West, and Radiance) needed to borrow money from a bank to build Radiance. DevCo envisioned building something similar to what Austin Transcendental Meditators and Sidhas were already familiar with from Maharishi University and the Austin TM center on Nueces Street near the University of Texas–Austin: private housing with common facilities such as school, dining hall, recreational areas, meditation hall, and kitchen. DevCo would then own these common facilities and “own” the residential buildings, granting “100-year leases” to residents who would care for them as if they were their own. (Another community-based living arrangement having a similar flavor is “co-housing.”) Each family or person would have leased a private living space, smaller than a whole house, because certain rooms (like a fully-realized kitchen and dining room) would not have needed to be included. Texas banks were unwilling to lend money to a construction project that was so unorthodox. Like nearly all banks in the U.S., these banks were mostly familiar with single-family residences on individually owned lots–projects that could be repossessed and resold easily if the borrower defaulted on the loan. The bank would be protected from losing money. Lending for the construction of a community, this and community that, and homes that have no what? It is too risky and not easy to resell. “All right,” DevCo said. “If there is only one way to get approval for a loan, we’ll start with individually owned property, and later we’ll switch to a co-operatively-owned model.” DevCo subdivided Radiance into one-and-a-half-acre lots.
Why then is Radiance not the co-op that was envisioned?
The idea was that DevCo would “buy back” everyone’s home, making all of Radiance co-operatively-owned. The experiment of an all-meditator village would only have been “enforceable” through a co-operatively-owned strategy, as it would have ensured control of who would live in Radiance. This practice would have prevented redlining, which is illegal.” Redlining” is defined as discrimination (based on gender, race, creed, ethnic origin, etc.) against a person or group of people by refusing to grant loans, mortgages, or insurance to them. DevCo folded in 1989, a kind of unofficial bankruptcy, lacking even the $500 to file for official bankruptcy. Assets from DevCo were transferred to the Radiance Property Owners Association, the Radiance Water Supply Corporation, and the Radiance Foundation (responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the Dome). The Maharishi School for the Age of Enlightenment operated in the old TM residential building, which had been moved from the Nueces address to “The Colony” just up the road from where Radiance has been built. The school, which opened in 1981, closed its doors in 2001.
What are those huge lots on the plat?
Lot 24 is where the Dome is. Lot 19A is a septic field for homes on Lot 19; Lot 19 is the two-bedroom Garden Homes. Lot 23 is the Royal Garden Homes, and Lot 23A is the septic field across the street servicing those homes. Lia Austin subdivided Lot 22 into four two-acre lots and one greenbelt lot that runs up the west side of Lot 1 and behind Lots 1-4. Lot 20, which seems like the “first” lot there on the left side, is the Pool lot.