Condo Beautification Guidelines

J.J. from outside of Connecticut writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

We’re in the process of creating a design/beautification committee. Any guidelines available so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel?

Mister Condo replies:

J.J., beautification is one of the primary objectives of the Board, so creating a Committee that reports to the Board and takes action on fulfilling the Board’s objective of maximizing curb appeal is just good business and good community association governance. An additional benefit of having a Beautification Committee is that it often attracts volunteers who may become future community leaders. I am not aware of a “general guideline” for such a committee because every community is different and has different amenities. Needless to say, the committee should be in charge of adding beauty to the common areas and will likely be tasked with such items as flower selection, landscaping choices, shrubbery, and trees. Additional items such as watering, planting, and even community vegetable gardening might also fall under the committee’s supervision. It is important to spell out what types of budget restraints and limitations the committee is subject to (not more than $500 without Board approval, for instance) and how the committee will be structured (Committee Chair, secretary to take minutes of committee meetings and submit reports to the Board). Minutes from the Committee meetings are records of the association and must be kept on file as association record. I did a quick search on Google for the phrase “role of the condominium beautification committee” and found several interesting examples you may wish to look at. Good luck. J.J.!