HOA and Fees

What is an HOA (Home Owners Association)?

As a condition of purchase, every homeowner in Cooper’s Crossing is obligated to pay annual fees to the Cooper’s Crossing Residents’ Association (CCRA). The mandatory annual fees are stipulated in an encumbrance registered against the title of each lot sold in Cooper’s Crossing. The purpose of the CCRA Resident Association Fees, also known as HOA Fees, is to help fund community enhancement projects and events as determined by the CCRA.

What Amount are the HOA fees?

The following fees are effective January, 2019.  Residents’ Association Fees are paid on an annual basis and are Due no later than April 1st of each year.

Property Location HOA Fee Per Year
Adjacent to public green-space $75.00 including GST
Non adjacent to a public green-space $57.00 including GST

These rates are subject to increase for inflation based on the annual consumer price index for the City of Calgary on January 1st of each year. Resident Association Fees are paid on an annual basis and are due in January of each year.

NOTE: Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) stipulates that any organization that brings in over $50,000.00 must pay GST on this amount. This GST is included in your Association Fee(s). 

How Do I Pay my HOA Fees?

C-Era Property Management and Reality, operating under the umbrella of Associa globally, has been hired to administer the collection of annual fees.  Payment of your Residents’ Association Fees (RAF) may be paid by the following methods:

  1. Set up PAD (preauthorized debit from your bank account) using a PAD authorization form that was included in your welcome package, or can be made available by requesting one from: admin@cerapm.com
  2. Send payment by cheque to our office (make cheque payable to “Cooper’s Crossing Residents’ Association, In Trust”) and mail to the following address:

Suite B, 6010 – 12 Street SE
Calgary, AB  T2H 2X2

  1. Make an appointment to come into the office to pay by cheque, debit or Visa & Mastercard (2% charge on credit card).
  2. Pay on-line through TownSq (https://app.townsq.io/) via Credit Card (service fees apply).  TownSq registration information is enclosed in the welcome package that was sent in December. Please note that you will only be able to make a payment once the payment is due. i.e.: after April 1, 2023
  3. Log in to TownSq
  4. Select your account from the top right of the screen
    1. Select “Make a payment” on the right-hand side of the screen
  5. Follow the instructions to enter your credit card

If you require assistance with the Town Square online portal or if you have questions regarding payment of the Resident Association Fees, please review the Frequently Asked Questions on TownSq’s website (https://www.townsq.io/support) or contact admin@cerapm.com.

What happens if my HOA Fees are Late or Not Paid?

C-Era Property Management and Reality, operating under the umbrella of Associa globally, collects and manages the Cooper’s Crossing Residents’ Association (CCRA) fees and advises the CCRA when there are households in Cooper’s Crossing whose Residents’ Association fees are in arrears.

Failure to pay the CCRA fees may result in interest charges being applied to the balance in accordance with the CCRA Collection Policy. (Interest is calculated at 5.00% over the current TD Canada Trust Prime Rate plus applicable Late Charges.) A demand letter will be sent to all residents as outlined in the CCRA Collection Policy.

Payments not received will be sent to legal for collection.  Homeowners in arrears will be required to repay the CCRA for any administrative and legal expenses incurred to collect amounts outstanding. NOTE: There is a charge-back to residents for both the demand letters ($90-$100) and for the legal fees ($500+).

Why do I have to pay fees to a Residents’ Association?

The mandatory annual fees are stipulated in an encumbrance registered against the title of each lot sold in Cooper’s Crossing. The purpose of the fees is to manage the amenities of the community (i.e. community signage, parks/greenspaces) that the City wouldn’t maintain to the developer’s standards and to fund community enhancement projects and events as determined by the Cooper’s Crossing Residents’ Association (CCRA). This includes such items as the production of a community newsletter, installing Christmas lights throughout Coopers, organizing/advertising of the annual garage sale, community events and additional park maintenance over and above the regular maintenance performed by the City of Airdrie Parks department.

Why do we pay for additional landscape services in Cooper’s Crossing?

One of the many items that attracts homeowners to Cooper’s Crossing is the myriad of pathways and greenspaces in the community.  When planning the development of Cooper’s Crossing, Westmark had a vision to create a fully walkable community with a vast amount of greenspace, including trees and shrubs, then what is dictated by the municipality.

Homeowners are drawn to a community that has ample space for residents to walk and play within the community.  The pathways and greenspaces in Cooper’s Crossing are lined with shrub beds that hold an abundance of trees, flowering shrubs and flowers.

It’s very common for developers who create exceptional communities to create Home Owners’ or Residents’ Associations at the time of community planning.  These Associations are created in order to maintain, and enhance, the community’s amenities, such as parks and greenspaces, as oftentimes the municipalities do not have the resources to provide the same level of care that the developer expects.

This is certainly the case with Cooper’s. With regards to the parks and pathways, the City of Airdrie assigns labour based on a certain acreage of greenspace without concern to what plants or vegetation comprise that area.  Therefore, without the Residents’ Association funding additional park maintenance, our shrub beds would not be maintained to a high level. Furthermore, the City of Airdrie would not likely pay for the planting of annuals in the community. Therefore, the Cooper’s Crossing Residents’ Association (CCRA) pays the City to plant annuals in various areas of the community – primarily at the entrances. This additional park maintenance and annual plantings are paid for by the Cooper’s Crossing Residents’ Association fees.

It is important to note that as a community develops, it is the developer’s responsibility to plan, plant and maintain the parks, pathways and greenspaces (with approval from the municipality).  During this time the developer contracts outside landscaping companies to plant and maintain the greenspace.  This is why some residents see outside contractors maintaining spaces within Cooper’s Crossing.  These contractors are not paid for by the CCRA.

Once a developer hands over each phase of the neighbourhood to the city, the maintenance of parks, pathways and greenspace become the responsibility of the City of Airdrie.

Westmark, through the early years of the development, paid an outside contractor to enhance parks maintenance to its high standard.  After a few years, this approach was found to be challenging due to uncertainty regarding division of duties and responsibilities with the outside contractor and City of Airdrie Parks crews. This led to an agreement between the City of Airdrie and the CCRA to hire additional City Parks workers in the first two months of the season to get a handle on the new growth of weeds and to do necessary pruning of shrubs and trees  throughout the community.  This contract proved to be less expensive than hiring an outside contractor.

Today, the CCRA maintains a contract with the City of Airdrie Parks department to ensure that the parks, pathways and greenspaces are well-maintained. The CCRA contracts the City to provide four additional parks staff who are dedicated to Cooper’s Crossing parks maintenance for May and June of each year.  This is in addition to the City Parks staff that work throughout Cooper’s Crossing and Morningside.  The contact between the CCRA and City of Airdrie Parks pays for the salaries of the four additional parks staff for two months as well as the lease and management of two City vehicles for the same period.

In addition, the CCRA has a separate contract with the City of Airdrie Parks department for the planting and maintenance of annuals in some entrances and boulevards throughout the community.  This program had been reduced over the last few years with the switch from annuals to flowering perennials in several beds to reduce this annual cost.

In 2019, the CCRA received feedback from residents that wanted to ensure all entrances into the community were as grand as the main entrance off Yankee Valley Boulevard. After researching several options, the CCRA presented the membership with beautification options for the entrances (and the associated costs) at the 2019 Annual General Meeting. At the AGM, the majority of residents voted to install large, concrete planters at all entrances to Cooper’s Crossing. These planters were installed in late 2019 and will be filled seasonally with Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer plantings. The planters are paid for by the residents of Cooper’s Crossing through their annual Residents’ Association fees.

2019 proved to be a challenging year for maintenance of parks throughout Airdrie.  The challenges of the weather and a few other issues lead to what the CCRA board felt was a less than expected level of maintenance in Cooper’s Crossing. In order to rectify this, the CCRA and the City of Airdrie Parks Department developed measurable objectives to monitor the work of the Parks Department. In addition, a pre and post inspection of the parks will be conducted, to measure the outcomes that the CCRA receives from its investment into parks maintenance.

Do my fees include road and/or park maintenance?

The City is responsible for road, alley and park maintenance, including snow removal on pathways and roadways.

The Cooper’s Crossing Residents’ Association does enter into an annual contract with the City of Airdrie to augment the parks maintenance (i.e. planting additional annuals/perennials and weeding shrub beds).

Contact the City of Airdrie Public Works department at 403-948-8415 for questions regarding maintenance and snow removal on roads. You may wish to review the City of Airdrie’s Snow and Ice Management page first as it provides great information related to the City’s priorities for streets and determines where to apply winter maintenance materials.

For traffic issues such as parking or speeding on public roads contact Municipal Enforcement at 403-948-8892.

Contact the City of Airdrie Parks department at 403-948-8400 for questions/concerns regarding snow removal on pathways, weeding, grass/trees, and irrigation.

We have a volunteer whose role it is to liaise with the City of Airdrie. If you have specific concerns that you would like the liaison to discuss with the City, please send an email to: parks@cooperscrossingresidents.com.