West Chester – Grand Prairie, Texas
Of the 61 Home Owners Associations in Grand Prairie Texas, Westchester is the largest with over 2300 homes. Through the years, many dedicated residents have volunteered their time and efforts to make Westchester one of the best places to live in the Southwest region of Dallas County. Westchester was Voted #1 in several categories by the Dallas Morning News, including the best community to live in.
The Westchester community of homeowners was the first in Grand Prairie Texas to elect to have a Public Improvement District (PID). This created a public-private partnership with the city council to maintain public lands at a higher standard while offering several advantages such as exemption of state and city sales taxes on purchased services, and funding collected by ad valorem property tax held in a special city trust fund.
The PID does not handle Deed Restrictions and this remains the function of the association. Indeed the HOA and the PID have some common interests but they do not perform the same function. Being active in both processes is vital to our community’s prosperity. You are part of the HOA by the very nature of owning property or living in the community.
Westchester association of homeowners is unique in that the dues are voluntary. Some surveys show that the general popularity of HOA’s is low as they are seen as overbearing and overly restrictive. Yet, everyone agrees there must be some standards for the community. These standards help maintain property values and desirability.
History
During the summer of 1986, several residents established a neighborhood crime watch and decided to form an association to assure the beauty, safety, and stability of the neighborhood and the surrounding community.
The turnout at the Trammell Crow meeting in February 1987 proved that Westchester is a community that is committed to its future and has an interest in being involved. On March 16, 1987, a general meeting was called in which an association was formed and a temporary Executive Committee was elected. The main duty of the Committee was to develop a set of bylaws.
At the General Meeting held May 28, 1987, 7:00 pm at the Sesquicentennial Park, the bylaws were approved and elections for the Executive Board were held.
These presidents and their board members have donated their time to support the community in which they live. Who has developed, fostered, and contributed to the HOA that they have today. WAHO could not be the community we are today without their dedication, passion, and vision that they all had independently year after year.
The city has plenty to offer each resident and family with the continued growth of restaurants, hotels, convention centers, newly renovated Splash Factory, approved Sprouts Farmers Market opening at Pioneer and Carrier Parkway, etc. Venture out and live a little as we experience all that Grand City has to offer. It takes a village to build a city and a community so let’s get involved and make the city the best it can be.