On March 24, 2020, the Riverside County Department of Public Health issued an update to its prior “COVID-19: Frequently Asked Questions Concerning State and Local Orders” (“Q & A”).
The Q & A can be found here.
Among other things, the Q & A answers a lot of questions that community associations located in Riverside County may be asking while the State’s Executive Order (the Governor’s shelter-in-place order) and the County’s orders and directives remain in place.
Here is a list of some of the answers provided in the Q & A that may affect your community association:
- Private shared neighborhood pools must close.
- Private golf courses must be closed to golf course play. We interpret this to mean golf course “ancillary use areas” as well, which include but are not limited to: parking areas, clubhouses, driving ranges, practice putting areas, and food and beverage carts. If a clubhouse also includes restaurant or other food services, it is likely that these services can continue so long as food is made available for pick-up or delivery only; in clubhouse dining should be prohibited.
- Golf course landscaping and maintenance can continue. We interpret this as preserving and protecting the course. Work that is not needed to preserve and protect the course, such as improvements or modifications should be delayed.
- Fitness centers, exercise gyms, recreational centers, and tennis clubs are not allowed to operate. We interpret this to mean common area recreational facilities, e.g. tennis courts, pickleball courts, dog parks, gyms, etc. should be closed
- Parks may remain open, but the use of playground equipment is discouraged because they include high-touch surfaces and maintaining social distancing (i.e., a space of at least six (6) feet between individual) is difficult.
- Short-term rentals are permitted under very limited circumstances:
- for COVID-19 mitigation and containment measures: “A. Lodging to protect the homeless population B. Lodging for persons who have been displaced and cannot return to their residence because there is a person residing at the residence that must isolate or quarantine or is at a higher risk of severe illness C. Lodging for persons who need to isolate or quarantine” and
- to house essential workers.
- Restaurants or other foodservice locations are closed except for food pick-up or delivery.
- Landscaping services may continue as they are “essential” public works because they are “necessary to protect the safety, sanitation, or operation of essential businesses, such as weed abatement and other fire prevention, tree trimming to prevent a dangerous condition, or clearance of irrigation infrastructure.”
- Janitorial services are allowed to continue as they are essential to health and sanitation.
- Construction projects are permitted to begin or continue as construction is considered an essential function under the State’s Executive Order.
- Daycare/childcare facilities may continue operate, but only if they comply with the mandatory conditions in the Q & A and only if they provide daycare to the children of essential employees.
- Home service workers may provide services to residences if essential to health, safety, sanitation or are necessary for the operation of the residence, e.g. plumbing maintenance and pest control. Non-essential home services should be deferred.
We anticipate that this Q & A will be updated as the governments’ orders change. We will do our best to provide you additional updates as we become aware of them. Additionally, the city where your community association is located may impose additional orders and directives.
Our clients may contact us if they have any questions about the County’s Q & A or any other community association legal issue.
We are here for you. Please stay healthy.