CARRBORO - The Collins Crossing homeowners association will consider lowering a homeowners assessment to $3,548 next month and letting condo owners pay in monthly installments.

The Old Well Home Owners Association announced the possible changes after owner Wendy Dale sued the association, claiming the original $5,406 assessment was an unlawful and excessive cost to low-income unit owners at the Jones Ferry Road complex.

The association will vote on the changes at its March 6 meeting.

The lawsuit also claimed the homeowners association’s plan to charge for repairs to windows at the complex violates the bylaws, which say window repairs are the unit owners’ responsibility.

The revised assessment no longer covers window replacement, according to a Jan. 22 notice from Old Well Owners Association. That cut the total assessment from $1.8 million to $1.2 million.

The new assessment total increases money for siding installation by $33,800, reduces money allocated for staircase repairs by $35,730 and removes money budgeted for deck repairs entirely.

Repairs deadline

The town’s Code Enforcement Department has told Alcurt Carrboro LLC, which owns 77 percent of the condominiums, to fix the condemned staircases in all the condominiums’ buildings, except one, by March 4. The Board of Aldermen had the department inspect the entire complex after a 10-year-old boy fell down a broken stair tread in November.

If Alcurt doesn’t make repairs by March, the town can take legal action against the company.

The Old Well board approved the original assessment in December against protests from individual unit owners. Afterward, unit owners asked to pay the fee in installments, but the board set a February deadline, according to Dale’s lawsuit.

The new, proposed plan gives unit owners the option of paying 12 monthly installments of $295.67.

Mayor Mark Chilton said the board of directors is trying to be responsive.

“Its a step in the right direction and makes me more optimistic about how they plan to move forward.”

Collins Crossing unit owners were scheduled to vote at a Friday meeting on amending the Old Well bylaws. The change would eliminate a requirement that board members be North Carolina residents.