Posted on 08/12/2015 6:06:19 AM PDT by JoeProBono
LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo., - A Missouri family said their homeowners association is threatening them with jail time after they refused to take down their purple playground equipment.
Marla Stout of Lee's Summit said her family put up a playset for their young daughters about two years ago and she painted the equipment purple to comply with requirements of the Raintree Lake Neighborhood Homeowner's Association.
"There's nothing in the rules about color," Stout told WDAF-TV. "What it says is it has to be harmonious with the community and with nature and there is nothing that dictates the color of the swing set."
Stout said she considered the purple color to be "harmonious" because it matches the color of the trees in the fall, but the homeowner's association disagreed.
Stout said she received a notice from the HOA last year saying they were being fined for not having the playground equipment and its color pre-approved, but they successfully appealed and had the fine thrown out.
However, the HOA sent further letters demanding the purple playground's removal.
"[The letters said] that if we didn't remove the swing set from the subdivision in a couple of weeks, we go to jail," Stout told KMBC-TV.
Another letter pledged the HOA's lawsuit would cost the family "greater than any principal you are trying to prove."
She said the HOA ignored a petition signed by more than a dozen neighbors saying they were not bothered by the equipment.
Stout said her family has hired an attorney and will continue to fight.
Pretty crappy assumption based on the little knowledge we have of the family. Sounds like your jealousy is coming through...
> I suspect that if you have ever lived in a HOA at all you were part of the jack booted problem.
In fact, I will assert it outright.
Because I lived in one and this is mild.
If that’s mild, I wouldn’t stay there. I’d move.
I don’ understand your reasons for making a personal attack based onmmy dialog. I do happen to live in an area with an HOA for the moment but not for much longer. We don’t have an “jackbooted” members. We’ve had meetings where we have discussed what is reasonable and acceptable or not and we are pretty lax. We don’t fine people but if they let their grass get up over a foot or they mow the grass and leave the clippings in the street they should at least low it back onto their lawn. I think that’s reasonable. It’s not being jackbooted.
my guess is that the home owners association is hostile to kids being in the unit. A lot of times the board cant act on certain things because it is illegal (ie age discrimination) so they look for something else. if this community had mainly 50 year plus residences and it is not zoned as retirement property I could see a board being elected that wants to discourage children living in the area.
And whose money is the HOA board using to pursue this?
The owner of the playground and all the neighbors. Everyone pays a monthly fee to the HOA. Mine is 185 a month so it would definitely come out of the general HOA funding. Yeah poor guy is paying his own way to jail if it comes to that.
Stout said she considered the purple color to be “harmonious” because it matches the color of the trees in the fall,
Is she dropping acid? “Purple Haze all in my brain, lately things don’t seem the same, actin’ funny but I don’t know why ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky”
There isn’t one in my neighborhood but I would half expect the neighborhood retired jerk wun lover to propose one. He has a terrible looking yard. Mostly weeds.
They’re lucky the HOA will even allow them to have kids.
not jealousy. people buy into these areas thinking they’re better than the rest of us. they count on the HOA to ‘keep the riffraff out’, while they thumb their noses at us regular folk who value arcane ideas such as freedom...when their elitism bites them in the kiester, the irony is richer than their smugness
We knew what we were getting into. Just because you don't like a rule doesn't mean you can break it. Some people here don't understand that.
Just about everything we do has to be pre-approved.
The purpose of the HOA is to maintain desirability of the community. I suspect that I will be accused of being one of the JBT's, but I'm not. I just go by the rules (but have also learned how to work the system).
I also think there is more to this story than is presented. Saying that they are going to jail is ridiculous
I was a member of my HOA board for awhile, and I was also a part of a rebellion against a master association board that had lost its way. The homeowners have to remember that they are the association. If the board turns on them, then run against them. Having neighbors sign a petition is no different than having them sign a voting proxy for you when the time comes.
-PJ
Looks like a little girl’s dream playground!
Was there any rules about goose stepping?
Their glazed carrots sparkle. Far out!" Mountain Girl
I was planning on building something lile this for my kid.
Except it’s gonna be painted aquamarine.
The HOA ignored a petition signed by more than a dozen neighbors saying they were not bothered by the equipment.
They can't. Regardless of what the tin-horn dictators on the HOA board think.
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