Posted on 04/19/2010 11:40:34 AM PDT by JoeProBono
PLANO, Texas, -- A Texas couple says they've downsized their garden display of spring bluebonnets, a state tradition, after their homeowners association threatened legal action.
Eddie and Melissa Smith's bluebonnet bonanza began five years ago with three plants from a local Plano, Texas, home-improvement store, The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday.
Explosive growth followed, and the bluebonnets spread over the Smith's entire lawn and jumped the sidewalk to curve around their corner lot, the newspaper said.
"We didn't add more seeds, didn't fertilize, didn't water any extra," Melissa Smith said. "It was God's handiwork."
But not everyone was a fan.
The Ridgeview Park Homeowners Association demanded the Smiths mow the bluebonnets and re-sod the front lawn, the Morning News said. Eventually, the association sent a certified letter through a Dallas law office requiring the Smiths to conform to the "aesthetic harmony" of the subdivision.
"It's funny to us that we can get in such trouble for growing the Texas state flower," Melissa Smith said.
The Smiths and the association have reached a compromise. The couple can keep the wildflowers as long as they are contained in flowerbeds. Any not in beds have to be mowed away or controlled with weed killer, the Morning News said.
I live in the country, myself.
And I think HOAs can be over-zealous. (Typically a retired Army supply offficer with too much time on his hands get in charge somehow.)
But I see the validity. No one wants “Coming to America” put in next door, and you make a deal to keep it normal.
You need to buy them out..or leave.....
IT AINT YOUR PROPERTY~
get it????????
Some years ago, a friend of mine had a neighbor who was trying to get “lawn of the month” to the point he wouldn’t let any of the neighborhood kids play on it, even his own.
I gave my fiend a big bag of wildflower seeds.
He *liberally* strew them over the guy’s yard one night and waited.
The guy watered and fertilized and couldn’t understand why his yard looked like an upland meadow.
Spring Wild flowers in Texas Hill country rivals New Hampshire in the Fall. I hope I never live under the classless boot of a HOA.
Anyone (with a brain) trying for “yard of the month” would have liberally dosed his yard with preimmergent.
Actually, if someone moves into an area with a Home Owner's Association, they have agreed to abide by certain rules. If they later decide they don't want to follow those rules, they must move.
In areas where there is no HOA, I can still have a rather spirited discussion with my neighbor about how they are affecting my property rights. And if they are violating city ordinances, I can report them.
Why do you not fill that contracts should be honored?
I agree.
I am appalled at Freepers who say they have no qualms about signing a HOA agreement, thereby agreeing to the terms, then breaking the rules.
People who do that, do not honor their contracts. Simple as that.
The simple fact is that when you sign a CONTRACT [aka the HOA agreement], you are agreeing to abide by the laws now and in the future as long as you live there.
The rules are changing contants in most HOAs. If you can’t handle it, leave.
Wait a minute—who are you aiming this at? I served on the board of directors of our HOA and chaired the committee that controls community appearance. I also rewrote the “guidelines” (= rules) for maintenance and appearance.
But I insist that it’s a true injustice when petty-minded, envious people who have nothing else to do with their lives say, “Hm, I don’t like the type of bushes those homeowners installed. Let’s rewrite the rules to accord with my tastes, then use the multi-hundred-thousand-dollar budget of the HOA to torment the homeowner into submission to my desires.” Or, alternately, “I don’t like that neighbor, so I’m going to use the legal firm of the HOA to make his life difficult.”
Remember, when you sign a contract in the business world, one side can’t suddenly change the terms of the contract.
They were letting the flowers spread like weeds all over even beyond their property line. Fortunately not every one is as confrontational as you are. They reached a happy medium of containing the flowers in beds and even won Yard of the Month. Honorable mention.
That I can see. Your landscaping should not intrude on others property.
The CC&Rs change when they are amended. The Board can do that anytime.
The Board makes all sorts of decisions as to parking, neighbor disputes, landscaping and what the appearance of the place looks like. They set fines and levy them.
A homeowner, as an owner, has a vote as to who is on the Board. But the rules are not static and change all the time.
Fortunately, legal findings disagree with you. Rules can and do change, but they cannot be changed capriciously to indulge personal vendettas.
Who said anything about “capriciously” or “vendettas”.
Rules change all the time depending on what the Board of Directors feels needs changing. They have to vote on it. You’ll find it spelled out in the CC&Rs.
As an owner you have one vote as to who gets to serve on the Board.
So, tell me which legal findings you’re talking about?
HOAs are legal entities, disclosed and in place at the time of purchase. They have legal standing for limited governance.
Get it?
That’s just wrong...no conservative, you.
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