Posted on 01/18/2024 1:22:10 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
A Northeast Side homeowners association wants residents of a home at 7310 Roveen Trail to be held in contempt of court for allegedly failing to remove livestock from the property.
The request is the latest twist in a legal fight the Ventura Maintenance Association Inc. has been waging against a homeowner and his tenants.
In August, Ventura sued homeowner William Wade, his wife Amanda and tenants Richard and Ja’Net Hayes, alleging they had been keeping “various unauthorized animals” — including “a horse, goats, chickens and most recently ducks” — on the property since about April. The Wades live in Arizona; the Hayes family has rented the house for about five years and have a right to purchase it.
Richard Hayes said he intends to argue at the contempt hearing — set for Friday morning — that the goats serve as “emotional support animals” for his two children.
BIG BUILDER: Homebuilder Ray Ellison built 55,000 houses in S.A.
The neighborhood’s restrictive covenants, established in 1985 by homebuilder Ray Ellison Homes Inc., prohibit livestock and poultry from being kept on any lot. They also restrict animals to “household pets.” No more than two dogs and two cats are permitted.
Retired state District Judge Larry Noll granted the association a temporary restraining order on Aug. 30, the day it filed suit, preventing the defendants from bringing any additional livestock on the property.
A temporary injunction hearing was held two weeks later before Judge Norma Gonzales.
“These animals, all of them are being housed in the backyard of this 7,000-square-foot lot,” William Crist, a San Antonio lawyer representing the HOA, said during the hearing.
Earlier communication Prior to filing suit, the homeowners association sent multiple letters requesting the animals be removed. But Crist said the Hayeses “continued to accumulate additional animals, most recently the ducks.”
Richard Hayes, who attended the court hearing with his wife and son, said they had been in contact with the HOA and went to a couple of its meetings.
“We even told them, this is not permanent,” he said at the hearing, adding that some of the animals had already been “sold off or whatnot.”
He acknowledged they had a horse, two Nigerian goats, another goat and two ducks on the property at the time of the hearing. “The chickens have been gone forever,” he said.
His daughter and son, who were in Future Farmers of America while they attended Judson High School, have been raising the animals, he said. He added he only learned about the restrictive covenants after moving into the house.
Hayes told Gonzales the family was working on finding a place to keep the horse.
The judge issued a temporary injunction that, like Noll’s order, barred any new animals on the property. She declined to grant the association’s request that the defendants remove the animals already on the property, however, instead giving the family time to “take care of the issue.”
Gonzales added, “Continue to work with rehoming the horse, and I guess the Nigerian goats, and whatever else … ” She set it for a “full-blown hearing” on Nov. 14 in the event the animals remained on the property.
But the association on Oct. 13 moved for summary judgment, asking the court to grant a mandatory injunction requiring the removal of the unauthorized livestock and a permanent injunction preventing the defendants from keeping livestock on the property.
The request was granted by retired Judge John Specia Jr. on Nov. 7. He gave the defendants 30 days to remove the animals. He also ordered them to pay more than $8,500 in legal fees and costs to the HOA. The Hayes family didn’t attend the hearing because they didn’t know about it, Richard Hayes said, adding they don’t have an attorney.
Then, late last month, the HOA filed its motion for contempt. It said the defendants didn’t comply with the Nov. 7 order to remove the animals by Dec. 7. It doesn’t appear the Nov. 14 hearing that Gonzales scheduled was ever conducted.
A court hearing on the contempt motion is scheduled for Friday morning.
‘No concerns’ During an interiew, Richard Hayes said the family has relocated the horse — a 20-year-old white broodmare — on Dec. 6 to a ranch he declined to disclose. He suspects an opossum may have killed the three chickens they had. His family still has two Nigerian goats, a show goat and a duck at the home, though.
“We told them (the HOA) the horse was temporary” in the backyard, he said. Bexar County Animal Control Services came out and told him “everything was peachy keen” as long as he didn’t add another horse, he said.
Both Animal Control and Bexar County Environmental Services have visited the property multiple times in response to complaints, county spokeswoman Monica Ramos said in an email Thursday.
“Each time, there were no concerns found,” she said.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar also paid a visit to the house and said he had no problem with the animals on the property, Hayes said. Ramos was unable to immediately confirm Hayes’ account.
Hayes’ daughter has raised the show goat and didn’t want to sell it for fear it would be slaughtered and sold for meat. But Hayes also said the goats serve as emotional support animals for both of his children. His son, 21, is autistic, and his daughter, 19, is intellectually disabled, he said.
“This is something that really helps them thrive and move forward with their lives and their daily routines,” he said. He has documentation from a medical professional to support the claim.
Fair housing laws Hayes plans to contest the contempt motion and fight to keep the goats on the property. His family still has to figure out what to do about the duck, though.
The law may be on his side if he can show documentation of his children’s disabilities from a counselor or health care professional and the need for an accommodation permitting his children to possess the animals.
“The federal fair housing laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability, and that includes requiring that most municipalities and property owners associations grant reasonable accommodations of their rules and regulations with respect to housing so as to permit persons with legitimate disabilities the opportunity to have equal use and enjoyment of their homes,” said Tom Newton, a San Antonio lawyer who represents associations. He is not involved in the case.
In 2020, the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a notice explaining certain obligations of housing providers under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) with respect to animals when individuals with disabilities request accommodations.
Complaints about denial of reasonable accommodations and disability access accounted for 60% percent of all FHA complaints, the agency said. And “those involving requests for reasonable accommodations for assistance animals are significantly increasing.”
Reasonable accommodations can include more than one animal, too.
Newton recalled attending a seminar on assistance animals that included investigators from the Texas Workforce Commission’s Civil Rights Division.
“They said if you have a doctor’s note that’s legitimate, you can have a flock of emotional support chickens,” he said. “So it’s not limited to one.”
Even without a HOA, there are possibly other means to dissuade idiot neighbors.
Many city ordinances apply regulating no livestock or no auto repair businesses allowed in residential zones.
Are you in a neighborhood? Even with no HOA most neighborhoods have Deed Restrictions that apply. But that is tough. YOU yourself have to sue the offending party. Hopefully with the help of other neighbors who are adversely affected.
And then there’s a guy named Vito. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of Vito.
My old city banned chickens, but everybody knew there were some around. Heck, this one family near me had one that was an escape artist and I’d see it every week or three down by the street, by the mailbox, pecking away.
We shortly thereafter reversed that earlier council, and made them legal with conditions. I think no more than 6 hens, roosters not allowed, and some setback limitations on where the coops could be.
a flock of emotional support chickens,
I am so grateful for our HOA.
All animals allowed, as long as it’s not a commercial/breeding enterprise.
My neighbors don’t have animals but enjoy the benefits of free eggs, goat cheese and goat’s milk soap. We do have a rooster but I’ve checked and no one minds the crowing.
Other neighbors have horses, donkeys and cows.
We made sure these things would not be an issue before we moved into this neighborhood.
Pallet fence is a nice touch.
To clarify, allowing farm animals/livestock is encoded in our neighborhood bylaws
They are renting, so they are tenants.
So now, in addition to the goat, duck and horse, we have TEN ANTS? LOL
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