Posted on 06/23/2022 9:48:57 AM PDT by aimhigh
A judge has dealt a blow to a couple fighting to keep a little white cross on display at their home in The Villages. Judge Michelle Morley has ruled in favor of Community Development District 8 in its protracted legal battle with Wayne and Bonnie Anderson of the Village of Tamarind Grove. She dismissed their most-recent counter complaint.
The Andersons had claimed that their display of the little white cross should be protected under the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act. However, CDD 8 has long held that the cross is considered a “lawn ornament” and therefore forbidden under deed compliance rules.
(Excerpt) Read more at villages-news.com ...
In my area, little crosses are often put up where someone has died in a car accident or some other way. These are often along public roads. Sometimes they’ve remained for a year or two, others have been more permanent. I’ve never heard of anyone objecting to them.
“seems incongruous, being a “retirement” area”
Well, older people have sex too, and since they don’t have to worry about getting pregnant, I imagine many of them skip all precautions that younger folks might take...
Yeah
If only I could afford to live in the country
Sumter County, where The Villages is located, is strongly Republican, being carried by Trump by a more than 2:1 margin in both 2016 and 2020. The big margin is attributed to the retirees in The Villages. The problem is likely the HOA authoritarians.
That’s what happens when you buy in a place with deed restrictions.
(the Prisoners at The Villages.)
OK that made me laugh
(The problem is likely the HOA authoritarians)
Yeah
Flower bed. Topiary.
It is and it isn't.
The Constitution's ban on religious discrimination is powerful, and can strike down "clever" HOA rules.
Can you imagine if lawn ornaments were permitted, but nothing on doorways? And a Christian put a cross on their lawn? In such a case, a Jew might correctly argue that the HOA rules are carefully crafted to permit Christians to express their beliefs, but ban Jews from doing so.
That argument also works in reverse.
HOA rules cannot be so "carefully crafted" that it results in unequal treatment of a race, religion, gender, etc.
Good question.
I used to see these everywhere in the neighborhood where I grew up. I haven’t noticed as many in recent years.
Do you think that would stand?
I'm guessing not, because it would unequally impact Jews, for obvious reasons.
"Disparate impact" is often used to strike down laws and even HOA rules (on the basis of anti-housing discrimination laws).
Because someone would have a yard full of garden gnomes, plastic flamingos, and flower pots made from cut up Clorox jugs and old tires. Not to mention the Camaro on blocks with grass growing around it. I hate HOAs, but I do understand their need.
https://www.topretirements.com/blog/health-issues/fact-or-myth-the-villages-is-the-std-capital-of-the-world.html/
https://www.villages-news.com/2019/05/04/villages-101-whats-the-truth-behind-urban-legend-of-stds-in-the-villages/
So who cares if they have plastic flamingoes! That’s kinda cute and it doesn’t mean you have to have them. Your lawn can be pristine. And they’ll pull them up when they leave.
But be that as it may, these HOA rules about non-permanent installations are only enforced when the neighborhood Karen objects. And I guess she did.
I’ve read that about the STD rates there.
I’ve read that about the STD rates there.
“ But be that as it may, these HOA rules about non-permanent installations are only enforced when the neighborhood Karen objects. And I guess she did.”
There have been many stories here about residences going up against HOAs for flags, gold star ribbons, nearly anything that isn’t cookie-cutter. Heck, in my previous neighborhood they had a Nazi going around literally measuring the height of your grass to make sure you’re in compliance. They can tell you what color you can paint your house too. It’s all in the agreement one signs when buying in to the neighborhood. While I remain an objector to most all “lawn art”, I will not live under the thumb of an HOA again.
Yeah, it’s crazy. I moved into a condo complex in my town after my house got flooded twice (I live in FL) but it’s fine and they just keep up the common areas, and actually one of the goals seems to make it feel neighborhood-like with personal expression “allowed.”
It’s an older complex built in the 80s but mostly owner-occupied now and very nice, and people of all ages seem to live here. Some of them even run businesses out of their garages. But occasionally we’ve had some Karen (male or female) who complains to the board, although generally the board is more on the side of the residents than the complainers.
On the plus side, we’ve had the board deal with some difficult things, such as the tenant who violated all the regs by moving her 4 pit-bulls in with her. Tenants aren’t allowed to have any dogs, homeowners can only have two, and nobody is allowed to have pits, rottweillers or other dogs classified as dangerous. So her homeowner-landlord was forced to evict her.
But honestly, if this were a place that had a serious HOA dictatorship, I’d never consider living here. Some people like a nit-picking dictatorship, I guess, but obviously you and I don’t. We’re normal neighbors!
Please be aware that the rules can be changed by the HOA governing board.
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