THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 17, 1996 TAG: 9602160413
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEANNE MOONEY, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Today's community associations are very much like the small New England town meetings of the 1700s and 1800s, says G. Robert Kirkland, a Virginia Beach-based property management consultant.
``Everyone has a vote, everyone can be heard, but not everyone gets their way,'' Kirkland says. Sometimes, community associations must stand tough against homeowners who want to bend the rules their way.
Take, for example, the case of the Midnight Planter. It's a story attorney Michael A. Inman tells about a homeowner in a condominium association who loved plants and wanted to sow them about the common grounds of his neighborhood.
The trouble was, the rules didn't allow it.
Rules, schmules, the Midnight Planter must have said. He pressed on, working at night sometimes, planting flowers, shrubs, even trees. The greenery was attractive all right, but getting out of hand.
``He slowly built up this tremendous amount of shrubs,'' Inman recalls. ``It got up to about 150 plants.'' The association's officers grew weary of the offenses. We've got to stop this guy, they said. He's creating a nightmare for the landscapers.
After much ado, the condominium association got a court injunction to stop the Midnight Planter, Inman says. The court ruled the man's actions were improper.
The moral of the story? ``One who seeks to take control of the common area is going to be taken to task,'' says Inman.
Community associations don't always win. Inman remembers a group of homeowners who were sued by an association because they raised basketball hoops on their properties.
``What an all-American thing,'' Inman says of the hoops. ``Who's to say you can't have one?''
The homeowners association, for one. While seemingly as big a part of Americana as apple pie, basketball courts provide a gathering for youths. They're not always quiet places. And says Inman, neighbors might not like their quiet disturbed.
So the homeowners association claimed its rules prohibited a structure such as a basketball hoop. Well, naturally, triggered a debate about whether a basketball hoop was a structure.
In the end, a Virginia Beach judge said it wasn't and the basketball backboards could stay, Inman recalls. Several of the homeowners had pulled down their hoops anyway, Inman says. ILLUSTRATION: ANNUAL EXPO
What: The Southeastern Virginia Chapter of the Community
Associations Institute is sponsoring a day of seminars for
residents, managers and directors of condominium and homeowner
assocations. Budgeting, collecting dues, community safety and rule
enforcement will be among the topics discussed.
When: March 2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Holiday Inn Executive Center, Greenwich Road, Virginia
Beach
Cost: $30 per person. A continental breakfast and a lunch will be
served.
To register: Call Rhonda Riesco at 464-3009.
by CNB