Owning a home affords a person a bit of freedom. However, as in most situations in life, there is no freedom without responsibility in a covenant-controlled community.The “sole purpose” for covenants in a neighborhood development is the preservation of “property values and community appearances,” said Rusty Green, developer of Woodmen Hills and Meridian Ranch. “In communities where covenants are not enforced, property values plummet.”Green said 95 percent of the people who sign on the dotted line adhere to the covenants. “But there’s always a certain amount of resentment,” he said.Enforcing the covenants is a “volatile task,” he said, adding that there are “different shades of enforcement” depending on the variables related to the citations.However, Green said that “every single covenant violation is looked at and examined for fairness.”What’s fair to some is not always fair to others, but some violations are black and white.Green did not want to identify the development, but one of the most blatant cases involved a homeowner who refused to landscape his yard after the six-month grace period. It cost him big money to fight the battle in court.The homeowner/defendant lost in court to the tune of $8,000 or $9,000. In response, he filed a lien against the judge’s home, and the judge threw him in jail, Green said. “He paid another $9,000 in fines, and then he landscaped his yard,” he said.In another instance, a homeowner set up a motor-cross track in his back yard. “We fought that in court for a year.” The homeowner lost.The residents speak outDavid French moved into Woodmen Hills in 2005. “I bought this house because I needed a place to park my truck,” he said. French said the first time he saw the covenants was at the signing, and it “was hard to read them all.”When French landscaped his yard, he had gravel placed alongside the driveway. He planned to park his truck on the gravel but was told it had to be concrete and he couldn’t park his truck there.French put in a privacy fence, which the covenants allow, and parked his trailer and truck in the backyard. It’s OK under the covenants as long as the truck is not in view.However, once the fence was built and he parked his trailer and truck in his backyard, the tops of the truck and the trailer were visible.”So, Warren Management wrote me up because I had my trailer and truck in the backyard,” French said.The issue was resolved after his neighbors signed a letter stating the truck and trailer in French’s back yard didn’t bother them. Warren Management accepted it.French said he isn’t against covenants, but he doesn’t like what he called selective enforcement. “There’s a contractor who has a big motor home parked alongside his garage and it sticks out about 4 feet above the fence, and he usually has a skid loader parked in the street, and they don’t ding him because he’s doing work in the area,” he said.”I heard committee members talking about restricting the number of cars people can have. We might just as well be under the Taliban.”Some think the covenants are not strict enough.Stan (who did not want his last name printed) said some people feel like they’re “living in a trailer park” because of the campers and boats parked on the street.”The covenants that Richmond Homes gave me to read when I moved in … didn’t apply [to his property]. The covenants have been terribly confusing.” He also said enforcement is inconsistent.Stan lives in filing nine of the 11 filings in Woodmen Hills and said his neighborhood is congested. “I see garages just piled with junk and two cars parked in the driveway and one on the street,” he said. “I don’t want to be picky. But you got a garage, can’t you use it?”Another homeowner in Woodmen Hills, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she fears for the safety of children when the covenants are not enforced.A child could easily dart into the street from behind a trailer or motor home parked on a driveway, she said. Parking mobile homes on the street is prohibited to reserve room for emergency vehicles.Tall grass and weeds are a fire hazard, too, she said. And open garage doors are an invitation to home invasion and theft.”What has happened to pride of ownership?” she asked.Jan Pizzi is a resident of Woodmen Hills – filing 11 – and is a member of the committee that has been established to review the covenants.She said rental houses are a big problem. One landlord owns nearly 30 houses in Woodmen Hills, Pizzi said. “His tenants don’t know about the covenants, and most of his houses are out of compliance,” she added.”People who buy used homes aren’t getting a copy of the covenants,” Pizzi said. “It’s to everyone’s benefit for people to understand the covenants and maintain their property values.”Homeowners in filing 11 are the only ones paying a $150 yearly fee for covenant enforcement in Woodmen Hills, she said.Stan said he isn’t sure if Warren Management is effective with its enforcement policies. “They seem to kind of nitpick,” he said. “They leave a note because the grass is four inches long but the guy next door has oil leaking from an old truck and doesn’t get any note.”Warren Management speaksWarren Management stopped providing covenant enforcement at the end of 2006, Green said. At the time, the Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District planned to take over the enforcement of the covenants, he said. But it didn’t happen and Warren Management is back – at least for awhile.Warren Management has been enforcing covenants in Woodmen Hills filings one through 11 for six years, said Michelle Green, community association manager. She said they also provide covenant enforcement for Meridian Ranch.”There are lots of problems,” she said, especially in filings seven, eight and part of nine. In those filings, the builders purchased developers’ rights when they purchased the land, and they’re in charge of the covenants.”(Some homeowners) complain and say, ‘It’s their house and their property and how dare you tell me what to do.’ It’s a valid point, but they also agree to abide by the covenants when they sign on the dotted line,” she said.”Most of the covenants are reasonable, and there is flexibility.”If someone needs an extension to landscape the yard, it can be granted depending on the circumstances, she said. “If an owner has a camper or RV parked in the driveway because a family member is ill and parents are coming in from out of town to help … what if the owner owns a cat – and they are allergic to cats – and need to stay in the RV for a couple of weeks, we can allow that,” Green said.Green, who has been with Warren for four years and in the profession for 12, and her assistant regularly inspect the property, she said. Residents who are out of compliance receive three notices before the attorney is contacted. “A majority of the owners make the violation go away within the first two notices,” Green said. “Ten percent or less just don’t care, and they won’t comply no matter what we tell them.”Working on the resolutionPeter Susemihl is the attorney for Rusty Green and the metro district. French and Woodmen Hills resident Ron Pace said they think it’s a conflict of interest for Susemihl to represent both.However, Susemihl said a new state statute allows metro districts to enforce the covenants, which renders the conflict of interest a moot point.”The intent (for Woodmen Hills) is for the metro district to play a more active role,” Susemihl said. “Rusty is built out, so the metro district will be assuming the financial responsibility of taking the spoilers to court.”However, the metro district will not assume an active role in covenant enforcement, he said. “They don’t want metro district board meetings taken up with individual battles over covenants.”The metro district is planning to establish and fund a nonprofit corporation that will directly enforce the covenants. The nonprofit will be comprised of residents, chosen by residents, and covenants will be enforced by the residents. Susemihl said the nonprofit would most likely employ a property manager.”We’d like to structure a corporation that had up to 17 members on the board – at least 10 representatives from each filing (one through 10),” he said.Filing 11 will remain separate because they are funded through the yearly fees that Pizzi mentioned. Warren Management will continue as the enforcement agency, Michelle Green said.Susemihl said the developers’ covenants are identical, but individual builders have added covenants, and “they vary.””Both have equal status in the eyes of the law. To change any of the covenants would require amending them. The key is uniform enforcement, and they are working on getting the builders to assign their enforcement rights to the district,” he said.When there is a lack of enforcement, Susemihl said things “break down very quickly.”But there is a difference between “serious infractions like parked cars, trailers, junk and weeds versus a basketball hoop or a car parked on a street overnight.”Taking people to court is time and money, especially if they fight it, he said.”In the end, the results depend on the personalities of the people involved,” Susemihl said. “It’s all about using common sense with enforcement.”
