On May 20, an El Paso County District judge ruled that Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District and the Woodmen Hills Covenant Management Board do not have covenant enforcement rights in parts of the Woodmen Hills neighborhood.Chuck and Bridget Warne, Woodmen Hills residents since May 2004, and three other Woodmen Hills residents filed a lawsuit in June 2008, against WHMD. The suit claimed the homebuilder of Woodmen Hills’ Filings 8 and a portion of Filing 9 – Melody Homes Inc. – did not have the power to assign the right to enforce covenants to WHMD or the management board when it did so in 2007.The ruling upheld the Warnes’ assertions. The summary judgment concluded that because Melody Homes no longer owned property in the filings, “the assignment of those (covenant enforcement) rights in 2007 transferred nothing.”Judge Schwartz ruled that covenant enforcement falls under the rights of individual property owners in the affected filings. Only a vote of 75 percent of residents can change, amend or assign enforcement to an outside entity, according to the ruling.Chuck Warne said when he and his wife were looking for a home in 2004, they specifically sought out a community without a homeowners association or strictly enforced covenants. He said there was no covenant enforcement under the builder; and, in 2005, as the builder was selling the last of its properties; Warne said a meeting of homeowners in his filing rejected a proposal to assign covenant management to an outside entity.Warne said when WHMD and WHCMB began managing covenant enforcement Jan. 1, 2008, he took up the cause to fight the covenant’s assignment because he felt the approach to managing the covenants was heavy handed. “I felt that it was important to stand up for our rights,” he said.Larry Bishop, Woodmen Hills district manager, said through an e-mail that the district will appeal the ruling.Because the legal battle will continue, residents in the affected filings will not see an immediate refund of their covenant management fees. “We will appeal; therefore, until this is finalized, there will be no refund,” Bishop said.”I’m happy Chuck won,” said Mike Sansone, Woodmen Hills resident. “I would hate to see it overturned,” he said.Sansone said issues over covenant enforcement have caused him to contemplate moving, and he warns people thinking of moving into the neighborhood about the tenor of covenant management. “I know two people who have changed their minds (about moving to Woodmen Hills),” Sansone said.He is also concerned about the WHMD involvement in the case. “I don’t think the metro district should be involved. It’s a waste of resources,” Sansone said.Warne agrees. “It’s like I’m suing myself – since I pay for the metro district,” he said.Bishop also confirmed in his e-mail that the legal fees relating to covenant enforcement were paid out of covenant fees and the district’s operation and maintenance fund.Although the case is not quite settled, Warne said he is looking forward to resuming some of the landscaping projects he postponed while fighting and paying for the legal battle.Warne said the covenants battle negatively impacted the neighborly feeling in the community. “It’s destroyed it, pure and simple destroyed it,” he said. “We had a very close-knit community here. Once all this stuff started happening, everyone became very isolationist, very quiet. You didn’t want to say anything to offend anyone.”He said he is hopeful that if the covenants and covenant enforcement are done away with, the neighborly feel will return.
