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April 19, 2007
Drawing the Line
Most association documents have statements in them as to what owners can or can't do about certain things or areas. Some are very specific, some vague. It's those vague or "gray" areas that can cause the problems, because they are open to everyone's interpretation. This isn't necessarily bad, as a certain amount of flexibility to adapt to changing times and conditions can be a good thing. However, its where the board decides to "draw the line" that leads to problems.
Let's take a simple example, fences. Often documents simply state that a fence can be constructed around a back yard or to the rear of the home, and that the association can limit its height and design. The association is now faced with deciding how high it can be, what types of materials can be used, should gates be required, what are the standards for maintenance, how about color, etc. This issue is often complicated when the developer allowed owners to freely build whatever they felt like. So now the association has to decide if they are going to apply standards, and if so, what those standards should be.
In most cases, the documents give the authority to make those decisions to the board. That's what they are elected to do - make decisions. But when it comes to making decisions covering "gray" areas, or any area dealing with aesthetics, they will always be drawing a line that leaves people on both sides of it. They will never be able to please everybody.
Some boards don't care - they were elected and they're going to make those decisions - and so the edict goes out that fences will be 4' high, made of wood and stained a certain color. And its usually within their authority do that. However, those owners who have 5' high fences around their pools, or their fence is made of composite materials, or is painted or stained a different color, find themselves on one side of the line. There may be some owners, who didn't want any fences on the other side of the line. In the middle is the board, who just thought they were doing what they were supposed to do, make a decision.
Sometimes you find a board that carefully polls the owners as to their opinions about fencing, studies the matter for months and then proposes a new fence policy to be voted on at the annual meeting. The vote is taken, the policy adopted and what do you know - there are still people on both sides of the line unhappy with the new policy.
It really boils down to this - you really can't please all of the people all of the time. Even if you just throw up your hands and say to the owners - "build whatever makes you happy" - is guaranteed to make those people who moved into the association with some expectations of standards, unhappy.
The best a board can do is to communicate with the owners, both before and after a decision is reached, explaining the reasoning and the process, and then accept the fact that not everyone is going to agree with it. Give them a chance to be heard - give them an explanation why you made a decision - and revisit it periodically to see if the decision stands up over time. But don't take it personally if someone is upset with the decision you made, that's what they elected you to do.
Posted by joewest at April 19, 2007 10:05 AM