Storage building - built on-site vs. delivered

Our overzealous ACCO is denying our request to have a 12x16 storage building placed on our 2 acre lot. It will be inside the building envelope near the back of the house.

The building, to comply with the CC&R's, will have stucco exterior, 6/12 roof pitch to match the house, and similar asphalt shingles. It's a stick built storage building on 4x4 skids made to be brought to the site and delivered.

The reason, states a member of the ACCO, the building isn't allowed is because of specific language in the covenants that state:

Section 5. Structures. No structure of a temporary nature, such as a tent, garage, trailer house, barn, or other outbuilding or basement shall be used on any lot at any time as a residence, either temporarily or permanently. All structures shall be of new construction built on-site. No mobile, modular or manufactured housing shall be allowed.

The outbuilding is being custom built by MOR Storage, a local company that sells garages, sheds, outbuildings, etc.
Once it's built (and it is almost done) it will be delivered via semi trailer and placed onto prepared ground.
The ACCO says this is a "temporary building" and needed to be built on site. The bottom line is that once on the lot, no one will ever be able to tell if the building was built there or delivered there, the thing would have been built the same way if done on site.

The Section 5 language is clearly intended to prevent people from putting modular homes on the lots. I believe it is petty and overzealous to use this language to prevent us from having this nice storage building delivered.

Thoughts on how we can get the ACCO and BOD to be reasonable? By the way, my wife is on the board, she's the Treasurer, so she won't have a vote if we need to try to appeal to the BOD to overrule the ACCO.

Thanks for reading.

Steve, you could appeal the ACCO decision to your Board of Directors. One could interpret this Section 5. Structures to apply only to RESIDENCES and not to storage buildings.

" Yes, the building is a temporary structure technically. " - Melissa

It's not a temporary structure at all. It would be a far stretch to label it as such.

In the majority of CC&Rs that I've seen, that section is almost exclusively applied to the construction of primary residences, and not to outbuildings. The mention of outbuildings an other temp structures is to ensure that someone does use such a building as a primary residence.

The section on outbuildings and/or sheds is generally in a different section.

He doesn't address those issues. However, those are areas that the BOD and the owner should look at when evaluating this situation. There's more to this situation than just putting an storage building in the back yard and being denied. There's other factors and considerations and those are insurance and common property issues. Those are ALWAYS my first areas I look at when granting permision for a structure or other requested project.

I list a storage building as temporary because it wasn't part of the sale of the home originally and it also was not built on site. When this person lists their home for sale they may include this storage building as a "feature". Unless they plan to move the storage building with them when they move. Then the storage building is definetely considered "Temporary". If you can move it with you, then it's temporary.

My post is confusing? First off, he doesn't distinquish if it is common property or not. I gave him advice on IF it was on common property what the issues could be. You don't own common property. The entire HOA does. That means they may have liability insurance on that property and putting up a structure may put that common area at risk. However, that is IF he was putting this structure on common property. IF he is NOT putting it on common property and HE OWNS the property, then he still has to comply with the rules and restrictions.

Temporary does mean if it can be "Dimantled and removed". Temporary structures can include Above ground swimming pools. The definition of temporary stucture in a HOA does break down to "built-on-site" to "Brought- onto-site". I would consider a shed in my HOA as a temporary non-permanent structure.

I mention the insurance issue because he should consider insuring the storage shed and be part of his homeowner's insurance. There's alot of valuable items stored in sheds. He should think about insuring the contents or putting it with his homeowner's policy. That's just good all around advice for anyone. Plus, if that shed was to catch on fire and spread to the home, he could run into issues there.

This isn't a personal attack on his individual's rights by his HOA on denying him this shed. The rules he signed clearly state that this could be a violation. He knows that. He just wants to find a common ground here so he can have the shed delivered and approved. Otherwise, he could be violating the rules and the shed can be removed by the HOA on his dime. If I was him, I'd be asking the same questions and trying to find an appropriate solution. That would be discussing it with the BOD and making sure that steps are taken to make the storage building a permant structure once delivered.

Harold, I have to agree with you on that one.

And a shed or outbuilding is not a temporary structure. It has a foundation, for crying out loud.

Unless it's a Home Depot quick kit, or a small plastic one, which this one is clearly not.

A 12 x 6 stick built building is NOT temporary. I suppose when I move, I COULD dismantle my HOUSE, too, if I wanted, but I'm not likely to.

No where in our CC&Rs do we even come close to calling sheds or pool houses, or other such structures "temporary."

A gazebo would not be considered temporary.

Thanks for the replies, folks. As I mentioned, the out-building is to be placed withing the building envelope, on my property. Insurance is not at issue. The point of contention is the "must be built on-site" language that I believe, is intended to prevent property owners from placing modular homes on lots. The ACCO however, is holding a hard line on this and claims it's black and white. A storage building cannot be delivered, they say, but must be built on site according to that language. Otherwise, it's "temporary" because it isn't on a stemwall or slab foundation.

We do have a 10x15 concrete slab (we would have to enlarge) we could anchor it to, although we prefer to place it on a prepared gravel base adjacent to the slab.

Steve, I know the reason for your post was for help on getting around the ACCO & BOD but it seems to me if you had done things correctly to begin with you wouldn't be in this spot. "I believe it is petty and overzealous to use this language to prevent us from having this nice storage building delivered."

I think it was arrogant and assumptive on your part to have the building built BEFORE you got approval for it! Especially since: "my wife is on the board, she's the Treasurer." Can you even imagine the spot this puts the ACCO & BOD in having to enforce against a Board member who should have known better to begin with?

Taking your word that it fits into your development and even the modular buildings of today are vastly superior to the ones manufactured even five years ago, they are clearly forbidden by the section you sited. While I agree with your interpretation that the section is intended to prevent temporary prefab housing from being used it does have the "built on-site" requirement.

Are storage sheds of the size you stated allowed in your development? Is there a section that deals with storage sheds specifically or is Section 5 the only mention of it? If it is being delivered in one piece and a crane or dolly is used to move it into position then IMO it would violate the section that states: All structures shall be of new construction built on-site. If built on-site do the CC&R's specify that the structure has to have a foundation? Does it meet city/county building regulations?

If however it comes in sections which are then bolted together and the stucco applied then it could be argued that it is being built on-site. Since even the storage sheds that you buy at Lowe's or the Home Depot are prefabricated and put together on-site. But you still should have gotten approval before you bought it.

Now the only thing to do is go before the ACCO & BOD with a mea culpa and request a variance. I would take pictures of similar buildings and show how the building you want would fit into your community. This along with documents/specifications from the manufacturer to show the value of their product versus a stick built building of the same type.