Denied Access to Board

I am a homeowner in a development in Arizona that will elect its first homewoner run Board this week. For several months prior I have had a serious problem with one of our Design Guidelnes in our CC&Rs that currently allow basketball hoops (portanle and permanent) to be installed in front yards. There are only 2 people in a community of 2600 who have installed these permanent hoops and unfortunately my neighbor has one right on my property line. The basketballs have caused me property damage and loss of use of my driveway. I have tried for nearly 4 months to gain access to our current Board, made up of the Builders and Devlopers of this community. Our Property Management Company has denied my numerous formal requests to go before the Board to request that this Design Guidleline be changed to either banning basketball hoops in front yards or by having them moved to the other side of an owner's driveway, letting the balls fall into their own yard rather than into their neighbor's. My question is, "Does a Property management Comapny have the right to deny me access to the Board?" Also, can a Design Guideline be rescinded without grandfathering those 2 parties who currently have basketball hoops? Perhaps it can be modified to have the offending hoops moved to another part of their owner's yard? HELP, I'm being bombarded!!

MonicaD

Thanks, Roger. I've done all that and more. The neighbor is unwilling to cooperate by moving his hoop, the Property Manager says that it's beyond their control and should be dealt with by legal means and did not forward the issue to our current Board.

I've requested follow-up with our "Noxious Activity" rule, but cannot get buy-in from the Property Management Company. We do have a "No Trespass" law here that I am asking to have enforced by local authorities, but I wanted to have the issue dealt with by changing our Design Guidelines. And, I am told that because it falls in the Design Guidelines, and not in the body of the CC&Rs that it can be changed to eliminate future hoops by merely a majority vote from the Board, not the homeowners. My problem is if they are grandfathered, then I have no support within my association and have lost enjoyment of my home.

The address we were given for our Board is "in care of" the Property Manager, and they have refused to give me names and contact info for our current Board. I know this cannot be right or just.

Thanks anyway,
MonicaD

Roger's response is "right on". Also, Monica, it is a responsibility of the Board to make the members of the board known. This has to be advertised to all homeowners. You have a legal right to know that information and to know how to contact them.

a longer term "response" to this would be, especially in Arizona, to plant some cactus six inches inside your property line. Try Cholla, or something very hardy and obnoxious. It won't take long for the boys/girls next door to either destroy it (and you can then file a claim for several hundred dollars to replace) or figure out they don't like picking spines out of their skin every night. Oleander works well too, and makes a nice wall of green.

Monica, If your development has a newsletter or any other type of publication, chances are that it has to be approved by the board. Maybe you can see if you can find the person responsible for its publication and try to track down a board member that way.

Thanks, Janet, that's a great response. I am also in the Phoenix area. I am trying to get these hoops banned from front yards because they are a safety issue...to neighbors and to the public with kids running in the streets to chase balls. I saw 2 legally parked vehicles hit by kids at play. My personal issue is having the exisiting neighbor's hoop removed because of the damage to my roperty. I've spoken to another past president of an HOA near where I live and he said they had the same issue when his community was new. They looked at each situation and if it was determined to be a problem then that homeowner was told to remove the hoop. There was no grandfathering...the problem outweighed the neighbor's selfish need to have the hoop in his yard. We have ample places for kids to play basketball, so this is NOT about playing ball in a safe environment.

MonicaD

I posted in April and am still waiting to address our new HOA Board on the issue of having basketball hoops removed. I am now told that I have to submit written documentation outlining my issue, but it must be funneled through the Porperty Management Company (who is part of the problem). I have just been told that I have to wait for an Open meeting (maybe at the end of June) to address the Board. (TomJ, I told our Board that you allow "by appointment" and it seemed totally foreign to them!)

I am new to the whole concept of an HOA, but this does not sound right to me, especially since the Police have been involved (more than once) due to excessive property damage. Do any of you in Arizona (Phoenix area) have Boards that only allow issues to be addressed in Open Meetings? How about something critical...a safety issue...such as this one? Also, has anyone written/adopted a "Homeowner's Bill of Rights"? We should be able to hold our Board accountable to the members, and certainly they should respond to issues more quickly than this.

Thanks for the help!

MonicaD

First off, there are so many issuea here. The subject line is 'denied access to Board' but then there is the lack of clarity for us on whether the ruling on basketball hoops exists in the CCRS or the Design Guidelines and if it does exist in the Design Guidelines, do your bylaws list that set of Guidelines as one more of your ruling documents? (I ask because our bylaws clearly list our ruling documents as: Bylaws, CCRs, Minimum Property Standards document, the Declaration of Charges and Assessments and Liens and the Rules and Regulations.)
On one hand and as an association member I am upset to read when ever someone is denied access to their board or governing body because the governing body is supposed to be made up of representatives of the association members. Call me 'stupid' for believing this but isn't that our role as Board members along with the business, property and affairs of our associations? Likewise, wouldn't this be the role of any agent an association hired to manage their business, property and affairs?
However, as a Board member when faced with an issue like this I would recommend to the member with the problem that their issue was one to be dealt with personally. Sorry. You point out there are only two basketball hoops in a very large community. I agree this problem could be solved if your neighbor would move the hoop to the other side of his or her driveway but both sides of the driveway are his or her property and not community property.
I am not negating your problem, I would hate to have to deal with it. But the Board should not be stepping in between two property owners on this one.