Yes, it is true. I've requested membership in the dreaded CC&R Committee. After five years of receiving their mystic 'courtesy letters', this year we received 'da bomb': conform or pay a fine of between $10 to $40 per day, to be registered as a lien against your property. The Committee wrote, "Yards need to be neatly landscaped, mowed, edged, weeded, watered and maintained in good condition on a regular basis. The standard this committee uses is the area around the School House." (FYI the School House is an historical reproduction, and is actually the community center of our neighborhood).
Every year, we weeded and trimmed. Evidently, not enough. This year, after "The Letter", we hired a landscape architect to redesign the the front yard. They removed two large, open trailer loads of debris after a crew spent two days trimming our trees, bushes and grounds. Hmmm. I guess we did let things get a bit out of hand. O.K. - so we were busy -- paint the house, install a new fence, weddings, funerals -- that sort of thing. And some back injuries and illnesses. But doesn't everyone.
So in another week, Landservices, Inc. (delightful and professional - highly recommend) will have completed our yard renovation. In the next couple of days I will find out if I'm the newest member of the CC&R Committee (or not). Among some of the things I hope to accomplish as a member of the committee: make a list of acceptable wild flowers for landscaping, and a list of those not acceptable (noxious spreading weeds), with pictures, to add to the currently somewhat vague guidelines. We tore out all our wildflowers, since we had no guidelines as to which were acceptable or not. Property liens are very serious indeed. Community Associations across the country have foreclosed on homeowners who defied their guidelines on landscaping, and wildflowers have been a consistent point of dispute.
Our property had the appearance of a natural forest setting, and every year people walking by complimented us on it. Our neighbors had not registered complaints, but the Committee let their voice be heard, and we have attempted to conform. Now our yard looks more like a manicured park than a forest. It is still an unusual landscape for our neighborhood, however it goes well with our house, which also has an unusual architecture. We have reveled in the peace, quiet and security of this neighborhood for twenty-two years, and enjoyed the amenities of jogging paths, swimming pools and tennis courts. I wouldn't trade our location for absolute freedom to do whatever landscape I felt like doing, and if we ever move, we'll probably look for a similar community association.
6 comments:
seems very heavy handed , glad we do not have to go through those type of vieled threats or suspect I would fall out with many people
steve
My god, I would have thrown them off my patch. How dare they dictate how you run YOUR property!
Would never happen in Oz.
Truth is, I was feeling a bit rejected at first, and hubby wanted go in like the Marines (well, he was one once). After we got all the yelling out of our systems (privately, inside our home - you bet!), we had to admit that we bought into a community with an association and covenants and restrictions, and the rest of it just 'came with the territory'.
I have neighbors who have already 'fallen out with many people' and at first I was inclined to organize them into a revolt. But. The thing we like about our neighborhood is the *neighborliness*. I don't want to save that by trying to destroy it. There's only eight people on the committee, but they have friends and perhaps relatives living here too.
So I'm hoping to work from inside the organization to create less confrontational alternatives -- more carrots instead of sticks, to motivate people to uphold the CC&Rs.
If nothing works, maybe we'll move to Oz. I already know some really nice people there.
I'm with Meryl, I'd have been snarly. What's wrong with having a natural habitat for the wildlife? And why must others try to impose their own idea of what a neighbourhood should look like?
It doesn't happen here, and this reminds me of the movie, Over the Hedge.
Better introduce some environmental asthetics guidelines to stop this 'manicured' business.
I'd be snarly too. Around here, they value native gardens most highly.
You give me strength - and good ideas. If I'm appointed to the committee, I'll work to introduce standards on environmental aesthetics, and native gardens.
Even in "rainy" western Oregon, we cannot keep on treating water like a never-ending resource -- we've had droughts, and the climate seems to be warming. But it's the native plants that survive best,
Although rhododendrons are valued here, we've had complaints about other native plants in our yard, including our state flower, the Oregon Grape (a prickly hedge with purple berries - the birds love it).
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