Old Play equipment and requirements for replacing them

Hello All,

Our HOA documents do not directly state the replacement of play equipment etc., unless when it is condemed per our CCRs. Our old wood play equipment had to be removed due to dry rot. No condemnation letter from the board or request to check to see if it should be condemned by a professional desipite its obvious leaning and unsafe condition. No direction was given by the board to our PM on getting any condemnation letter. They simply asked the PM to remove the rotten items. Which seemed fine until you read the CCRs about condemnation language.

The discussion by the board at the last meeting was - Do they have to replace all of the rotten and removed play equipment or just some (the ones they only want to replace to ..save money)?

Questions:
1) Is the board required to notify the homeowners of common area play equipment removal and potential replacements.
2) Do they have to inlcude homeowners of their Plan or the costs/budget involved?
3) Are homeowners required to vote on costs for equipment needed since it comes from reserves?
4) Do they have to replace all rotten play equipment or just ones they want?

Here is the only language I could find that even relates to this:

In the event all or any potion of the Common Areas are acquired by condemnation or under threat of condemnation, the condemnation award shall be utilized by the Association to acquire, to the extent possible, comparable replacement facilities within a period of nine (9) months from the date the Association received the condemnation award or monies paid to the Association under threat of condemnation, the Association shall pay jointly to any Lot Owner and the mortgagee holding the mortgage on said Lot, if any, a pro rate share of said condemnation award or monies received attributable to said Lot.

The play equipment has been removed since 7/10 and kids miss it. I appreciate any help to the questions above.

Maureen

Maureen

Well, do a lot of kids actually play on the equipment? It sounds like it wouldn't have fallen apart and the property owners been so out of the loop on playground equipment if it was a cherished amenity.

My bet is if the playground is lightly used, it may not justify to insurance expense and a new purpose be found for the area now used for playground equipment.

Also, you'd think equipment could be replaced before a condemnation discussion.

Hello Kelly,

Thanks for responding Kelly and all. Yes, the play equipment is played with all the time. We have over 60+/- kids here under 10 yrs. Parents and kids here have been asking about the replacement since the wood equipment started leaning and looking scary. Well, acutally way before that but owner observations were ignored. The equipment should have been replace a long time ago but the previous boards wanted to save money.. you know the story.

So, after all the replies it sounds like to me that the board can pick and chose what equipment to replace even without owner input and when. Since they do not want to include owners or create a committee to help in the decision making (this was stated by the BOD at the meeting to alleviate too much discussion and future meetings)..

I guess they get to hear about the gripes and compliemnts when some items are replaced if ever. Let's hope they choose well.

Maureen

If anyone is interested, here are some links to federal guidelines.
Please note, guidelines are not requirements.

Public Playground Safety Handbook by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Accessible Play areas

United States Access Board Playground Summary

Boards should also check to see if your individual State has any requirements or guidelines