Can a denied DRC request be resubmitted?

I was on the DRC (Design Review Committee) a couple of years ago when a new neighbor moved into the neighborhood. She proceeded to install a screened enclosure on the front of her house without prior approval by the DRC. We asked her to follow the established procedure and the form was submitted and consequently denied. She was forced to remove the enclosure. Now she has been elected president. The first thing she did was to dismiss the existing DRC (myself included) and to appoint a new DRC. She then submitted a request to install the screened enclosure and it was approved by her new, hand-picked DRC. Is this even remotely legal? Because I am no longer on the DRC I have not seen the form, so I don't know if she has changed anything in the request or if it has been submitted exactly the same as the time it was denied. I'm afraid I won't know until it is already in place and then it will be hard to dispute.

Thanks in advance for your opinions and advice.

I'm sorry, I see I needed to clarify my answer.

Yes, requests can be resubmitted as often as the member wishes.

Tim

Florida law now, and for a few years, (not sure how old orig. request is) requires HOA ARC guidelines be published or available to members ESPECIALLY on items/mods NOT allowed.

If there are no guidelines preventing this mod. or specifying permitted materials, locations, etc. then it cannot be denied regardless of the Committee makeup.

This president that we are talking about was not elected, not appointed, she volunteered when the former president, along with the rest of the board, resigned due to her. A president of an association should be the advocate for the majority of the neighbors wishes and she should be the role model to follow for all the rules and deed restrictions of a community. Conflict happens when neighbors of a community see when they are working hard to get their front yard and houses in good shape, as the deed restrictions command, while others are under her protection and do nothing, including herself. We are in a situation where we feel trapped and impaired of communicating our thoughts. This lady is not working for the community but for her own benefit, to get things approved and what is worst is that, of course, she got the support of our Management Company. Can any of them, be replaced if the majority want to??

There was no recourse in this case since it was deemed that aluminum screened structures on the front of a home in our community were not in keeping with the general aesthetic standards of the neighborhood. There was no other alternative that would be acceptable.

I don't think anything will be done differently this time from the first time the structure was denied. I believe the exact same structure that was removed previously will be re-installed. Again, I haven't seen the DRC request so I cannot be positive - but I can be relatively sure of this person's intentions since the course they have taken has been very premeditated and predictable.

But can the request be submitted in the same form without any alteration when it has already been denied? It seems to be when something is denied (or approved) it creates a precedent that should stand, even if the DRC changes. It wouldn't be fair , for example, if one member of the association has a color for their house denied by the DRC then then another person requests the exact same color only to have it approved.

This person was appointed and is recognized to be the President of the HOA. The existing President and Treasurer did resign at a meeting and she volunteered and was appointed to be President.

I was not at that meeting because I was away on vacation at the time - the first and only meeting I have missed.

As for the property manager, I agree with you but I was trying to keep this thread on point and focused on one specific issue. Don't get me going because there are a lot of questions I would like answers to. I could write pages and pages about things going on with the board and the management company that are at the very least unethical and the some of which I wonder if they are even legal. I will try to put them in separate threads to keep things straight.

If I recall correctly, when the board members stepped down and she volunteered, the community was not notified. If I had been notified that this was going to happen, I certainly would have been there.

Exactly, there were no elections and the community was never notified that there would be open positions to fill. It all happened suddenly in one meeting, with no advance notice. I was not at the meeting but what was explained to me was that two of the three officers on the board resigned (President and Treasurer). I assume the remaining officer (Secretary) appointed this person who was present and volunteered to be the President as well another person who was present to volunteered to be the Treasurer.

Darryl,

But, what hasn't been mentioned here is removing this person from office. Of course, you have to do everything in accordance with your documents and state law, but in general terms, this is how it goes:

If there are enough homeowners to support removing this person, the homeowners (there must be some minimum percentage) can call a special meeting of the homeowners for the person of removing the person from the board of directors (not for removing the president) and to hold a special election to fill the vacancy. At the meeting a motion is made to remove this person from the board. If the required number of homeowners vote for removal, the person is no longer a board member. In all probability, I'm guessing that your documents state that the president must be a board member. So, if this person is no longer a board member, they are no longer qualified to be president. Next, you elect a new person to be on the board and the board then elects a new president. The new president appoints a new DRC and you're back in business.

However, if this person already has obtained approval for their DRC request, it's probably too late to do anything about that unless you can contest the approval on the basis that the CCRs have been violated. If that's the case, then any action by the DRC or the board in approving the request is null and void, meaning it's as if it never happened. However, if the approval does not violate any restriction in the CCRs, then a new DRC likely can't reverse that decision. If contested in court, the association would probably lose.