Tree approvals

Apparently, the issue is the failure to get prior approval before planting the unapproved trees.

As I'm understanding your post, once the unapproved trees were brought to the attention of the Association, the Association sent a violation notice. In response to the violation notice, the member submitted an application for approval after the fact and received approval. This resolved the violation.

Am I understanding your post correctly?

Typically, the only reason why an approval would be considered invalid would be if the approving authority (committee/board) exceeded their authority. For example: If the CC&Rs said no decks and the Association approved a deck, they would have exceeded their authority, as the Board/Committee could not provide a waiver for something that was on the CC&Rs.

When a member acts in good faith, requests approval and approval is granted. If the approval did exceed the authority granted when approving the request, and it's later found out - the member would have suffered damages caused by the Association in granting the approval. Therefore, if the member was made to comply with the governing documents in the future, the member has a fairly good standing in having the Association pay to bring the issue into compliance. Of course, all of this would likely have to be resolved through the courts.

The homeowner whose trees were approved would be wise to record the approval. He would also be wise to amend his deed to show that the property is subject to the previously recorded CC&R's and the approval. Once the association has approved something such as the trees and the homeowner relies on that approval, the association would subject itself to civil liability if it were to later rescind the approval. The biggest danger is that, because of poor record-keeping, a subsequent board will deny that approval was sought or granted and that is why the homeowner should file the approval at the county recorder's office.

Granting one approval, especially where the approval was sought after-the-fact, does not obligate the association to grant approval to anyone else. But, if the association approves a bunch of other applications and then denies one they could have a potential lawsuit on their hands.

I suspect that, again, the issue is failure to obtain prior approval. My suggestion is the same as was done by the first member - submit an application after the fact and see what happens.

Within the application, you may want to include a copy of the approval that the other member approved (or if you can find the approval within the minutes) and state that you know that the request is late, however you are not asking for anything that hasn't already been granted to others.

Another option, if you don't have documentation, is to state that you are asking for approval for trees that are the same as have been planted on other lots within the development.

West Valley and the trees in question are Mexican Fan Palms

Does your board have the legal authority to override the CC&Rs?

Probably not. As such, they had no basis on which to grant approval no matter how much they thought it was the right thing to do.

I would suspect that from a legal basis, approval never really happened.