Use change of common area

Started by LindaC3 • 8 replies • 1677 views

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LindaC3 (Florida)
Posts: 526

Posted:

Good Day Group..... The HOA I reside in is a hunting/equestrian/fly in gated rural community.....Fenced....One way in one way out....on duty guard attendant 7-7, card pass after hours.......Mostly everyone here owns 3 plus guns because of the hunting and shooting range.....Folks in town also have knowledge that this not the place to come and try to commit break ins as the chances are pretty high you would leave with a butt load of buck shot and no tv....LOL..........

Here is my dilemna......Our BOD wants to employ a full time deputy from our local law enforcement to patrol our streets( Private roads ) when he is off duty...They would not pay him per se, but barter out his rent for the patrol services.... We have three hunt cottages that members may rent for when they come out to hunt or spend the weekend if they do not have a permanent home yet built... Our BOD wants to "give" this deputy full time use of the cottage and most of us here feel that this violates our "rights" to use of our common area.....These units were part of the land use plan for "temporary" use not intended to be used for someone to live in full time.

As a taxpayer of the County for which I live , feel this is a blantant waste of my tax payers dollars to pay for the gas, upkeep of a county owned vehicle for patrol in a private gated community...Our roads are rock and gravel and the wear and tear on our own vehicles is one thing-- BUT- as a tax payer apart from being a homeowner here am appalled they would even consider this idea... We do not have any crime here......ZILCH...never have had to have a deputy respond to any criminal mischief.....Our last deputy who lived here was fired by the county for having sex on duty with a local crack chick....Nice guy....he also was stopping females late at nite here in our subdivision for allegedly speeding...YEA RIGHT......

Some of the members here feel that the BOD have overstepped their bounds by wanting to this without any input from the members...We questioned them about following stautes about having the county sign an aggreement about using the local law enforcement for patrols to no avail.......
Any help from you will be greatly appreciated as to what direction we the homeowners could take to get this action reversed...........thanks bunches LindaC

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

LindaC3,
Sounds to me like one of your Board members got a speeding ticket or perhaps worse and is making a deal with the deputy. Did your entire Board vote yes for this?
You know folks, we can erect tall fences and have barbed wire around ourselves, but other than being behind an alligator infested moated fortress, how much security is nescessary? We are in a paranoid society.
Tell your neighbors and then all of you tell the Board---NO WAY!!

PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

LindaC3: your statement..."feel this is a blantant waste of my tax payers dollars to pay for the gas, upkeep of a county owned vehicle for patrol in a private gated community...Our roads are rock and gravel and the wear and tear on our own vehicles is one thing-- BUT- as a tax payer apart from being a homeowner here am appalled they would even consider this idea..." also brings me some concern. Not sure the county would even allow the deputy to use county-owned property (vehicle) for him to drive to his 'other job' at your community. Something doesn't sound right.

Also, "...these units were part of the land use plan for "temporary" use not intended to be used for someone to live in full time. .." If indeed your official documents state that the 3 hunt cottages are dedicated for certain use, then there is no way the Board can arbitrarily change the usage--unless they take a member vote (based on percentage dictated to change docs) and then file the change as an amendment. They are not looking at it as an amendment change, but if the docs state definite use of the cottages, you have to proceed as you would for any other change to the docs.

NancyD1 (Florida)
Posts: 447

Posted:

The sheriff' office will not go for anything like this. They will not allow an off duty officer the use of a patrol car without an expense to go along with it. How would he work full-time if he works full time for the sheriff's office, 80 hour weeks?

The board is overstepping their bounds when they give away a common interest as the cottage. The homeowners should protest at the next BOD meeting. Most likely this goes against your By-Laws.

As a private community you can request the sheriff's make a pass through a couple of times a week. We wrote a letter to the commander and they come through the gates every couple of days. They are not a presence some of the homeowners want because they do write tickets, but this was the initial reason we called them in.

LindaC3 (Florida)
Posts: 526

Posted:

NancyD1....this is the whole reason behind the BOD wanting the deputy to patrol here.......for speeding..BUT we do not have stop signs up,no yield signs and are private roads............According to the BOD they say the sheriff says its okay-- i say bull hockey........If a guy works from midnite to 8 shift is he really gonna want to 'patrol' our subdivision...NO he's gonna want to go home and get some sleep to be effective when he goes back on road patrol......It is also my understanding that in florida you must have an agreement with the local county - do a road feasibilty study-put up stop signs etc..........Do you know of this ruling in florida ? We have a BOD meeting coming up in 3 weeks and I would love to have my ducks in a row........ I am really upset that with the start of hunting season one of our cottages has been asigned to a deputy and now we have one less facilty available to our members...............Thanks for your input as always LindaC

NancyD1 (Florida)
Posts: 447

Posted:

Linda,

We also are a private gated community. As stated before we had a problem with speeding homeowners. Our concern was that another homeowner was almost mowed down by the person we have the most problems with. It's a 17 year old and the parents do not deal with it. We called in the local sheriff specifying after school hours were preferable. After 1 month of on and off patrols, the kid got 2 tickets and lost his license for a year. I guess in a year we will have to worry again but for now walkers are safe.

We put up 2 new speed limit signs a few weeks ago. The sheriff's office came out and set the limit by the estimated road length and the home density. He also told us where we had to place the signs. A 10 minute job. We sent the paperwork to the city, they approved and we ordered the signs.

Call the police or sheriff's office they will direct you on who to call. This is not a long and hard procedure. If the community wants speed signs, they are more than willing to give permission.

Call the police department. It may not be legal to give a deputy a home as compensation for work. It could be taken as graft in some cities. Also when it comes to most police departments, they specify the overtime hours that an officer can have because of fatigue. It can obviously play a big part in job performance. If the local department knew that this officer was working supposedly 16 hour days they would not have it. That is why there are officers on rotating overtime rosters listed for hire by most police departments.

NancyD1 (Florida)
Posts: 447

Posted:

No police department would ever agree or put in writing that the officer can live rent free for services. Just ask the board for the consent form from the police department that this is an allowable procedure for compensation. 100 to 1 odds, they don't have it.

PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

LindaC3: "...this is the whole reason behind the BOD wanting the deputy to patrol here...for speeding..BUT we do not have stop signs up,no yield signs and are private roads." What????

You state that you do have a guard during daytime hours, so this 'freebee for living quarters' is for nighttime...after the deputy has just put in his normal workday elsewhere.... But, you state that all must use a card to come through your one way in--one way out gate. How much speeding can be going on by onsite unit owners during the nighttime? I wonder if the guy just needs a place to call home....

LindaC3 (Florida)
Posts: 526

Posted:

PAULM.......LOL...we have a "gate attendant" only during the hours of 7a.m. - 7p.m. We have meandering dirt/gravel roads and a (cough cough) posted speed limit of 25.......We are a 3500 acre 300 lot community..so visualize the dirt roads meandering.....We dont have a HUGE problem with speeding per se...just the few who dont like driving on dusty roads...Most of us do under the speed limit because of the rocks being thrown up when you travel...Most of us drive large 4x4 trucks......
BUT the BOD thinks we have a real problem and hence the reason for the officer to live here and patrol the property to keep us "" SAFE "" LOL LOL.......... I am sure all neighborhoods in our county would love to have an on site deputy but with all the Florida mandated budget cuts I just dont see the justification for tax payers dollars to be wasted in a private gated community....There is no crime data to support such an initiative here........... We all want our cottage back and as Nancy suggested we will SPEAK volumes at our next meeting and voice our displeasure.....

I also could not find anything that addresses the cottages in our by laws..just the usual about the commone elements airstrip hunting area shooting range etc......... I guess we will go on the premise that the cottages are common property...belong to all the members and the BOD does not have the authority to GIVE AWAY the right to a NON MEMBER to live in them....If this gentlemen comes here to live then he will be bringing in his buddies...using our pool and other facilities.....WOnt that be lovely ?? But yet I have to accompany my brother to the pool ?????? Thanks for all the replies...LindaC

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