Common Area Amenities during Corona Virus Crisis

Our Board wants to temporarily close the fitness center and the clubhouse for a time period during the coronavirus crises. Our state, Georgia, is under a state emergency. We disseminated a letter, and one homeowner pushed back that we should leave the facilities open. The fitness center is very small, and there is no way that 6 feet of social distancing could be maintained between members. Plus, we have no one to consistently clean after these members using the gym.

Should we just leave it to the members' discretion in terms of use? Or should we take a proactive position and enact a decision that might help the community during this crisis? Your feedback would be appreciated.

Regards,

Carolyn

Gyms are closed in NY.

I could see allowing only 1 person at a time to use the fitness center, if that can be enforced.

Otherwise, it's safer (for HOA liability) to keep the gym closed.

Of course HOAs/condos nationwide should shut down their pools, gyms and clubhouses. At this point I believe the world will be in a full-blown recession. Consumption of the usual goods and services will decline remarkably. Corporate earnings will concomitantly decline, forcing stock prices down. A week or so ago I think the United States should have been in full lockdown, with highways closed and the military/National Guard deployed, and folks restricted to homes except for groceries and medical. I believe the U. S. government will spend a great deal of money helping people.

The Fed was stupid not to raise interest rates long ago and bring the market down to sanity. Now there is no buffer. Stupid greedy political "leaders."

I believe life is going to be different for some months at least. I think the only hopes are that the virus is vulnerable to higher temperatures and a vaccine is developed.

I am hoping this disease-based recession will be a lesson for a couple of generations.

With George, stick with your board's decision, Carolyn.

So far our very spacious gym that rarely has more than 3 residents in at a time is still open. Our pool vendor assured our PM that our large pool, used maybe by 3 resident a day the time of year, is safely chlorinated to stay open. Social distance very easy to maintain in both.

We canceled our St. Patrick's Day Happy Hour and our 3/31 open board meeting. Our (high rise) custodians are doing extra sanitizing of door handles, elevator buttons, lobby restrooms, etc. Our PM & asst. have basically closed their onsite offices to residents. Parcels are delivered to a reception desk in each lobby and not touched by security who usually puts them in our Parcel Rooms (still working on this one)

Our Board decided to close our club house today for at least 2 weeks.
Also our monthly meeting next week will be done by teleconference.

Thanks everyone. We took your advice, made the decision, and we received push back from only 1 person. And, his push back was very illogical in terms of the rationale. We vetted it with our Attorney, and he provided the following feedback:

1. You are within your right to close down access to these common area amenities (pool area, clubhouse, and fitness center)
2. You are acting in a reasonable manner and in the best interest of the entire community.
3. It is not enough to just email the community that you are closing down those amenities, but you need to physically make them inaccessible until such time you deem it OK to reopen them.

The other thing that supported us is that several fitness centers in the Atlanta area have already closed down. Plus, we do not have the space to support social distancing, nor can we ensure that the entire room will be wiped down, deeply sanitized like commercial gyms.

We also are going to have web-based /conference call Board meetings.

We are a very active Board, so we perform a lot of duties outside of the meeting and are constantly in touch with each other.

Again, my thanks for your feedback.

Regards,

Carolyn

It's a shame that some people WILL NOT stop and think of others in times of crisis. If you only have one person complaining about this, I wouldn't worry about him at all - you did your due diligence and made a sound decision.

In my area, the mayor just ordered fitness clubs and gyms to close yesterday, and I'm sure this guy can exercise at home - if he doesn't know what to do, send him to YouTube where he'll find a lot of exercise videos for free.

Well, the Board's decision, i.e. not mine). The most pressing matter here seems to be, based on new info obtained this morning, regarding pool trespassers. One night a couple of weeks ago 4 or 5 people were using out pool at 2 AM. When confronted, they were polite enough and they left, but they did say they were homeless. Someone called the police the next day and were predictably told, "if they come back give us a call".

So the number one item of business making the rounds among board members, residents, and committee members is, "Should we padlock the pool area gate at night?" That's the only "solution" being considered because an electronic card/key/FOB access control system would cost money. The problem then becomes finding someone who will volunteer to unlock the gate in the morning and lock it back up again at night (because this board certainly isn't going to pay anyone to do that).

Nothing COVID-19 related in the least. We are in a county that has been very fortunate when it comes to the number of reported/confirmed cases or positive test results. I don't expect that to last for 18 months, though.

Temporarily shut down and protect your community. You will never hear widespread community outrage at following C.D.C. guidelines.

By the way, our clubhouse is closed to party and event bookings EXCEPT we will defer to the sub-HOA boards in our master community (5 mini-neighborhoods) as to whether they want to hold their own regular business meetings.

If a homeowner complains about an outdoor pool being closed due to COVID-19 by claiming that the virus does not spread through the use of the pool, what is a polite way to communicate to that homeowner that the reason is for liability reasons, so you can't sue the HOA if you contract the virus by visiting a communal area where others could have been laying or sitting on pool lounge chairs, etc..?

Do you think it is prudent for HOA's to temporarily close outdoor pool areas? A simple internet search indicates that many have and law firms are advising HOAs to do so.

I've been on the lookout for law firms in Florida that are advising HOAs to close their swimming pools and so far haven't really seen any.

The pool itself isn't the problem since properly chlorinated pool water deactivates the virus. The problem is everything else on the pool deck. Tables and chairs close together and not cleaned or wiped down on any sort of schedule (be it daily, weekly, hourly, whatever).

Ours is still open and there are maybe 10-20 people using it daily; but not at the same time. They trickle in in pairs or 3 at a time, spend a couple of hours, and leave. It's never crowded, not by a long shot. Of course, the pool furniture is never cleaned or sanitized either. There is no guidance from the CDC or the Florida Deptartment of Health that suggests swimming pools should be closed.

I think it should be closed but I haven't been able to find anything to show the board, "Look, this guidance strongly suggests we should close the pool." It doesn't exist.

Thanks, Kerry. The restroom issue is definitely something else to consider.

Our HOA does all landscaping and outside home shell maintenance. Of 112 owners, we have one owner (a constant complainer) who is on the BOD's back about "people" on her property (the landscapers) could be infected and we are endangering the life of all our owners and we should stop all landscaping until the crisis is over. At this time we have decided to ignore her.

Agree with JohnC & George. As a Board, we are responsible for our community's common areas. Our landscapers and pool guy still come to make sure these items don't deteriorate (even though the pool is closed). They are essential services.