Painting Colors

My HOA has begun painting our community. The Board has chosen a color which is distasteful to the majority of the community and we feel it truly devalues the property values. As Past Board President I know our docs do not speak to a vote being necessary for a change in community color however if it is a drastic change isn't there recourse here? We were not given even a choice between two colors. The board just determined what they preferred.

Jane,

Do your documents speak of paint colors? The direct color code will probably be in the ARC documentation. If not, the board can make the decision. This is a big decision and should not have been made without some input from the community. It can be brought up at a special meeting which can be called by the percentage of members that your documents require. If the quorum calls a special meeting, you can bet the BOD will pay attention.

Later you posted the Board provided for a vote. Which is correct? If they got a majority vote I see no problem except a few like you don't like the color.

We went through this a couple of years ago. Our buildings were in desperate need of a new paint job. The original color was white. The board decided on a light peach color for the new paint. A couple of members went crazy and DEMANDED the board allow the members to help select the color. (This group wanted a GREEN color.) Even though the board was within their rights to select the color, they put it to an "informal" vote of the members. The "green color" people were very vocal and went door-to-door TELLING people to vote for the green color. Well, no one appreciates being "told" how to vote. Their bullying tactics backfired and all the other members voted for peach. Right back to square one---all it did was delay the paint job for another two months, and the "green people" didn't get their way. You can't please everyone.

I thought that most community had color pallates that the builder has chosen from. We've got ours on our website and they do have to get a color change approved, but at least (if they are looking for a change), there's already an approved pallate that we can steer them to. If you don't have one, I would suggest working for one of the local professional paint stores in your area. If stick with common colors that are premixed from the factory (and don't have to be mixed), you'll have far fewer situations where the colors don't match.
When people start goning to the local home stores and trying to match patch, that just opens the door to problems. Yes, they should be able to match colors, but in reality it's not a perfect science.