Open Space Usage

We live in rural community with appoximately 60 homes. Each home sits on 2 plus acre lots. The community consists of diverse number of inidividuals. You have a few who believe that living in a rural community means that not having any rules so riding motorcyles and ATVs anywhere in the neigborhood is acceptable including vacant lots and open spaces. The majority believes that allowing such activities is a safety and liability concern for everyone in the event someone gets hurt. It is also very noisy and takes away from the quiet, peaceful, rural setting of the community.

The previous board had implemented a rule and regulation prohibiting motorized vechiles in the open space. Our open space consists of 40 plus acres that is roughly divided into two sections of the neighborhood. This was passed as the majority of the homeowners did not want to incur the liability risks associated with allowing this type of actiivty on the open space.

The current board is considering to overturn the ruling. This community is very active in the board process and the few are putting pressue on the board to change the ruling. This group believes in not having HOA, rules or regulations in the community. They use intimidation tactics so the majority of the people do not speak in the meetings to represent their viewpoints for fear of being attacked.

Does anyone have any advice on how to present our case for not having this rule overturned? Are there liability issues, legal issues, insurance cost concerns, safety issues, open space rules, or other issues? Are there any other concerns that should be brought to the board's attention so they can make an informed decision? We would like to have the board find a good compromise so everyone in the community can enjoy the open space.

It's time to Dig into the Docs. We had this similar situation in our community made up of Single attached and detached homes. I discovered that the Docs have a provision you can force a community vote on this if a petition is created with 10% of the owner's signatures requesting the community vote. If the petition calls for the repeal of the rule or resolution and the community has a simple majority vote, then the rule is rescinded. Condo's don't usually work this way, but I was surprised to find this 10%/petition clause in our docs. The other option would be to recall the Board.