HOA commity adds rules without Community

Part of living in a HOA community means you agree to comply with the community's Bylaws and CCRs. The Bylaws dictate how the community is run and the CCRs dictate how the common area is to be used. The common area is the area owned by the association - depending on the type of community you have, lawns could be a part of the common areas, as the association has to maintain them.
So your cousin needs to start by reading his/her documents to see what's considered common area. Or you can do it, since you're asking the question.

Some Bylaws give the community's board of directors the authority to issue additional rules that flesh out what's in the documents, but those rules cannot supersed the Bylaws or CCRs. Keep reading to see what they say. Usually, you'll find the board doesn't have to get community input, although, in many situations, it's a good idea. When you have buy-in from the community (a majority anyway), it's usually easier to enforce the rule.

You haven't said, but is it possible, people have gone overboard with the flags and whatnot, and now the community looks bizarre? Maybe some of the flags and strings have blown off and got all over the neighborhood and the association had to pay to clean all that up? Your cousin might not be happy with the new rule, but it may be most of his/her neighbors feel otherwise. Perhaps the board IS working on a long term solution to the problem, such as goose repellent (which is expensive and has to be reapplied especia

lly after it rains), or having dogs patrol the area, since geese and dogs are natural enemies. After several incidents of being chased away, the geese learn to avoid the area altogether. You haven't said if any of that was tried, so you (or your cousin) may want to talk to the board - in fact, that should have been your cousin's next step after reading the documents.

Geese can also get used to the strings so that may not necessarily resolve the problem. Also might you have neighbors who think the baby gees are oh, so cute and so they feed them bread crumbs and what not? If your neighbors are doing that, the geese will keep coming and you will still have tons of poop. Oh, and you do know geese are protected and so if someone does something more drastic like shoot them, he/she could get arrested. Once the gees make a nest and eggs appear, you can't move them at all - and we will be in that season in another month or two.

You are a long way from taking legal action on this, and frankly, I can think of other issues that are far more important to sue about than this. What you and your neighbors need to do is attend the next meeting and talk to the board about other alternatives - it doesn't sound like either side has thought of any. There is a lot of information on the internet about scaring away geese - some tactics may work better than others, but depending on how long this has been a problem, I can assure you it probably won't get resolved overnight. So slow your roll for a moment and perhaps go to your local Animal Control or state department of natural resources for some suggestions and try a few of those. They may be more effective than the string

Going to have to say those flag and string solutions sounds like a combo of an eyesore and danger to wildlife. Strings get loose or fly away can kill other wildlife or pets. So I would say a big no to the string theory.

Flags most likely are not allowed. Most of the time HOA's only allow for sale or for rent signs. Flags may fall into that catagory of not allowed.

Should go to the proper wildlife management office or animal control to find out best solutions before insituting your own. Google isn't one of those professionals...

South Carolina is probably not one of those states who need to inform anyone about a rue change.