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SaraW4 (Virginia)
Posts: 3
Posted:
Hi all,
We live in Virginia in an HOA with 750 homes, including single family and townhouses. My husband is on a standing committee and has discovered what seems to be a gross misappropriation of funds in the name of favoritism.
1) There is grassy common area that often gets soggy when it rains. Part of this grassy area is designated wetlands (!) I know..
2) The extremely vocal tennis/pickleball committee claims this sogginess (uphill from and around tennis courts) contributes to dead spots on the court and more frequent tennis court resurfacing needed
3) Multiple engineers have been hired, to the total tune of 50K only to find "no evidence of erosion to tennis courts" but recommending pipes, grading, retaining walls, etc. to improve drainage
4) The HOA is pushing forward with spending more money on this "erosion project" mostly because one very vocal, charming member of the community said his yard flooding is terrible (only when it rains) due to past attempts of HOA to fix aforementioned grassy common area

The HOA has been very hostile, defensive, and uncooperative with my husband's attempts to understand the issue more in depth. They've refused to provide any documentation explaining where the designated wetlands are located, how much is being spent on new plans to "fix erosion issue", recorded meeting minutes, etc. My husband has no other allies and the members of the BOT see him as a trouble maker, are outright rude, etc. We're at a loss of where to go from here. We've tried contacting real-estate attorneys, but even with the above info, no one will take the case. They just say it's conflict of interest or they're too busy. Should we contact Ombudsman? Does it sound like they're breaking any laws? Any insight/ideas/help, especially for those familiar with Virginia are welcome. Thanks so much!
-Sara
LoriM15 (Florida)
Posts: 1,009
Posted:
I don't know the HOA statutes in Virginia, but have you looked to see if you have the right to view the contracts for this project?

Our designated wetlands are governed by our county, our water management district and ultimately the federal government. If there truly are wetlands that they are fooling around with, I would call your county and see if they have the proper permits.

The wetlands should be shown on the plats for the community which can be obtained from the county or city government. Ours are downloadable from the county website.

Ultimately, if they have consulted engineers and have plans to go ahead, then the board has made a decision and probably voted on it at a meeting. There might be a lot more to this issue than just want is recorded in the minutes. If they already tried to fix this issue by changing the drainage and are flooding a homeowner's back yard then it doesn't matter how charming the man is, the HOA is going to have to fix his issue. How would you feel if your yard started flooding when it rains because they messed around with the previous grading?

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299
Posted:
This is tough. Wetlands are tricky and subject to all sorts of laws and regulations.

On the other hand, if the HOA-owned wetlands have been flooding an owner's yard and possibly damaging his home, then the HOA does have to do something about it - if fact the HOA could possibly be on the hook legally if the board ignores the problem. The owner would have grounds to file a lawsuit which can end up costing a whole lot more than fixing the issue. I don't blame the owner for having an attitude if this has been going on for a while without resolution.

The only possible issue I see if if the flooded property was owned by a board member, in which case that member would have to recuse himself from discussions and voting on the issue. But the HOA would still have to fix the problem - a board member has the same homeowner rights as anyone else.

I also understand the board getting annoyed if someone who probably doesn't have all of the facts is constantly pushing back on a difficult issue that has to be resolved. If local attorneys aren't interested in this, they probably don't think you have a winnable case.

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