Fishing in pond

Our HOA has a pond. Some residents enjoy being able to fish with their children and would like to continue to do so, catch and release. We checked with the company that maintains our pond and they said there is no law against catch and release fishing and don't see a problem with it. Other residents are opposed because they believe there is too much liability associated with fishing, they think we would have to monitor to ensure only residents are fishing, etc. I understand there is liability that goes along with this activity, but to me it seems minimal in comparison to the enjoyment for young residents (especially during COVID) of our subdivision having an enjoyable activity. We have no amenities such as a pool or a park in our subdivision. Does anyone have any common sense ideas/solutions? Thank you.

Your neighbors may be thinking of liability if someone falls in and drowns, and then there's a lawsuit, or increased problems with trespassing, peopke catching and not releasing,, but taking the fjsh home to a pan of hot grease and cornmeal coating,, and the like. All valid concerns.

Talk to your insurance company about the risks, if you'll need more coverage and where and how much that will cost. Conduct a poll to see what the homeowners think - if you have a large consensus one way or another, that's how you could proceed

We had some occasional anglers fishing our retention pond, I heard that in our early days one of the owners stocked the pond with some young fish for that purpose. I never saw a problem with it, you can't eliminate all possible liability. People walking on the sidewalks or driving on the roads incurs possible liability.

We did post warning signs about the dangers of alligators, snakes, and other wildlife so at least nobody could say they weren't warned. We posted the signs after an owner (new to Florida) walked their small dogs too close to the pond and lost one to an alligator. Alligators can move between bodies of water so even if you don't have one (or more) there permanently, there could always be one there at any given time.

Quote:

"... I understand there is liability that goes along with this activity, but to me it seems minimal in comparison to the enjoyment for young residents ..."

Drowning is 'minimal"? The problem with ponds isn't necessarily what happens when kids are accompanied by parents - it's what happens when they're not. Stuff like ponds are called "attractive nuisances" because the dangers may not be obvious. Kids who've gone fishin' with their folks will view the pond as an OK and safe place to be, and I guarantee they'll play in that area even if the parents forbid them to go there by themselves. All of the ponds in my area have "No Swimming" and "No Skating" signage around them. And we have to treat the ponds periodically to keep the mosquitos down - West Nile virus is a thing around here. So are deer with their various cooties - they visit ponds, too. And snakes (we have some variety of rattlers hereabouts).

Our lawyers specifically addressed the liability issues involving ponds during some of our training sessions, and of course I can't find a link to their articles. We've got a detention pond in my community which so far has been ignored by the kids in the community. But I was a disobedient kid once - I would totally have been playing around that pond. It's the board's job to anticipate the unanticipated and make sure that the association is protected against these things. It's easier for me to view things this way because it seems like HOAs and condos have different views about the association's obligation to entertain residents, and I'm in a condo. But even so, I think that the board's duty is to the association as a whole, and not to any one resident or group of residents.

Even in Ohio, to be subject to the ADA HOA/COA pools must meet the tests for being public accommodation. This is not going to happen often. Consider:

Does title III [of the ADA] apply to common areas within residential facilities? Although title III does not apply to strictly residential facilities, it covers places of public accommodation within residential facilities. Thus, areas within multifamily residential facilities that qualify as places of public accommodation are covered by the ADA if use of the areas is not limited exclusively to owners, residents, and their guests.

ILLUSTRATION 1: A private residential apartment complex includes a swimming pool for use by apartment tenants and their guests. The complex also sells pool "memberships" generally to the public. The pool qualifies as a place of public accommodation.

ILLUSTRATION 2: A residential condominium association maintains a longstanding policy of restricting use of its party room to owners, residents, and their guests. Consistent with that policy, it refuses to rent the room to local businesses and community organizations as a meeting place for educational seminars. The party room is not a place of public accommodation.

ILLUSTRATION 3: A private residential apartment complex contains a rental office. The rental office is a place of public accommodation.

See https://archive.ada.gov/taman3.html and https://blog.tarleyrobinson.com/?p=1828

Cathy, the Americans with Disabilities Act applies only to those facilities that meet the Act's definition of a "place of public accommodation."

Just because some Ohio statutes define a 4 or more unit condo's swimming pool as a "public swimming pool" for certain purposes (totally unrelated to disability law) does not mean the pool is a "place of public accommodation" and so subject to the ADA requirements for pools.

I guess you are not going to read the links I provided above.

Here's another link, this time from ada.gov that explains what I posted:

Place of public accommodation means a facility operated by a private entity whose operations affect commerce and fall within at least one of the following categories -

(1) Place of lodging, except for an establishment located within a facility that contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and that actually is occupied by the proprietor of the establishment as the residence of the proprietor. For purposes of this part, a facility is a "place of lodging" if it is –

(i) An inn, hotel, or motel; or (ii) A facility that –

(A) Provides guest rooms for sleeping for stays that primarily are short-term in nature (generally 30 days or less) where the occupant does not have the right to return to a specific room or unit after the conclusion of his or her stay; and (B) Provides guest rooms under conditions and with amenities similar to a hotel, motel, or inn, including the following –

(1) On- or off-site management and reservations service; (2) Rooms available on a walk-up or call-in basis; (3) Availability of housekeeping or linen service; and (4) Acceptance of reservations for a guest room type without guaranteeing a particular unit or room until check-in, and without a prior lease or security deposit.

(2) A restaurant, bar, or other establishment serving food or drink; (3) A motion picture house, theater, concert hall, stadium, or other place of exhibition or entertainment; (4) An auditorium, convention center, lecture hall, or other place of public gathering; (5) A bakery, grocery store, clothing store, hardware store, shopping center, or other sales or rental establishment; (6) A laundromat, dry-cleaner, bank, barber shop, beauty shop, travel service, shoe repair service, funeral parlor, gas station, office of an accountant or lawyer, pharmacy, insurance office, professional office of a health care provider, hospital, or other service establishment; (7) A terminal, depot, or other station used for specified public transportation; (8) A museum, library, gallery, or other place of public display or collection; (9) A park, zoo, amusement park, or other place of recreation; (10) A nursery, elementary, secondary, undergraduate, or postgraduate private school, or other place of education; (11) A day care center, senior citizen center, homeless shelter, food bank, adoption agency, or other social service center establishment; and (12) A gymnasium, health spa, bowling alley, golf course, or other place of exercise or recreation.

See https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/title-iii-regulations/

My understanding is if a pool is for residents and their guests use only then ADA does not apply.