Board and ARC disagreement

Hello Everyone,

I am the President of an HOA in California and want to pass through you good folks.

Has anyone experienced a Board over riding the decision of the ARC in regards to an application for improvement?

Our ARC has rendered a decision on a member and that member appealed that decision to our board and a couple directors are considering going with the members request. I am against this consideration.

All comments and welcomed and appreciated

Charlie,
Yes it can happen because the ARC is a committee that works for the BOD and most likely your documents will state that. This then gives the BOD the ability to overturn ARC decisions.

Now the sticky part comes into play. I would really hope that any decisions against the ARC would not be tied by emotions or friendships to the applicant but rather in allowing the appeal to be based on good judgement or with knowledge of a law or building code. Otherwise, the Board opens itself up to selective decisions and that is not something they should do.

Charlie,
Then what you told me about the specifics of why this guy is appealing should be sound reason for arguement against overturning the ARC decision. This is no place for politics and personal agendas or decisions. Good Luck and do what is right for the association.

John,

"Unhappiness with a neighbor" tells it all. I think that Charle is right, it might bore us as we have been there and done that before. The Hatfieds and McCoys comes to mind.

Charlies,

I believe this is what's referred to as "due process". A h/o submits a request to the A/C; it's denied so they now have the right to appeal to the BOD. The board should weigh all sides of the issue and make their decision based upon the facts presented to them. They should not just rubber-stamp all the A/C's decisions. If you are a board member and you think the A/C's decision should be upheld then you have the right to state your case and hope the majority of the board members agree with you.

To be honest, I think the biggest issue is that of over=riding the ARC. And quite frankly, if the Board just doesn't do that, then they are not doing their job. They should hear the whole thing out and make its own decision. Anything less is a failure to those who elected you.

The ARC may have done a wonderful job. This isn't about the job that the ARC did. It is about a member exercising the right to appeal to the Board. And the Board's responsibility to consider the issue.

I don't see a point in bringing it up because you will never get all of the nuances in. The thing is that the Board should hear the owner out. They should listen to what members of the ARC have to say. And they should then make their own decision. This is business. Both the ARC members and the Board members should all be adults who can handle the issue.

If you have never dealt with a decision being over ridden, then you don't have much business being a member of either group.

My personal take on the appeal is to hear the owners concerns and to review the ARC's actions to see if they are following the standards for the community.

To me its about fairness. Are they or are they not being given the equal opportunity of others in the community.

The rub is that the lots in our community are mixed with regular and irregular shaped lots. When fencing is being the considered the regular lots take little judgment as to their placement. The irregular lots change from lot to lot. But the ARC has been consistent in allowing the fence placement to be installed where the landscaping stops. This particular member will not be landscaping the 1 acre inside their fence. They are threatening a lawsuit and some of the Board members, including our PM, are afraid of court action and some on the board are leaning towards letting them have the fence.

We have tried several compromises but this member is firm in their unprecedented demands for this fence. They will not budge an inch.

And to add fuel to this fire, this member is threatening a discrimination lawsuit. We are not sure if its because they are minorities or if they feel they are just being treated unfairly. Which is seriously not the case but the threat is concerning to some.

I my opinion if a board can overrule an ARC committe there is no reason to have a committee..just let the board handle it.

The ARC is a committee that represents the power of the board. I can understand the board being a final authority. I also think that if something is appealed to the board that if a board over ruled a decision by the ARC, it should be for extreme circumstances. Otherwise I agree, why have an ARC?

Unfortunately our PM is too involved in this particular issue and I believe the board vote will be to allow the fence as proposed to be installed. I wouldn't blame the ARC to all step down if this happens.

Charlie,

I agree. However, since the h/o is playing the race card the board may decide to overrule the A/C's decision simply to avoid a possible court case. I think that would be very unfortunate, but what else is new???

Charlie,

I agree with you. But not many people have the courage of their convictions. And when the accusation is racial, many people will just cave in. IMO, by doing so you just reinforce the thought that racism WAS involved in your decision.

Something to keep in mind is that if a suit is filed the court could agree with the owner and further award the owner legal costs. Then the association is out $40k or more and the fence goes where the owner wants it.

Personally I think letting the race card be an issue is spineless and I would never back down over that. I have no reason to fear someone making race allegations.

But in considering this or any other situation I would want as much as possible. To that end I would do some investigation. First thing is to look up the lien. While the best information isn't right there, it will tell a lot by looking between the lines. Like what is the interest rate? How much was borrowed? If they have a high interest rate and little to no equity then they probably don't have a lot of resources for a suit.

You can also do a little more investigation into their past. Often you can find their last address quite easily. Some people move from place to place spouting off about lawsuits. If this is one of those, then you are the fool if you are intimidated.

Lastly, you should seriously consider getting some feedback from others. Find out the pulse of the community. Ask some people how they feel about the proposed location of the fence and how strongly they feel that way. If you believe that most residents would rather pay a legal battle, then stay your ground at all costs.

You should also consider that even if they file a suit, you could probably dump out by backing down after the filing. From what I have been told judges look negatively on a litigant who refuses to settle.

Thank you Charlie. I only strive to give people something to think about. And since the point of the HOA is to serve the neighborhood it seems reasonable to get their input.

Last year we had an issue with an owner taking down the fence to his back yard, revealing a very large deck put in without approval and he added an extension to his roof to cover much of the deck. I dislike the look of the roof altogether. But in talking to a number of people the only issue that anyone mentioned was they felt his fence needed to go back up. Many mentioned a consistency issue. As a result I backed off to accept a replacement of the fence.