Creating a Multi use park

Our Association has three common areas whith one being a childrens play area. Several homeowners asked if we could do a multi use park with volleyball nets andfence it off for an off leash dog area. The board voted and it passed unanimously. Now we have a homeowner complaining that it is against CC&R's to convert the commons to an area that is not for use by the general public. I and the other board members disagree because some folks here don't have kids and their kids are their dogs. We are only talking about a thousand dollars or so for the park and we are using the money from the general fund that we saved by landscaping ourselves this summer. We have a couple of people that hate dogs and would just as soon see no dogs allowed even if they are leashed or not. We are in Washington state.

Anyone have any insight?

Thank you in advance.

Patrick

Roger,

Once again, thank you for being the voice of reason in the sometimes thankless jobs we do for our communities. We seem to have a few in our association that are negative to anything we do. We thought that if we did the landscaping and saved several thousand dollars, we could put that money to good use and upgrade the commons. It was mostly well received, but you always seen to have the squeaky wheels. Unfortuantely, we are fresh out of grease.

Thanks again,

Patrick

As long as anyone can get into the fenced area, whether they have a dog or not, you wouldn't be "taking" common areas.

One of the things I'm seeing here on HOATalk is that often boards don't thnk like corporate boards. When you're planning to introduce something new, thnk public relations. Let the people know how it is going to benefit everyone (less cleanup around the rest of the property, safer, etc.), use the same line, people love their dogs like kids, put photos in the newsletter or letter of happy people with happy dogs. Part of the job of every board member is to remind the owners that they made a good choice when they moved in, and this dog park is one of them. Do a Google search on dog parks and I'm sure you'll find a few articles about them and their benefits.

Joe