Make What Reasonable?

We live in a gated and deed restricted neighborhood in Florida. When we first moved here, the developer still had control of the Covenants and Deed Restrictions. The people in the neighborhood were friendly and we were always happy to come home. After the first year we were here, the developer turned over the HOA to a few volunteer homeowners. Since that horrendous evening of the first meeting, when the newly named president stepped up to the mike and demanded people to "shut up and sit down" for asking about things such as "where is the budget", this is a different neighborhood. The BOD hired a lawyer and a management company and soon we were getting letters for having flowers hanging from our lamp posts or wreaths on our doors. As a matter of fact, over 500 letters were sent the first year, and there were approximately 300 single family homeowners at the time.

It is apparent that the local governments welcome these Planned Urban Developments (PUDs) because the developers construct the infrastructure, build and sell the homes, then gate the people in and the police, highway and other services out. If the homeowner wants a new home, and especially one with the current hurricane codes, then they must sign a 150 page, or more, legal document of covenants, codes and restrictions. If you don't sign, you can't buy. This nonsense about having a choice is getting narrower and narrower as the majority of homes are now in PUDs.

Because of these issues, it is almost impossible to have a HOA that conducts business for the sake of the community, instead of for the benefit of the Board of Directors. It is a miserable situation that I think will be given more attention sometime in the future. But for now, for the sake of people's constitutional rights, these BODs need to relax, realize it is only a volunteer position, and MAKE IT REASONABLE to reside inside these gates!