HomeStead Owners Group (HOG)

May 02 - The dilemma of the Deck

Apr 29, 2002

John and Lois Myer will not have their deck built. At a meeting held on April 4th at their home at 3771 Trellis Lane, attended by many unit owners concerned about the issue, the Myers said Homestead Communities' sales personnel staff told them decks were allowable.
The Myers also revealed they had never received a copy of the condo association handbook of rules and regulations, which expressly prohibit decks on page 17. Instead, they referenced the booklet by the Building Industry Association, which exclaims the improvement decks can make to a home. This would be true in a traditional single-family home community.
The unfortunate upshot of this cycle of misrepresentations is that the 30 village residents who signed a petition sent out on April 6th to the current builder?’s association requesting that the deck be stopped, are full of sympathy for John and Lois.
?“I don?’t think they (the Myers) had any idea that people were upset with the addition of a deck, ?“ said Kathy Spinelli, who attended the meeting. ?“ We had a good discussion with them about the problem.?”
Robin Bollinger, our property manager, indicated that it was her understanding that ?‘the Myers will not be building a deck. I believe they are going to request some landscaping considerations.?”
In a related issue, the builder?’s association, comprised of Bill Dargusch, John Rothschild, and Tom Caldwell, all of whom are employed by Continental Real Estate Company, met on February 7th to change the rule on decks from ?‘prohibited?” to ?“approval required?”.
Whether this decision was made to allow decks to be included as an option for prospective units, or whether it is another example of the pattern to act in the best interest of the developer, is not known. Missing from their decision is any details on whether deck liability and maintenance will become the sole and exclusive responsibility of the owner, or whether the association (us) will have any level of responsibility in their upkeep.
What is clear is that this change in policy has underscored the concern about what information is being given to prospective buyers about what a condominium is and is not, and what they can expect as a resident in our village. Moreover, this decision will further split the development into those who can and cannot have a deck. One of the overriding principals of condominium living is that equality is an important standard that we all understood and signed on to when buying in to the project.
That principle seems to be in play as long as we?’re not in control of our association.