Civility and the HOA

I live in Three Fountains of Cottonwood, the first multi-family condominiums west of the Mississippi. It was built in the late 60s by Proswood Development, who went on to become the largest developer of multi-family housing in the US. In fact, they still are - to this day no single developer has built more multi-family communities.

We moved to Three Fountains for a host of reasons. I grew up in a condo complex down the street and loved that there was ample open space. As a [semi] grown-up and budding urban planner, I liked that the open space was shared. I like that it means everybody has access to a great big yard while using a fraction of the acreage as big individual yards. All 297 of us have a basketball court and swimming pool, but there aren't 297 basketball courts and swimming pools. Because of the shared walls condos are typically more efficient than single family homes. As a new dad I like that the open space is in the center of the homes and away from the streets. Most of all, I like that the shared open space builds a sense of community.

As Americans, and especially westerners, we tend to sequester ourselves in our houses. With out fenced off yards I get to see my neighbors more often than I would in a typical neighborhood. There is a mutual sense of responsibility for the children in the development [we keep a bag of popsicles in the freezer for our neighbors]. In our society it is easy to avoid social interaction, and we were happy to move to an area where at least some of our excuses were removed.

But there are two sides to every coin, right? The great evil [that is an exaggeration, it is not all bad] is the Homeowners Association. Municipalities love them because it means one less area the code enforcement officers need to police. I do believe that in general they do a great service, my neighborhood looks beautiful, my roof is new, and my walks get shoveled. The great evil to which I refereed earlier is the role they play in conflict management.

In a typical single family home neighborhood squabbles are handled by the squabblers. Neighbors either deal with problems themselves, or the problems fester between neighbors of their own will. An HOA provides wronged, or inconvenienced residents a way to circumvent civility and hide from responsibility.

We have an issue in our development. Without boring you with the details it involves older residents who are unhappy with the recent influx of families with children [a good portion of the residents moved here when the development was new and have stayed. Three Fountains is jokingly called the unofficial retirement community of Murray]. Some of the residents filed grievances with the board before the accused parties even knew there were issues. It has evolved into terrible quarrels, a lawsuit, and even fisticuffs. Ridiculous.

The truly unfortunate consequence is that otherwise rational adults have severed friendships and disregarded basic tenets of humanity over what was essentially a misunderstanding. I truly do believe there would not be a lawsuit had there not been an HOA to hide behind.

There are enough actual problems in our communities, squabbles should not escalate into wars because of a lack of neighborliness.

[I would like it to be known that I have talked with neighbors, worked for months on a rules committee, and ran for the board (and lost) in an effort to avoid just this situation. I am not ranting about a problem I've just watched.]