CARROLLWOOD - If Chris Brown lived closer to the rear of Country Place, his life would be simpler.

He could park his landscaping trailer in the driveway outside his house instead of storing all his equipment at a friend's house in Pinellas Park.

While on call for his job, Brown could park the Pinellas Park utility truck at his house instead of staying at someone else's home for a week.

"The people in the back can have all kinds of stuff, but those in the front can't have anything," Brown said. "I'd like a nice, happy medium."

The problem is that Country Place has 12 different sets of deed restrictions that govern its 1,640 homes. The homes closer to Ehrlich Road, where Brown lives, are subject to stricter rules, while those closer to Wilcox Road are more lax.

Brown recently filed a lawsuit against the Country Place Community Association asking a Hillsborough circuit judge to make all the deed restrictions and rules in this neighborhood consistent.

An employee in the Pinellas Park reclaimed water department, Brown, 30, and his wife, Lesley, have two children, 12 and 4. They have lived in Country Place for five years.

Brown said he became frustrated when the homeowners association cited him for his landscaping trailer when other homeowners in the same neighborhood can legally park trailers, boats and campers in their driveways.

"This is a situation that can cause difficulty among the residents," said Brown's attorney, St. Petersburg lawyer David Anhorn. "I guess you can call this a fairness issue."

Located between Ehrlich, Hutchison and Wilcox roads, Country Place was developed in the 1970s in 12 phases. Each phase ended up with its own set of deed documents.

Country Place has a separate special tax district that uses tax proceeds to maintain and improve its common areas. The homeowners association is a voluntary organization with annual dues of $25. That money goes to publish a newsletter and to enforce deed restrictions.

The lawsuit says some of the deed restrictions require 90 percent of the residents to vote to change the rules, while other parts of the community need only a majority vote. Brown's lawsuit asks the judge to make the voting requirements consistent.

Although the lawsuit will force the homeowners association to defend the community, board members consider this legal challenge a good thing, president John Jackson said.

"What the suit is trying to accomplish is bring all of the different sets of deed restrictions into one common set of restrictions for the entire community," Jackson said.

In that process, Jackson would not mind losing some out-of-date restrictions, including a ban on satellite dishes in some areas that dates from a time when satellite dishes were about 12 feet wide. Today, most are about 12 inches wide.

The rules in some parts of Country Place also require homes to have wood stockade fences, Jackson said, eliminating the option of PVC, which "they make . . . in beautiful colors that last 20 to 30 years."