HOA -- Fence raises a hue and cry

Article Courtesy of The St. Petersburg Times

By ANDREW MEACHAM

Published August 15, 2007

When the day came in February to meet with the attorneys, Chris Ball wore a suit. The drive to Tampa seemed surreal, as if he were part of a Law & Order episode.

But Ball, a 43-year-old engineer, and his wife, Stephanie, hadn't run afoul of the law. He was to meet with the Twin Lakes of Brandon homeowners association and a mediator about the color of a fence he had installed five years earlier.

The meeting culminated years of incomplete conversations, each side issuing statements but never talking face to face. It ended without a resolution, and now the association is threatening to force the Balls to change their fence color or take it down.

On paper, the 6-foot-tall wooden fence was like all the others in Twin Lakes, a community on the eastern end of Bloomingdale Avenue in Valrico. But Ball said he wanted to protect his $2,500 investment. So he sealed the fence with a cedar-colored stain.

In deed-restricted communities like Twin Lakes, residents who want to make changes to their properties must get written approval first. In September 2002, the Twin Lakes architectural control committee approved the Balls' application, which contained an attachment saying the fence would be coated.

But in approving the fence, did the association also approve its color? That question lies at the heart of the trouble now.

The Balls heard no complaints until September 2005, after building code complaints at a next-door neighbor's house attracted the attention of the Twin Lakes board. Twin Lakes sent a letter telling the Balls that their fence color might not be acceptable.

Another letter seven months later made it official: The natural cedar stain had to go. The Balls had a month to change the fence to neutral, or "clear."

"I really felt we already had their approval," Chris Ball said.

He and Stephanie, 35, questioned the order on several counts. Although Twin Lakes now allows only fences with clear stain, it's uncertain how long that has been the case.

"That has been in effect since the community was built," Twin Lakes president Terry Ottinger said of the no-colors rule. He declined to talk about any other aspects of the dispute.

But a copy of the association's fence specifications from 2002 makes no mention of color or colored stains.

Multiple requests by the St. Petersburg Times to Twin Lakes' management company, Communities of America, for pre-2006 rules outlawing fence colors have gone unanswered, as have phone calls to Communities of America owner Rick Petrowski.

Even the rules sent out by Twin Lakes contradict Ottinger's claim.

In 2005, Tessa and Joseph Benz surrounded their new pool with a wooden fence. Twin Lakes requires scalloping, a concave dip between fence posts. But the Benzes, seeking extra privacy, built theirs with a straight top.

That year, Twin Lakes notified the Benzes in writing that their fence was not in compliance. The notice included a list of fence specifications, including scalloping.

It says nothing about fence color.

Even if Twin Lakes did have a long-standing restriction against colored fences, the Balls want to know, why did a committee approve their fence in 2002, only to question it years later?

Any answers won't be coming from the association, whose attorney, Jonathan Ellis, declined to comment.

The Balls say they have counted at least 30 other homes with dark-stained wooden fences. In conversations with owners, they learned that few had heard complaints from Twin Lakes.

In February 2005, 17 neighbors led by Tessa Benz complained at a meeting about what they called selective and retroactive enforcement of the neighborhood's deed restrictions. The board agreed to study the issue.

Meanwhile, a deadline for the Balls to stain their fence came and went this month. The battle has caused sleepless nights for the Balls but no dent in their resolve.

The association's board "picks people off one by one to see if they will roll over," said Stephanie Ball. "We're not rolling over."