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Article Courtesy of The Naples News By Eric Staats Published January 7, 2010 NAPLES — All a Wilshire Lakes couple wanted to do was go green. Instead, Brekke and Kathleen Johnson are bogged down in red tape over a metal roof. The roof would save energy, but the Wilshire Lakes architectural review board has turned down the plans on the grounds that a metal roof would violate the homeowners association’s rules.
The repairs would be extensive enough that the contractor recommended replacing the roof — and going gray. A gray metal roof would reflect the sun, saving the Johnsons money on their electric bill and qualifying them for a $1,500 federal tax credit aimed at encouraging energy efficiency. It’s about more than the money, Kathleen Johnson said. “That’s what’s really troubling,” she said. “I have to fight to be more of a naturalist and to do the right thing.” The Johnsons hired an attorney and collected almost 160 signatures on a neighborhood petition backing their cause. Kelly Roofing, the Johnsons’ contractor, has other clients who have had to pass their metal roofs by a homeowners association, project manager Jeremy Braat said. Those communities — in Pelican Bay in North Naples, Fountain Lakes in Estero and Imperial Golf Estates in North Naples among them — have given their blessings, he said. “I don’t know of any other homeowners association who’s put up such a fight,” Braat said. Wilshire Lakes association representatives did not return phone calls seeking comment. Attorney Greg Urbancic, representing Wilshire Lakes, said he couldn’t comment because of the possibility of litigation. “We hope it doesn’t come to that,” said the Johnsons’ attorney, Rachel Loukonen. As required by the law, the Johnsons have asked the homeowners association to go to mediation to resolve the issue. The Wilshire Lakes decision, based on deed restrictions that are common all over Southwest Florida, violates Florida’s so-called “Solar Rights Law,” according to the Florida Solar Energy Research and Education Foundation. That law prohibits homeowners associations from denying permission to install “solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources.” The question becomes whether the Johnson’s metal roof fits the bill. In 2006, an appeal court in Daytona Beach ruled in favor of homeowners who had been denied permission to install tubular skylights. That case clears the way for metal roofs to be protected as “passive solar devices,” just like skylights, according to the foundation. Community associations should retain the power to regulate metal roofs, says a leader a community association advocacy group. “The uniformity of the property is in jeopardy if they can put whatever they want on their roof,” said Bill White, president of the South Gulf Coast chapter of the Community Association Institute. Allowing any color of metal roof, for example, would make Southwest Florida communities “look like a ski resort in Vail.” White, also chairman of the Institute’s lobbying arm, said that group probably will look at whether to push a change to the state law to favor homeowners associations. Beyond the legal arguments, denying the Johnsons a metal roof just doesn’t make sense, Kathleen Johnson said. She steps out of her back door and points to two other homes in another part of Wilshire Lakes that already have metal roofs. “It’s a grand subdivision with a lot of great people,” Johnson said. “This is just an unfortunate case.” |
