Longleaf residents say no to criminal checks

The townhouse community voted against several proposed association rules

"The majority of the residents seemed like they don't like being under HOA control!"

Article Courtesy of  The St. Petersburg Times

By JAMAL THALJI
Published March 30, 2006

WESLEY CHAPEL - Homeowners in the gated townhouse neighborhood of Longleaf village voted on a stringent proposal Tuesday night: whether or not to require new residents to this Meadow Pointe community to be checked for criminal records.

The result?

"It got shot down," said outgoing homeowners association president Tim Koralewski.

Koralewski could not cite the vote tally, or percentages. Longleaf's property manager, Rampart Property Management, refused to comment, or provide the number of votes.

But the former president, whose two year term ended at that meeting, said more than 117 of the neighborhood's 220 homeowners and their proxies voted to overwhelmingly reject the proposal.

That proposal, had it been enacted, could have been used to keep sex offenders, or violent offenders, out of the neighborhood. Or it could have been seen as an invasion of privacy.

Koralewski supported it. The 60-year-old semi-retired salesman said it would have served as a reminder that new residents have to obey the homeowners association's rules.

"The whole idea behind this is we've had people move in here that have no idea there are rules and regulations," he said. "It wasn't just a background check for people. It was also a time to give them a copy of the rules and regulations."

Longleaf village has no affiliation with the Longleaf community off State Road 54 in west Pasco.

The homeowners association could have imposed such restrictions, said Land O'Lakes real estate attorney Tim Hayes, as long as it didn't violate some of the most basic, and important, laws of the land.

"You are allowed to impose certain types of deed restrictions as long as they're not a violation of constitutionally-protected rights," Hayes said. "They are enforceable.

"If they're discriminatory on the basis of race, color, religion, etc., then they're not enforceable. If they're discriminatory to the disabled, (disabled residents) are also protected under the Florida Constitution."

Koralewski said the residents weren't in the mood to approve any of the measures before them Tuesday at the Sand Pine Elementary School meeting.

They also rejected increasing the general assessment from 5 to 10 percent to pay for future expenses such as roof repairs, painting and lawn care; and requiring residents to pick up animal waste on a daily, not weekly, basis.

Then they voted in new board officers.

"(The residents) were very aggressive," the former president said. "The majority of the residents seemed like they don't like being under HOA control, yet they've purchased in an HOA village."