Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post

By TERESA LANE

Published June 2, 2008

PORT ST. LUCIE — Brown mailboxes, little concrete squirrels in the front yard and closed hurricane shutters are a few of the things forbidden in the Isle of San Marino, but nobody's ever risked a $50-a-day fine over one of them - until now.

The Isle of San Marino Homeowners Association has cited three couples in the age-restricted community in St. Lucie West, warning them to remove closed hurricane shutters or face daily $50 fines up to $1,000.

Richard Laramee, a snowbird who spends half the year in New Hampshire, believes a city ordinance adopted last month preempts the narrow homeowners rule, allowing all Port St. Lucie residents to shutter their unoccupied homes during hurricane season to prevent storm damage.

Art and Doris Haendel were afraid to go to their mailboxes in North Carolina for fear they'd receive a violation notice ordering them to drive home to open their shutters or pay someone else to do it.

Doris Haendel says she wouldn't have spent $9,300 on attractive accordion shutters if she'd known she couldn't secure her windows before she left home this summer.

The violation notice came Wednesday.

"I was never under the impression that a homeowners association is above the law," Haendel said. "We were here for (hurricanes) Frances and Jeanne, and we were petrified. Nobody ever thought a hurricane would touch St. Lucie West."

Property manager Beth Miller of Bayshore Association Management said residents could vote to change the rule with a 75 percent majority but still would run afoul of a similar bylaw of the master Kings Isle homeowners association, which governs eight individual neighborhoods in the gated subdivision.

Some snowbirds arrange with contractors to install and remove shutters when a hurricane warning is issued, Miller said, but a growing number are choosing to close the coverings themselves before they head north in the summer.

Laramee installed only back shutters that are not visible from the road, while the Haendels closed accordions in the back and sides and painted them white to match the house trim.

Before three hurricanes pounded the Treasure Coast in 2004 and 2005, no one thought much about storm shutters, experts say. Since then, it's a hotly debated topic in condo and homeowners associations around the state.

"Unfortunately, the rules and regulations say you have 72 hours before or after a storm to put up and take down your shutters," Miller said. "Half the people don't like it, and the other half are adamant about not wanting to look at them."

An appeals committee picked by board President Joseph Romano held hearings via telephone with violators Friday and told Laramee they'll make a recommendation about fines to the board of directors in a few days.

Board member Dorothy Janin, who was outvoted when she favored protection over aesthetics, said she'll push for no fines or violations when the board reviews the violations Thursday.

"As long as they don't shutter the front, it's not unsightly," said Janin, the original president of the San Marino Homeowners Association. "We've never had a violation hearing in the 11 years we've been in existence. It's never gotten this far."

Although Janin worries the homeowners association could be legally liable if someone's home is damaged in a storm because of the rule, community living attorney Gary Poliakoff says there's little chance of that.

The association rule also would trump the more general city measure, he said.

"The courts have uniformly held that a deed restriction is private covenant among owners," said Poliakoff, who's publishing a new book titled When Your Home Is Not a Castle: A Survival Guide to Condominium and Homeowner Association Living.

"Owners can give up rights they might enjoy in other types of housing as long as it's not arbitrary or unreasonable or doesn't violate a fundamental right."

Poliakoff said many unit owners have complained of emotional discomfort when they live amid boarded-up neighbors. A cottage industry of contractors has arisen to help seasonal residents maintain their Florida getaways, he said.

"A bigger problem than hurricanes even is pipes breaking in homes or units and mildew spreading," Poliakoff said. "I don't see how a homeowners association would be responsible for enforcing its covenants that individuals freely abide by when they move into a deed-restricted community."

Still, Laramee says he can't understand the emotional distress he's causing by having shutters that are visible only from the back yards of two neighbors - neither of whom objects.

Laramee paid $16,000 to rebuild his back porch after it was battered by three hurricanes and says it won't go unprotected again.

"They can force me to take down shutters that no one can see and leave my property unprotected," Laramee said, "or they can do what's right. If there are five hurricane threats in one season, I'll have to pay someone 10 times to take them up and down."

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