Article
and Video Courtesy of Channel 9, Orlando
By
Berndt Petersen
Published
December 9, 2010
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TAVARES,
Fla. -- A Tavares woman spent thousands
on new landscaping featuring all environmentally-friendly plants that
don't require any water, but her homeowners' association doesn't like it.
So, WFTV researched what kind of rights homeowners have to fight their HOA.
Mo
O'Connor's favorite place is a few steps from her front door.
"I
have such a strong passion for them. And I'm not sure it's not
genetic," she said.
Plants,
trees, and shrubs cover nearly every inch of her Tavares lawn, much to the
distress of some of her neighbors.
"They
don't like my yard," she told WFTV.
They
call it a jungle. Bill Herring is president of the Lake Frances Estates
Property Owners Association.
"Do
you like it?" WFTV reporter Berndt Petersen asked him.
"No,
445 homes in here, about 700 people, and I've got one person,"
Herring said.
That
one person the association's attorney has threatened with a lawsuit unless
she "governs herself accordingly." The HOA insists O'Connor's
yard "violates" the deed restrictions and is a breeding ground
for rats and snakes.
But
O'Connor says state law protects her little jungle, the "Florida
Friendly Landscaping Program," which states HOA rules may not
prohibit any property owner from maintaining native Florida plants, which
grow naturally in wooded areas across the state.
Some
of O'Connor's neighbors say the HOA has gone too far.
"They're
just determined to have it look like all the other cookie cutter yards out
here," neighbor Joy Powell said.
And
O'Connor's landscaper says this yard doesn't come cheap.
"You're
looking between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars, maybe a little
more," Mike Africano said.
And
that's one of the reasons why O'Connor will stand her ground and fight for
her yard.
"Because
I'm right," she said.
O'Connor
says every plant in her yard is approved by the University of Florida for
the state landscaping program. The HOA said it will get an expert from UF
to visit the yard.
HOA
takes issue with homeowner's landscaping
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