WESLEY CHAPEL - Notwithstanding the giant wooden pirate ship that irritated neighbors and the occasional overgrown lawn, the Meadow Pointe neighborhood has mainly kept its original appearance.

But central Pasco County's biggest residential community wants assurances that things continue along the straight and narrow. So it has enlisted the state Legislature to consider a bill giving Meadow Pointe leaders the power to enforce architectural standards.

The bill, introduced last month by state Rep. Ken Littlefield, R-Wesley Chapel, would give Community Development District boards of Meadow Pointe and Meadow Pointe II the power to approve or deny plans when a person is building or altering a house.

The board could also enforce deed restrictions dealing with upkeep of property and hit out-of-compliance homeowners with fines.

"For the most part people are good, but you always have the exceptions," Meadow Pointe board member Dennis Smith said. "That's what it's for, to take care of the exceptions instead of the rule."

Meadow Pointe developers never established a mandatory homeowners association. And CDD boards, responsible for maintaining a neighborhood's common areas, never received the authority to enforce deed restrictions.

The neighborhood has a voluntary homeowners association, but fewer than 15 percent of its roughly 3,000 property owners belong. "That's not going to cut it," Smith said. "It's very ineffective."

Littlefield's bill needs to clear a final committee in the state House. State Sen. Victor Crist has promised to guide the legislation through the state Senate.

"We think it's got a good chance of passing," Smith said.