Article Courtesy of St. Petersburg
Times
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published November 18, 2003
NEW PORT RICHEY - Raymond Pemburn says
he is blessed with friends. They call the 89-year-old widower in the morning,
or take him to lunch, or stop by to chat if they see him outside. Sometimes
they gather for dinner at his home.
He just never imagined having a handful
of visitors would get him in trouble with his condominium association.
Today the Pointe West Condominium Association
board of directors will consider fining Pemburn for violating its new ban
on front yard "social gatherings." The rule, passed by the condo board
Nov. 5, requires residents to keep their socializing inside their condos,
screened porches or back yards - not in the front yard, where gatherings
can become "street parties."
"The board of directors enacted a rule
to prevent basically what they call street parties from going on," said
Jack Smith, manager of the 425-unit adult condominium complex in the Summertree
development off State Road 52. "All they ask is for them to do it in their
back yard."
He declined to say how many people would
constitute a "social gathering" or to comment any further.
Pemburn admitted he sometimes chats outside
with a friend or two, but said it's a far cry from a street party.
"We're not boisterous," said the retired
business insurance salesman, who moved here from Fort Lauderdale two years
ago. "We're not rowdy. We mind our own business."
Pemburn said he spent about a half-hour
last Thursday afternoon talking outside to a friend, 52-year-old construction
worker Victor Novak, about the leaky roof in Pemburn's Florida room. His
neighbor, retired New York City police officer John DiDiego, 67, walked
across the street to join them.
Later that evening, Novak prepared chicken
divan for a half-dozen friends coming to Pemburn's for dinner. Novak went
outside to smoke a cigarette shortly before the last two guests arrived.
Novak said he spoke for less than a minute
with the two women before they all went inside.
"She walked across the street and said,
"Hello,"' Novak said. "That was it."
The next day, Pemburn got a letter from
Smith describing the latter episode as a "violation of the new "social
gathering' rule."
"Being as this gathering occurred at your
unit, you are the responsible party," Smith told Pemburn in the letter.
"They don't want you to live. They want
to treat you like it's a communist camp," Pemburn said. "Where does it
say I can't stand outside and talk to two people?"
Under Florida law, condominium associations
have broad powers to enact "reasonable rules" about the use of common areas,
said Ross Fleetwood, director of the state Division of Florida Land Sales,
Condominiums and Mobile Homes.
"Of course, you say, "What's reasonable?"'
Fleetwood said. "That's always up for debate."
The condo board passed the "social gathering"
rule Nov. 5 as a temporary measure. It remains in effect until a permanent
version of the rule goes before condo owners for a vote at the annual meeting
in February.
A letter posted on community bulletin boards
said the temporary rule was passed "due to the volume of complaints received
by the condo office regarding "street parties."'
Then the Nov. 5 letter quotes from a Community
Associations Institute brochure: "The purpose of rules is to "prevent
nuisance problems and preserve aesthetic harmony.' Also, "reasonable restrictions
consistently enforced over time preserve property values and maintain a
high quality of life for residents."'
But several residents say the rule could
ruin their quality of life by snuffing out the friendly socializing in
each other's front yards.
"That's why we came here to live, so we'd
have friends and someone to talk to in our old age," said Novak's 85-year-old
mother, Caroline Novak.
DiDiego, the neighbor who lives across
the street from Pemburn, shakes his head.
"This is really nonsense." |