|
Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach
Post
By Frank Cerabino
Published July 30, 2009
Condo battles sometimes have deep undercurrents, and
that's the case with a dust-up at Boca Lakes in suburban Boca Raton.
The 35-year-old condo near the intersection of
Glades and Lyons roads has had a no-dog rule. But these days, six of the
488 units have dogs.
The first to break the dog barrier was Tom Howell,
who fought to have a 6-pound Chihuahua named Joe Joe more than three years
ago.
"It cost me a fortune to get the dog,"
Howell said.
His dog is classified as an emotional support
animal, not a pet, which was prescribed by his wife's doctor after she was
stricken with a severe illness. Federal housing law permits these animals
under certain circumstances. And Howell hired a lawyer to convince the
condo board members that this wasn't something they could deny.
"They gave me a hard time," Howell said.
"They even tried to tell me that my wife had to walk the dog, even
though she was crippled."
'We have to be invisible'
Howell's fight emboldened the others, although the
going hasn't been easy.
"We have to be invisible as far as they're
concerned," said Edith Rubin, an 84-year-old widow who got a border
terrier named Maxie last year as an emotional support animal.
"The president said I'm not allowed to take him
out more than three times a day," Rubin said. "So I go out to
the dog park every day so he can be a dog."
Another Boca Lakes dog owner, Gerald Tholl, 76, got
his Chihuahua, Lucas, after his wife of 57 years died last year.
"They told me he was the last dog they were
going to allow," Tholl said.
This bugs Howell.
"I don't walk around with a shirt that says,
'Ask me how you can get a dog,'" he said.
Intimidation or just leverage?
Tempers flared this month when the six dog owners
got a letter from condo board secretary and office director Maria
Zegarelli informing them that they wouldn't get the new gate entry remote
controls until they showed "proof of insurance for the pet on your
homeowner's policy."
Howell called this another example of intimidation.
But Zegarelli, whose husband, Joe, is also on the
condo board, said she was just using the gate pass as leverage to make
sure that the association wasn't going to be liable for dog bites.
"These dogs aren't really service animals, but
we've allowed them," Zegarelli said. "I have asked them,
especially Mr. Howell, to be discreet with your pet. He had a
tantrum."
So does Zegarelli hate dogs? No, the opposite.
"My husband moved me here when my dog died
because he didn't want me to go through the heartache of losing another
dog," she said.
And so the watchdog of the no-dog policy has very
little tolerance for neighbors who have breached the sanctuary of a world
that was envisioned to be protected from the joys and sorrows of dog
companionship.
"I
tell people if they want to be around dogs, they can volunteer at the
Tri-County Humane Society down the road," Zegarelli said.
"They're always looking for people who want to walk their dogs."
COMMENT:
Following
the rules?
The
fight over pets in community associations is pretty common, but so is the
question about enforcing the rules:
In the above article
we read about the Zegarelli's, who are fighting to uphold the rules in the
community. We read about Maria and Joe, husband and wife, both
directors of the board in a 488-unit community. The association's filing with the
Division of Corporations confirms this -- see: BOCA LAKES CONDOMINIUM
ASSOCIATION, INC. (Doc. # 724897)
But Florida statutes
718 (The Condo Act) disallows owners of the same unit to serve on the
board.
See FS
718.112(2)(d) 1 In a condominium association of more
than 10 units, coowners of a unit may not serve as members of the board of
directors at the same time.
Maybe the Zegarelli's
own two separate units -- one each?
Otherwise it looks
like they are enforcing the rules they like to enforce and ignore the
rules they don't like?
|