Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post

By Jennifer Sorentrue
Published May 27, 2005

But PGA National's property owners association has halted the project, Gluck said.

The group's architectural review committee said Gluck cannot install a folding shutter over a 196-inch trapezoid-shaped window on the side of her home.

The reason: It's ugly.

"It's totally an aesthetic issue," said Gary Fields, an attorney for PGA National's property owners group. "PGA obviously is in favor of hurricane shutters. These shutters didn't look OK over trapezoid-shaped windows."

The association is one of many in South Florida that restrict the type of shutters homeowners can put up. In developments from Port St. Lucie to Palm Beach Gardens, homeowners boards are requiring very specific designs that match the community's architectural style — some even want the shutters to be the same color as the home, said William Kramer of Folding Shutter Corp., the company making Gluck's shutters.

Other homeowners associations require that the panels are put up no more than three days before a hurricane is forecast to hit and say they must be taken down no later than three days after it passes.

But Kramer said PGA National's rules are particularly challenging.

"It's so irregular," Kramer said. "I've never seen anything like this. There is no consistency through the community. When you drive through it, there's no rhyme or reason."

Gluck points to other homes in her neighborhood of quadplexes called Heather Run that she said already have the same or similar shutters to the ones she's buying.

In her 112-unit community of identical buildings, the same trapezoid window is shielded with folding shutters on one house and roll-down shutters on another. Several other homes have frames for aluminum panels.

"If nobody else had it, I might have to give up," she said. "But they are here."

Fields, the owners group attorney, said there is a home in the neighborhood that has a similar-style shutter over the same shape window. He said it was installed by "mistake."

"To my knowledge, the architectural review committee never intentionally approved anyone for that," Fields said. "Someone came in with an incomplete application or it was missed by mistake."

The review committee will allow Gluck to put aluminum shutters over the window, but she said with her hip replacements it would be impossible for her to climb a ladder to install them.

Lorraine Sturm, 73, who lives down the block from Gluck, said she won't be able to put the panels up, either. She purchased $7,900 folding shutters this weekfor all but the one trapezoid window.

"A lot of people in here are very old," Sturm said. "I think they are more concerned with looks than our safety. There is now way I can put plywood or panels up. I have a serious heart condition. I'm afraid to do things like that because if I break anything, we're in trouble."

Gluck ordered the shutters six months ago — she wanted to make sure they were installed before the start of hurricane season. Her home had minor damage after last year's hurricanes, but she wanted to make sure it was better protected if another storm hits.

After four months of battling with the homeowners group, Kramer said, there's no way the shutters will be ready before the season officially begins on Wednesday. The shutters have not been made.

"She is not getting them until we get this resolved," manufacturer Kramer said. "We need her and her board to get together."