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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 18278
[Civil]
Date Posted:
7/27/2007
7:00:17 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 4,965
RSS: 13,777
Comments: 9
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N.J. High Court: Homeowners Must Abide By Association Rules
Author: The Associated Press Source: First Amendment Center Online
Title: N.J. HIGH COURT: HOMEOWNERS MUST ABIDE BY ASSOCIATION RULES
Homeowners forfeit certain freedoms of speech — such as the right to post political signs on their front lawns — when they live in a community in which the homeowners' association bans such expression, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
The high court ruled that homeowners' association policies are not at odds with the state Constitution's guarantee of free speech.
The residents who sued objected to restrictions on the display of political signs, being charged high fees to use the association's community room, and the refusal by the association to allow dissenters' views in the development's newspaper.
"This decision will have an impact within New Jersey and across the country," said Ronald L. Perl, President of the Community Associations Institute (CAI), a national nonprofit that advises homeowner associations.
Perl said lawyers, homeowners' groups and academics watched the case closely to see if the New Jersey Supreme Court — widely considered a liberal protector of individual rights — would extend free-speech protections to private property.
It did not.
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Community Thoughts: There are 9 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| HOAs = Big Government In Disguise | Jul 29th. at 5:53:22 pm EDT
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Lora (Leominster, Massachusetts) - Email Me
Ironically, so many people I know who are devoutly conservative Republicans live in HOAs.
Personally, I will never live in one. In my state, HOAs are few and far between and property values are sky-high for a very simple reason: Local governments are very powerful here. Massachusetts provides many powers to local governments, and businesses who wish to set up shop must have not only the relevant state license but also a local city/town license to operate. Towns that feel a giant Mall Wart would bring down the /tone/ of an area frequently do ban such businesses from the city limits. My own town decided that only a single fast-food joint, known for its reasonably healthy offerings and support of charities, would be permitted to open out on the edge of town, close to the highway. One single Starbucks was permitted to open in a location where it could not be easily seen from the street.
You will not see any cars up on blocks, any old furniture, or any porches held up by cinderblocks in this town, either, for a very simple reason: there is virtually no low-income housing in this area. The local government works hard to keep it that way, so people here have no need for HOAs.
Where I have seen HOAs, and inordinately powerful HOAs, are areas where the local economy is not quite so strong, and especially areas where in an effort to stimulate the local economy, the local government has thrown the doors wide open to service-oriented chain stores, maul developers and big businesses. This creates sprawl, which drives down housing prices, which causes people to form HOAs that are far more draconian than a simple policy of elitism or local chauvinism would have achieved.
Note to local governments: Big box stores provide jobs, yes, *but NOT good-paying jobs*. They provide jobs that barely pay more than minimum wage, often without benefits. These McJobs keep people in a state of being working poor, so that they will barely be able to afford homes at all, much less afford upkeep on them. These jobs do not net you very much in taxes, after you subtract all the tax breaks you are giving them. The sprawl alone will cause you to lose more in real estate value than you will ever gain in revenues. Therefore, be very very careful about what businesses you invite into your community. They will affect your revenues and quality of life much more than you think. A far better plan, which seems to be working for us Bay Staters, is to specialize in a few highly lucrative business fields that can be nurtured locally and not readily exported; then, let service provider companies come to your area to beg your well-compensated employees for their money. Think long-term in your city planning, and go for the big money.
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| Easy Solution | Jul 28th. at 5:31:26 pm EDT
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Lokari (Plainfield, Illinois) - Email Me
I've noticed that HOAs are often portrayed in a negative light, but that doesn't match my own experiences. My HOA was initially set up by the builder, and the rules were in place largely to ensure no snags in selling the homes in the first five years - while the area was under construction.
We've got about 300 homes, and we barely get enough people at the meetings for a quorum. The few rule changes we've made have been to loosen some of the restrictions that the builder made. There have been no big free speech battles here that I know of.
If you don't like the rules of your HOA, get involved, get on the board, and get the rules changed. Frankly, I'd much rather have a HOA than not if I'm in close proximity to my neighbors - the HOA has some muscle in ensuring that the guy next door doesn't put some junker car on blocks in the front yard, or hang dilapidated A/C units out all of his windows, and so on. That helps my property values, and makes the neighborhood a lot more pleasant to look at and live in.
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| HOAs | Jul 28th. at 2:34:21 pm EDT
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Jskelly (Ashland, Virginia) - Email Me
I bought a house 8 months ago, and I can say in my area, it is impossible to find a house, reasonably priced, built in the last 15 years or so that does not have an HOA to deal with.They're everywhere, and they have 50 page rule books. We had to balance a short commute with all the energy saving of that, with the HOA hassle. But these groups have come closer to being a quasi-government and I hope at some point a court will rule against them.
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| Abide By The Association Rules? Fine... | Jul 28th. at 11:20:52 am EDT
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Stormsinger (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) - Email Me
Sometimes you find yourself stuck in a place where the rules change. Sometimes it's an interpretation of the fine print, or a construction you hadn't thought of when they said, "that," whatever "that" was.
So, be a good little homeowner. Do EVERYTHING by the rules. Be an active one. Attend all the association meetings. Get involved. Get known.
Get elected to the Board.
Fix the rules.
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