Green Home Owner Associations? I Think Not!

Posted by David R. Wetzel Sep 4, 2008

I lived in home owner association (HOA) community once. At first I thought it was a good thing, but when I wanted to save on the electric bill and hand out my clothes. I quickly received a letter to cease hanging out clothes, because it was an eye sore and agianst HOA policy.

Homeowner associations began many years ago to help neighborhoods develop and enforce an appearance policy. These policies were designed to keep someone from painting their house purple or orange. Also, to keep a resident from turning their yard into a contender for the next garbage dump.

However, there rules are not Green friendly for the environment. These homeowner associations mandate large, centrally air-conditioned square footages, two-car garages, lawn sprinkler systems or synthetic lawn fertilizers, and weed-killers.

You'd think that HOA leaders would be embarrassed to enforce overconsumption and pollution, but these property cops seem determined to impose their narrow aesthetic preferences on everyone else.

HOAs cling to outdated standards that treat renewable energy devices, clotheslines, fans in windows, awnings, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, compost bins, natural landscaping -- as eyesores to be buried under restrictions or banned outright.

I was not able to do anything to exterior of my house, except hang one flag and mount a satellite TV antenna. The flag permission was only granted after several HOAs around the country lost the battle to keep residents from hanging American flags.

I found satellite TV dish at yard sale and hung it outside my house to prove that I could to the HOA. They could not make me remove it, even though it was not connected.

Colorado is the state to go if you want to hang your clothes outside and live in an HOA.