Homeowners Who Go Green Face Neighbors’ Objections

[jpak]

http://www.rismedia.com/wp/2007-08-03/homeowners-who-go-green-face-neighbors-objections-how-gore-got-his-solar-panels/

RISMEDIA, August 6, 2007–(Wall Street Journal Online)–In neighborhoods across the country, there’s a battle brewing: the environmentalists vs. the aesthetes.

As “green”-minded homeowners move to put in new energy-efficient windows, solar panels and light-reflecting roofs, they are bumping up against neighbors and local boards that object, saying the additions defy historic-district regulations, will look ugly or damage property values.

In Arizona, a man was recently ordered by his homeowners’ association to take down a solar water-heating device from his roof or face a daily fine. In upstate New York, neighbors fought the installation of a wind turbine tower on a resident’s 11-acre property, delaying the project by nearly a year. Even former vice president and outspoken environmental advocate Al Gore had trouble getting solar panels and a geothermal unit approved for his Nashville home. A local zoning board initially wouldn’t consider the application for the solar panels. It then took an appeal, several redesigns and a property inspection before they were approved eight months later. (The community recently revised its ordinance to allow the devices.)

David Bannatyne was tired of the drafty, stubborn windows in his early 19th-century home in Concord, Mass., and was especially fed up with paying his $5,000 heating bill each winter.

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[GreenPartyVoter]

1. This is gonna be a huge uphill fight, I am sure.

[hobbit709]

2. All the more reasons to not live

in an subdivision with a homeowners association. If I had the money to build what I wanted, it would be far away from any HA, city ordinances, etc.

[China_cat]

3. I don't really think someone with 11 acres had an HOA

to worry about.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. That one really surprised me

[Karmageddon]

6. If my HOA told me i couldn't put up solar panels.... first I'd laugh in their faces...

... then i'd make them take me to court. Once that happened, I'd start to be a massive pain in the ass to everyone trying to stop me from going green. I'd find every conceivable loophole in the HOA agreement, and jump through it (put leg-lamps (like in "Christmas Story") in the windows and leave them on all night. Paint my front door neon pink, plant a nice crop of dandelions in the yard, astroturf my driveway, instead of curtains put up mirrors (facing outwards), anything I could think of that was cheap and annoying and not specifically regulated against, and that I can change back to normal quickly and easily once things are settled in my favor.

I would also patrol the neighborhood daily and complain about EVERYTHING that everyone else did (or at least the people telling me I couldn't have a green house). I'd bring a list and pictures to all the HOA meetings and insist that these things get fixed immediately.

Everyone else, I'd educate about how much money I'm saving on energy bills every month.

(It helps that I also know others in my neighborhood that are also interested in getting solar, so they'd back me up on this)

[hobbit709]

8. Someone here in Austin about 20 years back

had a visit from their HA about parking his pickup in the driveway and leaving his garage door open so everyone could see the "unsightly" clutter in his garage. He fixed them-he had an artist buddy paint the garage door so that it looked like the interior of cluttered garage. When they bitched, he told them it was art and covered by the first amendment and did they want to go court about it.

[fed-up]

17. that's what I call creative problem solving!! nt

[Dogmudgeon]

13. I like the way you think!

--p!

[Deep13]

4. We were threatened by the city for letting the lawn go au natural.

Besides being lazy, we did not want to run that loud, smelly lawn mower. Also we wanted a natural praerie environment where the local wildlife would be comfortable.

I can't imagine why anyone would ever join a HOA. They have no purpose.

[bluestateguy]

5. Homeowners associations: the last refuge of curmudgeonly old farts with nothing better to do

I hate nosy neighbors and people who just generally have trouble minding their own business.

[silverweb]

7. I HATE HOAs.

What's the point of owning your home/property if you can't do what you want with it (within reason, of course).

Two particular cases have always stood out for me:

A neighborhood where homeowners were required to hire an "approved" landscaper to do yard maintenance and homeowners were "not permitted" to do their own mowing/gardening. (This was described by my dad when he was in Detroit for business and stayed at a coworker's home.)

A man who loved roses and bought a Rancho Santa Fe, California, home, reorganized and transplanted existing rose bushes to his liking and added others, only to be told by the HOA that he was not allowed to "change the existing character" of the property. To avoid being fined, he was required to restore all the landscaping and rosebushes to their original state. (Rancho Santa Fe is arguably the Beverly Hills of the San Diego area, with large, private, very expensive properties; the property in question was not even very visible to its neighbors.)

Did I mention that I freaking hate nosy, busybody, fascist HOAs? I hope they all get voted out of existence.

[ixion]

9. I'm with you... it's a bunch of hooey

and serves only to busy-bodies with an avenue to tell others how to live. :grr:

[silverweb]

12. Indeed.

I understand the desire to maintain some community standards, but the draconian regimentation demanded by HOAs boggles the mind. I just can't imagine why ANY homeowner would put up with it.

By the way, your name interested me, so I read Ixion's myth. It's an intriguing choice for a handle and I can't help but wonder about the story there.

[ixion]

14. the backstory

I was writing a novel many years back, and came across Ixion. I found in the story both a stoic zeal and romantic foolishness, which I thought was a very eccentric combination. Over the years, his character has sort of stuck in the back of my mind.

Also, when I was younger, I did some pretty crazy things to win the hearts of women. :-)

[silverweb]

16. Thanks.

There's always a backstory. Thanks for sharing yours. :)

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. If "This Old House" Can do efficiency in a Historic District

If "This Old House" Can do efficiency in a Historic District. (Salem, MA IIRC) I don't see why this can't be done in Concord. It's more expensive to do it so that it blends with the area's aesthetics and/or historic character. But far from impossible.
thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/house-project/show-descriptions/0,,199636,00

[depakid]

15. The sorts of Americans who behave like this

richly deserve their fates.

[kestrel91316]

18. We who know how to grow our own food will let them starve in their mansions.

[Javaman]

19. HOA are nazi fiefdoms.

usually run by control freaks that have absolutely no lives.

they are simply put: a blight on america.

These fuckers will regulate themselves into a corner.

when oil and coal spike watch as they change their tunes as everyone will want to hang their laundry on a line again, people will be screaming for solar panels and solar water heaters will be the norm.

HOA are evil evil evil entities that are inhabited by simple minded dweebs that care nothing for our earth, lives or the good of the population.