HOA Wants Kids Banned From Playing Outside

[The Straight Story]

HOA Wants Kids Banned From Playing Outside
A Central Florida homeowners association is preparing to vote on banning children from playing outside.

EDGEWATER, Fla. -- A Central Florida homeowners association is preparing to vote on banning children from playing outside.

The revamped rules and regulations are being considered by the HOA at the Persimmon Place subdivision on North Ridgewood Avenue in Edgewater. The neighborhood consists of 48 townhomes surrounded by a parking lot and little room for children to play.

...

"They came in and rented (a home) in a community that does not have a playground and is not conducive to children. Then they expect the children to play in the driveways and parking lot. You wouldn't see them playing the parking lot at Walmart or Kmart, but they come here and turn the children loose," said HOA board member Kim Scott.

http://www.clickorlando.com/family/27381829/detail.html?source=orlpn

[HockeyMom]

1. They don't want CHIDLREN period

Many HOA's in Florida would prefer to turn them into SENIOR developments, but could not do so, and make very restrictive policies towards families with children.

It happened at the condo in Florida we own and now are trying to get rid of.

BTW, up North children pay in their own, and friends, driveways all the time. I am a Senior and would NEVER want to live in such a restrictive development with a bunch of crabby old people.

Make it a totally Senior development or LIVE WITH IT.

[monmouth]

3. Condo Commandos....They are the worse...n/t

[Mimosa]

32. Tell me about it. n/t

[ejpoeta]

4. i agree. you can't ban kids from playing outside!! if you don't want kids there

then definitely make it a senior development. I remember going to visit our grandparents in florida. it was all seniors living there. they had a pool and a jacuzzi.... it was really nice. they were all very friendly and would let us use their tricycles!! but we only stayed a day or two. and as long as we didn't do cannonballs into the pool they were fine with us there. but to live there with kids? nah... but that's what it was. if you want that, then fine.... but you can't try to ban kids from playing outside.

[HockeyMom]

34. Seniors walk DOGS in Strollers at my development

If they miss their kids, MOVE BACK where came from. Live near your GRANDKIDS. If you never had your own kids, VOLUNTEER working with kids.

This summer, this summer. I have to get OUT of this MORONIC STATE.

[Cleita]

2. Or they could build a park and playground but

I guess that would expose their real intent.

[Maine_Nurse]

5. I simply can't imagine owning a home somewhere that someone else...

can tell me what to do on my own property.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. Single family home owners forget that the govt DOES tell them what to do

You have restrictions to what you can do on your property also.

[Maine_Nurse]

22. Not many, I'm in rural Maine. My town doesn't even have a real zoning ordinance...

the entire town is the same zone which allows residential, industrial, agricultural, or business use.

I do have to have a perc test to put in a septic tank.
I do have to pay $25 to the town for a building permit for anything larger than 100ft2.
I do have to get a cursory electrical inspection if I'm going to live in something I build (but I don't have to have electricity if I don't want).
I do have to provide notification if I'm going to clearcut more than 5 acres of my land (changes taxation rate).

I agree that there are some limitations, but very few and nothing like an HOA. I don't have to have siding or even paint on my home. Hell, I can skip plumbing altogether and have an outhouse if I feel like it. I can hunt from my deck or I can target practice at midnight (not sure how that town reg came about but it is there).

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. oh ok. You are living a very different life than a single family home owner in Calif

lots and lots of regulations

[dhill926]

6. once again.....

had to look and see if this was from The Onion. Sheesh.....

[JonLP24]

7. Sounds like my HOA

They haven't that far but they tore down all the playground equipment and the basketball hoop. Now kids just skateboard next to the mailboxes.

[applegrove]

8. The sound of children laughing and cries of joy are one of the things that makes summer nights

so enjoyable. What a bunch of freaks.

[lostnfound]

19. +100 So far from their roots, what misanthropes

When they get to heaven, will they look at all the children and say, "nope. I don't want to live there."

[JuniperLea]

33. Hear, hear!

I recently ran for and won a spot on my HOA! For many of the same reasons... plus the jerks were letting the whole place go to hell. I have a leaky roof I've been battling them over for six years. Yeah, you read that right! SIX YEARS!! I hope to get them to replace my ceilings too... they placated me with about a dozen contractors coming by to inspect and give estimates... then they would do nothing... then I complained again, more contractors... nothing got done... I complained again... more contractors... lather, rinse, repeat. To date I still have a leaky roof! The new board hasn't yet had their first meeting... I'm trying to get one slated now... what a run around!!

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. Not banning them from playing outside. banning them from playinng in the driveways

I live in a condo community. Parent here tried to do that same...have kids riding on bikes in the roads that run thru the community. dangerous.

[HockeyMom]

20. Then ban EVERYBODY from riding a bike on community

roads. Seniors ride bikes all the time through the roads and they are WORSE than the kids. They would have a fit if bikes were banned.

[tammywammy]

11. WTF? I used to play in the parking lot of the middle school across the street from my house

And we all played in the street. Kids in my neighborhood still play in the street. This HOA and the homeowners complaining need to STFU. If the girl got hurt playing on the power meter, then it's the parent's fault. Make a rule that children shouldn't play on power meters.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. One of my favorite memories of when I started working selling foreclosed properties...

...was a fight I had with this horrible woman who was screaming at me that we needed to send them X amount of dollars or they were going to foreclose on our asset. I screamed at that horrible woman for about 20 minutes, then called our attorney. I explained what happened, and my attorney politely got off the phone with me. 15 minutes later, he called back and told me we didn't need to send her anything and that we would not be hearing from her again.
These people think they're powerful and get off on telling everyone what they can and cannot do on their own property. I will never live in one. I would rather live in a tent than live in a subdivision with an HOA. It's horrible that people bought into a neighborhood only to have cranky people tell their kids they can't play in their own yards. I remember going to my grandmother's little retirement village she lived in before she passed away. They were little bungalow garden homes with little intertwined yards. I remember playing in the yard and when we'd go over, her friends would come and play with me. I was CUTE! after all. :evilgrin:
Well behaved children are awesome to be around, and we have kids across the street that we hardly know are there. I don't understand people. Why tear down playground equipment and basketball hoops? They aren't going to hurt anything and the kids will get into much less trouble if you give them something to do!
Jeez people just get dumber and ruder all the time.

[Blue_Tires]

25. +1000

I used to be a reporter covering small towns and neighborhoods, and it is bizarre how despotic and power-mad some people get when they are in control of a HOA or a tiny town council with a few hundred residents...About 90 percent of the "laws" passed would get thrown out of court in 30 seconds if people knew their rights and had the stones to challenge them legally...

It always seems like the smaller and more insignificant the 'office', the more fascist people become...

[XemaSab]

13. I live in a multigenerational neighborhood and I prefer it

I would hate to live in a neighborhood of single yuppies, young families, retired people, or any other group. :shrug:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. Do the kids

need to get off their lawns????? Did McCranky move in?

[timo]

15. hoa

stupidest shit I ever heard of, why ANYBODY would want to be governed by some crowd of snotty fucktards is beyond me....just fucking stupid!!

[FourScore]

16. I love the sound of children playing. n/t

[louslobbs]

17. Who runs that place, the Burger meister? Give him a yo yo and tell him to go to hell. When does th...

the new law get implemented that children can't have any toys? Oh, that's right never, toy companies are a corporation and since we live in the new We the Corporations America, that will never happen, good news kiddies, your parents can still buy you overpriced toys made in China......that's if they still have jobs or unemployment benefits (that they paid for).
Lou

[guitar man]

18. What the hell is wring with these people?!

Has the whole damn world gone mad? Children need to play outside, get them off the video games and such. If there's not a place for them to play, they should get off their tight asses and build them a place to play. This is bullshit. :grr:

that's why I'm glad I bought a place that's in an rural unincorporated area, nobody tells us what the hell to do here.

[kentauros]

24. Not only do kids need to play outside, they need to play in the dirt, too.

Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You :)

One thing that could be done with those kinds of developments is to replace the driveways with GrassPave. Then you could have a "lawn", a driveway and be green in a small way.

[dionysus]

26. damn you, now i'm hooked on reading about grasspave.. i want to redo my driveways now! i can also

envision a grass basketball court....
;)

[kentauros]

27. A grass basketball court might be a little slippery

;)

Or you'd have to supply golf shoes to everyone :P

[dionysus]

29. i played on grass (well, it turned to dirt) growing up :)

[kentauros]

31. Okay, I never knew anyone that had played on grass,

although I seem to remember dirt courts, too :)

Make it "interesting" and use gravelpave instead :P

[FedUpWithIt All]

43. I jumped right on that link.

It is a little too expensive for us but very interesting.

We have a very long dirt drive that has been really taking a beating with all the rain and snow so far this year. We were looking to do recycled asphalt millings in some sections and plant Kentucky 31 in the remaining areas to keep the ground stable till we can afford to do more work.

[kentauros]

46. Yeah, it probaby is too expensive for your needs.

Even if you made the mesh part yourself, as I was just thinking, a long road would be too much work to try and apply GrassPave.

Recycled asphalt millings sounds like an excellent idea. I would only suggest that you have a good base on which to put the millings. I don't know what the long-term stability of asphalt is and whether asphalt might break down into VOCs (asphalt is at the very bottom of the crude oil cracking process; the chemical carbon-rings look like chicken wire!) Something to ask about I suppose :)

[SoCalDem]

21. Or they could just skip that part & declare themselves an ADULTS-ONLY facility

If they rent to people with kids, it's their own fault that there are kids there.

They should offer the deposits back to the families, and offer them a bonus payment to allow them to move to a friendlier location.. Surely there is no shortage of empty places these days..sheeesh!!

[HockeyMom]

37. I was turned down for a rental at an Adults Only Development

Why? I was 58 (55+) and considered TOO YOUNG. This place was CHEAPER and my ADULT daughters (20 and 25) were going to live with me. One daughter was away at college most of the year and my other daughter worked full time. They decided to rent to two sisters in their mid-70s.

When I went around this development, I actually had people staring at ME, because I didn't fit the mold of what a "Senior" should look like. My younger college age daughter lived in private housing because she didn't like all the partying of the college crowd. My older daughter? She had to get up for work every morning. She was not about to be out partying all night, in addition to the fact that, I HAD to get up in the morning (4:30AM) for work, and MOM would not put up with that.

I guess they didn't like that we weren't RETIRED old f---s (including ME), but WORKING adults. I decided that this was a place I would want to rent, or OWN, in.

They did us a favor by turning us down. I rented a private house where they didn't bat an eye at our family demographics.

[SoCalDem]

38. It was probably this..."...daughters (20 and 25) were going to live with me...."

Those two younger-than-55ers "might" have added a baby or two to the mix:)... that;s probably what they feared.


In most places there will be an alternative & you found one.. If you live in or near a "retirement" area, it's likely that there will be places that restrict by age..and some are very restrictive. They probably have to adhere to their rules by the book, because once they make an exception for one, it's hard to not keep making exceptions.

[walldude]

23. So I guess it would be ok to build a community and not

allow anyone who ever belonged to a HOA to step outside their door. :eyes:

[geardaddy]

28. HOAs suck ass

Ours is small and has a person who constantly cries wolf about how our sturdy 1920s building is going to fall down because she sees chips in the bricks.

[FSogol]

30. Why did I know this would be Flordia?

:shrug:

[HockeyMom]

35. Sunshine fries their brains here

Idiots.

[onethatcares]

36. you just had to go there. didn't you?

I thought I would be the one to say that.:toast:

[FLPanhandle]

39. The old "you kids get off my lawn" taken to the next level

*sigh* Florida is full of old people retiring from all states and coming here to bitch.

[HockeyMom]

40. Little kids don't poop on your lawn

Yes, "God's Waiting Place". Then they wonder why Florida's economy, and jobs situation, is what it is?

[Liberal In Texas]

44. GET OFF MY LAWN!

Damn kids. Did I ever tell you about when I took the train to Shelbyville...? It wasn't called Shelbyville then....

[demwing]

45. So I tied an onion to my belt...

...which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say.

Now where were we? Oh yeah: the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

[anneboleyn]

41. In our community, we have a problem with people driving WAY too fast, and the kids are out

playing in the residential streets, and other areas. There have been a number of complaints about people driving way too fast for this area (40mph -- 50 mph) in a residential area.

[titaniumsalute]

47. HOAs are a fucking joke

I moved from Ohio to the Fascist State of Florida a few years back and live in an HOA. I pay something like $150 for what?? They fix my mailbox if it gets hit by a car, they waste millions of gallons of water on the the devilstrips and entrances to the place, they have this huge waste of time/money fountain in the front entrance of our area, etc. We do have an outdoor community pool which is fine but $1,800 per year?