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Covenants & Restirctions?

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Posted by Capt Bob Johnson on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 3:19 PM
And I, Gentlemen, believe more in States Rights than I do Federalism!
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Posted by tangerine-jack on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 2:37 PM

Yes Vic!  That is 100% correct, give yourself a gold star!

I don't think Jefferson, Madison, Henry or any of the others would have tolerated a HOA, they probably would have made some speaches and whipped the mob into a fervor until they burned down the home of the president of the HOA and run them out of town.  Ah for the good old days.......

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 12:41 PM
 tangerine-jack wrote:

 cabbage wrote:
"After due consideration, and due democratic process. The Elected Government for the Crown Colony Of Southern Rhodesia... .... GOD Save The Queen" I had to learn that off by heart -it seems from reading these posts that you have forgotten something. I have it on good authority that it was very carefully worded NOT to sound any thing like: "We the People...." I find it curious that BOTH these documents have been penned and signed by Englishmen(!) regards ralph

 

Thomas Jefferson was NOT and Englishman, nor were most of the "founding fathers" of this country.  He was born in Virginia, the third of ten children (two of them were stillborn). His mother was Jane Randolph, daughter of Isham Randolph, and a cousin of Peyton Randolph. Jefferson's father was Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor who owned a plantation in Albemarle County named Shadwell.  Later he moved to Montecello and founded the University of Virginia with the donation of his personal library.  He was good at everything, a true genius of any age.

 

Quite true, while technically all Americans in June of 1776 were subjects of the English Crown, if you were to call Jefferson an Englishman to his face, he'd likely be offended and reply "Sir I am a Virginian, not an Englishman!" The notion of being American had a great fervor during the revolution but by 1820 identity by State was once again the dominant form of where one associated ones allegiance in the loosly titled "United States of America" Of course it was this lack of a wider National identity in favor of a rabid State indentity that helped fuel all that unpleasantness around Fort Sumpter in '61....Shock [:O]Wink [;)]Big Smile [:D]

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by tangerine-jack on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 12:07 PM

 cabbage wrote:
"After due consideration, and due democratic process. The Elected Government for the Crown Colony Of Southern Rhodesia... .... GOD Save The Queen" I had to learn that off by heart -it seems from reading these posts that you have forgotten something. I have it on good authority that it was very carefully worded NOT to sound any thing like: "We the People...." I find it curious that BOTH these documents have been penned and signed by Englishmen(!) regards ralph

 

Thomas Jefferson was NOT and Englishman, nor were most of the "founding fathers" of this country.  He was born in Virginia, the third of ten children (two of them were stillborn). His mother was Jane Randolph, daughter of Isham Randolph, and a cousin of Peyton Randolph. Jefferson's father was Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor who owned a plantation in Albemarle County named Shadwell.  Later he moved to Montecello and founded the University of Virginia with the donation of his personal library.  He was good at everything, a true genius of any age.

 

The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"

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Posted by cabbage on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 10:18 AM
"After due consideration, and due democratic process. The Elected Government for the Crown Colony Of Southern Rhodesia...

.... GOD Save The Queen"

I had to learn that off by heart -it seems from reading these posts that you have forgotten something. I have it on good authority that it was very carefully worded NOT to sound any thing like:

"We the People...."

I find it curious that BOTH these documents have been penned and signed by Englishmen(!)

regards

ralph

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Posted by emdgp92 on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 9:46 AM
I live in an older suburb of Pittsburgh. We're pretty much free to do whatever we want to our residences. The borough does insist that you keep the yard cut (not weekly, but they don't want 3-foot-high grass either) and free of debris. Junk cars on the property are illegal, but that doesn't stop them from occasionally showing up, especially if they're hidden from the street.

I'm not for HOAs either. They're usually a bunch of anal-rententive busy-bodies who have nothing better to do than insisting on sticking their noses in other people's business. How do I know this? The goofballs next door to my old house were *constantly* coming up with HOA-style "regulations" to harass everyone else. Did we have an HOA? No. But that didn't stop them from using the local police department to enforce little-used borough ordinances  and make things annoying for the rest of us. What they'd do, is they would actually look up ordinances, find an offender, and then call the cops. Needless to say, they weren't exactly liked in town...

Until an HOA starts paying my mortgage, utility, or other fees, they have no right to tell me what to do with *my* property.

Sorry if I sound a bit upset, but the HOA concept simply rubs me the wrong way.
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Posted by Capt Bob Johnson on Thursday, September 14, 2006 7:10 PM

Ian, reread the thread and utilize a bit of cognitive power.  It's HOA, as Home Owner's Association; You know, those busybodies who tell you that you can't fart in your own front yard!

Reading and putting 2+2 together sometimes can lead to learning.   I was taught that when one does not understand or know a word to look at the entire sentance or paragraph and think of the context the word is used in and that will generally give you a pretty good idea of meaning.  

You know the old saying, "If you can't take the heat, stay out of the oven!"   If Americans and thier ways perturb you so mightily, why not just stay with a down under forum rather than one based "over here"?  

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 14, 2006 7:03 PM

The use of initials that other people may not know what is meant, is contrary to good communications and you Americans do it all the time. Lets not forget this is an international forum and it is regarded as an act of ignorance if you use language that others may not understand.

Wkat is an HQA, please?

Ian

 

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Posted by vsmith on Thursday, September 14, 2006 1:41 PM
 tangerine-jack wrote:
Wow Vic, and your friends still live there?  I can understand to a point wanting to keep up the property values by enforcing some standards of basic upkeep and apearance, but what the H&^% buisiness is it of yours what I do inside my own home!?!?!?!?  Sound like an unconstitutional invasion of privacy and violation of civil liberties.  If I lived there the HOA would have a very nice look into my psychadelic orange polka-dotted living room at my extended middle finger, that's what you get for peering into my home!  I thought the Nazi's were crushed in 1945, but I see they are alive and well in Orange county.
 
They moved from the deepest conservative Heart of Darkness known as Rancho Santa Margarita up north to central California a while ago...they finally got a sick of that O.C. mindset. Lost a friend but it was a better move for them in the longrun.

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Posted by rpc7271 on Thursday, September 14, 2006 1:28 PM

It's almost impossible to buy a new home here in the Phoenix area without a HOA. I assume it is the same in most other cities. You just have to read all the paperwork before you buy the house and sometimes read between the lines. I have a friend who bought a new house in a new development in Phase I. The HOA paperwork had all the "laws" set up but said that the HOA restrictions started after the last house was sold, so he set up his Gardern Railway even though it was a "grey area" as to whether he could have it. Some pecky homeowners started to run the HOA and started bugging him about the RR and he ignored them until they tried to take him to court. He got in front of the judge, presented him with all of his paperwork and asked "What HOA?' The judge found in favor of him and dismissed all the claims. The last house sold a while ago and as of yet the HOA hasn't said "boo" to him as they are afraid he will sue the HOA. As for he I will never have a house with an HOA even though I wish the neighbor down the street would clean up his front yard.

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Posted by Jetrock on Friday, September 8, 2006 12:41 AM
 iandor wrote:

I doubt what you alluded to jetrock as true, and i resent what you said; it shows you have no class.This is a very classy neighbourhood and we have only ever had one reported crime on this Kawana Island. Someone had too much to drink and stole someone elses garden ornament, to wit an Australian Aborigne called "Neville'

Try to talk like a gentleman mate.

Rgds Ian


Ian, I was speaking of MY neighborhood, not yours--and yes, people really do take stuff off of my front lawn and porch if it isn't nailed down. I have had decorative iron railings (that cost me about $10), potted plants, and yes, even garden hose nozzles (the fancy, five-dollar kind with multiple spray settings) stolen. It's not so much people in the neighborhood stealing things, but folks from other, poorer neighborhoods nearby who come through and take things. Maybe this is really alien to you, but in the US in large cities (or even medium-sized cities) it certainly happens. Heck, I have even had street people walk into my garage while I'm working on the layout and ask me for spare change--and I know darn well that they investigated an open garage door because they assumed it was empty and were hoping to steal something for drug money. If you live in a neighborhood where that doesn't happen, then hooray for you, cheers and whatnot.
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Posted by tangerine-jack on Thursday, September 7, 2006 7:36 PM
 iandor wrote:

Our house is all white hence its name :Casablanca" White walls white tile on the floors right through, whie ceiling and roof.. It is architect designed the best designed house i have ever seen and the colour scheme is incredibly effective. 

regards ian

 

This is what I'm talking about, here is a man who loves his house, his way in a community he wanted to live in and enjoys being there.  I wouldn't want an all white house, mine is very colorful, but to each his own.  Neither of us needs somebody else to tell us what color to paint the house, or what type of flooring, or anything else.  Do your own thing and enjoy it, that's what it's all about.  The only way I would let anybody tell me what to do in my own home is if they buy it from me, then it would be thiers and they could then do as they pleased.  I really, really can't stand other people dictating my life to me and I'm not afraid to tell them so.

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 7, 2006 7:16 PM

Our house is all white hence its name :Casablanca" White walls white tile on the floors right through, whie ceiling and roof.. It is architect designed the best designed house i have ever seen and the colour scheme is incredibly effective. 

regards ian

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Posted by tangerine-jack on Thursday, September 7, 2006 5:38 PM
Wow Vic, and your friends still live there?  I can understand to a point wanting to keep up the property values by enforcing some standards of basic upkeep and apearance, but what the H&^% buisiness is it of yours what I do inside my own home!?!?!?!?  Sound like an unconstitutional invasion of privacy and violation of civil liberties.  If I lived there the HOA would have a very nice look into my psychadelic orange polka-dotted living room at my extended middle finger, that's what you get for peering into my home!  I thought the Nazi's were crushed in 1945, but I see they are alive and well in Orange county.

The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"

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Posted by cabbage on Thursday, September 7, 2006 1:51 PM
Good Lord!!!

I would shudder to think what some self appointed guardian of taste and esthetics would make of my home (and those of my neighbours!!!)

Torby is familiar (via webcam) with the contents of my home and I think even he was a little put off by the colours and artwork that are normal UK domestic environs.... Growing up in a brightly coloured home is normal to me -but my wife did take some getting used to my collection of artwork. I have an almost complete collection of Salvador Dali prints along with Escher drawings and Man Ray photos. (Oh and the pictures of locomotives...) My native colours are Blues and Greens.

My wife is a Charles Rene Mackintosh fanatic. Her natural colours are Pink, Purple and Black. She has a vast collection of Victorian Watercolours.

Our son has a room that is Orange, Green and Cadburys Chocolate fingerprints (with self drawn additions mostly in paint and felt tip).

There has only ever been one problem with my wife's view point on my collection of art work. That was a life size print of "Natasha Kinski and the Serpent" which she saw on our first date and while bright red she squeaked "It haz tay goo!!!"

The house with the butterflies painted on it -is the local vicarage -they raised about £200 pound for "Children in Need " last year.

Such an organisation could only exist outside of the UK -we would never stomach it here!!!

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Posted by markperr on Thursday, September 7, 2006 10:47 AM

Our HOA is pretty much nothing more than a paper tiger.  The builder set all of the covenants INCLUDING, denying the HOA the ability to change any rules PERIOD!  The builder also made the rules semi-ambiguous and open to interpretation which allows all kinds of outs if you are a homeowner.  If a homeowner has a complaint, they go the association board who refers them to the management company who refers them to the HOA board.  Thankfully, we are pretty much a self policing group, which, for 200+ homes is pretty amazing.

 

Mark

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Posted by vsmith on Thursday, September 7, 2006 10:45 AM
 Jetrock wrote:
 iandor wrote:

Of interest; when they had those free Jazz concerts they did not have any public toilets and we thought this was to keep non residents out, which it probably was. However the organisers have been forced to supply a toilet block now, so i guess someone must have complained.

 

Rgds Ian 

Normally community C&Rs deal with exterior treatments, but not the inside of a home....

 

Not true! Out here, behind the Orange Curtain, in the Conservative Third Riech of Orange County. I friends who live with severe HOA's that consider anything that can be seen from the street, including  inside your house that can be seen thru the windows to be under the restrictions of the HOA. In other words, if a neighbor walking down the street (yeah like THAT happens down there) can look inside your open curtains (also under HOA constrictions) and is offended by the degenerate art on your  wall (Picasso, Van Gogh, Pollack, Titian, etc.) and file a conplaint and force you to replace it with something that does not offend the HOA members collective standard of decency, usually something vomitus like Thomas Kinkade or some f**ing whale and dolphin painting. 

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by FJ and G on Thursday, September 7, 2006 9:42 AM
I once lived on a tiny W. Australian island (near Perth) that had more wallabies than humans. The wallabies came out every night for HOA conventions
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Posted by Capt Bob Johnson on Thursday, September 7, 2006 9:10 AM

Apparently Ian lives on an island where there are only 4 or 5 residents.   Human nature being such as it is, if he were in a more densly populated area such as a State Capitol hosting city like Sacremento, he would not be insulted by the idea that folk would steal a hose nozzle!

Rather like the guy who after remodeling his kitchen put good working order (but wrong color) refrigerator out on the front lawn with a sign that said "free to a good home for the taking" and couldn't give it away.   He put a sign on it that said "Sale!  $25.00" and it disappeared within the hour!

Does one suppose they placed the paddles in the wrong place when they had to jump start his ticker?

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Posted by Smoke Stack Lightnin' on Thursday, September 7, 2006 8:49 AM

Nice response Jack, gave me goosebumps!  To each his own and the pursuit of happiness be it real or an illusion.

Just don't nobody tread on my GRR!

Rich F.

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 7, 2006 2:01 AM

I doubt what you alluded to jetrock as true, and i resent what you said; it shows you have no class.This is a very classy neighbourhood and we have only ever had one reported crime on this Kawana Island. Someone had too much to drink and stole someone elses garden ornament, to wit an Australian Aborigne called "Neville'

Try to talk like a gentleman mate.

Rgds Ian

 

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Posted by Jetrock on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 6:32 PM
 iandor wrote:

Of interest; when they had those free Jazz concerts they did not have any public toilets and we thought this was to keep non residents out, which it probably was. However the organisers have been forced to supply a toilet block now, so i guess someone must have complained.

 

Rgds Ian 

 

I imagine that a visitor left an editorial comment about the lack of toilet facilities on someone's lawn.

 

Normally community C&Rs deal with exterior treatments, but not the inside of a home. If you are planning on a garden railway in your front yard, it might become an issue, but a model railroad inside your house shouldn't be an issue at all. Where I live we have neighborhood associations, which exist basically to see that city rules are enforced and membership is voluntary, in order to keep up on negligent landlords and public nuisances, but we spend more time hassling the city to do its job! My community is also known for its quirkiness and character so pink flamingoes aren't out of the question.

 

If you *do* want to put a garden railway in your front yard, you must have a safer neighborhood than I do: I can't even leave a fancy-looking (read: doesn't look like it comes from the dollar store) spray nozzle on the hose I use to water my front lawn--I wouldn't even think of leaving expensive garden railway rolling stock, motive power, miniatures, building...or track...out on my lawn, it would be gone within the hour!

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 8:46 PM

Of interest; when they had those free Jazz concerts they did not have any public toilets and we thought this was to keep non residents out, which it probably was. However the organisers have been forced to supply a toilet block now, so i guess someone must have complained.

 

Rgds Ian 

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 12:10 PM

My last two homes I bought did not have an HOA. They do nothing but take your money. Always had parking problems when I lived in an HOA, pleople would park in front of my townhouse instead of their own?? Working shift work back then really got me steaming mad!!

 

My current house (all one level) with a 24X30 foot garage with 14 foot ceilings on a FLAT 1/2 acre  lot has no street lights, no side walks and no HOA....I'm outside city limits (population 1,900) so it's very quiet.

I'll never own or buy into a Commie HOA again.....!!!

Oh yea, down the street there's an old church that no longer is being used, and it's painted bright solid BLUE..everything. But I don't see it unless I drive by it......so who cares....

 

 

dan

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Posted by Tom The Brat on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 7:41 AM
I think a homeowner's association would object to me
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Posted by cabbage on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 1:56 AM
Here in the UK we don't have anything like that! The reason I had to apply for planning permission was LEGAL and (I am told) the "Morons of Matlock" had egg on their faces when they processed it, since then "model railways outdoors" are exempt.

We bought a wreck -it took 10 months of hard work by the builders to make it habitable -it is now re-listed as a "grade 2" historic value building and anything else we would have liked to do to it -we have to ask the Morons of Matlock for...

(Interestingly enough it was they who posted the "Derelict building status" and "Demolition Subsidy available" on what would be our new home!!!)

However there is nothing in UK law to stop you painting your house bright pink or bright blue or yellow with huge psychodelic 60's butterflies on it. All of which are neighbours to us!!!

And no -the walls are natural grey gritstone and, (despite my wife's pleading), that is how it is going to stay...

regards

ralph

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Posted by kstrong on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 12:29 AM
When we were house hunting out here, HOAs were a big factor in our decisions of where to buy. They are--unfortunately--a necessary evil out here. Our non-HOA options fell into two categories: places where I wouldn't want to put anything of value outside, or places that were so overpriced that we'd have no money left for trains.

So, we settled on a community with a fairly mild set of rules--certainly nothing we can't live with, though their "welcome to the neighborhood" was a repaint notice. (In all fairness, the house did need repainting, and we didn't like the color anyway.)

Our "restrictions" aren't bad. I had to submit my back yard landscaping plan to the HOA's review committee, but their biggest concern is drainage--making sure you're not backing water up against your own house or into a neighbor's yard. Lawn ornamentation and garden sculptures are up to the owners' discretion so long as they don't exceed a certain height.

Just remember to write your contract with an out pending review of the neighborhood covenants, so you know what you're moving into. Our "busy-body" factor is pretty low here, but then no one really does anything out-of-bounds, either.

Later,

K
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Posted by tangerine-jack on Monday, September 4, 2006 10:05 PM

Your community sounds pleasant enough, Ian.  I like the free jazz concert idea!

In my area we have many real laws that cover things like how tall the grass can be and how close shrubs can be to the road and house, covered under the fire codes.  We have real laws against junk vehicles in the yard, broken windows and sagging gutters.  I don't see any reason to have more rules that are just thought up by a group of people who have nothing better to do with thier time than get into my buisiness. I don't like the everchanging rules either, let it be what it is when the development is built and live with it, or don't have any extra rules apart from the local laws. If I want a pink house with lime green shutters, it may be in bad taste, but who is a HOA to tell me not to do it?

I've been out to Capt Bobs many times, 30 acres is a good place to do what you want, when you want.  He made a good purchase.  Now if he can only move the entire plot out of Delaware.............

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, September 4, 2006 7:18 PM

Yes Jack I agree with you, I hate what we call here "Body Corporates" with a vengence and i would have nothing to do with them either.

Where i live is a planned and expensive development and all the roads are "Streetscaped" and you know about all the rules before you buy, as they are published by the developer. This same developer puts on free Jazz concerts from time to time in any of the many parks that we have; so they can't be all bad.

The majority of the covenants are to do with mooring vessels in the lake, but others are to do with such things as having television dishes antennas etc above the roof line and parking of vehicles etc.

So i am very happy with the rules we have, as we knew what they were before we came here and they haven't and will not change (I hope).

 

Rgds Ian

 

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