HOA Nut House

By Morris Workman

It was inevitable.

It started with a simple idea for maintaining security.

Now, it’s gotten out of hand.

An unnamed board member for the Grapevine Villas Homeowners Association has taken it upon himself to begin patrols of his neighborhood.

On Thursday of last week, one of Grapevine’s residents finally had enough after being accosted by the man.

The development, along with Sunset Greens, has one of the few HOA’s on the south side of town.

One of the ongoing problems is the fact that the neighborhood is located directly across the street from the Charles A. Hughes Middle School on Hafen Lane.

Once upon a time, a community’s proximity to a school was a good thing, and a positive selling point for the homes located within.

But in a neighborhood that was once predominantly filled with retirees, an influx of families and the school’s location have become the source of an ongoing battle within the walled PUD and within the HOA board.

A strong contingent of residents have long been unhappy with the school’s placement, which has led to more vehicle traffic, along with pre-teens walking through the neighborhood on their way to and from school.

Grapevine Villas existed well before the school was built in 2003.

The problem became more tangible over the last few years, as walls and property within the development became targets for spray-painting taggers and vandals.

The HOA has resisted the trend that its streets become a shortcut to the school.

Previously, the association installed speed bumps on their streets.

The speed bumps were later removed after complaints from residents and a change in the HOA board.

Two months ago, the board installed a locked gate across Thompson Drive at Hafen Lane to keep foot and vehicular traffic out of the subdivision.

Now, according to one Grapevine resident, a board member has taken the next step in an escalating game of keeping kids and others out of the neighborhood.

According to Grapevine resident Linda Kessel, the board member has begun daily patrols to ensure that students aren’t continuing to use the HOA’s streets as a shortcut.

However, the patrols haven’t just targeted children.

Kessel explained that she was personally accosted by board member.

The incident occurred last week while she was sitting in her car in front of her daughter’s house.

Kessel and her daughter both have homes in Grapevine.

While waiting for her daughter, the board member allegedly confronted Kessel and began peppering her with questions about what she was doing there, why she was parked in front of the house, and how long she would be there.

“I told him that I live in this complex,” Kessel said during an interview last Friday.

“He said ‘I know who you are. I know everyone who lives here.’”

Kessel said that the man continued with his intruding questions, insisting that he had been tapped by the board to patrol the neighborhood.

“This is like living in a police state,” Kessel said on Friday.

“This is not Russia.”

Kessel is an active and well-liked member of the community.

She and her husband Lewis, a former volunteer firefighter, are charter members of Mesquite’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), which assists firefighters and police officers in emergencies as well as helping with search and rescue operations.

In 2005, the couple went back east to help hurricane victims following the arrival and devastation of Hurricane Ivan.

She is also a popular singer and soloist with her church.

She is not the kind of person to just sit back when she sees people getting picked on or rights being violated.

After enduring what she believed to be intrusive questions, Kessel decided to take action.

“I’ve had enough of this,” she said on Friday.

She called Castle Management, the company which works with the HOA board.

According to the person who answered the phone, neither the property management company nor the HOA have approved any sort of patrols, although both are aware of them.

That fact was confirmed on Tuesday.

“I know we’ve got a board member who goes around checking on the neighborhood,” said Tammy, a Castle Management manager.

She did not mention the name of the board member.

During the brief phone interview, she went on to say that the patrols have drawn enough attention that they have become a topic for the board.

“It’s on this agenda for discussion,” she said, referring to the next meeting of the Grapevine HOA board.

That meeting will take place On Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. in the Castle offices located at 840 Pinnacle.

Kessel plans to attend that meeting to express her outrage that citizens in a free country can be accosted and questioned in their own neighborhood, an obvious violation of the First Amendment right to “peaceably assemble.”

She is so angry that an HOA can be so intrusive and controlling that she is considering a petition to dismantle the association and return control of the neighborhood to the individual property owners.

Such a move would be groundbreaking in Mesquite.

It would also be an arduous endeavor, as NRS 116.2118 mandates that the dissolution of an HOA requires 80% approval from the property owners.

However, Kessel is known as a woman who doesn’t let daunting odds intimidate her, and will likely decide on her next move after next Wednesday’s meeting.

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