HOA Nut House

Hey David,

When you say there was no vote taken, do you mean a community vote or an HOA vote? I believe the HOA has the ability to use the budget how they deem appropriate. A good HOA will consult the people of the community before making a major decision in order to get a community consensus.

The HOA in my community not only does not send out any communication on decisions they are making, they also discourage participation by posting the meeting times two days before the meeting.

My advise to you is to get as involved as you can at the meetings.

Benjamin Subercaseaux
Founder of Neighbor Online
HOA Website for your Neighborhood

First off. The addition of speed bumps is just that an addition to the community. A voluntary addition not a manditory replacement of a reserve item. Some associations require membership vote on voluntary additions costing 5% or more of the total budget. So it really depends on how your governing documents read. If there are lots of kids in the community I can't say I don't agree with the addition. Unless your willing to pay for a security guard to walk the grounds and record license plate numbers and assess fines for speeding and endangering the lives of children.

You may however want to address the board to smooth out the bumps and make them humps. Speed bumps can cause damage to vehicles.

Kids should not be locked up in the house just because they are kids. Think about when you were a kid. If you were like me you rode your bike through out the community, played in the middle of the street, basically ran wild just didn't do anything illegal. As long as we checked in every now and again and heard the whistle for dinner it was all good. With all of these HOAs kids are locked up in the house. If they play sports there isn't anywhere to practice except at practice. My Dad, me, my sister, and several kids from the community would all play soccer in our front yard. It was bonding for us. What do these kids have now?

I don't know your situation but you may want to consider how the decisions effect the kids and parents around you. For the best interest of the community is more than just how it effects adults.

Read your governing documents and see what it says about voting on expenses. And consider making a sincere unselfish plea to flatten the bumps into humps. You may also make the suggesstion to move the drop zone. Or make the suggestion that the parents have to drop the kids off so that the side of the car the kids get out is on the sidewalk they have to use without crossing the street. In the morning one direction and the afternoon the other direction. Don't get bent out of shape about it. If you had kids you would want something like this done as well. Have you ever asked if a child was hit by a car when walking to school? The other option is since you have someone willing to sit in a golf cart then why not make them a crossing guard. Don't punish the children for some over protective unrealistic parent who doesn't mind wasting gas. Enviromental issues come to play as well.