Homeowners meet, affirm anti-rent stance

Madison County Journal


11/29/2007 5:00:00 AM
Homeowners meet, affirm anti-rent stance

By ANDREW UJIFUSA
Assistant Managing Editor

Looming battles over renting and leasing subdivision homes was the primary topic of discussion during the Federation of Madison County Homeowners Associations meeting on Tuesday evening.

Leaders of subdivisions reached a consensus that pending civil suits over the right of subdivision residents to rent or lease their homes was an important battle and one where various communities should remain actively involved.

The meeting at the Northbay clubhouse was the second gathering of the FMCHA, an information clearinghouse and lobbying group for county homeowners represented by members of 21 different homeowners associations from Lake Caroline to Bridgewater. The group was established in July.

For about half an hour, the group focused on two lawsuits that deal with a recent Northbay resolution passed in December 2006 banning renting and leasing homes in the subdivision.

According to Ray Howell, an on-premises manager for the neighborhood, Madison Municipal Court will hold a hearing on Dec. 7 at 1:30 p.m. to consider a case brought by Northbay against a resident who allegedly violated the neighborhood's resolution.

Howell said the person had a previous lease agreement that was not subject to the ban, but entered into a new agreement in March that violated the resolution. Northbay eventually reported him to the city police department.

In Madison, violation of subdivision covenants is automatically a violation of city ordinances and therefore subject to legal oversight.

Howell urged representatives from other homeowners associations at the meeting to file amicus curiae briefs with the court supporting Northbay in the case.

"We need every neighborhood to file that," he said.

In a separate case filed in Madison County Circuit Court, where the Northbay board of directors is the defendant, Andy and Lorrie Bourland claim that Northbay did not follow its covenants properly by banning renting and leasing homes through a resolution instead of a vote by homeowners.

They also say that the subdivision is violating property rights through its ban and should be stopped from doing so. The Bourlands also entered into a lease agreement after the 2006 resolution.

The Northbay board of directors has claimed it was within its rights when it banned renting. Board members have said they did so to protect covenants, property rights and neighborhood appeal.

District 1 Supervisor Doug Jones, a Northbay resident, said the FMCHA needed to be proactive about making sure new subdivisions have renting and leasing prohibitions written into their covenants before they are physically completed. He also encouraged a more uniform standard of homeowner covenants throughout the county.

"It's up to us, the federation, to make sure those people are protected," he said. "This board really needs to be proactive as subdivisions are built."

Some at the meeting seemed to support Madison's legal protection of neighborhood covenants.

But Al Sage, president of FMCHA, did caution that some judges could look skeptically at the city's equation of violating covenants with violating ordinances.

"That's a pretty broad thing to say," Sage said.

D.I. Smith, supervisor-elect for District 3, said the FMCHA had to be careful about not appearing overbearing as it dealt with various residential issues.

"This is a very fragile situation," Smith said of the renting lawsuit. He said he had received phone calls from people who were confused about the role of FMCHA.

Also discussed at the FMCHA meeting:

-Barbara Horton, a resident of the Fairfield subdivision, said something needed to be done about the buildup of traffic on Mississippi 463 outside of Madison in the morning.

She said due to rush hour and student drop-offs at Madison Middle School, it often takes Fairfield residents ten minutes to turn out of the two entrances to the subdivision onto Mississippi 463.

"We literally have to rely on the kindness of others to jump out into traffic," she said.

She said she had been lobbying Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall to install a stoplight for Fairfield residents.

Horton said she planned to make a stronger push at the start of next year but worried that Fairfield did not have enough traffic under state transportation guidelines to merit a stoplight.

"We think it affects everyone in the county because it clogs up traffic in the morning," she said.

-Local mayors Mary Hawkins Butler of Madison and Gene McGee of Ridgeland accepted official FMCHA recognition for their city's recent accomplishments and for protecting residential areas.

Earlier this year, Madison was named as one of the top 10 towns to raise families by Family Circle magazine, while Ridgeland was ranked the 80th-best place to live in the U.S. by CNN/Money magazine.

"They both have done a great job of creating unique communities in Mississippi," Sage said.

Butler discussed the importance of protecting subdivision covenants and hoped the city's legal protection of those covenants would stand up in court.

"It's so important that we preserve our foundations, and one of those foundations is subdivisions, and homeowners," she said.

McGee said the city hoped its new master plan for growth would enhance homeowner protections in Ridgeland, and said the city had been very successful by sending out code enforcement officers to seek out troublesome spots in neighborhoods.

"We're actually going out almost on a daily basis looking for code violations," he said.