Huntington Woods Homeowners Association Board of Directors Meeting

Meeting Date: 19 October, 2003

Present: Tim Isle, Tom Longest, Mike Latz, Jon Peterson, Holger Tank, Todd Pierson

Apologies: Chris Caniff, Janet Baker, Lisa Tabor

Agenda Items:

The only agenda item of the meeting was to discuss a formal complaint that has been submitted to the Huntington Woods Homeowners Association Board of Directors, requiring the board to enforce the covenant as it applies to vehicle parking, threatening legal action.

The covenants states under section 9. MAINTENANCE OF LOTS, subsection (a) Vehicle Parking: No camper, motor home, truck, trailer, boat or disabled vehicle may be parked or stored overnight or longer on any lot in open public view.

Initial discussion centered on the definition of ‘truck’. Jon reported that the town judge Christine Atkinson defined truck as a vehicle with a loading deck (pickup) or licensed as a truck. This was confirmed by a recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision (in connection with the Indiana seatbelt law) that defines a truck as any vehicle that is licensed as a truck, even if it is a SUV. It is still an open question whether the true meaning of the word truck in the covenant includes all trucks as defined legally or implies commercial trucks and vehicles.

A further discussion point was the annual homeowners association meeting in October 2002, where an amendment of the covenant was proposed and voted on. This amendment would have basically removed the word truck from above restriction and replaced it with new wording that would limit the parking restriction to commercial trucks. The minutes of that meeting provided by Revel & Underwood do not reflect whether this amendment was approved or not, but do say that the amendment was shelved with a vote of 17 : 1. Hence the current covenant is still in effect.

There were different opinions on whether parking trucks on the road would violate the parking restriction in the covenants. The way it is written now it restricts parking on any lot in open public view, it does not address parking in the street. It will require a legal interpretation whether in open public view would override on any lot.

It is our view that the town ordinance restricts only parking of work trucks on public streets over night, not private pickup trucks. Hence neighbors parking trucks in the street would possibly not violate the covenants or the town ordinance. If this is the case, the board can only enforce the restriction on parking of trucks on any lot overnight, but has no means to enforce the restriction on parking of trucks in open public view.

Despite the ongoing discussion of the interpretation of the covenants all board members present agreed that in the light of possible legal action the board has no choice but to try and enforce the covenants.

Hence the board members agreed unanimously that:

· The board will fulfill its obligation to enforce the covenants by sending a registered letter to the affected homeowners, asking them to comply with the covenants and not park trucks on the lot in open public view. Tim offered to draft a letter and send out for review. It was also suggested to have the letter reviewed by legal counsel to ensure the board is meeting its obligation.

· Jon Peterson, Todd Pierson and Holger Tank agreed to talk to the affected homeowners to explain the situation and inform them that they will receive this letter.

· Tim Isle and Holger Tank will arrange a meeting with the Town Marshall David Effler to get final clarification on the issue of covenants versus town ordinance and an interpretation of the town ordinance on the question of truck parking in public streets.

· The dialogue with neighbors should continue and a meeting scheduled as soon as possible to discuss the issue and a possible resolution.