Officials give HOAs a pass, says Dan Watson of Gilbert, Arizona
This opinion piece ran parallel with the editorial below, and is referred to in the editorial. It deals with whether a municipal government that is mandating HOAs in all new construction should take some responsibility for protecting the owners who are conscripted into HOA living.
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It seems that Mayor Steve Berman and other town officials have once again taken an all-too-common position of disregarding the needs and concerns of the citizens of Gilbert. While our state lawmakers are busy trying to pass legislation that would rein in the powers of out-of-control homeowners associations in Arizona, Gilbert is still mandating HOAs for all new developments. In fact, Berman has decided that on his watch he will not address this critical issue for the citizens of Gilbert. His response to taking such an action (as reported by Brian Powell in the Tribune May 2) was that he "likes the idea of establishing a town commission to oversee HOAs, but with the town having no legal authority over HOAs, he doesn’t see how the commission would work." It’s a strange situation in that Gilbert feels it has the legal authority to mandate HOAs but will not get involved in resolving homeowner disputes that result from imposing unchecked HOA conditions, covenants and restrictions (CC&Rs) on homeowners. Come on, Berman, you can’t have it both ways. The concept proposed by Steve Maggs of forming a Gilbert town commission to address homeowners’ concerns is a genuine step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I don’t think it goes far enough. We don’t need an advisory group without power to offset the actions of unruly HOA boards. We do need a system that will return equality to Gilbert homeowners. As it stands now, the Gilbert-mandated HOAs have the final say in critical homeowner issues affecting Gilbert residents. The only recourse for homeowners today is through the courts, which is both expensive and time consuming. It’s difficult to understand how Gilbert town officials can mandate that every new development have an HOA without establishing a check-andbalance structure that would protect an individual homeowner’s investment. They should be taking an active, legal role in their mandated HOA management system.