HoustonChronicle.com - Peirce: Privatized neighborhoods aren't the future we want
Nancy Levy sent this link to a piece by nationally-sydicated columnist Neil Peirce, who writes about Bob Nelson's new book, Private Neighborhoods and the Transformation of Local Government, about to be released by the Urban Institute Press. I have read it, and it is by far the best statement to date of the case for residential private government. Bob comes from basically a libertarian perspective, and he has been thinking and writing about HOAs for a long time. This is a major work. I disagree with him on a number of issues--particularly the view that people who move into an HOA should be seen as voluntarily joining an association--but there is no doubting the quality of his work. I think policy makers who are pro-HOA will be using this book as their reference work. However, it is quite radical in that he sees HOAs as replacing local governments. I think increasingly they are becoming an additional layer of government. I don't see the local state withering away anytime soon, certainly not while the "double taxation" principle reigns supreme.
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I am contending with a conflict where one of the dynamics is the neighboring homeowners association has been surprised to discover that they are responsible for providing stormwater management and detention for two upstream, non-HOA properties. While the stormwater facilities are privately owned, they serve a public purpose beyond providing a utility soley for the benefit and enjoyment of the homeowners in the association. Stormwater management is a public good which is no respecter of "the gated community."
Future development of the upstream property may depend on access to the downstream stormwater pipes. While the municipality has the authority to grant the upstream property owners connection, municipal officials prefer to frame the issue as one to be resolved between two owners of private property. In effect, the HOA becomes the de facto Plan Commission for the upstream property. In addition, the municipality will not enforce ordinances protecting the upstream property when the HOA does not support the enforcement. The municipality views the HOA as a quasi-official arm of Village government. The HOA is an additional layer of government not only with respect to the homeowners but even with respect to the neighboring property owners. In fairness to the HOA, they are struggling with the idea that they have a public obligation (storm water detention) for property outside their own boundaries which their developer apparently "forgot" to mention.
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