My restrictions state that the subdivision "exists for residential mini-farm, mini-ranch living." The only animals restricted are "hogs, cattle, commercial poultry, commercial dog kennels." At last years' HOA meeting, I spoke up to clarify that I would be getting chickens and that I am within my rights to do so, because I am not selling anything. My mistake.
One neighbor got downright belligerent, and insisted that the chickens would attract coyote that would kill her children. I responded that I have 6 kids, so I am not doing anything that might attract any predators that might harm a child (and I didn't add that when it comes to child-eating coyote, her kids are 7, 11, and 14, so I think they're safe from most predators). She continued her tantrum, and at one point someone asked how many chickens I'm thinking about getting, and I told them 10-12 at the most. They then took some impromptu vote, where 4 people voted, and 3 agreed that 10 chickens was the limit, and no roosters were permitted. Of course, the vote doesn't count, because the bylaws state that 75% of homeowners must agree in order to change a restriction, and we have 39 lots--4 people isn't even close!
So, now I'm HOA president--and boy are they turning it up on me now. We put up a 4x8 coop, painted it blue, and fenced in about 1/4 acre with electrifiable plastic movable netting from Premier1. Then the letters came rolling in...
3 letters were anonymous, and I suspect they were actually from 2 of the other board members and my other complaining neighbor. Mostly what they don't like is "looking at it." Funny, one of them can't see any part of my house or lot from his. Idiot.
The 4th letter was just a litany of unnecessary cursing, insults, and abrasive commentary designed to do nothing but humiliate me (which I refused to let it do). The complaints were about a "sloppily and hastily thrown together" chicken coop that "is an eyesore" and they "can't imagine anyone wanting such a piece of trash on their property." They complained that "chicken sh!t is everywhere and running off" onto their property (they even called DNR to inspect, and I got a perfect report). They then went on and on that the roosters were a nuisance (they hadn't begun to crow as of the date of the letter, and the moment they did, I got rid of them within 24 hours--to a good family, BTW). AND that we don't have brick on our detached garage (which the bylaws don't require). AND that my husband has been parking a "commercial vehicle" on our driveway (it isn't even a violation--it's an S10 pickup with the name of the company he works for--and the bylaws prohibit a vehicle requiring a commercial LICENSE, as in CDL, as in TRACTOR TRAILER, duh...). And said "our guests have even commented on their eyesore of a property." They threw in everything they could think of...I'm surprised they didn't try to say we have too many kids...
And if there is any legitimate concern over property values around here, everyone seems to be overlooking that there is a working quarry 1/3 of a mile from the back door of one of the complaining neighbors (huge dynamite blasts shake my windows 4-6 times a week), there is an incessantly barking dog next door to the other, and roosters in the distance that crow all day. The complainers who can see my lot leave for work at 6:15am and return home after 7pm. And they rarely even go outside on the weekends, because they're camping, boating, or inside. The other complainers live closer to the subdivision entrance, never drive down past my house, and cannot see any part of my home or property from their house. So what is there to complain about as they drive by for the 4.2 seconds they're passing my lot? Oh, and did I mention that our 2 year old asphalt road is crumbling, falling apart, and hardly driveable--we're in a lawsuit over it--and they think MY CHICKENS are going to affect their property values!?!?!?!?!!!
So other than wanting to do things that a good Christian woman wouldn't think of doing, I am sick over this. We are the family that other families leave their kids with when school's out and they need childcare. We are the family who bakes a cake and gives it to the new neighbors. Every time. Even this nasty family. We are the ones who helped the family whose house was vandalized to clean it up--when no one else did. My children are the ones who walk around and bring other neighbors' trash cans in on trash day just to be kind. I am the one who hand-quilts a baby quilt when a baby is born. DH is the one who helps raise the 2-story wall when the neighbor built his own house. And my home is the one where all the neighborhood kids play--even though we have no Wii, no TV, no pool and no swingset--all because of the "filthy animals" out there that they all love to play with.
So it turns out that not only are we fully in compliance, not only are we willing to repaint the coop white (DH wanted it that way anyway), and not only have we fenced a smaller area (they didn't need anywhere near 1/4 acre), but I have been called a POT-STIRRER!!!!! And I have been accused of ALIENATING MY NEIGHBORS by getting chickens! And these stupid morons, even though not a single bylaw has been changed because they can't get 31 neighbors to vote, much less agree, on the changes, they are telling me I need to make the changes just because...well, just because they want me to. "You heard the vote, you were there...you agreed (no, I voted against it, I didn't agree just because 3 other people agreed)...do you really want to keep getting letters like this?...these aren't the only people complaining, it's just that all your little friends don't want to speak up..."
And I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but I do have some very close friends here, and I don't want to be hated. I didn't do anything wrong, and I certainly don't deserve personal insults, whether I violated the restrictions or not. And I'm going to insist that the Board circulate a letter advising the entire subdivision that we are within our rights to do everything we are doing. If they don't like to look at it, THEY should put up a privacy fence, not me. We homeschool, we have 6 kids, and we have 22 chickens. Yes, that makes us very different than the average 1.78 kid, 2-income family. But I'd rather have me as a neighbor than jerks like these who are going to call the cops on you if they don't like the color of your front door.
I could cry, I'm so sick that even the parents of some of my kids' best friends have turned on us, accusing us of making things personal. And I know that if they're more concerned about their precious view than my friendship, they're not really friends, but I mean, jeez, who wants to live where they're hated by half the people who live next door?
And in the event anyone wonders what my rubbish dump of a property looks like, here it is:
I'm so angry, and insulted, and determined to prove to these people that their desire to protect their precious property values cannot infringe on my rights without a proper process!! I'm just discouraged that exercising my rights and minding my own business can make me so many enemies...grrrr........
One neighbor got downright belligerent, and insisted that the chickens would attract coyote that would kill her children. I responded that I have 6 kids, so I am not doing anything that might attract any predators that might harm a child (and I didn't add that when it comes to child-eating coyote, her kids are 7, 11, and 14, so I think they're safe from most predators). She continued her tantrum, and at one point someone asked how many chickens I'm thinking about getting, and I told them 10-12 at the most. They then took some impromptu vote, where 4 people voted, and 3 agreed that 10 chickens was the limit, and no roosters were permitted. Of course, the vote doesn't count, because the bylaws state that 75% of homeowners must agree in order to change a restriction, and we have 39 lots--4 people isn't even close!
So, now I'm HOA president--and boy are they turning it up on me now. We put up a 4x8 coop, painted it blue, and fenced in about 1/4 acre with electrifiable plastic movable netting from Premier1. Then the letters came rolling in...
3 letters were anonymous, and I suspect they were actually from 2 of the other board members and my other complaining neighbor. Mostly what they don't like is "looking at it." Funny, one of them can't see any part of my house or lot from his. Idiot.
The 4th letter was just a litany of unnecessary cursing, insults, and abrasive commentary designed to do nothing but humiliate me (which I refused to let it do). The complaints were about a "sloppily and hastily thrown together" chicken coop that "is an eyesore" and they "can't imagine anyone wanting such a piece of trash on their property." They complained that "chicken sh!t is everywhere and running off" onto their property (they even called DNR to inspect, and I got a perfect report). They then went on and on that the roosters were a nuisance (they hadn't begun to crow as of the date of the letter, and the moment they did, I got rid of them within 24 hours--to a good family, BTW). AND that we don't have brick on our detached garage (which the bylaws don't require). AND that my husband has been parking a "commercial vehicle" on our driveway (it isn't even a violation--it's an S10 pickup with the name of the company he works for--and the bylaws prohibit a vehicle requiring a commercial LICENSE, as in CDL, as in TRACTOR TRAILER, duh...). And said "our guests have even commented on their eyesore of a property." They threw in everything they could think of...I'm surprised they didn't try to say we have too many kids...
And if there is any legitimate concern over property values around here, everyone seems to be overlooking that there is a working quarry 1/3 of a mile from the back door of one of the complaining neighbors (huge dynamite blasts shake my windows 4-6 times a week), there is an incessantly barking dog next door to the other, and roosters in the distance that crow all day. The complainers who can see my lot leave for work at 6:15am and return home after 7pm. And they rarely even go outside on the weekends, because they're camping, boating, or inside. The other complainers live closer to the subdivision entrance, never drive down past my house, and cannot see any part of my home or property from their house. So what is there to complain about as they drive by for the 4.2 seconds they're passing my lot? Oh, and did I mention that our 2 year old asphalt road is crumbling, falling apart, and hardly driveable--we're in a lawsuit over it--and they think MY CHICKENS are going to affect their property values!?!?!?!?!!!
So other than wanting to do things that a good Christian woman wouldn't think of doing, I am sick over this. We are the family that other families leave their kids with when school's out and they need childcare. We are the family who bakes a cake and gives it to the new neighbors. Every time. Even this nasty family. We are the ones who helped the family whose house was vandalized to clean it up--when no one else did. My children are the ones who walk around and bring other neighbors' trash cans in on trash day just to be kind. I am the one who hand-quilts a baby quilt when a baby is born. DH is the one who helps raise the 2-story wall when the neighbor built his own house. And my home is the one where all the neighborhood kids play--even though we have no Wii, no TV, no pool and no swingset--all because of the "filthy animals" out there that they all love to play with.
So it turns out that not only are we fully in compliance, not only are we willing to repaint the coop white (DH wanted it that way anyway), and not only have we fenced a smaller area (they didn't need anywhere near 1/4 acre), but I have been called a POT-STIRRER!!!!! And I have been accused of ALIENATING MY NEIGHBORS by getting chickens! And these stupid morons, even though not a single bylaw has been changed because they can't get 31 neighbors to vote, much less agree, on the changes, they are telling me I need to make the changes just because...well, just because they want me to. "You heard the vote, you were there...you agreed (no, I voted against it, I didn't agree just because 3 other people agreed)...do you really want to keep getting letters like this?...these aren't the only people complaining, it's just that all your little friends don't want to speak up..."
And I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but I do have some very close friends here, and I don't want to be hated. I didn't do anything wrong, and I certainly don't deserve personal insults, whether I violated the restrictions or not. And I'm going to insist that the Board circulate a letter advising the entire subdivision that we are within our rights to do everything we are doing. If they don't like to look at it, THEY should put up a privacy fence, not me. We homeschool, we have 6 kids, and we have 22 chickens. Yes, that makes us very different than the average 1.78 kid, 2-income family. But I'd rather have me as a neighbor than jerks like these who are going to call the cops on you if they don't like the color of your front door.
I could cry, I'm so sick that even the parents of some of my kids' best friends have turned on us, accusing us of making things personal. And I know that if they're more concerned about their precious view than my friendship, they're not really friends, but I mean, jeez, who wants to live where they're hated by half the people who live next door?
And in the event anyone wonders what my rubbish dump of a property looks like, here it is:
I'm so angry, and insulted, and determined to prove to these people that their desire to protect their precious property values cannot infringe on my rights without a proper process!! I'm just discouraged that exercising my rights and minding my own business can make me so many enemies...grrrr........
