Sidewalk Maintenance
I live in a Master Planned Community with an HOA and Management Company. We have sidewalks, curbs, and gutters throughout the community. We also have mature landscaping including bougainvilllea, honeysuckle, and peacock flower (red bird of paradise); all of these frequently grow into our walkways. In our planting beds, our HOA decided to place granite pebbles which do not stay put! My question is whether or not the HOA and Management Co have an obligation to keep bushes trimmed away from and landscape materials swept off of the sidewalks? If so, do they have to follow what the ADA has as standards? If requirements aren’t quite that strict, what are the requirements for a community like mine?
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Rhonda,
There are no state standards for care of property within an HOA. The only standard would be what the community itself has developed or defined in the CC&R’s. This for the most part is totally up to the discretion of the board. Their duty is to maintain the common property to protect the property values of the homeowners. That is extremely broad and vague intentionally. You elect the board, and the board decides the standard of care they want to maintain within the resources of the community. There has to be a balance between standard of care and cost to maintain that standard of care. While I have no knowledge of any ADA requirement relative to the trimming of trees or the cleaning of sidewalks of debrie, if you believe there is one that is new to me.
If you have a handicap, and you believe that the landscaping practices of your community prevent you from enjoying your community then the ADA allows you to request a reasonable accommodation to address your handicap. Unless the current maintenance practices are so egregious that they prevent you or anyone from using the sidewalks I cannot believe that what you describe would ever be considered a reasonable accommodation.
If you have a concern, then attend a board meeting and bring your concern to the attention of the board. Give them an opportunity to address your concern or to decide the best course of action for the entire community. Remember their job is not to make everyone happy it is to act in the best interest of the entire community.
Dennis