Grass must be green, HOA decrees

Community board cuts homeowners no slack in drought

WAKE FOREST - Amid record drought and heat that have pushed Raleigh into severe water conservation measures, residents of the Margot's Pond community off Ligon Mill Road have been told by their homeowners association to keep the grass green.

"While the Board is aware of the inconvenience presented by the heat and water restrictions, we believe that having neatly landscaped lawns of grass is of the utmost importance to our community," said a letter sent to the homeowners in August.

Local homeowners associations are loosening restrictive covenants requiring green grass and manicured lawns. But the Margot's Pond association is not giving residents a break -- and it's causing dissension among some members.

In a letter Aug. 16, Talis Management Group, which carries out the policies of the Margot's Pond HOA, required the homeowners to have:

* Healthy grass free of brown patches and weeds.

* Living trees with mulch.

* Planter beds with living shrubs and flowers.

The letter gave an October deadline to meet the HOA standards. Violators would be subject to fines or "self-help" -- a landscape company would fix the violations; the homeowner would get the bill.

Vann Holland, a member of the Margot's Pond landscaping committee, thought the requirements were too stringent. In an interview with WTVD last week, she asked the HOA to "give the homeowners a break."

Talis promised to send a letter giving homeowners more time, Holland told The News & Observer. So far no one has seen it. "If anything," Holland said, "they've gotten more and more aggressive."

Two days after the television interview, the HOA board removed her from the landscape committee.

"No board member is authorized to make statements without the board's approval," said Margot's Pond HOA president Dave Sroelov.

After the Thursday meeting, members of the HOA board said the Aug. 16 letter was sent before Raleigh instituted one-day watering restrictions.

Calling the timing, "unfortunate," board member Bill Casey said the October deadline was still in effect, but could be changed. "We're open to that possibility based on future rain or water restrictions," he said.

Board members would not comment on Holland's removal.

Betsy Poole, 75, Holland's mother, was among several homeowners to be served with "self-help." It's not clear to her why she got orders before the October deadline.

"It's hard to consider doing any landscaping with the water restrictions," Poole said.

Casey said "self-help" work performed recently had nothing to do with the Aug. 16 letter and stemmed from existing yard problems.

Some other communities subject to water restrictions have taken a more lenient approach.

In the River Ridge Golf Community in Raleigh, Ed Thomas, president of the homeowners association board, has been playing the role of friendly water cop. The Old River Ridge Homeowners Association has appearance standards for lawns and shrubs, but Thomas, 62, said he draws the line at nagging people about their lawns in a drought.

"We haven't even vaguely considered that," Thomas said. "My guess is half the lawns in our neighborhood are browned out."

In Cary, where mandatory water restrictions have been in place since 2000, some communities are getting creative. Marie Cefalo, the town's water conservation coordinator, said the Carramore subdivision has installed mostly warm season grass, which is more drought-resistant.

Management companies hired to handle the administrative duties of HOA boards said they're advising clients to be flexible with landscaping rules.