A problem that crops up regularly at residential airparks concerns the individual who won’t live by the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs).
A recent caller explained that a property owner at his airpark was building closer to the runway than the rules allowed, the house was taller than was authorized and a fire hydrant had been placed within the runway – taxiway clear area.
Pleas to the rule violator were ignored and the airpark homeowners association was on the verge of trying to obtain a court order against the person violating the rules and thus try to force him to live by the rules.
“We don’t want to go the lawsuit route,” the airpark spokesman said. He explained that he suspects it will not only cause hard feelings all the way around, but it will result in a lot of legal fees that they could better use in other aspects of the airpark.
What else can be done?
In our conversations with others we’ve discovered that short of legal action, there is little that works against a person who so flagrantly violates all the established rules and regulations.
Among sources of help that we’ve heard have been local building departments and fire departments. The building permit department often can step in where the issued permits are not followed, such as building too close to a property line or exceeding height limitations or similar situations.
Sometimes a fire marshal or fire department will take an interest in a problem if they find there is a risk of fire. Unfortunately, often times this results in other fire inspection actions and a result can be that the fire marshal might determine a situation that is perfectly safe from logical standpoints is considered a fire danger when observed through the various chapters of the National fire Code.
We’re heard of liens being slapped on the property of violators and other legal steps taken to correct the problems.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any single, good answer of which we are aware.
Do you have a solution? Were there problems at your airpark with CC&R violators? Are you still experiencing problems? How did you resolve your issues or what actions are you now taking?
2 replies on “How do you handle CC&R violators?”
We have a similar problem — at our airpark, we have one individual who is building a hangar/home too close, too high, encourages the general public to drive on airport surface, and who is belligerant. The CC&Rs are clear about all the violations, and a law suit has begun. Consequently, we are having to close the airport to public traffic. Please, can anyone who has had similar experiences contact me. I need advice and references to similar cases.
Part of the condo association docs that I drew up for our group incorporate the phrase “After one
written notice of violation, if the violation is
not corrected within ___ days. the matter will be turned over to the association’s attorney for legal action. All expenses to correct, and attorney fees, borne by the perpetrator”
We came close, but never had to apply this rule.