Columnist: HOA shake-up causes a ruckus in northside neighborhood
The ink wasn’t dry on Monday’s Side Streets before the war over the Woodmen Pointe Homeowners Association escalated.
Woodmen Pointe is the 5-year-old northside neighborhood of $300,000-plus homes where the HOA board has aggressively enforced covenants.
The five-member board routinely sends dozens of violation letters per month — 112 letters in October. HOA board members patrol weekly for infractions such as garages stuffed with boxes instead of cars, unkempt lawns, fences needing stain, commercial vehicles parked overnight.
Newly appointed member Robert Brant resigned Saturday and vowed to redouble his efforts to oust the remaining HOA board members.
Wednesday, board treasurer Mindi Upchurch said she wants off, but for different reasons. She’s tired of being “bullied” by ouster organizers, especially neighbor Bruce Brian.
More fireworks are expected tonight when the renegade group — the Committee to Change the Woodmen Pointe HOA — hosts a 7 p.m. neighborhood meeting at Fire Station 20 on Rangewood Drive.
“Our hope is to bring this community together,” said Brant, who was appointed to the HOA board Jan. 1 to fill a vacancy. He resigned Saturday after a board e-mail exchange prompted by media inquiries. (Some of the letters can be read at the Side Streets blog on gazette.com)
“Frankly, I’m sick and tired of the board speaking out of two different sides of their face,” Brant told board member Leea DiPentino. “I now officially resign from this ridiculous board and dedicate all my efforts in removing the remaining board members.”
The HOA board had cited its appointment of Brant as proof it understood the depth of neighborhood dissatisfaction and its willingness to work with the renegade group.
Brant and others were enraged, however, when board members attacked leader Bruce Brian, accusing him of a personal vendetta.
“They don’t get it,” Brant said. “They turned this into a personal fight. It’s not Bruce against the board. More than 60 homeowners signed petitions and proxies so we can vote the board out. It’s not personal.”
Upchurch said Wednesday it is personal and that’s why she wants off.
“I feel bullied out by Mr. Brian,” she said. “I feel like it’s Bruce Brian against the neighborhood. He has tried to disrupt our work and create discord.
“And he’s creating so much work, sending so many e-mails, it takes so much time I can’t take care of my priorities — my family.”
And she is hurt that Brian, Brant and the others didn’t talk to her before advocating her ouster.
“I do think we over-enforced,” she said. “I advocated fewer walkthroughs, more time for compliance, more leniency for fines and late fees. But nobody bothered to ask.”
Brian started the campaign to oust the board after getting violation letters he deemed overzealous. He says the board is out of control and covenants need to be rewritten.
Brant says it’s so bad he’s getting out:
“I’m putting my house on the market Friday. I don’t want to live in a police state.”
Tell me about your neighborhood: 636-0193 or bill.vogrin@gazette.com
