SIDE STREETS: Death is no excuse to flout HOA rules

Some HOA covenant disputes can follow you to your grave.

When Dan Gamache put an asphalt shingle roof on his house last November, it immediately prompted neighborhood complaints and led to months of fines, negotiations and special meetings with the Village at Erindale homeowners association. Asphalt shingles are a violation of neighborhood covenants.

But Gamache died Aug. 31 before the dispute was resolved, leaving his grieving family and estate to deal with the fallout from his decision to defy covenants.

"It's just so sad," said Deborah Tinsley, a member of the HOA board who knew Gamache and is upset about the whole episode. In fact, she chokes up talking about Gamache and about his sons and ex-wife having to grapple with the roof issue at a time they should be focused only on his memory.

The dispute started last November after a hail storm damaged the wood shake roof on Gamache's home, a 15-year-old, two-story house in the upscale, wooded neighborhood of $400,000-plus homes near Academy Boulevard and Vickers Drive. (See maps and photos of the roof on my Side Streets blog.)

Wood shake roofs were declared illegal by the city, effective Jan. 1, 2003, meaning Gamache had to find a new material for his roof. His roof was not designed to support heavy concrete or ceramic tiles, said Peter Landsman, a neighbor and friend of Gamache.

Gamache ruled out lightweight concrete tiles because of their unreliability, Landsman said. So he chose a high-end asphalt shingle instead of HOA-approved materials such as tile, clay ceramic, composites, metal or stone-coated metal.

That's the part Tinsley doesn't understand. Gamache was a bright guy who had lived in Erindale a long time.

"He knew we had covenants," Tinsley said. "Dan wanted to be on the HOA board at one time."

But Gamache ignored warnings.

"Our HOA board president went over to the house that day and told them to stop," Tinsley said. "But they wouldn't stop."

The next month, Gamache was summoned before the board.
"Dan said ‘My mistake'," Tinsley said. "Then he got a lawyer and stopped talking to us."

Tinsley said the board had no choice but to hire an attorney and pursue legal action. The neighborhood was adamant the covenants be upheld, voting 42-5 at a special meeting in July.

A threatened lawsuit led to mediation in which the board offered to waive all fines - Gamache faced thousands as a daily penalty for noncompliance piled up - and even agreed to absorb its legal expenses if he complied with the covenants.

Then, suddenly, he died. Tinsley said Gamache never told the board he was sick. Landsman confirmed Gamache had kept his health private.

"We had no idea," Tinsley said. "We'd have taken that into consideration."

It's all very confusing, Tinsley said.

"We are all very upset about Dan's death," she said. "We all feel terrible for his sons and ex-wife. They don't need to be worrying about a roof at a time like this. I know they are upset."

But the roof is coming off. It will cost the estate about $15,000 for stone-coated metal to replace the asphalt, which cost about $8,000. Tinsley said the board is honoring its offer to waive all fines and legal fees. But that is little solace for anyone.

"The bottom line is we all willingly entered a covenant with one another when we bought our houses," Tinsley said. "This never should have happened. It's just so sad."

Tell me about your neighborhood: 636-0193
or bill.vogrin@gazette.com