SIDE STREETS: Bill allows neighbors to let it all hang out

Once again, Colorado lawmakers are tinkering with the rules, or covenants, that govern neighborhoods across the state. And one bill may have folks seeing red.

Or blue, or whatever color of underwear is worn by their neighbors, thanks to lawmakers who are thinking green.

The General Assembly this week passed and sent to Gov. Bill Ritter a bill that would allow residents of so-called covenant-protected neighbors to dry their clothes on a retractable line.

"It's going to be interesting to see people's underwear flapping in the breeze at Cherry Hills," said Lenard Rioth, an attorney who represents 100 homeowners associations in the Colorado Springs area.

The clothesline provision was part of HB1270, sponsored by Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Littleton, and Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder. It is designed to encourage energy efficiency in neighborhoods governed by covenants and homeowners associations.

A main feature of the bill extends a law that requires HOAs and covenants to allow solar energy panels within their neighborhoods.

Kerr and Tupa expanded the law to require all neighborhoods to allow wind-powered electric generators, attic fans, cooling devices known as "swamp coolers," awnings, energy-efficient outdoor lights, shutters and retractable clotheslines.

"This is one of the most progressive HOA energy efficiency measures in the country," Kerr said in a news release after the bill passed the House on Tuesday and was sent to Ritter.

Another bill awaiting a decision by Ritter is HB1135 by Rep. Morgan Carroll that would change the hearing process HOAs use before issuing fines against a homeowner for violating covenants.

(Find links to both bills on my Side Streets blog)

It requires a "fair and impartial fact-finding process" and a hearing before an "impartial decision maker." The bill also encourages mediation.

Rioth sees both bills as unnecessary intrusions in neighborhood life and predicts they will generate lawsuits statewide.

"They take away very valuable property rights and contract rights from people who have voluntarily agreed to bind themselves to a set of neighborhood rules," Rioth said.

It's common for neighborhood covenants to ban awnings, clotheslines, window air conditioners and swamp coolers because of noise and appearance.

Rioth said the rules were written for a reason.

"One man's cooling device becomes another man's sleepless nights," he said. "Both of these bills take away homeowners' rights to regulate their own lives by agreement with their neighbors.

"It forces them to undertake what politicians want, rather than what homeowners want."

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