Condo HOA draws the line at mural on retaining wall

   When Shirley Blom was looking to relocate from Iowa, her son-inlaw sent her photos of a place at Sierra Pointe Condominiums.

   Blom liked the condos. But what really sold her was an exterior shot of a retaining wall covered with a chalk and oil pastel mural of flowers, butterflies and ladybugs.

   Irises, rose bushes and lilacs grew at the base, and flowering vines cascaded over the wall. (See photos on my Side Streets blog at www.gazette.com)

   "The mural sold me on the place," said Blom, who moved in 14 months ago. "It told me Sierra Pointe was not an Army base. It was a home. It had some personal touches."

   So she was disappointed to learn the mural has been declared an eyesore by the homeowners association of the 282-unit condo complex near Austin Bluffs Parkway and Academy Boulevard.

   "I see it every time I walk out my door," Blom said. "I was happy to see the mural. And I think it should stay. There are so many more important things around here they should be worrying about. I think it's stupid and . . . a waste of money to worry about the mural."

   But HOA President Randy Pech said it doesn't matter that the mural is only visible to a handful of residents. Or that 15 neighbors signed a petition asking the HOA board to let it stay. Or that it's popular with children in the complex who help the artist, eight-year resident Annette Daymon, retouch it each summer. The mural must go.

   "It's just business," Pech said. "We've got $22 million in assets there. We can't let anybody do anything they want outside their condominium. We can't carve out an exception for one person or another. We have to be consistent."

   The board's decision is heartbreaking to Daymon, 56, who began it as therapy after a series of car wrecks left her depressed, disabled and in chronic pain.

   "I started it to get rid of frustration," she said. "At first I drew a few big flowers in front of my own place. I didn't want to offend anyone else."

   Gradually, her mural grew to cover about 30 feet of the wall.

   We're not talking Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel here. Her mural is more hippie-inspired psychedelic flowers. And many residents, like Blom, seem to like it.

   Regardless, it appears doomed.

   "This is nothing personal," Pech said, denying Daymon's claim that the HOA is reacting to complaints from a neighbor with whom she's had ongoing conflicts.

   "I was walking the property and came upon it," Pech said. "I see it as an eyesore in the community. It is not at all congruent with the rest of the architecture."

   The five-member HOA board considered painting over the mural but now is considering simply planting bushes to hide it.

   "I view it as something that has to be corrected," Pech said. "I just can't ignore it."

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