The Community Associations Institute Virginia Legislative Action Committee (VALAC) needs your help! The Virginia Housing Commission is meeting on August 20th to continue discussions started in the General Assembly on HB 528 - Property Owners' Assoc. Act; managed conservation landscaping, unreasonable restrictions prohibited this past legislative session. This legislation would have prohibited associations from restricting owners from installing managed conservation landscaping, unless explicitly stated in the declaration. We need you to sign our petition to let the Commission know that HB 528’s language, as currently written, is harmfully vague, and that associations should have the authority to reasonably regulate landscaping practices and preserve community aesthetics and property values!
The LAC opposed this bill as originally drafted when discussed in the General Assembly earlier this year, as it would override freely negotiated private covenants. Most covenants, even the modern ones, do not address managed conservation features or plans (to permit or prohibit), because this is a newly defined concept/term under the Virginia Code - the bill needs to clarify the protection of existing covenants and allow for flexibility on association rule making authority.
Additionally, there is a lack of meaningful ability to reasonably interpret and approve or enforce landscaping guidelines by volunteer board/committee members. Volunteer boards and committees will greatly struggle to review requests and enact/enforce rules related to these features because the definition of the conservation plan and what are “unreasonable rules” are defined too broadly in the bill.
This bill is another example of an attempt to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to regulating community associations. Because this law would apply to all communities, small and large lots, densely populated or not, urban and rural, associations must have flexibility to independently and reasonably evaluate what they consider to be appropriate rules for their community.
Please, join the LAC in expressing concerns about the language of HB 528, and sign our petition today!
Dear Members of the Virginia Housing Commission,
We, the homeowners, community association managers, and business partners who ensure community association living is the best possible form of housing in the Commonwealth, express our opposition to the language of HB 528 - Property Owners' Assoc. Act; managed conservation landscaping, unreasonable restrictions prohibited as introduced by the General Assembly. We feel that HB 528 would override freely negotiated private covenants. Most covenants, even the modern ones, do not address managed conservation features or plans (to permit or prohibit), because this is a newly defined concept/term under the Virginia Code - the bill needs to clarify the protection of existing covenants and allow for flexibility on association rule making authority.
Additionally, there is a lack of meaningful ability to reasonably interpret and approve or enforce landscaping guidelines by volunteer board/committee members. Volunteer boards and committees will greatly struggle to review requests and enact/enforce rules related to these features because the definition of the conservation plan and what are “unreasonable rules” are defined too broadly in the bill.
We believe that this bill is another example of an attempt to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to regulating community associations. Because this law would apply to all communities, small and large lots, densely populated or not, urban and rural, associations must have flexibility to independently and reasonably evaluate what they consider to be appropriate rules for their community.