:ohdear:
:ohdear: Well was talking with the boss and we remember discussions that went something to the effect if all the other kids jumped off the cliff would you? These thought processes are part of what is wrong with todays society. People pick and choose what laws/rules they want to obey or ignore. Just because others do it does not make it right or should be acceptable. If you start picking what laws/rules you want to follow/obey I choose to take $10 out of all Villagers into my account monthly.

As for rules in TV, you bought here, you new the rules, so live within them. Understand that the restrictions may not be administered 100% across the board but do we really want that? It would make for a whole lot of shrubbery trimming and removal, as well as seeing sights we do not want to see in backyards and a huge loss of privacy in some cases. As for statuary & yard art, if you are reported remove it for a few days and then put it back. If you do this enough times either the trolls will get tired & go away or they will have a heart attack from getting so mad/frustrated. As for the crosses paint them green and call them a plant stake. If you do not think restrictions are needed drive thru some of the unrestricted developments and get very scared by the nome villages, holiday lights up year round and more religious statues than the Vatican. These types of things are exactly why there are restrictions & rules.

An American flag or cross will hardly turn this into a trailer park. I understand the rules but let respect and common sense prevail.

I am that guy that normally never make an anonymous complaint, so when a contractor decided to dump his drywall mud and paint down the sewer I went over to talk to him and didn’t have a chance, I told community watch about
what had happened gave them his plate number and informed them I had no desire to remain anonymous. The owner showed up-after he left and was shocked when he learned what this idiot did. Hopefully the villages will keep him from working here in the future.

This is the problem that pro-restriction people have with homeowners, and anti-restriction people have with restrictions. The answer to the question you ask in the bold/underlined is - YES. Yes, we want restrictions enforced evenly and uniformly. If it's a bad restriction, then change the restriction. If it's a good restriction, then enforce it among ALL homeowners who are in violation of those restrictions. Not just the ones that have had someone complain about it.

As we are seeing here on this forum, and in other online sources (not just "that other news site" but on other non-Villages fora that have threads about the Villages)...

it IS an issue. The fact that this is a complaint-driven system - is the problem. Someone can have something that they never knew was a violation, for years. Maybe the property even came with it. Like a widened driveway, or extra landscaping, or an oversized awning over the front yard. No one complains about it, they bought it that way, and so they just assumed everything was hunky dory.

Fast forward 12 years and a new neighbor moves in, wants to do the same thing and is told they can't. They want to know why they can't, when their neighbor did? CS has to check it out, they find the neighbor has been in violation of this for the past 12 years, and forces the neighbor to pay someone to dig up the extra slice of driveway, or gut the garden, or remove and replace the awning. Even though it was like that when they bought it and no one brought it up for 12 years.

Either it should be enforced across all properties that have these restrictions, or it shouldn't be enforceable at all.

Come On
 

Come on!! None of this is rocket science. There are rules and follow them or move. You knew when you signed up to buy so
you are being just another trouble maker and God knows we don't need you if you are going to disregard the rules. The white crosses are just another form of advertising your religion and you could buy an ad on "Talk of the Villages" if you want to advertise. It is clear the ones who violate the rules are hypocritical as they knew them when they moved in. :ohdear:

What type(s) of (illegal) yard ornaments, represents that the homeowner follows..."hedonistic ways?" :D

By definition, shouldn't someone who displays a white cross to proclaim they are a Christian...at least try to follow the tenets described thereof?

I can't help but notice, a lot of downright 'un-Christian' reactions and posts...toward anyone who is against white crosses on lawns.

Is it just me that finds this...highly hypocritical? :shrug:

Respect. Maybe the problem would be lessened by people respecting their agreement to abide by the deed restrictions as shown by their signature on the purchase documents. My residence is in compliance and, by chance, it was not and was reported by someone, the blame would be mine alone. And certainly not the person who reported it.

I’ve read some hypothetical situations posted in opposition to the anonymous reporting system but what they really do is support homeowners adhering to the deed restrictions. It’s not the system, it’s people failing to honor the commitment they accepted by purchasing here.

:clap2:

True (and funny) story: First bought in Woodbury in 2003, new neighborhood. Restrictions/compliance was really strict back then. Community Standards/watch whatever drove around checking for "Violators". Garden gazing balls were very popular then, saw them everywhere including other neighborhoods and villages. So I bought one and put it IN my garden surrounded by shrubs and flowers. It was not on my lawn. A couple weeks go by and I come home to an official warning ticket on front door knob. Oops. BTW, I am a rule following type of person. Apparently can't have a gazing ball in the garden. Okay fine, I moved gazing ball to rear yard against lanai where it lived for several years. No problem. Our yard backed up to a fence.
It gets 'better'. We had a company do a screened in front porch with door, etc. All ARC approved of course. During the work, we had to get everything off our porch and out of their way. We had a plain white cement/concrete statue of a dog holding a basket of flowers. It was extremely heavy. We TEMPORARILY moved it to the corner of our sidewalk until it could go back to living ON OUR PORCH. The SAME DAY the porch was completed and workers had left, someone stopped their white truck, came up to our door and gave me a verbal 'warning' that the statue can not be out there. I was like come on, really? I explained why it was out there for ONE FREAKING DAY, that I couldn't pick it up and carry it myself, and my husband would deal with it when he got home. If the guy couldn't wait until hubby was home, he was more than welcome to put it on the porch himself. Jeez!
THAT, my friends, is the definition of OVERZEALOUS rules enforcers in TV! LOL!
I realize it takes all kinds, people are different, but I have always minded my own business and I appreciate people who do the same.
Extremism either way is not a good thing. If everyone used common sense and lived by the Golden Rule, we'd ALL be better off. Have a peaceful day!

Well put!

Would it have made a difference if you say put a blanket on the dog statue to indicate it was being moved?

Did the warning give you a time frame to comply with the warning?

Are you referring to Christmas time? That is not 4+ months of the years. More like the month of December. I don't know what you are getting at.

I think someone was trying to get at the idea if you have an illegal ornament, add a Christmas bow to it, then change it to a Valentine heart, then add Easter eggs etc etc throughout the year.

We had a family on a street I once lived on (not in TV) that had a life style statue of holy Mary, two 8 foot blue Smurfs and a very large blown up Santa all year long.

WOW.....good catch. I always thought of seasonal displays as Christmas time only. Never dawned on me that we could display lawn ornaments for Summer, Spring and Fall. Hmmm. Something to think about.

I don't have the rules in front of me but, (correct me if I'm wrong here); I have always been under the impression the Christmas displays must be down by the first week in January. No?

So.........given that time frame for Christmas displays, when do the Summer, Spring and Fall displays have to be down by? See what I'm getting at?

Is this for real? Yikes!!!

I agree with you 100%. The reason the complaint system is complaint driven is because having someone driving around and reporting every violation would be expensive. As large as TV is it would take a large department to deal with all of the violations and we would pay for this via increase amenity fees. I lived in a neighborhood of only 1300 homes and the expense of having someone deal with violations was costly.

6' tall lawn ornament? Why is this neighbor pushing the envelope that far? You can't be serious. I have never reported any infraction I have seen and I am opposed to all those little white crosses. Having said that......I would report a 6' lawn ornament in a heartbeat! I would not put up with that. Sorry.

Just wondering.... is it a dinosaur?

Obviously it's not expensive at all, if you have so many willing and eager volunteers already doing it for free. Make them official Volunteer Compliance Officers, tell them it's now their actual responsibility, they get coffee and donuts when they turn their report in at the end of their shift, and problem solved.

Of course that means everyone will know who they are. But if they are sincere in their need to ensure that the entirety of the Villages is in compliance with each area's respective deed restrictions, they should have no problem identifying themselves. They could even get fancy hats and a special marker on their golf cart to indicate that they're "on duty."

BUT. If is isn't broken. Don't fix it. If someone is not in compliance they can be reported. Granted there are a few folks who have driven around reporting people not in their neighborhoods but that is not common at all. Most people see something overdone, too big, too bright, too much and pick up the phone. I have lived here for more than a dozen years and have reported things four times. The first time we were snow birds and came back to find a new neighbor had put a lot of schlocky things in her front yard. You know like stuff around a tree that looks trashy?

There are very few things that can be reported in the historical section. Most everything is allowed.

On another site, there was a plainly stated threat to the anonymous complainer. "Don't get mad, get even." This is exactly why complaints should be anonymous. However, as someone previously stated, Community Standards should require the name of the complainant, not to be disclosed, but to be monitored, to see if these are frivolous or targeted.

:bigbow: You nailed it.

Break a rule your a public Fool...Simple

My opinion
 

It is an interesting issue with no perfect answer. I expect if people choose to they could find a violation on anyone's property. I've never had anyone complain about me. I do freely admit that was someone to complain about me it would not be at all difficult to discover who it is and to start a violation war.

We all seem to think, we are perfect. If, one of your neighbors chose to do it, do you water on the correct day? Do you always pick up after your dog? Is that you mutt barking? Is that your dog illegaly running about with no leash?
Is that your guests blocking my drive? Is that you stopping in the middle of the street to gossip? Is that you parking with your car facing the wrong way? Is that you running your motorcycle with no muffler? If, you think, I'm sure you can find something that you are doing that is a violation?

Current issues that people are posting about-crosses. I would like to believe the right thing to do would be to talk to a neighbor. Sadly we all know there is zero chance that would end well. The same thing is true about political flags, or banners. Heck the same thing is true of sports stuff. Oh there is that guy that illegally expanded his driveway.

So, as I stated, I do the best I can to be a good neighbor. I would not be at all happy if I discovered I had been reported for anything.

People are people. For better and for worse, the Villages is congested not farm country. I recall reading about an island in North Carolina a decent home, five acres and a wild horse herd for a million bucks. Your own kingdom. I have no idea about taxes. I have no idea about cable TV service. Oh and your neighbor. He is looking to buy a boat right now.

Nothing is perfect
 

Years ago I met this guy who lives in Germany. He lives in a castle and is married to a duchess. If , I recall they have over 20 acres. He and a neighbor are fighting over a huge tree that is over the property line. As i recall, he told me if it stays for another 20 years it is grandfathered in.

My point, people are people anywhere and everywhere. Nothing is ever perfect. No solution is perfect. Here, if you see a violation it is your choice to or not to report it. You need to decide if it is really important. You need to expect, it is very unlikely that a person you report will say thanks for letting me know. Unlike the choices made in other planed communities we do not have people patrolling and looking for violations. Another not perfect answer to human problems.

The idea of grandfathering in things is actually not bad. As long as it doesn't violate actual LAW...if it's just a deed restriction -

For example (totally hypothetical) if someone puts pavers along the edge of their driveway leading to their front door, and those pavers weren't ever approved and no application was ever submitted - and the home was then sold 4 years later, and no one complained about it til 4 years after that...

Well, 8 years have gone by since the pavers were installed. And 4 years have gone by since the people who put the pavers in have ceased to even own that property.

It's a safe bet that you could grandfather that walkway in and say "y'know what, that's fine, no worries, but hey current homeowner, just be aware that if you want to change it, you WILL need to get approval first."

I'm all for enforcement of the deed restrictions. It's one of the reasons I chose The Villages. I can understand wanting to remain anonymous when making a complaint about violations and not having face possible, unwarranted retribution. I've seen several posts suggesting that the Neighborhood Watch be trained to assume this responsibility and that makes sense to me. They're already riding around all the neighborhoods and, if it were their job, it wouldn't be taken as personally.

There is always much ado about nothing in all of the FORUMS around here because we like to debate and we have plenty of time to do so.

I doubt you would ever see this happen. First of all, it isn't their job and their job is unlikely to change. Secondly, I doubt that either the Developer or the CDDs wants to be in the violation reporting business for the legal reason associated with selective enforcement that I had outlined earlier. As far as I can tell, the current system works well. It would be unreasonable to expect that there would be zero infractions and that clearly isn't the goal. A vehicle is in place to address any egregious issues. Unfortunately, some people wish to obsess over a few outliers of people behaving badly. Some people are always looking for solutions to imaginary problems. Of course, if everyone followed the deed restrictions there would be nothing to report. Ooops, got to go, I have a tee time.

That was the point I was making with my idea that there are people who do this anyway, they might as well become official. It was in response to someone who was concerned that adding these official positions as paid employment would be very expensive to the community. We have people who already do this and don't get paid. So why not encourage them by making them official volunteers?

If your going to ride all day looking for violations Put your name on the objection . or else don't say anything

I know, I know, I said I was leaving, but, but...

It seems this thread is still going round and round. And the basic premise is someone is breaking the rules, and they should be held to account for it.

But, then no one answered my previous question, "Anyone here ever call the police to report a friend that was driving home and had had too much to drink"? Alcohol is involved in over 80,000 deaths every year. Often those deaths are innocent by standers, children playing in their front yards and yet no one reports a neighbored for that.

But concrete frogs and flamingos, OMG!

The lady with a clip board is not a myth, I saw her and followed her, witnessed her stopping in front of several houses in Tamarind Grove-she stopped in front of a house that had small white crosses, the others had small lawn ornaments , some had small American flags held vertically by lawn frames--I stopped her and asked "what's she was doing"--she said, "she was on a scavenger hunt"
She was driving an older deep red golf cart, with a big black square on the rear and a white swim noodle in the back shaped like an "A"

I thought white swim noodles in golf carts was against the rules.