It starts with a homeowner's NextDoor post of photographs of Atala butterflies on September 1, 2020 in Cypress Head. These native butterflies are critically endangered and were thought to be extinct until a few decades ago. The homeowner raises and releases many of these critically endangered butterflies each year. It took years for these butterflies to locate and frequent this garden. Many community residents enjoy the post and express interest in purchasing coontie, the native host plant of the atala butterflies.
Members of the HOA Board, however, seem to find the post (or the presence of these butterflies) quite threatening and arrange for the property management company (Campbell Property Management) to send a violation notice to the homeowner. (NextDoor, in this community, appears to be misused as a trap to censor, retaliate against, instill fear in, and/ or issue threats to certain residents. A number of residents refuse to post anything on C.H. NextDoor for these very reasons.) The violation notice concerns the homeowner's children's butterfly garden. The homeowner receives a CEASE AND DESIST order. It reads, "Correction Required: Cease and Desist all landscape alterations." She immediately replies and never receives a response from the management company. She considers the matter resolved in accordance with the Covenants.
Exactly 85 days later, on November 24, 2020, she discloses on NextDoor that she is concerned that she is a target of a violation notice mill that now stems from a survey concerning property damages near and around a newly installed community pool. Her concerns are verified through a violation notice dated November 24, 2020. It reads, "Correction Required: Cease and Desist all landscape alterations. Additional flower beds and alterations made on the side of the house will need to be removed." (Clearly, we can assume that someone is very angry about the survey and some other concerns that are addressed on NextDoor in this community.) The reverse side reads, in the handwriting of a Board member and/ or management company representative, "Email survey."
The survey is returned incomplete.
The homeowner immediately receives additional violation notices and threats against her children's butterfly garden. This homeowner is, indeed, a target of the wrath of some seemingly angry leaders. There appears to be a violation notice mill in full force. At times, she is the recipient of several violation notices a month. She meets with the property manager and HOA vice president in an effort to resolve the issue on December 11, 2020. Instead, the homeowner is deceived into supplying a plant inventory and side site plan of her garden that is used as a ruse to invent additional violations. There is never any mention of removing any plants, trees, or flower beds. She is banned from attending the first two ARB meetings. The management company denies this ban until the homeowner supplies email evidence to support it. The lack of equal access also conflicts with what the community HOA president states on NextDoor "All have an opportunity to attend the (ARB) meeting, explain their intentions and discuss the approval process. VERY FEW HAVE THOSE REQUESTS DENIED. I know because I attend each meeting and our records will prove the fact that few are denied." (B.C., NextDoor post, 5 August 2019.) Month after month, week after week, the homeowner tries to work with the ARB members and management company. She quickly finds that the president and other Board members "double-dip"; they concurrently manage and influence the ARB and board. This pattern of "double-dipping" seems to effectively create a lack of neutrality and an absence of due process. She expresses concerns to the community president and property management company to no avail. There are predetermined outcomes that reveal that the ARB in Cypress Head appears as one kangaroo court. She then raises this concern to the Board members at a Board meeting on January 27, 2021. She provides a five-minute presentation to the Board via Zoom.
Suddenly, B.C., the president of Cypress Head, closes the quorum on the homeowner and tells her "to get back to your children".
The lack of due process seems to conflict with the spirit of the Cypress Head ARB Manual that encourages an appeals process (on page 7). The president and the vice president micromanage the ARB. The property management company representatives refuse to provide contact information for their CEO. Why is there no legitimate appeals process in place? Why treat any resident so cruelly?
Meanwhile, the homeowner continues to receive additional violation notices that falsely accuse her of altering her landscape AFTER receiving several CEASE AND DESIST ORDERS. No one is altering her landscape following several CEASE AND DESIST ORDERS. She is never supplied photos of such alterations and she is never supplied any time-stamped and time-dated historical photos of her so-called violations, despite repeated requests. The property manager, who promises to send her the photos, later claims that the homeowner's photos of her children's butterfly garden are proprietary and that the homeowner is not entitled to such records. Meanwhile, these violations appear to be grandfathered in according to the Covenants that were in force prior to the publication of the new Covenants.
The harassment continues. There does not seem to be any resolution. The homeowner is repeatedly told that "everything must go" and that the butterfly garden "must all be ripped out". B.C. announces at another ARB meeting on February 9, 2021, “I don't care about your butterfly garden. I just don’t want to see it!”
He comes full circle and decides he wants a hedge yet he influences the ARB to reject EVERY hedge that the homeowner proposes on the basis of subjective argumentation.
He also criticizes the homeowner for using SI units in her proposals, despite the fact that the Covenants do not specify the units that are required on any ARB applications and/ or submissions.
The property manager (L.B.) tells the homeowner on March 12, 2021 that she may be able to request the photos of her children's butterfly garden through the HOA attorney and that there is a records request in place. This information is never provided to the homeowner. She has no photos and specifications as it relates to the CTEC hearing. There are concerns that the CTEC members are also an extension of what appears to be a kangaroo court of the ARB. The homeowner is never provided any specifications and/ or itemizations, despite repeated requests, of the violations and how exactly the matter can be corrected. Meanwhile, the homeowner is informed that there is a CTEC meeting on March 15, 2021 and that she faces thousands of dollars in fines (to protect her children's butterfly garden).
In the words of another C.H. resident on NextDoor (August 1, 2019),
"My fellow neighbors we would like to hear if you too have had issues with the ARB. Seems like their oversight to this community are definitely very selective and they tend to govern and make their own rules without asking for input from the community... It's time that we take more control from the ARB and restrict them from their oversight."
Remarkably, this pattern shows, that if a president of an HOA community dislikes a resident for any reason, then he can threaten, fine, and make MANY lives, including those of small children, miserable. This cannot and should not be tolerated in any community and especially not in this community where butterflies are a wonderful sight for so many children and residents during this pandemic. Hopefully, this website and others will bring these issues to light, protect this butterfly garden, and force the immediate resignation of those who seem to abuse their power in this community.
DISCLOSURE: This garden attracts more than 15 different rare AND endangered butterfly species and different native wildlife to our property AND our community. This garden is certified by the National Wildlife Federation, Florida Wildlife Federation, and Broward County as a “Florida-Friendly property that conserves and protects our precious water resources and provides valuable wildlife habitat”. There is also an application pending with the state for designation as Florida Friendly Landscaping (F.S. 373.185, F.S. 720.3075). Additionally, our state also protects gardens, such as these that grow vegetables (F.S. 373.185, CS/SB 82). Courts consistently rule in FAVOR of such homeowners.
The children’s butterfly garden was also reviewed by government representatives of our city AND county. These representatives were ASTOUNDED to learn that this existing butterfly garden now faces destruction. As one government representative said to the homeowner, “This garden is beautiful. This is exactly what we encourage residents to do.” Not one government representative stated that our children’s butterfly garden violated ANY city or county codes. I received a letter from one government representative that stated that nothing “….should be removed or disturbed as these can disturb the habitat”.
The homeowner states that she feels that she has had to take a very private matter public to highlight the injustices in this community, especially the obvious injustices against those who dare to enjoy gardening and butterflies.
MORAL OF THE STORY: To avoid being the next target of the Cypress Head leadership, ARB, and management company, STAY OFF OF NextDoor, use an alias, and IMMEDIATELY find another app to exchange important community information. This way, the powers of those who act as if they are censors on NextDoor are SEVERELY restricted.
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