Hi Lemmy, My HOA sent out a email saying dogs are no longer allowed on any grass in common areas or front yards including grass between sidewalk and curb which is… everywhere except our own tiny backyards. The reasoning is some dog urine effected dead spots. Honestly I didn’t even notice them, it’s 95° here and all the grass looks sad.
It’s a walking town and we are not a gated community, non-residents walk their dogs here all the time, so this rule can only punish those who live here and has no ability to effect others.
Anyway, this seems like a ‘we have tried nothing and we are all out of ideas!’ moment so I wanted to see if anyone here had any suggestions I can pass on to maintain a “good” curb appeal ground cover-wise while allowing dogs to do normal dog stuff.
I can converse with the HOA board in good faith, but this rule is basically banning dogs from the neighborhood - which I super did not sign up for.
Pertainent info: PA, USA - Town Home style homes - small central common grass - owned for 8y.
Edit: it seems like people may have glossed over the question part and skipped straight to HOA bashing (which is warranted at times!) so I will rephrase:
What ground covering or neighborhood solutions to similar (perceived) issues have other communities employed?
Check to make sure that the HOA actually has the power to do this. As a land owner you are bound to follow the covenants that run with the land, but you are only actually bound to follow those covenants. You don’t have to do random stuff just because the HOA board or even a majority of the HOA voters say so, you only actually have to do what’s in the covenants.
Unless the covenants say that you agree to follow a bunch of dog-related rules to be defined later, you almost certainly are allowed to park your dog in your own front yard or in that of any consenting neighbor.
It doesn’t look like HOA is telling OP, they can’t have dog piss on their property and looks like at least residents are not interested in providing consent here.
I don’t think there is any legal right for dog owners to have their dogs piss in public or private areas accessible to public.
Many people are tired of the increased costs other people’s dogs impose due to piss damage.
Wtf are you talking about… a animal doesn’t have the right to piss in public?? I really hope you did drop a /s. I’m going to assume you did, because this is not reddit etc…
Strange as it sounds, it’s possible to stop animals pissing in public. Our HOA just installed laser turrets on every street to establish a no fly zone for birds, and birdshit has largely stopped.
There is a new problem of insect infesations and bird carcasses on people’s properties though. Several people have been fined for leaving them there for more than an hour, but on the plus side that’s helping pay for the turrets, which are EXTREMELY expensive to purchase, maintain and power.
There’s also been an uptick of plane crashes nearby caused by sudden pilot blindness, but we’re told that’s an issue of personal responsibility on the part of the pilots. They’ve been advised to take regular eye tests.
Uhh, dropped your /s?
At least I hope so
So the AKC has this page that lists about half a dozen alternatives to outright banning dogs on grass.
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/home-living/dog-pee-killing-grass/
I agree this very much sounds like the HOA taking the laziest route possible at the expense of it’s residents.
But also, fuck HOAs. Get on the board and take that shit down from the inside, only reliable way to destroy those parasites.
Is this legal? My understanding is that the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street is “semi-private”, in that the homeowner has to maintain it, but that the city actually owns it.
I’d check local laws and see if the HOA has any right to restrict dogs there.
Ban HOA’s. I really don’t understand why there allowed to exist.
Move to a place that is not in an HOA because fuck HOAs.
I’ve read some folks being a bottle of water on walks to dilute the pee so it’s less likely to ruin grass. But in fairness if some dog pee is ruining grass, owners are not watering their lawns enough. There are plenty of dogs in my neighborhood that are walked and I don’t think there are many pee spot issues.
But even better would be to not use grass :) uses too much water in the first place hehe
A complicating factor: I would say ~50% of the houses are rented and only the homeowners have a say in HOA matters. So, assuming any owners without dogs (including the whole board) and any landlord would logically vote to ban all use of the grass, while all dog-owning homeowners would vote to allow dogs near the grass.
Obviously that’s generalizing what the votes would be - even though the majority of the houses have dogs, I would say the minority are homeowners with dogs.
The reason I bring this up is a petition-style response may be dismissed as “well those dog owners have no say as they are not homeowners”
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Can the dog owning houses replace their grass with wood chips or something?
The HOA is taking the ‘our responsibility is to keep a consistent curb-appeal’ stance so I think seemingly random houses not having grass at all may not be acceptable - though maybe that’s appropriate for the strip between the sidewalk and road.
i will never understand the US’s obsession with “consistent” housing
It’s easier once you realize it’s mainly real estate developers trying to oppress minorities by setting up a a bunch of shitty rules to be enforced by a petty wannabe-dictator named Ted
