Homeowner Fined for Brown Grass During Drought
It’s happened in Florida. It has happened in other states. Now Denver, Colorado is the scene of the latest HOA atrocity committed against a struggling homeowner.
The Green Valley Ranch Homeowners Association noticed that Lori Wortham’s front lawn had some brown spots. True, the City of Denver has declared a Stage One drought. True, there are severe watering restrictions on homeowners who put too much water on their lawns.
But a $200 fine for a brown spot? Outrageous, says Wortham. She says she’s tried to put down new grass seed and water, but the brown spots aren’t going away during the record heat wave and drought. And HOA president James Tanner says Wortham has been warned before that she needs to take better care of her lawn. As long as the brown spots remain, the fines will keep coming.
President Tanner says a brown lawn lowers property values for all of Lori Wortham’s neighbors. He doesn’t say anything about how punitive HOA fines wreck the reputation of the entire neighborhood and lower the value of all properties in the HOA. That’s the law of “Unintended Consequences.”
Good reporting by Denver’s Channel 7 TV.
