Senate votes to weaken HOA authority over energy-saving devices

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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 28, 2008

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DENVER - People living in covenant-controlled developments would be able to install retractable clotheslines and rolling shades and shutters to save energy under a bill backed by the Senate on Friday.

However, homeowners associations could still stop residents from building a windmill if they think it will be too noisy under a change senators made to the measure, House Bill 1270.

Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, said current state regulations allow windmills only on properties that are at least a quarter-acre, making it unlikely that neighbors will hear it. Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, said people wouldn't be able to hear the blades moving over the sound of the wind anyway.

But Republican Sen. Ted Harvey objected because the bill didn't say windmills couldn't be built on smaller lots, like those found in his district in Highlands Ranch, which he said was the world's largest HOA. He and Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, backed an amendment giving HOAs the power to reject windmills because of noise concerns.

When it comes to energy efficiency measures like clotheslines, shutters or swamp coolers, the bill gives HOAs power to decide what color they have to be and where they can be placed but not the power to reject them outright, Tupa said.

Kristen Thomson, a lobbyist for Southwest Windpower, which manufactures small wind generators, said windmills and wind turbines usually work only in rural areas where wind can blow freely without being blocked by trees or houses, not in neighborhoods.

A law passed in 1979 protects homeowners who want to install solar panels, but HOAs can still require aesthetic changes.

House Bill 1270 would require that those changes not significantly increase the cost of the project. If a homeowner thinks the changes are unreasonable, he or she can sue, with the losing party paying the winners' attorney fees. Tupa thinks that will discourage people with weak cases from going to court.

The bill must pass another vote in the Senate. If it passes, the House would have to reconsider the bill because of the amendment which gives HOAs more power to reject windmills.