New Patio Rules

I don't think I can make it to the meeting tomorrow, but I have a few comments on these rules:

#5 I think that 'open flame' devices are also banned. Most BBQs should be OK, as they would be enclosed, but this should be added as well, shouldn't it?

#2 I thought there was a statement that decks were not to be used for storage somewhere (boxes, plant pots, could then go here as examples, and the latter could be removed from #3).

Is there some guideline for 'heavy'? I was thinking lbs / sq. foot. We might not know it, but it wouldn't hurt to put it in if we do. This kind of limits the weight of some of the 'normal' things I'm used to seeing on a balcony, including something like a larger plant pot, for example, which still might be within the "20%" limit in #3, but really be too heavy for a hanging balcony in a structure like ours. If we don't know, I don't think we should invent something, though.

#3 The sentence "If the projected area of potted plants cannot exceed 20% of the total deck area." needs to be reworded. Probably it was meant to read "The projected...".

I suggest you think about this one. 20% is excessively small - I would have said that something like 40% is more reasonable (getting obsessive, but reasonable as an upper limit). Might not hurt to have a statement that plants should not be located within 3 feet of a BBQ (or something similar), which would effectively limit the coverage to about 20% on smaller decks anyway. The rest of this is OK, and reasonable to prevent water rot based damage, I think.

In the end, it would be rather disturbing to me that I can store a bunch of unsightly boxes on the deck, but not have too many plants (assuming neither is too heavy, of course, which is automatically covered by #2). I thought there was something somewhere, but I still haven't gotten enough sleep from my vacation last week, so I can't be sure!

Overall though, a pretty good set of guidelines.

Any comments or background would be appreciated.

Alex

P.S. No, I don't have any plans to cover the deck with 90% plants, but 20% is rather small on my deck!

Thanks for the feedback!

It looks like there won't be a meeting tomorrow (or should I say today) since we met last week. We will reschedule this months meeting.

These new rules haven't been adopted yet. We're looking for feedback so thank you. As far as background, we're really trying to protect the decks after spending so much money. There were a few decks with damage due to charcoal, smoking, overwatering plants and heavy objects. Oh and tiling....yea, that's NOT good.

We already have a rule about unsightly items like laundry, clotheslines, storage (I think) but we wanted to call out other obvious items and clarify further in order to protect the deck.

No one is planning to measure how much square footage plants are taking but we want to give some guideline of what is acceptable versus excessive. From the meeting last week it sounded like 20% was too stringent.

Tom,

I agree that all owners should do their utmost to protect the deck, themselves and their community. That said, I'd be hesitant to create onerous over regulations unless specifically warranted.

For example, I have a Big Green Egg barbeque. http://www.biggreenegg.com/eggs_L.html

It burns coconut briquettes and is totally enclosed. If it wasn't safe I wouldn't own it - my wife is paranoid of fire! It also serendipitously painted the exact color of the railing trim!

If there is a ban on barbeques please list this one as a qualified exception.

Thanks,

Kevin

I seem to recall that the new deck rules were to be voted on August 13, but my latest newsletter said they're already in effect.

I think they go a bit too far in limiting what people can do on their decks.
- prohibition of staining - I haven't figured out how to avoid staining my carpet and clothing, much less the outdoor deck. Coffee and wine get spilled, food gets dropped, and dirt happens. Also, how can this rule be enforced?
- limits on what and how much of it we can have - Wouldn't it be simpler to find out the weight capacity of the decks and let people know what it is. This rule would also be difficult to enforce.
- prohibition of plants on rails facing out - Why? I think it would not be attractive to have the plants facing in and not out. Veronica said it was an earthquake hazard, but it's not. My smaller planter hangers bolt to the rails. The larger ones are held securely by gravity, but I could secure them if that's a concern. Last, there's no place for anyone to walk around my deck where a falling pot would hit them.

I think we should give some thought to how rules will be enforced. If the enforcement is complaint-driven, it presents an opportunity for busybodies to harass their neighbors anonymously, while others do the same thing without being bothered.

Besides, why get bent out of shape because someone parks in the courtyard, has purple draperies, or dries their bathing suits and towels on the deck? Let's confine ourselves to rules we really need and can enforce and develop a little tolerance. There's no need for everything to look the same.

Helen

kmcginn wrote:Tom,

I agree that all owners should do their utmost to protect the deck, themselves and their community. That said, I'd be hesitant to create onerous over regulations unless specifically warranted.

For example, I have a Big Green Egg barbeque. http://www.biggreenegg.com/eggs_L.html

It burns coconut briquettes and is totally enclosed. If it wasn't safe I wouldn't own it - my wife is paranoid of fire! It also serendipitously painted the exact color of the railing trim!

If there is a ban on barbeques please list this one as a qualified exception.

Thanks,

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

I totally understand your point. I'm not big on more rules especially if they are difficult to enforce. The BBQ issue is actually something that our local government issued. The HOA is just the messenger when it comes to that. In the last meeting a couple of homeowners brought up some points about gas BBQ may be alright. If my memory serves me right, I think that charcoal grills were still not allowed. This is something that the fire department will enforce not me.

I checked out your grill. It looks pretty cool but the homepage talks about charcoal and doesn't mention anything about your coconut briquettes.

Peachtree is supposed to investigate the gas option further.

As soon as I hear something, I will post it.

Can we revisit these rules with an education campaign? There are multiple relatively new residents that use their decks as laundry and excessive storage of crap.

Laundry on decks is a pet peeve of mine. I'll make the suggestion in the next meeting.