Got it, no proof…Didn't read it online. It could have been FHA. Not going to spend time looking for it. Just put the words, "I believe" in front of HOA.
Got it, no proof…Didn't read it online. It could have been FHA. Not going to spend time looking for it. Just put the words, "I believe" in front of HOA.
Almost, no evidence that I am willing to go hunt down and share.Got it, no proof…
Don't you have about 10,000 posts in your own HOA thread? Not enough bickering there for you, so you need to trash this thread too?And people cannot understand why some people want an HOA…
What bearing would the neighbors when you bought have on your future neighbors?As an aside- if a neighbor hung up a giant schlong sign, first, I'd wonder what was wrong because I chose my location and, therefore, neighbors, very carefully.
Actually in reality the HOA of condos must be FHA approved to get a mortgage from FHA or VA. They are often advertised as such. There is no blanket subsidies for HOA’s as they also loan in non HOA neighborhoods.Hmm, I just took a quick look...
<<<Some of the first HOAs were formed early in the 20th century in Los Angeles County...>>>
<<<In 1963, the FHA had approved federal home mortgage insurance exclusively for condominiums or for homes in subdivisions that had a qualifying homeowner association.>>>
Link
It's a long story....suffice to say, I'm not worried.What bearing would the neighbors when you bought have on your future neighbors?
That is a great position to be in hope it stays that way for you. As I recall you have some acreage and are not twenty feet from the neighbors house?It's a long story....suffice to say, I'm not worried.
Don't do it... Trust me.Most of the last page is "show ignored content" or whatever that message is.
Would defeat the purpose of ignoring!!Don't do it... Trust me.
Wise, this post is.Don't do it... Trust me.
CAMDEN, Maine—Lisa Gorman was preparing for another summer at her waterfront home—with its stunning view of this town’s idyllic harbor—when a neighbor delivered some bad news and a seemingly generous proposal.
The towering oaks in Gorman’s backyard weren’t doing well, the neighbor said, and she wondered if Gorman would want to split the costs of cutting them down, according to a letter Gorman’s lawyer wrote to the town.
Alarmed, Gorman, who is in her 70s, soon noticed that other plants and trees were looking sickly and some treetops were oddly lopped off. What was going on? Eventually her tree service had an idea: Let’s test for poisons.
The resulting fracas has shaken this affluent seaside New England enclave to its roots.
Some people will kill for a view like Gorman’s.
‘Tree-gate’
In Camden, which graces lists of the U.S.’s prettiest towns, Gorman’s neighbors, Amelia Bond, the former president and CEO of the St. Louis Community Foundation, and her husband, Arthur Bond III, an architect and nephew of former U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, ultimately signed a consent agreement with the state of Maine in which Amelia admitted to poisoning Gorman’s majestic oaks with a powerful chemical in the fall of 2021.
Camden, Maine, is listed as one of the U.S.’s prettiest towns.
The clandestine plan had extensive consequences, killing or severely damaging most of the trees, shrubs and ground cover in Gorman’s backyard. The herbicide, tebuthiuron, was later detected in a nearby public beach. The Bonds have paid more than $1.7 million in fines and restoration costs but still face a potential state criminal investigation and more cleanup costs.
On a recent day, the Bonds’ spacious stone and wood-sided home—valued at around $3.3 million, according to Zillow.com—sat empty.
“The Bonds sincerely regret these circumstances and the unintended consequences that were created,” a statement from the Bonds’ attorney, Joseph Mendes, said. “They have expressed remorse and have consistently taken steps to address this situation, and they will continue to cooperate with the parties given the seriousness of the allegations.”
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The Bonds aren’t the first wealthy homeowners to be accused of doing-in trees that blocked their view. In a controversy dubbed a “chain saw massacre” and “tree-gate,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont paid a $1,000 fine and agreed to replant more than 100 trees in a wetlands area behind his Greenwich, Conn., home that he, a neighbor and a neighborhood organization paid to have cut down. Lamont’s attorney didn’t respond to requests for comment, but the governor has said the goal was to clean up storm-damaged trees and bushes, not to improve his view of a nearby pond.
The Bonds’ plan is rare for how spectacularly the leafy whodunit backfired. That is largely thanks to the determination of Gorman, the widow of Leon Gorman. Leon Gorman was a grandson of the founder of L.L. Bean, the iconic Maine-based company, and a longtime president of the retailer.
Lisa and Leon Gorman, left, at a Tocqueville Society celebration in 2010. Photo: Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images
‘Entitled selfishness’
Greeting a reporter at her Camden home recently, Gorman said she would love to discuss the case in detail but has been advised not to by her lawyer. “It’s been a long two years,” she said, as she showed her steeply sloped backyard with large sections of exposed bedrock. The contaminated soils, trees and shrubs have been removed and replaced.
In addition to paying more than $1.5 million to restore Gorman’s yard, nearly $185,000 in local and state fines and $30,000 for testing of a local beach, the Bonds face seemingly bottomless bile from Camden residents, who have been transfixed by the pulpy drama.
“It’s a classic American example of entitled selfishness,” said John White, a 44-year-old software engineer, as he showed his father and stepmother the view of sailboats and tree-covered hillsides across Camden Harbor from the park and beach next to Gorman’s home one recent day.
Maria and James Rossi walk their dog, Sawyer, near Camden’s downtown waterfall.
“It’s egregious, it’s wrong, and I feel kind of bad for them that they did something this stupid,” said James Rossi, who recently retired to nearby Lincolnville from an environmental job in New York City, as he and his wife walked their black Labrador, Sawyer, near Camden’s signature downtown waterfall.
Still, some people in town think the Bonds have yet to pay enough for their transgressions.
“The civil system is great for certain things, but there’s a time to use the criminal system, and I believe that this is one of them,” said the town’s highest-ranking public official, Tom Hedstrom, chairman of the Camden Select Board. “You can’t just buy your way out of this stuff.”
He has called on the Maine attorney general’s office to bring criminal charges. A spokeswoman for the office declined to comment or confirm the existence of an investigation while forwarding an April letter to the town in which officials said they would consider further enforcement action.
The Bonds purchased their Camden home in August 2018 for $1.8 million, according to town records. Neighbors Hayley McKinnon and Will Addis said the Bonds mainly spent summers there, like many other nearby wealthy residents.
The Bonds’ home sits uphill and behind Gorman’s house and pottery studio. Apparently, the couple wasn’t satisfied with their view.
The property of Amelia and Arthur Bond in Camden, Maine.
In May 2022, the Bonds’ landscapers were spotted setting up ladders to trim trees in Gorman’s yard but were chased off by Gorman’s landscaping crew, according to a letter to the town by Dan Nuzzi, Gorman’s attorney.
After testing found the presence of tebuthiuron in Gorman’s yard that summer, Amelia Bond admitted she had poisoned two of Gorman’s oak trees the previous fall because she thought they were already dead or dying, according to a letter to the town from the Bonds’ attorneys. Bond said she had brought a 4-pound box of tebuthiuron under the brand name Alligare—often used to clear brush in farm fields or along highways—from her home in St. Louis. (Tebuthiuron was also used by a University of Alabama fan who served jail time after poisoning oak trees on the campus of rival Auburn University in 2010.)
Camden Town Manager Audra Caler said the application of herbicide ‘took it to a whole other level of shock for people.’
In March this year, the incident branched further into the bizarre when testing revealed the presence of small amounts of the herbicide on the town beach.
“It’s really the application of the herbicide that took it to a whole other level of shock for people,” said Camden Town Manager Audra Caler.
Now residents like McKinnon and Addis fear walking their dog on the beach or near Gorman’s house, even though town officials say levels that have shown up on the beach are far below what the EPA considers harmful to humans.
“Lisa Gorman had tremendous presence of mind to test her soil. If she hadn’t done that we never would have known” about the chemicals that made their way to the beach, said McKinnon, 32, who works in healthcare marketing.
Camden recently asked the Bonds for a further $37,700 to test the beach for another 18 months to see if levels change, said Jeremy Martin, planning director. The Bonds have agreed to pay for any additional remediation, according to their consent agreement with the town.
Write to Joe Barrett at Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com
Kind of ironic, actually.Ignoring=safe space. But those ignoring cannot see this unless it is quoted.
Just build a big berm around property. Plant evergreens.Kind of ironic, actually.
Hate HOAs, yet don't want to see others posts.
A lot like the guy who doesn't want to see his neighbors RV and buys in a HOA (or in this case a gigantic sign)...