 Wed, Nov 19, 2008 03:26 PM
| 2005-10-13 |
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2008-03-13  Lakewood News | House bill could limit HOAs' powers
Rep. Kerr: Conserving
energy is a higher priority than aesthetics
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| | By Jennifer Gilbert | | |
March 13, 2008
Homeowners' associations may need to take some time to review their bylaws in August.
That is if House Bill 1270 — approved 45-20 by the Colorado House on Feb. 27 — passes the General Assembly.
The bill would make it illegal for HOAs to limit the installation of retractable clothes lines, rolling shutters, solar panels and wind turbines, among other things.
Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, introduced the legislation after being contacted by constituent Wayne Svenson.
Svenson owns All-American Rolling Shutters and found difficulty installing his product in many houses where it was desired by the homeowner but disallowed by the local HOA.
"I definitely believe HOAs have a place, but when they say you can't do this because of uniformity in the community, I just don't buy it," Svenson said. "Shutters are a great product that (have been) time-tested for more than 100 years. It's great for the green movement."
Some HOAs consider rolling shutters — commonplace in Europe as security measures and energy-efficiency devices — unaesthetic to their neighborhoods.
They can save homeowners money and energy use in the summer, limiting air conditioning use, and in the winter, limiting heat use.
Kerr combined shutters with other energy-saving devices to eliminate bylaws that make it difficult for homeowners to save energy.
"The most important and least expensive kilowatt of energy is the one that's not produced," Kerr said. "Cutting overall energy use is important to empower people with every tool possible."
Jeff Arnold, the executive director of the Community Associations Institute, said his group was indifferent to the bill.
The institute represents Colorado homeowners associations. Arnold said the institute understood the need to save energy and maintain aesthetics, but would not support or denounce the bill.
If energy saving does begin at home, Kerr is trying to make that transition as convenient as possible by eliminating associations' impediments.
"Looking at 10, 15, 20 years ago, when energy efficiency was not as important as it is now with the facts and data available on climate change, people who didn't care before care now," the representative said. "As people find out more about producing more energy from solar and wind, they find out some of the problems with subsidizing fossil fuels for decades, more than 100 years, as we've done."
The legislation will continue to the Colorado Senate's Local Government Committee. Kerr said he hopes to see the bill pass this session and people able to use the energy-saving devices by as early as August of this year.
HOUSE BILL 1270
Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, introduced the bill in connection with Gov. Bill Ritter's new energy economy. The legislation would eliminate barriers to many energy-saving devices by homeowners' associations. Those devices include swamp coolers, rolling shutters, solar panels, wind turbines and other devices. The bill entered consideration by the Colorado Senate following passage by the House.
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