Renegade gardener digs in, fights Home Owner Association

A Chesterfield County VA  resident is determined to fight his homeowner’s association for the right to keep a garden in the front yard of his family’s home — even if it ends up costing him $900 in the process.

In a letter dated May 28, the Brandermill Community Association informed Chris Gilson and his wife, Teresa Collier, that their garden’s location constitutes a violation of the community’s restrictive property covenants.

The letter gave them until June 14 to correct the violation and noted that if they failed to remove the garden, they’d be charged $10 per day for 90 days or until the property was brought into compliance.

“We try to get people to do the right thing,” said John Bailey, community manager for the community association. “When they ignore that, we have to ratchet it up a little.”

Contacted on the afternoon of June 14, Gilson made it clear that he had no intention of digging up his garden. He says he has contacted an attorney and may decide to fight the covenant violation in court if it gets that far.

“Maybe I’ll be the one who stands up and [the community association] will realize, ‘Yeah, this is kind of stupid; maybe we should change our rules,’” Gilson said in a telephone interview.

More of the story here

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