Stucco wall splits homeowners association

Matching stucco homes line the streets in the quaint retirement community of Verde Groves in Mesa. But try replacing your block wall with stucco to match your stucco house, and you may find a violation from the Verde Groves Home Owner’s Association in your mailbox.

That’s what happened when Linda and Ben Glorfield followed the advice of their contractor and had their damaged and water-stained block wall stuccoed.

The couple claims they put in a request to the appropriate member of the HOA board in May to stucco the wall, but never got a reply.

Faced with a deadline from the contractor, they decided to go ahead with the stucco even though they never received official approval.

Even after the stucco was installed, they submitted a second request.

More than four months passed with no response. Then in October, a letter of violation arrived in the mail. Now the couple are being told to tear down the stucco from the outside of the wall despite pleas from some residents to let them keep the matching wall.

Neighbors of the Glorfields started a petition drive and collected 112 signatures from people who like the wall and want it to stay.

“It’s getting to the point where (the HOA) is getting so nitpicky about stuff,” said Sylvia Tenhoff. “It’s getting out of control.”

Helen Nebeker, a five-year resident, said she’s faced violations for everything from cracking her garage door two inches in the summer to leaving her hose on the ground for five minutes once when she ran indoors to answer the telephone.

Nebeker signed the petition because she likes the wall, and she said there are other stucco walls in the community.

“If I were to buy here again, I would not buy here knowing the HOA is erratic,” she said. The Glorfields have not been able to make any progress in speaking with board members about the wall.

In fact, they claim they could not even get a copy of the Resident Handbook for months, and that the president himself did not even know a 2006 version existed. The handbook does not explicitly prohibit stucco fences.

“They have been so secretive and they’re not telling people what’s going on,” Ben Glorfield said. “They haven’t provided handbooks and bylaws. I wanted to know what the rules are, and by God, we have a lot more power than we thought.”

Edward Bunker, the president of the HOA, said he has no problem with the way the wall looks.

But he said that none of the board members received any of the Glorfields’ requests to stucco the wall in the first place. The bottom line, he said, is they didn’t follow the rules.

“The point is we have homeowners who signed an agreement when they bought the home they would abide by these covenants, restrictions and rules and they haven’t,” he said.

Steven Cheifetz, an attorney who defends homeowners against HOAs, said this kind of response does not surprise him.

But the Glorfields may have a legal leg to stand on based on a similar court case in 2000, he said.

“You can’t just be so fixated on a lack of approval you ignore the ultimate issue of whether they are entitled to the wall or not,” Cheifetz said. “Otherwise you’re just being punitive and punishing them for not getting approval.”

So far, Ben Glorfield said he and his wife are not budging. They submitted a letter challenging the board and are awaiting a response. “We will stick to our guns,” he said.