UPDATE — UPDATE —- UPDATE
In 2009, I introduced Side Streets readers to Ron Pace under a headline: “Pace is loose!”
In the column, I reported that a judge had described him as loud, profane and even annoying.
But the judge had sided with Pace in his battle over neighborhood covenants and assorted other issues with the Woodmen Hills Metro District, which has been a mess for years with its seemingly constant bickering, infighting, recalls and failed efforts to expand powers and fees.
At the time, Pace declared he was sick of the fighting. The disabled vet vowed to sell his house on the sixth fairway of the Antlers Creek Golf Course in unincorporated Falcon, northeast of Colorado Springs, and move.
I figured it would be the end of the story.
As usual, I was wrong.
Pace, 48, never did sell.
Instead, he stayed and remained a vocal critic of Woodmen Hills officials. He fought them over the way they enforce rules, conduct district business and more.
He probably should have moved. If so, he’d have saved thousands.
Pace and his wife are facing about $5,000 in legal fees after he lost a fight over a restraining order filed against him in 2011 by a homeowners association manager who felt threatened by him.
But that’s only the half of it.
Pace and his wife again are preparing to go to court in February over a $50 parking violation issued by the Filing 11 HOA that has ballooned to $4,600.
“My truck was parked on the side of my house like I’ve parked it since 2006,” Pace said. “They said it was eight to 18 inches past the front corner of our house and that’s not allowed.”
Seems outrageous to think any HOA would fine someone over such a petty infraction.
On Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, I heard from a Woodmen Hills Filing 11 HOA official who explained the HOA board’s side of the story.
Chris Galloway, vice president of the HOA, said the property manager noted the parking violation during a semi-monthly enforcement survey of the neighborhood.
Galloway said Pace was not singled out and easily could have remedied the violation without any fine.
“The first time we send a courtesy letter saying please take care of this,” Galloway said. “Then we send a warning letter. Finally, we send a third letter which is a fine ranging from $25 to $50.”
So how did it reach $4,600?
Galloway said Pace declined to deal with the HOA management company after his restraining order defeat. Instead, he called the HOA’s attorney directly.
“They warned him he’d incur attorneys fees personally,” Galloway said. “He circumvented the system.”
Of course, Pace sees it as a vendatta and, when we spoke in December, he declared: “This is retaliation.” Typically, he barked it, punctuated with profanity.
It’s this type of gruffness that has made some people who manage Woodmen Hills and serve on its board scared of Pace. They feel threatened by him. And he is prone to making veiled threats.
In his defense, some HOAs get out of control. Power-hungry board members sometimes punish people they don’t like and, as the judge in 2009 said, Pace isn’t always very likeable.
Once this latest mess is resolved, he has vowed again to leave.
“As soon as my kid graduates in the spring, I’m outta here,” he said. “I’ll be happy to leave.”
For everyone’s sake, I hope so.
Life is too short to spend it worried whether your truck is parked 18 inches too far from the house.
Follow this link to my Nov. 18, 2009, column about Ron Pace and Woodmen Hills.
To read an associated blog post about that column, click here.
For more information about Woodmen Hills, read this blog.
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The days of powerful Homeowner’s Assn.are over just like the days of most unions. Most people want less govt. and an arm-twisting homeowner’s assn. is no different than a power grabbing govt. Most homeowners are lucky to hold on to their job and their home. Homeowner Assns. grew as a way of protecting property values and protecting a consistent look. With the dramatic lowering in property values and at least one or two foreclosures on every street, HOAs should be sunseted out. They serve no real current purpose except to allow grandstanding by board members and gadfly members who have nothing else to do. I don’t blame Ron Pace. So what if he’s boisterous? He is making a point. What would happen if all HOAs were sunseted or became informal neighborhood groups where each neighbor looked out for the other?
Mr. Pace knew what the rules stated, if he ever read them. He didn’t have to move into an HOA in the first place. That said, I did not move into an HOA and would not move into one for this very kind of pettiness. I did live in an HOA at one time, even served on the board, and determined I would never live in one again.
By the way, I doubt Mr. Pace’s gruffness is acceptable behavior anywhere, and it probably just aggravated the situation.
Mr Neil we read the covenants
My disposition stems from losers who hide behind lawyers and cry wolf.
This is a time for someone to put it right.
The issue was a personal issue by 2 new board members appointed in late 2010.
This issue is exactly why Colorado legislature needs to licence boards and their fat sack manager who use their cop husbands to bully people.
It takes a onions to cower behind a stantion at Safeway cause you dont want your kid to know what kind of man you arnt.
A trial is exactly what is needed.
For the record we got the wrong filng covenants at signing and after 2 weeks of ownership we got the correct ones.