Cypress Village HOA

[dblatt17]

According to the rules, we are not allowed to have any signs in our yards of any kind. That is ridiculous.

That would mean all of those people that have their house for rent or for sale (because they had to move for a job) that aren't Brighton or Gehan couldn't have a sign up advertising it.

That would also mean we wouldn't be able to have political yard signs.

Or am I wrong? What is the rule?

I understand not allowing for advertising a home business but I have seen plenty of signs advertising security systems or advertising the work having been completed for new additions and so on.

[Rob]

Home For Sale Signs, Home Security Signs, Job completion signs are all acceptable as long as they are temporary in nature. Home business signs and technically political campaigns signs are not acceptable.
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Rob Nunez

[dblatt17]

Rob,

Isn't not allowing political yard signs a violation of the 1st amendment to the US Constitution.

I didn't see anything in the rules that said some signs were permissible and some kinds weren't. That appears to be an interpretation of the rules. What it others interpret them differently?

Political signs are typically temporary too. What's the difference between saying, I support this company who completed a job for me and I support this person or party to run the government?

Actually, to end this conversation. The HOA is forbidden from prohibiting political signs.

See the following article.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/091708dnmetyardsign.850d13f9.html

[Robinson]

Technically, it is not a violation of your Constitutional rights. It is a statutory property right. The Constitution only applies to "State Action"; i.e. things done by State and Federal governments, not private citizens, corporations or HOAs.

The sign can only advertise a candidate or ballot initiative ("Vote for Blatt" or "Vote Prop 1" is okay). Keep in mind that politicians only protect themselves. Other signs may be prohibited by an HOA as the senator who wrote the bill gave no protection for any other signage purpose. The appearance of all signs, including political signs, and how they are mounted, materials they are made of; and any decorative materials are enforceable under the restrictive covenants of the HOA. The average sign passed out by campaigns shouldn't be a problem b/c most political campaigns are aware the signs can be removed if they are not compliant, and the property code will not protect the owner from subsequent notices and/or fines.

Hope this helps

[dblatt17]

I stand corrected about the Constitutionality of this.

I believe there should be more specific wording about the sign prohibitions in the bylaws because it doesn't say some are OK and some aren't. How would a future resident know which were and which weren't allowed? Who would decide which were or weren't?

Do you have specifics on the materials allowed for signs?

When I only saw 1 or 2 political signs in the neighborhood in 2008 and they weren't up for very long, I guess I assumed that the rules were being enforced or people were afraid to put them out.

When I read the bylaws about another issue, and noticed this rule...I got a little mad about it.

[Robinson]

Please see the Architectural Guidelines in the HOA Documents section. Pages 9-10 can assist you with signs and pages 12-13 with fences. Also Texas Property Code 202.009 can further assist in the materials that may be restricted for signs.