by Gail Paparian

Author's Note: living in any community with 5,000 plus residents can try one's patience. That said, there is a limit and it seems I have reached it. For all of the downtrodden, this is for you. gp)

             I approached my pending appearance before the kangaroo court a/k/a the Sun Lakes master board with fear, trepidation and a profound sense of futility. Why? A myriad of reasons come to mind, including the fact that several friends had already told me that the master board had already made of their minds. So much for “…and justice for all…”

            The cause of this distasteful gathering was a summons to appear before the master people. This was an “appeal” to the decision levied by the Sun Lakes Architectural Committee. I wonder what qualifications are needed to serve on this august board and render decisions that affect people’s lives. I suspect that’s a story for another time.

            It all began when I was told to appear before the architectural committee because I had no tree planted in my front yard. A felonious happenstance, for sure! When my (late) husband Bill and I bought the house three years ago, there was no tree in the front yard; so why now?

            We took our responsibilities as forward thinking people seriously. Water is a dwindling resource and we didn’t want to waste our allocation watering grass, or worse, the sidewalk and the streets. It was obvious to us that too many people within this compound either didn’t care about water waste or didn’t know how to adjust their sprinklers… either reason is unsatisfactory!

            Had we known that Sun Lakes watered the golf courses with potable water, I don’t think we ever would have bought here. It would have been a clear indication that the community and the city were years behind on their infrastructure needs and their planning.

I have heard from several reliable sources that Presley paid the city of Banning enough money to start and or finish building a third stage tertiary treatment plant. I wonder what ever happened to all that money. This, too, is another story for another time.

The chairperson of this charade of an event read the rules of the hearing, including the fact that nobody else could speak during the “trial.” Seems a bit undemocratic, but I need to remember that this is not a democracy, its Sun Lakes.

Nervous and unhappy as I was making this futile attempt to reason with people who had no intention of listening, I plodded on; momentarily caught with the inability to suppress my tears when referring to my late husband Bill.

It’s not that I flipped off the master board and didn’t plant a tree… I did. It was a live Christmas tree that my grandson and I decided to dedicate to Bill. It’s strong and hearty, albeit a bit shorter than the stipulations of CC &R’s written over 18 years ago.

The CC&R’s is a document… not the Holy Grail, the Ten Commandments or the U.S. Constitution. While the world still labors to abide by the Commandments, the U.S. Constitution has been amended to accommodate for the reality of the times: the Sun Lakes CC &Rs have not and should be.

Plant a tree in every front yard? Possibly when there were several hundred homes in the complex. Now, at build out, the rule needs amending. Take a look around and see sidewalks and streets being undermined because of the planting of, in some cases, too many trees. If the “legal” number of trees planted on a property is four, will the HOA force homeowners to cut down three mature trees over planted by some? (That’s 7 trees in a postage stamp Sun Lakes front yard). After all, if we are going to enforce the rules, we should enforce all of them.

I complied with the intent of the rule. What I asked for was time. As I stated, “I wasn’t born at my current (yet shrinking) height of 5’ 3”. I was allowed to grow. I pleaded for a chance to let my tree grow to the height necessary to comply; and as a pine tree, it will.

This logical and impassioned plea was met with the unblinking and unfeeling eyes of people who didn’t hear, didn’t care or had already made up their minds. As a member of this city’s Planning Commission, we hear projects all the time. We are asked to approve, deny or continue an issue.

Often times, things don’t always fit into a box. Therefore, should we want to approve, we are given the research and professional expertise of staff. We then have the option to “condition” the project for approval. Once the “conditions” have been met, the project is eligible for approval.

Why couldn’t the architectural review committee and master board used this very logical option and allowed my tree the chance to grow? The people who have been found guilty of “treeless front yards” have been pummeled into submission. Are they planting trees that are sensitive to the environment? Probably not! They’re planting whatever is cheap, 3” in circumference and comes in a 15 gallon holder. Does a master board member scan the container to determine that it is actually a 15 gallon pot? Yikes!

There is little respect for taste… just a spindly, ugly stick. Enforcing the rules is one thing; making fellow residents abide by rules that need changing is another. The city of Banning is revising its general plan; the law mandates that it does so. Why can’t Sun Lakes look at the propriety of its aged CC&Rs?

I’m tempted to plant a silk tree in my front yard, but why would I ruin the architectural and lush xeriscape integrity of what Bill and I spent a fortune to put in? Now when the folks who wreaked this havoc upon us tell people what to do… in this case, plant a tree, they might say it has to be living. At this time, it doesn’t.

Should the architectural committee want to do a tremendous community service, why don’t they take on water conservation as their next project? This is something that is desperately needed, which means it will never happen at Sun Lakes. How sad!