Associations having to allow seventy foot high HAM radio towers maybe a federal law if certain members of the United States House of Representatives are successful with their proposed legislation. Most alarming from this proposed legislation is that association members would be allowed to erect this tower no matter what the association’s governing documents state.
(Please Reference: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1301)
US House Resolution 1301 (Amateur Radio Parity Act) currently has over 80 sponsors with an accompanying proposal in the US Senate (S. 1685). This proposed federal statute would circumvent association governing documents to allow members the ability to erect up to a 70 foot high HAM radio tower or antenna. And again, this is despite what the declarations or other governing documents may say about such structures. So, if a member erected a 70 foot high radio tower, there would be no architectural review process or association governing document standards that would have to be met.
As everyone is aware, the foundation of all associations are the governing documents, more specifically in this matter, the Declaration of Covenants. The Declaration of Covenants is the primary governing document within an association. Generally speaking, the provisions of the declarations cannot be waived or altered without the membership amending through the amendment process provided for within the declarations. Basically, the declarations is a contract between all the members of an association that the members voluntarily and knowingly agreed to by purchasing a home within an association. At the core of this entire
legislation is the fact that this proposed legislation will be setting aside contractual obligations of the parties of a private contract, being the association’s governing documents.
US House Resolution 1301 (Originally House Resolution 4969) was first introduced in the last session of Congress by first term Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger (16th District, Illinois), and reintroduced by him in the current 114th Session.
Cosponsors of this proposed legislation in our service area:
Rep. Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. [D-GA-2]
Rep. Carter, Earl L. “Buddy” [R-GA-1]
Rep. Jones, Walter B., Jr. [R-NC-3]
Rep. McHenry, Patrick T. [R-NC-10]
Rep. Price, David E. [D-NC-4]
To find your US House Representative: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
While not criticizing the merits of this proposed legislation, the unintended consequences are extreme and far reaching. The far-reaching ramifications are a potential federal statute that erodes every association’s governing documents. WDMC
Copyright – William Douglas Management, Inc. 2016