Lawn ornaments are facing increasing pushback in The Villages and may no longer be permitted under eaves.
Recently the Community Standards Department has received an increase in calls from residents asking if they can place lawn ornaments and other items under the eaves of their home and/or expressing concern about neighbors currently placing lawn ornaments, lawn equipment and garbage cans under the eaves.
Beginning this week, Community Development District supervisors will start discussing whether items will continue to be permitted under the eaves.
“Generally speaking the deed restrictions and the Districts’ adopted rules throughout The Villages, with very few exceptions, prohibit lawn ornaments, require homeowners to keep their lots neat and clean and in some units require trash containers to be concealed from public view,” District Counsel Valerie Fuchs wrote in a memorandum last week to CDD supervisors.
“A question has been raised regarding whether lawn ornaments, trash cans and lawn equipment such as shovels, ladders, stacked empty pots and rakes are permitted under the eaves of a home,” she wrote.
The question is being put to supervisors in CDDs 1 through 10.
“The Villages is a deed restricted community. At the time each resident purchased their home they signed a contract agreeing not to do certain things that may be deemed to be offensive to their neighbors,” Fuchs reminded supervisors in her memo.
“The regulations in place regarding keeping lots neat and clean, prohibiting lawn ornaments and concealing trash containers are enforceable within the area under the eaves if said area is open to public view,” she wrote in the memo.
CDD 7, which meets at 8 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, will be the first to tackle the topic.
On Friday, Sept. 8, CDDs 1 through 4 will take up the topic at their meetings.