PHOENIX — Randy Malick knew when he moved into the Rancho Vistoso subdivision in Oro Valley, north of Tucson, seven years ago that the homeowner rules did not allow amateur radio towers.
But he decided to buy a house there anyway even though he has had a "ham'' license since 1991.
Now Malick is at the forefront of a move to convince state lawmakers to force homeowner association to allow these towers, regardless of whether a majority of his neighbors want it or not.
Malick and his fellow operators won the first round this past week when the House Committee on Military Affairs and Public Safety voted 5-3 to force HOAs to provide for "reasonable heights and dimensions'' for such towers. And the operators acknowledged that "reasonable'' means something taller than the surrounding buildings.
The vote came over the objections of Ryan Anderson who lobbies for the Community Associations Institute which represents many HOAs.
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"If you're trying to tell me as a member of an HOA that a 40-foot tower next to my community will not affect my property values, I'm sorry, I don't subscribe to that belief,'' he said.
The battle over HB 2514 is the latest dust-up in the perennial debate of individual rights versus contractual rights.
HOAs, largely formed by developers, both assess residents for common area improvements and impose restrictions on those living there. Some are quite simple, like whether they can have poultry; others get into issues of the color of homes, landscaping and what can be parked in the driveway.
In prior years, lawmakers have overruled various restrictions on what they said are public policy considerations. So homeowners now can install solar devices on roofs and flagpoles can be erected.
