Board member hopes levying fines is the answer for property violations

OCEAN PINES, Md. – Members on the Board of Directors, as well as residents in Ocean Pines, are fed up with the upkeep of some properties. Now the Board of Directors may soon have the power to levy taxes on those homeowners who don’t comply with community codes.

In the Ocean Pines Declaration of Restrictions, it states the Board has the power to maintain properties and bill homeowners for the costs. But that may not be enough to enforce its codes, and many say levying fines could be the answer to that problem.

Board member Frank Daly tells 47ABC that the threat of fines will get the attention of some property owners and get them to correct their violations.

Now, a motion is scheduled to be called to hold a referendum among residents to permit the Association to levy fines against those who do not maintain their properties at Saturday morning’s board meeting.

“If you’re one of these homes that’s adjacent to this property, you shouldn’t have to wait six months for action before something is cleaned up that you find is detrimental to your homeowner value,” says Daly.

This is welcome news for homeowners, like Lynn Sieka, who says she has complained to the Ocean Pines Association about her neighbor for years. She says homes that are in disarray effect her and other neighbors home values. “Finally, after 11 years, and this long trafficking of filing complaints, from noises to the downtrodden house, the garbage that’s been acquired, people are starting to say enough is enough.”

This issue was a question on a resident survey last year, and homeowners who responded were in favor by a 2-to-1 margin.

Officials say this would not only give the Association a way to enforce codes, but save legal fees in the process.

47 ABC asked if there would be a third party involved in the process, the short answer is that Ocean Pines would be the judge and jury of these cases.

“Oversight would be with the hearing that we have in place in the motion. And would be within the pines, between the homeowners and the association,” says Daly.

That piece of the equation doesn’t add up for some, who say there has to be an outside entity to determine what is and is not a punishable offense.

“Them just having the ultimate power with no third party who’s neutral is not a good idea,” said Ocean Pines part-time resident Jeff Stelmack.

This motion will be brought up at the Board of Directors meeting Saturday morning at 9 a.m. in the Assateague room at the community center.

If passed, there will be a referendum that will decide whether the Board can fine its property owners for violations.

If the referendum were passed, we are told fines would begin following a 30-day window for residents to comply before they are fined beginning at $25 per day.

The referendum would be held in all 26 sections of the Pines, and would take effect in sections were a majority of voters approve the measure.