A white picket fence surrounds a house of love. More happiness than the heavens above. A house where sweetheart's love blooms. Joy filling every room. ... --Lamar Cole
Poetic, but perhaps not in Bella Vista any longer.
The struggle in Bella Vista over white picket fences and white houses in that planned community could be resolved soon with a meeting of the Bella Vista City Council.
The issue has boiled down to whether homeowners in the town in the forested hills abutting Missouri must abide by covenants and restrictions enforced by the city's Architectural Control Committee (ACC), which is supported by Cooper Communities Inc. and the city's Property Owners Association (POA), or be allowed to retain their white fences.
The ACC deemed all white fences had to be removed or painted a color of ACC's choosing by Jan. 1, 2022; those who don't comply will be fined.
Apparently, only browns, greens and softer earth tones like those found throughout the wooded subdivisions are acceptable to the ACC, not those familiar white-picket versions that provide fodder for poetry inexorably linked to the American Dream.
However, there is room for legal deliberation ever since Circuit Judge John Scott recently ruled a city council can override such local restrictions issued by not-for-profit groups.
Hence the matter was lobbed to the Bella Vista's council workshop session last week, to ultimately be decided at Monday's official session. City Attorney Jason Kelley advised council members at that workshop to ignore the white-fence issue because it represents a private contractual agreement spelled out in the town's 1965 protective covenants, Bella Vista resident Jim Parsons said.
The original documents simply state homeowners will be subject to certain restrictions laid down by Cooper Communities. The words "white fences" do not appear in the early declarations, according to Parsons.
At Monday night's meeting Parsons will ask the council to add a single sentence to the ACC's restrictions that would allow the many white fences around the city's houses spread across some 600 miles of paved roads to remain.
The outspoken retired Green Beret lieutenant colonel and his Bella Vista Patriots have been actively supporting the change to the covenants that will allow homeowners to choose their paint color, thereby saving them considerable time, effort and money.
He said the Bella Vista Patriots' proposal also would place elected members on record while determining: "First, would the city council members as a whole decide to defend the resident owners of white fences, or will they yield to Cooper domination?
"Which council members would be for white fences and which ones would not? And which political candidates were for white fences and which were against?"
I've lived in communities with POA covenants and know all too well how aggravating they can be at times. I also know they can serve valuable purposes toward ensuring uniformly attractive appearances and maintaining property values for every resident.
What I don't know in this instance is where and when the idea of banning white fences (and even homes) originated. In whose mind did an attractive white fence or home in Bella Vista seem like such a necessary restriction?
While I'm no authority on maintaining property values, I've also never seen white paint as having anywhere near the negative aesthetic effects in any community as, say, an aging vehicle on blocks or a castoff washing machine rusting in a front yard.
White has always seemed to me like the most unobtrusive and classic choice available for a picket fence.
In a related matter, Parsons has a lawsuit pending that asks Sixth District Circuit Judge Doug Schrantz to issue a stay on all activity regarding the residential fences until a court ruling is determined.
"I feel that's the reasonable thing to do, and the ACC has until Jan. 30 to respond to that filing," said Parsons.
Parsons said he was confused that state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge opined that she couldn't become involved in the legal question of banning white fences. "She suggested I go to other legal authorities. So I filed the lawsuit," he said.
He said the Bella Vista Patriots used certified mail to send a petition containing 472 signatures of Bella Vista residents wanting to keep their white fences to Cooper Communities.
While this conflict might seem to others like a relatively trivial issue that has no effect on their lives, I see it as yet another instance of government's hand choosing to squeeze decent residents who want only to be let in peace without having to spend about $9,000 to redo their picket fence, as in just one case.
We shall see Monday evening if the city of Bella Vista chooses to get involved in assisting these homeowners and taxpaying voters, or ignore them altogether.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.