Larry Bud wrote:
A petition, by itself, likely would not be legally binding. Florida has
separate statutes for HOA's and condominiums. Also has process for
arbitration, but that is generally for administrative wrongs (board has
not complied with statutes or bylaws), not to take issue with a
particular vote.


I'm in Michigan. The only thing the petition was for was to call a
special meeting, and we followed the guidelines which says this is
allowed in the bylaws.

I agree the board had the legal power to pass the assessment off in the
budget, but a meeting can be called to 1) amend the bylaws (so that
can't raise the budget to whatever they want, for example) or to 2)
recall board members. We haven't even gotten that far.


Having enough signatures to call a special meeting doesn't meet muster
here, as the board still has the authority to vote for maintenance and
repairs, not the association.


Why would that matter? The meeting could be for anything.

The point I tried to make is that a petition is probably irrelevant to
the legal process for the meeting. The petition publicizes the issue,
and the signatures tell you who supports your plan. The actual meeting
- if you were in Florida - has to be announced in a particular format,
including agenda items, and the notice has to be given a minimum time
(two weeks?) prior to the meeting. Recall of board members may also
require votes of more than a majority of owners, allow or disallow
proxies, etc.



You may have enough signatures (members
to vote) to recall board members, and a new board could then vote down
the project (unless contracts already signed).


That's the plan. The contract is not yet signed.

Just on the face of what you have written, and not having seen the
place, I would be inclined to bite the bullet and go with the repairs
vs. buying into a divisive issue and bad blood for years. That opinion
formed by living with deadbeats who own million dollar boats but would
let the condo fall down around them rather than make needed and
appropriate repairs. I also have the experience of being assaulted by a
loonie board member who perceives board membership as a license to do
anything to anyone. If you have a close split and a bunch that doesn't
want to spend money on anything, you may wind up 1. on the board, 2.
having owners attracted who do not want to maintain the place and run it
into the ground. Our assn. has about half who don't want to do
anything, has had speculators come in, get on the board, vote for their
cronies and flip the property for more than 100% profit. The owners who
give a damn wind up doing roof repairs themselves. I kid you not! Good
luck.


In Florida, the members
have to vote if there is a material alteration to the common areas -
like installing a new pool - but repairing existing roads would not seem
to be a material alteration. Read your documents. Members can always
sue here, but in FL the loser pays costs.


I'm in Michigan, and have had trouble finding laws regarding my state.


I looked around a bit on the Michigan.gov website, and found a statute
pertaining to condominiums but not one specific for HOA's, he
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(ymq2b245wmcmey45iwgkqya2)/mileg.aspx?page=chapterindex

Your documents might refer to a specific statute.......have fun )