Willlowbrook Homes Assn.

Please...

 When we bought our house in 1999, I read, understood and complied with the covenant restrictions.  Did you not read and sign that same agreement?  You did an excellent job of providing us with information regarding how fun this activity is.  You did a poor job of providing the statistics of children who are hurt every year in trampoline accidents.  Medical statistics state that only  20% of parents are keeping an eye on their children while they are participating in this activity.  In the meantime, insurance rates increase for everyone because of astronomical fees from head trauma.  Would you let your child ride their bike in traffic without a helmet?

 If there is a petition to keep trampolines out of our neighborhood, please forward it to me so I can sign it.  We all knew what we were agreeing to when we moved into this neighborhood. 

For those of you who are interested, I can arrange for you to come to my trauma center the next time a child comes in who has traumatic brain injury from a trampoline accident.  You can tell the parents that they might have prevented it from happening.

 Edie Nicholls

Windsor Hills Resident

SENT ON BEHALF OF PAUL AND NANCY MACCREADY:

As property owners/residents of Windsor Hills (and, personally, as a former President of a different Home Owners' Association), my wife and I would like to share a general thought about restrictions and a more specific thought about trampolines.

First, we all understand that the purpose of the Declaration of Restrictions is to protect what is, for most of us, our single largest investment - our home. But, to be effective, the Restrictions must be consistently enforced. Yes, it is possible to change them if the community at large desires. But, the biggest risk we can take with our investment is to be lax about compliance/enforcement because today it may be trampolines and portable basketball goals but tomorrow it will be dog runs, color schemes that make you cringe or a yard so poorly maintained that it qualifies as a wildlife refuge.

For the security of all our investments, we ask everyone to embrace compliance and enforcement of restrictions as a community issue rather than a fight between individual neighbors and "the Board."

Second, regarding trampolines, we are one of the homeowners that purposely purchased in Windsor Hills because of the trampoline restriction. While we did not investigate every backyard, we could not see any trampolines from our home and, in reading the restrictions, noted that they were not allowed.

Why was it a factor for us? This may sound callous but it was all about property value. There are communities out there that do not have restrictions and there are those that have restrictions but allow trampolines. We PURPOSEFULLY chose this community because of the restrictions and the lot sizes. We believe those factors give Windsor Hills sellers a competitive advantage.

So, when the debate comes, please keep in mind that what feels like a personal and private issue to you may be a financial concern to others. We have no desire to interfere with your parenting choices nor any desire to restrict your child's development. But please understand that the passion you have about protecting your children's future may be matched by our passion to safeguard our financial future.

Paul and Nancy MacCready

* Note: the lack of enforcement in the past is unfortunate. It should not be allowed to set future precedent but we agree that compromises should be considered for those who were previously given exceptions.

I agree with Edie.  If trampolines are so educational, why are they not in any schools?  There are a million articles stating how unsafe they are and how they are the most common cause of accidents and injury.  Just a thought.

Joan Mylin

Neighbors,

In the event that there is interest in a middle-of-the-road approach, an alternative to the present proposal would be to:

 grandfather the existing trampolines (possibly with some landscape requirements to reduce their "line of site" footprint)

• subject them to the maintenance restrictions in the existing proposal
• restrict any future trampoline additions

 It's not an "all or nothing" approach, so not everyone gets entirely what they want, but it may be the most harmonious.

  Just a thought.

 Brian Sink

Windsor Hills Resident