Putting the Hex on CCRs

The hex sign that Frank Hall put on his Mission Viejo home to ward off the “evil eye” and bring him good luck doesn’t seem to be working.

The “evil eye” of the Evergreen Homeowners Assn. saw the round, 15-inch sign that rests between two upstairs bedroom windows, and it wants Hall to remove it. The association says the hex sign, which has been in place since last year when Hall moved in, violates the conditions, covenants and restrictions (CCRs) contained in an agreement residents sign when they purchase their homes in the development.

But whether Hall’s hex sign works or not is not the issue. He wants it there. It’s his home. It hung on his previous home in Huntington Beach for seven years. The color-fully painted sign is part of the tradition and belief of the Pennsylvania Dutch country where Hall was raised. Hall says that none of his neighbors have personally complained to him and 141 of them even signed a statement declaring that it was not offensive to them.

And if the association needs another reason, well, it simply doesn’t do itself or the community any real good with its stuffy approach that seeks to stifle individuality and impose arbitrary standards of taste on reluctant residents.

We are not questioning the legality of the CCRs. What’s bothersome is the association’s decision to apply to Hall’s hex sign the vague wording that forbids any “changes, alterations, additions or modifications without written permission” from the association. That language doesn’t specifically say that hex signs can’t be placed on the house. But it no doubt can be used to mean anything that the association wants it to. We wonder if it would be as zealously applied if Hall affixed a 15-inch American Flag or Christmas wreath to his home.

Hall says that he grew up around the hex signs and considers them part of his heritage. He shouldn’t have to surrender that to the misapplied conformity of the CCRs and the association’s overhomogenized idea of suburban living. There should be room in Mission Viejo for a touch of the Pennsylvania Dutch.