Roof Colors Have Valencia Homeowners Seeing Red

If you own a home in the Valencia Hills housing development and need to replace your roof, you’d better make sure the new one is the right color.

The Valencia Hills Homeowners Assn. is suing two families in the Valencia development, alleging that the colors of their roofs do not meet the association’s architectural standards.

The homeowners group does not give up easily. It has pursued the cases through the courts for more than three years. The group is seeking to have one couple cited for contempt of court for failing to change their roof. Another case has been scheduled for trial in March after negotiations with the homeowners last week failed to settle the dispute.

“The roof has to be in harmony with the house itself, and it also has to be in harmony with the surrounding neighborhood,” said John G. Marlette, a lawyer for the homeowners.

Homeowners Fight Back

But the homeowners are equally determined.

“I don’t feel there’s anything wrong with the roof, and I don’t feel that we have hurt anyone or violated anyone in this area,” said Susan LaCroix, who was sued in 1983 with her husband, Lenny, after they replaced their deteriorating shake roof with a gray fiberglass one. The case is scheduled for trial March 16.

“The roof is up and we don’t want to take it down,” she said.

The association has had the upper hand in another case.

The group sued Marcia and Chester Greengard in October, 1983, alleging that they failed to gain association approval for their new russet and brown roof. The suit alleged that the roof was “out of harmony” with nearby residences and asked the Greengards to replace it or pay $200,000 in damages.

Marlette said the Greengard’s fiberglass-shingle roof looks red and is not compatible with their green house or with nearby homes, which are covered with shakes.

Ruling on the case in November, 1985, a Pasadena Superior Court commissioner said the association had the right to enforce color controls and ordered the couple to replace or change the roof.

When the roof remained unchanged a year later, the group asked that the Greengards be held in contempt for violating the court order. A court date has not been set.

Community Regulations

At issue is enforcement of a set of community regulations known as the declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions--or CC&Rs.; Planned neighborhood developments such as Valencia Hills commonly adopt CC&Rs;, which residents agree to obey when they buy a home, to protect and enhance the appearance and value of the community.

For example, CC&Rs; can obligate homeowners to maintain their yards and to refrain from dividing their lots, storing boats or recreational vehicles in their garages or installing fences deemed not compatible with the neighborhood.

Hidden Hills’ CC&Rs;, for instance, require all new homes to have a three-rail, equestrian-style fence 10 feet from the front property line and no more than 54 inches high. Deed restrictions in Westlake Village ban outdoor satellite dishes.

In Valencia Hills, the CC&Rs; require homeowners to obtain approval from an architectural committee before they paint homes, install new roofs or do remodeling work, Marlette said.

Chester Greengard said he suspects that his legal predicament has more to do with the association’s desire to control the homeowners than with the color of their roof.

“If we had painted the house pink . . . it would be different,” he said.

‘Little Dictators’

Mark E. Sieger, an attorney representing the LaCroixs and Greengards, said members of the residents’ association board of directors “view themselves as being little dictators.”

But Marlette said the issue is not control at all, but the need to preserve architectural harmony in the Valencia Hills community of about 500 homes.

The Greengards bought their two-story, five-bedroom home at the end of a winding cul-de-sac in 1971. Of the 22 homes on the block, it is the only one topped with fiberglass shingles instead of darker shakes.

The Greengards say their original shake roof started leaking in 1979. By mid-1983, they were desperate to install a new roof before they left on vacation, because they wanted to prevent rain damage and worried that their old roof could be a fire hazard, Marcia Greengard said.

The Greengards said they installed the $4,775 roof without the approval of the association’s architectural committee, but did not anticipate problems because the committee already had approved a fiberglass roof of similar color on a nearby street, Via Adorna.

Varies With Location

But Marlette said what is in harmony on one block may not be in another. The house on Via Adorna, for example, has a brick front and a walkway that are compatible with the roof, he said.

The Valencia Hills Homeowners Assn. sued a third family with a fiberglass roof in 1983, but dropped the action after deciding that the roof was not objectionable. That roof was somewhat shielded by trees.

Susan LaCroix said she and her husband decided to replace their shake roof for virtually the same reasons as the Greengards. She declined to discuss her dealings with the association while the lawsuit is pending. But she said the lawsuit has affected the level of harmony--social harmony--on her block.

Opponents of the LaCroix roof include some neighbors whose children once baby-sat the LaCroix children, Susan LaCroix said.

“It’s very difficult,” she said. “We don’t see them very much.”