Scouting for a Reason to Deny Troop 628 a Clubhouse

We now bring you, “More Tales From Suburbia”

(subtitled) “ . . . And You Thought Your Neighborhood Was Dysfunctional”

Today’s saga comes from Lake Forest 1, a residential community of about 1,700 homes in that infant city and until recently the site of regular meetings of Boy Scout Troop 628.

Lake Forest is exactly the kind of suburban setting where you’d expect the Scouts to flourish. According to Assistant Scoutmaster Cliff Mauvais, that’s exactly what they’ve been doing in the area for the last 23 years--in fact, long before Lake Forest was even Lake Forest.

Last month, however, officials of the Lake Forest 1 homeowners’ association told the troop it could no longer use its clubhouse for meetings.

Association officials cited the Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires public facilities to provide access for handicapped people. The act normally wouldn’t affect a private homeowners’ association, but Lake Forest 1 officials feared that because a large percentage of Troop 628 members are non-residents, their meetings might be construed as being open and, therefore, jeopardize the association’s private club status.

The association has relied on a legal opinion from attorney Richard Neuland that says possible modifications to the clubhouse where the Scouts meet “can, I fear, result in the unnecessary expenditure of many hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Neuland concluded his letter to the association by writing, “I believe you will find the breadth of ADA surprising and frightening.”

Scout officials found only the breadth of Neuland’s opinion to be surprising and frightening. Or, at the very least, misguided.

They smell a rat in the association’s decision to oust the Scouts and have subsequently rallied some of the homeowners to keep the Scouts and evict the association board. Mauvais said a recall petition of the association’s board of directors has been circulated.

Scout leaders and at least one attorney who lives in Lake Forest 1 say the Justice Department has specifically addressed the Scout issue. That came in a 1991 report in the Federal Register, in which it elaborated on rules and regulations for the ADA. The Federal Register wrote, in part: “An entity that is not . . . a public accommodation . . . may become a public accommodation when it leases space . . . For an entity to become a public accommodation, when it is the lessee of space, however, the Department (of Justice) believes that consideration in some form must be given. Thus, a Boy Scout troop that accepts donated space does not become a public accommodation because the troop has not ‘leased’ space, as required by the ADA.” Thomas Whaling, an attorney, Lake Forest 1 resident and father of a Scouting official, said the Register opinion was no doubt written by Justice Department attorneys and has the same effect as a state attorney general’s opinion would on a law passed by the Legislature.

While not case law, it is specifically designed to clear up ambiguities in new legislation such as the ADA, Whaling said. It can be taken as Justice Department opinion, Whaling said.

Not so, association president Larry Auletta said.

“This is just a bunch of lawyers getting together and expressing an opinion on what the law says,” Auletta said. “There’s no case law now on the issue. So, there’s really nothing in case law that anyone can draw an honest and true opinion from. All this is is speculation.”

The association would be unfaithful to its fiduciary duty if it didn’t proceed cautiously, Auletta said, citing the possible loss of its tax-exempt status and the imposition of substantial federal fines if it violated the law.

“We don’t want to be a test case or a legal guinea pig for the nation and cost us a tremendous amount of money defending our position for 11 Scouts,” Auletta said. “The economics are just not there.”

Scout leaders and some residents are suspicious. They think the association, or some of its ranking officers, simply don’t want the Scouts using the clubhouse. Auletta disputes that and has said the association will rescind the eviction if it receives an OK from the Justice Department.

Whaling merely sighs and says that’s what the Federal Register has already done.

“I think there’s really a deeper issue here,” Whaling said. “The Scouts are only the tip of the iceberg, and I believe you could do a series on homeowner associations and begin to see what the real fights are over. It’s all a matter of power.”

Auletta has sent a “Personal Address to the Community,” saying the Scouts who live in Lake Forest 1 can continue using the clubhouse.

However, they account for only about a dozen of the 50 members in the troop. As a result, Troop 628 had its most recent meeting in a park, Mauvais said.

“They kicked out the Boy Scouts of America, and that just doesn’t go over very well,” he said. “That tugged at a lot of heartstrings and has made everybody very upset.”

Oh, man, do I get tired of resolving disputes like this, but here goes:

Does the association really think the feds would swoop in and slap it down for letting non-resident Boy Scouts meet in the clubhouse? Even if the answer is yes--and if the government then inexplicably played hardball and ordered expensive renovation--wouldn’t that be the appropriate time for the association to politely kick out the Scouts?

Let’s assume there’s no hidden agenda in wanting the Scouts out. But if that’s the case, the only reason I can see for the association’s action seems to be nothing more than silly, misplaced panic.