Article
and Video Courtesy of Channel 6 News
By Louis Bolden
Published
September 12, 2015
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Watch
VIDEO
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A local family has been allowed to put up a fence for
their son with Asperger's syndrome, which is commonly associated with
the autism spectrum, after a months-long battle with their homeowners
association.
"To have this fence is a tremendous relief," Shawn Seekings told News 6
investigator Louis Bolden. "Now our son has a place to play," he said.
The HOA denied the original request.
"He has a very real disability that you can not see and
he can't have the one thing he really needs," Kristin
Seekings told Local 6 in June with tears in her eyes.
Esprit subdivision in St. Cloud does allow vinyl fences,
in fact, they're all over the neighborhood.
However, the Seekings' home backs up to a conservation
area. The HOA would only allow a metal fence that the
Seekings thought was not safe. |
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"He's a climber," Kristin said about her 5-year-old. "He's an escape
artist, he is one who is not afraid of danger, so he is going to
immediately try and scale that," she said.
Shawn Seekings has an email chain with the HOA that started before they
moved in.
When asking for an exception, he included a letter
from his son's neurologist saying his son has epilepsy,
ADHD, and Asperger's syndrome.
Weeks later, the family got a letter from the Melrose
Management Partnership, which runs the HOA. Their request
was "declined," according to the letter.
The reason: It doesn't meet the architectural review board
guidelines. |
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"What that sounds like to me is a basic line, our
documents say what they say, we're not going to allow any exceptions,"
attorney S. David Cooper said to News 6.
Cooper points to the Fair Housing Act, which requires housing providers
make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities.
He says the HOA is breaking the law.
"I would say they are violating the Fair Housing Act and they have to
allow this fence," he said.
But the HOA wouldn't budge.
No one responded to calls and emails -- so News 6 went to the company's
office in June.
"Are you concerned at all about a little boy who has autism?" News 6's
Louis Bolden asked.
"I'm going to ask you to go ahead and contact the attorney," Katherine
Montgomery said. Montgomery says she is a vice president with the
company.
She also assured us the attorney would explain "the whole story."
But when we called the attorney five times over three days, he never
called back.
However after our investigation aired in June, the Seekings later got a
letter from the HOA's attorney approving the request, because the
Seekings later provided another letter from their son's physician, the
letter states.
But Shawn Seekings believes shedding light on the issue helped.
"News 6 your coverage was fantastic, it really brought a lot of
attention to our issue," he said. "This fence really can make us live a
lot easier and a lot happier."
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