Frustrated!

Coming from Utah I am used to the idea that your property is yours to do what you want with and that you don't have to get things approved by an association. I moved into this neighborhood knowing that you had to get just about everything you do approved by the association but that it was in place to keep our neighborhood looking nice. Does our neighborhood look nice? That's a big fat NO! Do people break the rules? YES! Should I be one of them?

I went through the proper channels to have a gate installed on the side of my house so that we could park our trailer there. We don't have room on the side of the house with the driveway but we do on the opposite side. What would be so wrong with putting a gate in and parking my trailer there? No one will see it and the neighbors don't have a problem with it.

I waited almost 2 months just to find out that the association board found that there is a city ordinance against having more than one "drive access" per street face. Meaning: a vehicle cannot access your yard from anywhere but your driveway side. Did any of you know this? A lot of people obviously didn't because I personally know people who have put in gates on the opposite side of their yards to park their trailers! So the question is... How did they get away with it?

This just frustrates me to no end! My faith in neighborhood associations is diminishing. I believe in taking care of our property and would never do anything to decrease the value of it, but seriously people, there are other homes in this neighborhood that are bringing down the value and appeal of living here more so than a trailer parked behind a gate on the side of our house that you can't even see,city code or not!