Are Changes to Association Landscaping a Material Alteration That Requires a Vote of the Owners?
If you live in a community association, especially if you serve on the board, you may already be familiar with the term “material alteration.” In Sterling Village Condominium Association, Inc., v. Breitenbach, 261 So. 2d 685, 687 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971), the Court defined the term material alteration as follows:
[T]o palpably or perceptively vary or change the form, shape, elements, or specifications of a building from its original design or plan, or existing condition, in such a manner as to appreciably affect or influence its function, use, or appearance.
Generally, an association’s declaration provides the manner in which material alterations to the common elements and common areas are to be accomplished and the necessary percentage of the unit owners required to approve material alterations, if any. In a homeowners’ association such decisions are left to the discretion of the board of directors unless the governing documents provide otherwise. As to condominium associations, absent a provision in the association’s declaration providing otherwise, section 718.113(2)(a), Florida Statutes, provides in relevant part that 75 percent of the total voting interests of the association must approve the alterations or additions before the material alterations or substantial additions are commenced.
Appellate courts have even carved out exceptions to situations where a material alteration requires a vote of the membership when the material alteration and resulting special assessment are necessary for life safety reasons. In fact, courts often provide boards of directors great deference due to the operation of the business judgment rule. For example, in Tiffany Plaza Condominium Association, Inc. v. Spencer 455 So. 2d 454 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1982), without the required vote of the owners, when it was otherwise required, the board of directors opted to construct a rock revetment wall in the sand between the condominium’s seawall and the mean high tide line. The area in question was part of the association’s common elements since it owned the land from west to east all the way to the mean high tide line. Owners who were unhappy with the association’s unauthorized assessment sued the association. The association defended itself on the basis that the rock revetment was not an alteration or improvement of a common element but rather was part of the maintenance, repair, and replacement of a common element that the association had responsibility for under several provisions of the declaration, its bylaws, and statutes. While the trial court agreed with the plaintiff owners, the Second District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court decisions and held that:
If in the good business judgment of the association, alteration or improvement of the beachfront by addition of a rock revetment would protect the beach from damage and the necessity of subsequent repair or replacement then that cost should also be borne equally by all unit owners.
With the foregoing in mind, let’s examine landscaping alterations and whether making landscaping changes to a condominium’s common elements constitutes a material alteration requiring a vote of the unit owners. The Florida Division of Condominiums, Timeshares & Mobile Homes (the “Division”) has published arbitration decisions from which we can glean an answer. (It is important to note that these arbitration decisions only provide limited guidance. Such decisions do not create precedent in any way, not even for the Division and certainly not for any appellate court. But, they do provide guidance. It is also important to note that when examining issues of community association law, when there is not a developed law on a particular issue, both condominium associations and homeowners’ associations tend to rely on each other’s body of law.)
In Girsch v. Whisper Walk Section E Association, Inc. (Arb. Case No. 97-0305), an owner challenged the board’s decision to replace a hibiscus hedge with a ficus hedge on the basis that a material alteration resulted. The arbitrator ruled that the foregoing was not a material alteration and stated, in pertinent part, that:
Board decisions regarding what shrubbery to plant or how to replace existing shrubs particularly implicate the business judgment decision of the board and rarely grow to the dimensions necessary to implicate the provisions of the documents or statute regarding material alterations to the common element… Moreover, changes apparent in a garden setting are not interchangeable with the types of decisions typically regarded as requiring compliance with section 718.113(2), Florida Statutes…Changes to foliage may appear dramatic to the observer, but rarely would the function and use of that portion of the common elements be appreciably altered to an extent deemed material. These considerations, combined with the realization that there is less of a legitimate expectation of the status quo in the area of landscaping, which may be transient in a given case, suggests that this area is one particularly ill-suited for material alteration analysis.
As another example, in Katchen V. Braemer Isle Condominium Association, Inc. (Arb. Case No. 98-5485), an owner challenged the board’s decision to make certain landscaping changes which affected the owner’s patio and view. The arbitrator stated, in pertinent part, that:
[I]t is not shown that the contemplated landscaping changes constitute an alteration or betterment within the meaning of the documents…The area in question will not change in function or essential nature; it will still be a landscaped garden area with flowers, bushes, and trees, similar in function to the parcel when petitioners first purchased their unit.
In yet another example, Tilney v. Association of the Fountains, Inc. (ARB. Case No. 02-5651), the owner alleged that the board materially altered the common elements without a vote of the owners as required by the documents and statute due to the addition of trees, landscaping rocks, an irrigation system, and parking spaces upon a previously undeveloped parcel of the property. Again the arbitrator ruled that the foregoing were not material alterations and stated, in pertinent part, that:
The essential character of the property has not changed in a material sense. Some change in appearance is inevitable where landscaping details are altered…but does not compel the conclusion that all changes are material…Even if a material change existed, the degree of maintenance chosen by the board is entitled to a presumption of correctness through operation of the business judgment rule.
Based upon the foregoing arbitration decisions, landscaping decisions such as what shrubbery to plant or how to replace existing shrubs are left to the reasonable business judgment of the board and do not rise to the level of being a material alteration subject to a vote of the unit owners. However, does that mean that all changes to landscaping do not rise to the level of being a material alteration? That answer, like many legal answers: it depends. Sometimes landscaping may be so dramatically changed, or there may be landscaping that is so significant, that changing such landscaping may rise to the level of being considered a material alteration to the common elements (or common areas as to homeowners’ associations).
Such was the situation in Trio Englewood, Inc. v. Fantasy Island Condominium Association, Inc. (ARB. Case No. 98-4670). Here, an owner challenged the board’s decision to remove two trees. However, the two trees in controversy were Norfolk Island pine trees, and the arbitrator was unwilling to rule without the benefit of additional fact finding that removal of such trees could not be considered a material alteration. The arbitrator concluded, in pertinent part, that:
[T]wo very tall, conical trees, [that] are, in setting and type, distinct from the other landscaping, and thus may be sufficiently significant features of the landscape that their removal would constitute a material alteration of the common elements.
However, because the arbitrator requested additional fact-finding, we do not know how the situation fully resolved itself. But, this decision indicates that not all landscape changes are exempt from being considered a material alteration.
Accordingly, the next time your association is contemplating changes to its landscaping, and although many changes to landscaping are left to the reasonable business judgment of the board and do not rise to the level of a material alteration requiring a vote of the unit owners, the board would be wise to consult with the association’s legal counsel to weigh in prior to making such changes.