A neighborhood petition against banning sporting nets, batting cages, baseballs, and softballs.

To the Board of Directors:

We are the parents, grandparents, and neighbors of the children who live here. This subdivision has an elementary school, a baseball field, and a soccer field. A major baseball park is about five minutes down the road. This is not a senior-living community. Children playing outside is what this neighborhood is for.

We ask you to withdraw the proposed amendment banning or restricting sporting nets, batting cages, and baseballs and softballs. That proposal goes against the majority of the homeowners who live here. Most of us bought in this community so our kids could grow up outside, not so a Board could decide that a ball in a backyard is a violation.

This is about kids 

A net in the yard is an after-school hour between a parent and a child. It is a grandparent teaching a swing. It is a team kid getting ten more reps before dinner. The fields in the neighborhood are not available every weeknight, the baseball field is not substitute for children older than eight years old, and every available space to practice requires monthly fees.

The Board has said the intent is not to stop a parent or child from casually throwing a ball in the yard. The children of this neighborhood need that sentence kept, in practice and not only in a meeting answer. You cannot protect family play and ban the net and the ball that family play uses. 

This is about safety 

The net is not the hazard. The net is the safety measure. It keeps a batted ball on the lot and out of a neighbor’s window, a garden, a sidewalk, and the street. Taking the net down does not stop a child from swinging. It sends the ball farther.

Where does “sporting nets” stop? A batting cage is a net. So is the enclosure on a trampoline, a soccer rebounder, and a portable goal. Those nets exist so children do not get hurt and so play stays in the yard. A ban written for one structure will be read against the next family that owns one. If the Board’s concern is safety, the rule should require containment, screening, and setbacks. It should not forbid the thing that provides them. 

This is about family time 

Most of the hours children spend with their parents are short: catch before dark, a bucket of balls before dinner, a sibling pitching from a bucket. Those hours happen at home. An amendment that treats that equipment as a problem tells families their time together needs the Board’s permission.

Owners without children at home are signing because they live next to these families, because they had children, or because they do not want a child’s backyard turned into an enforcement file. 

This goes against the majority of homeowners 

Governing documents can be clarified. They should not be amended against the families who make up this community. If the Board believes a change is needed, put the exact text in front of owners and let the majority decide, by the vote the DCCRs require. Do not adopt a ban and call it clarity. Do not enforce a draft.

The Board’s own answer said existing language may be subject to interpretation, that normal family play is not the target, and that the amendment is not final. Hold to that. Interpretation is a reason to be narrow. It is not a reason to prohibit what most households consider ordinary life with kids.


What we are asking

•  Withdraw the amendment: Do not ban sporting nets, batting cages, or semi-permanent baseball nets, baseballs, or softballs. 

•  Define the words: State in plain language that trampoline safety nets, portable goals, and sporting nets are not covered. An undefined “sporting net” will not stop where the Board says it will.

•  Listen to the families. A lack of mention in the DCCRs does not grant the board subjectivity rights. All amendments shall be presented to the homeowners and voted on by the homeowners. 



We support this petition. We want the kids playing, the nets used for safety, and family time left alone. We believe this amendment goes against the majority of homeowners.