Katy resident plans to fight HOA to keep huge Beto sign in front yard

A Katy resident is fighting back against her HOA after she received a violation notice for her large Beto O'Rourke sign. A Katy resident is fighting back against her HOA after she received a violation notice for her large Beto O'Rourke sign. Photo: Craig Moseley/Staff Photographer Photo: Craig Moseley/Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 53 Caption Close Katy resident plans to fight HOA to keep huge Beto sign in front yard 1 / 53 Back to Gallery

One Katy homeowner is fighting back against her property association after it sent her a violation notice regarding a large painted black-and-white "Beto" sign on her front yard.

Shannon Bennett, 48, lives in the Estates of Chesterfield with her husband, a retired marine, and their four children.

Bennett said she believes that part of the reason she's being asked to remove her sign supporting U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke in his race against incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) boils down to differing, contentious political views and a neighborhood that is hostile toward Democrats.

"Our (sign) is the one of only two in the neighborhood that doesn't say Ted Cruz on it," she said.

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The conflict began on Sunday when she and her husband were painting the Beto sign on her front lawn. That's when Chesterfield Community Association President Nicolas Jessett and other neighbors stopped by. The president told the homeowners that they were not in compliance with the deed restrictions, Bennett said.

"We researched this very carefully before we did it and I don't believe that we're violating any of the deed restrictions," she said. "He said that we're violating the landscaping requirement and it's a non-permanent change."

Jessett declined a request for comment.

Steve Jordan, chief risk officer for Real Manage, the HOA management company that manages Chesterfield Community Association, said the violation Bennett and her husband received was not political.

"This is not a violation for them placing a political sign; it's the type of signage that they've actually placed on their property being an extremely large painting on the actual grass of their front yard," Jordan said. "It is a landscaping and signage violation. It has nothing to do with it being a political signage. Any type of signage of that nature would be in violation."

On Sunday evening, after the confrontation with Bennett and her family, Jessett called the management company "and told her to send out this violation notice asking her to instruct the homeowner to have it removed immediately," Jordan said.

"So the manager escalated this to a final notice at that point and sent that out to the homeowner at the board's request," Jordan said, adding that the entire event from the painted lawn to the escalated request was unusual.

In the letter sent to Bennett and her family, the Chesterfield Community Association gives the family five days to remove the sign or "the Association shall do so and charge back your account for such service."

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The letter states that during a "routine inspection" on Oct. 15, the property was not in compliance of landscaping codes. Jordan said the letter gives the family two dates in which the homeowners must act.

"The association is asking her to remove the signage within five days if she agrees it's a violation," Jordan said.

If she does not agree, she has until Tuesday, Oct. 30, to appeal and request a hearing before the five-member board, he said.

"I did call the community manager yesterday and say that we were going to request a hearing," Bennett said. "My expectation is that I'm going to be met with hostility. My expectation is that they're going to say, 'just do it or we will do it and charge you for it.'"

According to Texas property code, a "property owners' association may not enforce or adopt a restrictive covenant that prohibits a property from displaying on the owner's property one or more signs advertising a political candidate or ballot item from an election."

Jordan said the property owner's association do have a right to enforce the Texas property code in that it states signage "cannot be larger than four feet by six feet."

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"Part of the reason we did this because we wanted to be creative," Bennett said.

She added that when she lived in another neighborhood: "I did the same thing in 2008 when my Obama signs kept getting stolen. I painted my front yard, but my Republican neighbors thought it was beautiful."

The race between U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke and incumbent Ted Cruz for Texas senator is the talk around many Texas towns, with a recent Quinnipiac poll showing Cruz leading O'Rourke by 9 percent, a 54-45 split among Texas voters. O'Rourke and Cruz most recently debated Tuesday night.

Early voting runs from Oct. 22 to Nov. 2. Election Day is Nov. 6.

michelle.iracheta@chron.com