An Athens HOA told owners to remove fences it had already approved in writing
An Athens HOA told owners to remove fences it had already approved in writing
2026-09-10 · Alabama · Compliance · Reported — unconfirmed
Reported: Homeowners in the Brookhill Landing subdivision in Athens, Limestone County, say their homeowners association approved their fences in writing and then demanded that they take them down.
The account below comes from local reporting we have read in full.1 We have not obtained the recorded plat, the easement instrument, or the demand letters themselves, and no lawsuit has been reported. The legal question at the centre of it is untested.
What is reported to have happened
On December 15, 2025, the association's law firm, Coulter & Sierra, sent letters to affected homeowners citing notification from the City of Athens' inspector and engineer that “all items and improvements on the easements must be removed.” The letters gave 10 days, failing which the homeowners would be billed for the removal.
The fences at issue sit within a drainage easement. The homeowners' position is that they built them with the association's written architectural approval, which they obtained before construction.
The drainage problem is reported to have worsened when a second phase of the subdivision was built uphill behind the existing lots.
The city's account differs
This is the part that complicates the association's stated basis for the demand. The City of Athens told the outlet that its inspector and engineer met on site in November 2025 with the homebuilder and the owners, and “provided the homebuilder with a solution that would address the drainage issues without requiring fence removal” — a solution the builder agreed to.
If that account is accurate, the municipal instruction the December 15 letters invoked did not require what the letters demanded.
Brett Steele, chief legal officer of the homebuilder Smith Douglas, confirmed the association's December 15 notice. Homeowners named in the coverage include Frank Stumbo, Lauren Gomez and Nikita Burks; Don Clippinger took his fence down. The association, its counsel and its property manager did not respond to the outlet's questions.
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