Because of their grandson, a Timber Pines couple will move by mid December. The over-55 rule is being enforced, affecting five families.
By ROBERT KING
Published August 2, 2004
SPRING HILL - A Timber Pines couple who took in their grandson to keep him from entering foster care has agreed to find a new address rather than mount a potentially costly legal challenge to Timber Pines' over-55 age restrictions.
Signed recently, the agreement gives Elizabeth and Bob Pierson until mid December to find a new place to live. Timber Pines attorneys previously had pressed the couple to find a new home for their grandson by the end of May. The boy turned 2 in June.
The Piersons say they are looking at some property off Elgin Boulevard, a place where kids are welcome and a new school is being built nearby. It promises a climate far different from what they experienced in Timber Pines, where the vocal objections of some neighbors and the opposition of the community association spoke louder than the friends who supported them.
"We have come to terms with ourselves; we figure it's probably for the best for the baby. If there is someone on our street who doesn't like children, (the boy) will be blamed for everything. He will have other children to play out there," said Elizabeth Pierson, 65.
"As far as we are concerned it still hurts. But what are you going to do? Life goes on."
As the situation with the Piersons came to light, Timber Pines officials learned that other families in the over-55 community were harboring children as well - five in all, counting the Piersons' grandson, Joey Carey.
In each case, the families have agreed to a similar timetable for moving out or finding new living arrangements for the children, said Heinz Blossfeld, president of the Timber Pines Community Association.
"Florida statute says that if you have an over-55 community, you have to enforce it. Either that or we lose the exemption," Blossfeld said.
"We all know that we feel for the Piersons and the other families, but we are bound to enforce the rules and regulations that we signed up for when we moved in here. We don't want to hurt anybody. We don't want to make any hardships for anybody. But we have to enforce them."
Timber Pines' deed restrictions say at least one person in every home must be 55 years old or older. And they prohibit anyone younger than 18 from being a permanent resident.
Children may visit Timber Pines - a 7,000-resident community between U.S. 19 and Deltona Boulevard in Spring Hill - but only for eight weeks in any given year.
The Piersons took Joey into their care in December 2002, when he was just 6 months old, after an altercation between the boy's parents led authorities to remove him from the home.
Their other option at the time would have been to allow him to enter the state foster care system, a choice Elizabeth Pierson couldn't bear to consider. Now they are trying to adopt him.
After a story about the Piersons' situation appeared in the Hernando Times on Mother's Day, a flurry of letters, e-mail and phone calls poured into the newspaper.
Some accused Timber Pines of being unsympathetic in recognizing the Piersons' dilemma. Others said the community was merely enforcing rules the Piersons accepted when they bought their Timber Pines home.
Elizabeth Pierson was hospitalized earlier this year for a mysterious illness that she believes was related to the stress of her situation. She is feeling better now.
Her grandson, whose physical development has been slowed by what the Piersons say are the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome, will enter a half-day preschool this month.
"He needs to be around other children," she said. "He's playing with us all."
The Piersons say they filed an age discrimination complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations, which handles fair housing issues, shortly after Timber Pines pressed them to remedy the situation.
Deidre Williams, the commission's public information officer, said her agency was not allowed to talk about pending cases or even confirm their existence.
