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Angry Fawn Ridge homeowners picket builderBy KATHERINE SNOW SMITH © St. Petersburg Times, published July 10, 1998 A group of Fawn Ridge residents and supporters who feel they were knowingly misled by Dallas-based home builder Centex Homes are on a picket campaign targeting different Centex developments each week. "They lied to me about everything," said Howard Hague of Fawn Ridge, who is suing Centex in Hillsborough Circuit Court. He says his taxes are higher than promised, the value of homes in his village is lower than promised and he was sued over a satellite dish that he thought was allowed. "It's a horrible situation," said Hague, who relocated to Tampa in 1991. "I moved here to get away from stress and I came into more. I just wish I could get my money back and get out." His neighbors, Janet and Al Kautz, were also sued by Centex's maintenance association in 1993 after they installed a satellite dish. They claim a Centex saleswoman said the dish was permitted. "She stopped and pointed out somebody down the street who had one," said Janet Kautz. "Everything is "No problem,' when they want to sell you a house.' " After being sued over satellite dishes that are in violation of deed restrictions, the Kautzes and Hagues countersued Centex with allegations of fraud. The case has been slogging through the court system for five years as judges and attorneys have repeatedly changed, but the Fawn Ridge residents hope it will come to trial this year. "That's the next step," said their attorney Joe Gonzalez. "We've been through mediation two times." Centex officials in Tampa and Dallas did not return phone calls this week. In the suit against the residents, Centex's maintenance association states that all the deed restrictions were recorded in official records books with the county and that the residents are in direct violation of those rules. Also, they installed their satellite dishes without consent of the development's architectural control committee. The suit goes on to say that their "willful violations" could encourage other property owners to violate the deed restrictions. Hague and Janet Kautz were among about 10 people picketing the site of a future Centex development at Hillsborough Avenue and Countryway Boulevard last week. They handed out fliers reading "Roses are red. Violets are blue. Whatever Centex told you was not true!" The week before they were at Fawn Lake on Paglen Road, and this Saturday they plan to be at the Montreaux development off Lutz-Lake Fern Road. "Buyers were just talking to us, then leaving before even going in" to the sales offices, said Andrea Ciuba, the Hagues' daughter. "Other people were pulling over and telling us all their problems with Centex and asking where we were going to be next week." Their strategy is not unusual. Builder dissatisfaction is part of the landscape in areas with so much new construction, and there is no faster way to challenge a company's reputation than to hoist a picket sign. Last year more than 30 residents and environmentalists picketed Lennar Homes model centers in Tampa Palms to protest the Miami-based home builder's plans to encroach on environmentally sensitive land. They got politicians' attention, and the county considered buying the land from Lennar. The two sides couldn't agree on a price, negotiations fell through, and Lennar is building apartments on a piece of that land. But Bill Newton, staff director for the Florida Consumer Action Network, still hopes the county will buy some of the undeveloped portion. Residents of Timber Pines in Hernando County had quicker results last year when more than 1,000 protesters stormed a community association meeting to protest a proposed salary increase for the association's vice president. The governing board rejected the $21,000 pay raise as a result of what residents called their Boston Tea Party. The Hagues and Kautzes say their purpose is both to pressure Centex to move forward in the lawsuit and to inform potential home buyers of the headaches they could incur. A pool and a satellite dish were the Kautzes' top priorities when they bought their home. When told the dishes weren't allowed at nearby Westchase, they decided to buy in Fawn Ridge. After the Hagues and Kautzes installed their dishes, they received letters from the Fawn Ridge maintenance association -- then run by Centex -- saying deed restrictions allowed satellite dishes only inside the house. Hague said the deed restrictions he was given when he bought his house didn't even mention satellite dishes. The deed restrictions given to Kautz said the dishes were allowed if they weren't visible from the street. "The way we think it happened is, people were handed the deed restriction that catered to what they needed," Gonzalez said. "Centex's defense is (that) the restrictions were of record but in their own lawsuit they attached the wrong restrictions three times," he said. "They had to amend their lawsuit to get it right but they want laymen to go and find them and understand them." The Kautzes and Hagues also say Centex told them that houses in their section of Fawn Ridge cost at least $110,000. But shortly after they bought their homes, their area was chopped up into smaller sections and $80,000 homes began appearing, Howard Hague said. "People ask me why I just don't sell but I don't want to because the value of my home has dropped," Hague said. If you have a story about Citrus Park, call 226-3468.
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ITRUS PARK -- Hell hath no fury like a home buyer who's mad at his builder.
