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The developer says deed restrictions are just that. One homeowner says: "He runs this place like he's God.''
By JAMES THORNER
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 30, 2001
WESLEY CHAPEL -- Saddlewood Estates bills itself as an equestrian community offering "unbridled freedom" for horse lovers.
But in the opinion of Lisa and Dan Tabbert, the 800-acre subdivision in Wesley Chapel has embraced their three long-muzzled friends with all the warmth of a glue factory.
Developer Dick Haber has told the Tabberts, on the pain of a lawsuit, to tear down the half-built barn they erected.
Haber insists the stable lies within ear- and nostril-reach of the Tabberts' Arlington Road neighbors, David and Rosemary Masters.
The Tabberts said the decision amounts to an imposition on Jet the black stallion, Wishbone the pony and a 34-year-old bay stallion named Star.
The Tabberts note that the stable is about 100 feet from their neighbor's bedroom window, but they've tried to make the building more agreeable.
They feed their animals a "sweet feed" that stops manure from smelling too bad or drawing so many flies. They cut the size of the barn in half and opted for a shingled rather than tin roof.
"These are my kids," Tabbert said as her horses lip-scooped feed from the dirt, the Masters' window visible in the background. "I'm prepared to go to court and fight."
Deed restriction battles over mildewed shingles, overgrown grass or rotten privacy fences are commonplace in the Pasco County suburbs.
But Saddlewood Estates, which covers 800 partly wooded acres between Big Cypress Swamp and Interstate 75 in east Pasco County, stands out as one of the few neighborhoods where man and mount live side by side.
Saddlewood allows horses on all its 181 lots, ranging from 11/2 to 6 acres. The grassy strip along neighborhood streets serves as bridle paths. Horses also have free rein in a 250-acre nature preserve near the center of the development.
About a fifth of the community's homeowners keep horses, but Haber said he doesn't know of any other property in the gated community where a stable has been "shoehorned between two homes."
Haber suggests the Tabberts move the barn farther back on their 2-acre property, land that becomes waterlogged in heavy rain. His authority comes from his seat on the community's Architectural Review Board. The board holds the right to alter building plans to suit the wishes of neighbors, Haber said.
"It's a people community to accommodate horses not a horse community to accommodate people," he said.
Neighbor David Masters agrees. Considering the review board controls even a home's paint color, it could hardly assent to a "cheap and nasty pole barn" that might harm the resale value of his home, Masters said.
"Every other stable in the community is at the rear of the property. The Tabberts decided for their own convenience to place it directly between the two houses," he said.
Those are challenging words to a horse fan like Lisa Tabbert.
In college, she left her dormitory at the University of South Florida on weekends to ride Star, her pet since childhood. Her university years were the only times when the two spent long stretches apart.
She doesn't even part with Star when she jogs: the horse runs behind her along the streets of Saddlewood. When Tabbert takes one of the other horses for a ride, the elder hoofster throws a jealous fit.
"They're like dogs," said Tabbert, a 38-year-old who owns a home health care agency. "They'll kiss you. They'll lick you. They know tricks."
The Tabberts said moving the barn is unfair: Another homeowner in Saddlewood keeps a stable in the side yard without hassle.
It's also a threat to their horses, particularly senior citizen Star. During rain from Tropical Storm Gabrielle, the ground where Haber wants them to move their barn was under 4 inches of water.
"He's old. It's hurricane season. He doesn't need this. It could kill him," Tabbert said.
The couple has found allies in other neighbors, most vociferously from two other homeowners now embroiled in lawsuits from Haber's enforcement of deed restrictions.
Eugene Prince of Shenandoah Run fell afoul of Haber by building an unenclosed carport for his travel trailer.
Prince said he responded by enclosing the carport, painting it the same color as his house and planting $1,000 in shrubs and trees. When six months passed without complaint, Prince assumed Haber was satisfied. Then came the lawsuit letter.
Equally bad from Prince's point of view, Haber has let stand several much-uglier corrugated tin carports.
"He runs this place like he's God," Prince said. "He tells one person he can do one thing and another person he can't."
Haber declined to comment on the Prince case, saying it was a "matter of litigation."
But he insists "99 percent" of residents appreciate his efforts to keep up the appearance of the neighborhood. If you don't want to abide by the restrictions, don't buy a home in a deed-restricted community, he said.
Judging by the Tabberts' resistance, he'll have to make that case soon in court.
"I adore my babies. That's why I'm fighting like this. I just love them so much," Lisa Tabbert said. "I'm not going to pull that barn down. That's just absurd."