Lansdowne Home Day-Care Proposal Defeated

Vote Does Not End Day-Care Battle

By Jonathan Mummolo (Contact)

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Residents of Lansdowne on the Potomac have defeated a proposal to allow home-based day-care businesses in the community under certain conditions, but a legal battle over the issue still looms.

The proposed amendment to the subdivision’s governing covenants would have permitted the day cares as long as they took in no more than five children each. The measure lost by a vote of 255 to 217, according to results posted on the homeowners association’s Web site.

The HOA’s board of directors contends that although several Lansdowne residents are running day-care operations, the covenants prohibit such businesses. The Aug. 29 defeat of the amendment means that the covenants must be followed and that the businesses will have to shut down, the board said.

“Since the proposed Amendment failed to pass, the Association Covenants will remain unchanged,” the board stated on the HOA’s Web site. “The Board considers this vote to have been the final determination by the community on the issue of whether daycares will operate in Lansdowne.”

A group of day-care providers filed suit last month against the HOA, arguing that the relevant section of the covenants is ambiguous. Although a Loudoun County Circuit Court judge rejected their request for an injunction blocking the community-wide referendum, their challenge to the covenants is pending.

The lawsuit cites a June 8 Virginia Supreme Court ruling, which held that when a subdivision’s covenants are ambiguous, the rules should be enforced in favor of the free use of property.

The conflict over day cares has been brewing since May, when the board announced that it would begin enforcing what it said was a pre-existing ban on home businesses in the community.

Opponents of the day cares have argued that they produce unwanted traffic in the subdivision of more than 2,100 homes. Advocates say the businesses are a valuable resource to parents and a legitimate means of generating income. They also note that the proposed maximum of five children at a day care — not counting the provider’s children — was four fewer than the county limit.

The statement posted on the HOA’s Web site does not explain how the board will seek to enforce its ban.

“In light of the litigation filed by five daycare providers and two customers, the Board of Directors will be meeting with legal counsel immediately to determine what actions should be taken next,” the statement said.

Court papers filed by the plaintiffs include e-mails from a board member to day-care operators in 2005, stating that the businesses are permitted under certain regulations. The plaintiffs say this is proof that the covenants did not always prohibit day cares, as the HOA board claims.

Calls to board members and to the attorneys for both sides were not returned last week.

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