Goldstein and Slone take on HOAs

Attorneys Doris Goldstein of Jacksonville and Dan Slone of Richmond — with David B. Wolfe, an old hand at community association management — are involved in a new initiative aimed at improving the workings of homeowners’ associations (HOAs). “Most HOA documents are really bad,” says Goldstein. “They are written by the developer’s attorney to protect the developer, without much thought at all as to how to make the community work in the long run. Participatory democracy is the last thing from most developers’ minds.” Goldstein and Slone, with help from Wolfe, devised new documents, which they introduced in the Peninsula project in Iowa and modified in several subsequent projects. Those documents and other tools, such as tax-exempt charitable organizations and special taxing districts, will be discussed in a seminar on “Creating Really Good Places to Live” March 31-April 2 in Atlanta. Speakers will include Andres Duany, sociologist David Brain, and attorney Michelle McKinnon, who has helped several new urban communities establish foundations or institutes. For more information, visit www.theseasideinstitute.org.