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Homeowner fights HOA violation over Christmas-themed skeletons
The HOA notice said Kyle Sarazin had seven days to remove the skeletons, or he would start facing fines.
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — Kyle Sarazin fought the law, and this time he won.
The Sterling Ranch resident decided to do something different with his Christmas display this year, converting his 12-foot yard skeleton into Santa Claus and turning the smaller skeletons from his Halloween display into Santa’s reindeer.
The display expands on what he and his wife did a year ago, when they dressed their giant skeleton up and positioned him like he was hanging ornaments on a nearby tree.
“We decided, let’s just change it up. You don’t ever see anything like this, let’s give everybody something unique to look at,” Sarazin said.
And it certainly is unique. Sarazin said people seemed to enjoy it – stopping to take pictures with the display.
But not everyone enjoyed it.
“A couple of days later, we got a notice in the mail and an email saying that we weren’t seasonally appropriate,” he said.
The notice from the Sterling Ranch Community Association Board (CAB), a combination of a number of Metro Districts that govern the Sterling Ranch neighborhood, accused Sarazin of violating a policy on holiday decorations, with a note that skeletons weren’t “seasonally appropriate.”
The notice said Sarazin had seven days to remove the skeletons, or he would start facing fines. He said he calculated what it would have cost to keep the decorations up through mid-January and realized he would have paid more than $200.
“The definition of what is seasonally appropriate or not is not specifically defined, per our guidelines,” he said.
So, he went to work, questioning the CAB about that definition. In an email response to his inquiry, a CAB staffer said she had performed a search on Google and couldn’t find a seasonal reason for the skeletons.
“In performing a Google search for holidays (nationally and internationally) for the month of December, I find nothing that references skeletons as part of the symbolism,” the staffer wrote in an email response.
Sarazin had also questioned why the skeleton wasn’t considered appropriate because of the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” where a skeleton named Jack Skellington schemes to take over a Christmas town by playing the role of Santa.
“If you Google Nightmare Before Christmas, you will find that those involved in the making of the film consider it a Halloween movie not a Christmas movie,” the staffer replied.
Sarazin said the explanations further frustrated him.
“As I started continuing to press more and more for answers, the CAB continued to Google their way around things to try to prove their point, because they didn’t have any basis to stand on anything,” he said.
It seemed the association felt grounded in their Internet searches about holidays and wouldn’t budge.
“I am sorry to continue to be the bearer of bad news, but we do need the display modified as to not include any Halloween décor,” the staffer wrote.
Sarazin, frustrated by the lack of flexibility, said he turned to a Facebook group of Sterling Ranch neighbors about the issue, posting many of the responses he’s received from the association along with pictures of the display. He said the post generated a hundred comments. Some neighbors decided to put skeletons with Christmas hats on their own lawns to protest the association’s decision. Others commented saying they liked his display.
A few comments suggested Sarazin take the story to the news.
After that suggestion, Sarazin said he got a follow-up email from a different CAB staffer saying the violation was closed and that the association decided to include skeletons in their definition of seasonally appropriate.
“As I’m sure you’re aware, skeletons, especially the large skeletons have become very popular this year,” Jessica Towles, director of community experience and resident support for the Sterling Ranch Community Authority Board wrote in a statement to 9NEWS. “We’ve enjoyed seeing them incorporated into not only Halloween décor, but also Thanksgiving. We have a handful of families here at Sterling Ranch that also incorporated skeletons into their Christmas holiday decorations and letters were sent to them a few weeks ago.”
“However, after our management team became aware of the issue, we determined that these decorations are in line with our policy, which states ‘Seasonally appropriate’ décor is allowed. The violations have been rescinded in the best interest of the community and holiday spirit and no further review is necessary.”
Towles told 9NEWS Google searches to determine compliance with community rules is not a standard operating procedure and reversed the action against Sarazin because they believe it wasn’t the right thing to do, especially during the holidays.
Sarazin, fresh off a win against his homeowner’s association, now says he plans on getting more involved to ensure things like this don’t happen to more of his neighbors.
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Katie Santry has lived at the east Columbus house for about a year. She said she stumbled upon the strange discovery while digging holes for fence posts.
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Some time later, she said her computer was shattered and her desk strewn about in the middle of the night, but no one in the home reportedly did it.
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Columbus police told her they wanted to bring K-9s to investigate.
Santry streamed some of the investigation on TikTok Thursday afternoon. More than 100,000 users tuned in to watch at times, as she showed video of the K-9s sniffing through her yard.
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When asked about the previous owners of the home, Santry told reporters that they were in their 90s and had moved into a nursing home. She believes they were the only owners before her family moved in.
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That’s one reason the couple started visiting years ago. Amy called the region “a national treasure.”
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Regular visits turned into buying a home in the city of Black Mountain.
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