Anyone ever heard of such a thing

[Daveinet]

I think I'd been inclined to just say too bad and keep driving. I know I'm not going to do anything bad, so let them come after me. Time the cops get there, I'd be long gone. The police are usually pretty slow response to a non-emergency complaint. The security guard does not have police authority, so ignoring her is not a violation of law. Just in case, I'd probably take a photo of the boat location as proof their complaint is unfounded.

 

[Track4ever]

This is the first time that I have noticed snippy remarks on this forum. Sorry that you have been subjected to them Jacomo. Good score on the Sunfish.

 

[Kings Gambit]

I think I'd been inclined to just say too bad and keep driving. I know I'm not going to do anything bad, so let them come after me. Time the cops get there, I'd be long gone. The police are usually pretty slow response to a non-emergency complaint. The security guard does not have police authority, so ignoring her is not a violation of law. Just in case, I'd probably take a photo of the boat location as proof their complaint is unfounded.

It's private property; if you enter w/o "permission" you could be trespassing which is, or at least can be, against the law. So, your theory is--"Hey man [long toke.....], if you get away with it, what's the big deal?"

 

[Kings Gambit]

I must say though that the experience of the OP was unpleasant. I mean why let someone through the security gate only to call them back and turn around. Said security was obviously not completely on top of their game.

Simple guess--the attendant was inside a kiosk and talking to the driver through the window and could not see that he was towing a trailer until he passed through the gate. The OP evidently made the experience unpleasant for himself by sustaining a confrontation w/ the attendant who told him the trailer cannot enter.

Perhaps, the best response should have been: "I'm sorry, I did not know that. I should have said something about it when I pulled to the [kiosk] window. I'll work out something with your tenant and return later. Have a nice day, and again; my apologies."

 

[Leeward Rail]

That's the thing, there was no risk of invasive species contamination. Especially from the second guy, who had a u-haul trailer, unless u-haul is making amphibious moving equipment now.

I'm all for protecting the waterways. But this was something more.

On a side note...

As for seagoing international ships being inspected, I'm all for it, but with zebra mussels in North America, it's the old "too little too late". Zebra mussels came here in ships and now that the genie is out of the bottle, it likely won't be stopped.

The wikipedia entry on zebra mussels, specifically mentions the Canadian test of using Potash to kill mussels in a few harbours in my lake. What it doesn't say is, while that test was successful in the handful of harbours they applied it to, the mussels where back not long afterwards. The Red River watershed has had them for a while, and apparently they are working their way into each waterway.

The irony is, nutrients, mostly from farming field runoff, has been a serious problem with my lake. It was causing serious toxic algae blooms. Now, the Zebra mussels will clean the water. But likely destroy the big commercial fishing industry on the lake (among other problems).
Then they test using fertilizer (Potash) to kill the mussels. hehe.

 

[Kings Gambit]

That's the thing, there was no risk of invasive species contamination. Especially from the second guy, who had a u-haul trailer, unless u-haul is making amphibious moving equipment now.

I'm all for protecting the waterways. But this was something more.

On a side note...

As for seagoing international ships being inspected, I'm all for it, but with zebra mussels in North America, it's the old "too little too late". Zebra mussels came here in ships and now that the genie is out of the bottle, it likely won't be stopped.

The wikipedia entry on zebra mussels, specifically mentions the Canadian test of using Potash to kill mussels in a few harbours in my lake. What it doesn't say is, while that test was successful in the handful of harbours they applied it to, the mussels where back not long afterwards. The Red River watershed has had them for a while, and apparently they are working their way into each waterway.

The irony is, nutrients, mostly from farming field runoff, has been a serious problem with my lake. It was causing serious toxic algae blooms. Now, the Zebra mussels will clean the water. But likely destroy the big commercial fishing industry on the lake (among other problems).
Then they test using fertilizer (Potash) to kill the mussels. hehe.

Owners of private properties do not have to justify their [legal] rules to visitors. There's no case here--trailers from the outside are not permitted inside the property [unless quarantined?]. That should be clear enough. What's the problem?

We're only guessing about the invasive FW species issue as the reason b/c that's what the OP started with--a boat trailer. Only several posts later (#16) did we learn about a U-Haul trailer.

 

[Leeward Rail]

The security staff at the gate, would have been fired, if they were working for me.

Examples:
Question: Do you have any widgets ?
Wrong answer: No
Correct Answer: No, But here is the contact info of someone who may be able to help you

My sales staff was told from the outset that if I ever heard them consistently give the "wrong answer" above, they would be terminated. The job of anyone on the front line of customer service, even security staff, is to provide assistance. In this case, the security person was not only, NOT providing much help to a community member who paid their salary, they were also pissing off a potential future client.


Question: Can I bring my trailer in ? There is no risk to the water since the neither the boat or the trailer will be in it.
Correct Answer: The rules state you cannot do that, but in light of the details, I will immediately contact my manager and see what we can do.

The seller should have made all the details clear in advance, and had it all cleared with the community management before the buyer arrived.
The security staff should have made immediate effort to resolve the situation in a friendly manner.

Unfortunately, decent competent staff are hard to find.

Personally I would have simply found another dinghy sailboat. They are a dime a dozen. That way they seller would learn a lesson. This was a sales transaction. It's like arriving at a store and the staff making it a PITA to actual buy something.

 

[Meriachee]

Nothing wrong with the protectionist rules, if you want to live there, you have to agree with the rules, but I would question why the seller did not make prior arrangements with the access control point. Clearly there was no responsibility to express what method of haulage was arriving, something crazy like a 40' lowboy might have been the available hardware at the time.

 

[JRacer]

I think I am familiar with the Lake in question. And, if it is the one I am thinking of, the Zebra mussel migration was the specific reason that the community put very tight restrictions on anything from the outside going into their private lake.

 

[Kings Gambit]

This was a sales transaction. It's like arriving at a store and the staff making it a PITA to actual buy something.

No it isn't. This was private property not open to free public access. If at a store, a big item like that would be delivered.

 

[Meriachee]

If at a store, a big item like that would be delivered.

Not necessarily.

 

[Daveinet]

It's private property; if you enter w/o "permission" you could be trespassing which is, or at least can be, against the law. So, your theory is--"Hey man [long toke.....], if you get away with it, what's the big deal?"

I'd play the odds, particularly under the context that I was initially given access. No harm, no foul, unlikely there be anything other than a discussion with a cop, particularly since I was given permission by the boat owner. Trespassing is an offense, but normally worst case would be a conversation with a cop. With no intent to harm, is it unlikely for one to be sited.

 

[Jacomo Sailor]

Wow some of you are a little testy about this whole ordeal. Kings, you seem to act as if I knowingly did something wrong and then got bent out of shape and confrontational. Let me state very clearly before you make any more assumptions about what I did or didn't do. I didn't know they had a rule about outside trailers as that is something that is simply unheard of in my area. I did not get upset or argumentative with her, I was merely surprised when she stopped me. I didn't try to strong arm her into letting me in, I simply explained why I had a trailer with me and asked if there was a reason I couldn't bring it in to which I was never given an explanation (protection from zebras was just my assumption after she mentioned a quarnatine). Even though she was rude to me, I immediately complied with her demands and then went to meet with the seller to see what we could figure out. When the security supervisor showed up he said it wasn't even an issue and to go get my trailer, to which I offered to continue trying to fit it in my truck so they wouldn't have to bend their rule. He insisted it was OK so I did because it was the easiest and safest way to transport it. He was very pleasant and easy to work with, exactly the way the first guard should have been. Perhaps if you had been there and waited 5 minutes at the window to even be acknowledged while she treated a resident very rudely on the phone telling them how she didn't have time for their problem (her exact words), you might see a little more clearly exactly who the unreasonable party was.

 

[greg_m]

Sooo... can we see some pictures of the Sunfish please!

 

[brockway]

HOA's are offensive to me on a basic human level. Giving up control of your property to some council of busybodies and paying for the privilige? If I want to paint my house a color or plant palm trees or park my boat I'm not gonna ask for permission, I'm a grown up dagnabbit.

 

[greg_m]

dagnabbit.

I thought it was "dangnabbit"!

 

[Leeward Rail]

No it isn't.

How do you figure that ?
The security staff provide a SERVICE to the homeowner who lives in the community and pays their wages.
They also provide a service to any temporarily invited guest of the homeowner.

While their primary role is providing security, the moment security staff are in a position to interact with people who have some sort of business dealing on site, they are in a service role.
By not doing their best effort to provide that service, they are negligent in their job.

I had contracted security staff removed from our site because of similar attitudes.
(they were also replaced when they didn't do their security role well either)

Both the homeowner and the security staff dropped the ball.
In the end, a manager allowed the trailer in.
That should have been organized in advance by them, or at the very least handled at the time, in a better way.
They make the rules, and can bar access. That is their prerogative. Yet, evidenced by the fact they allowed the trailer in after much ado, they could have done so with much much hassle to everyone involved.

Alas, this lack of organizational skill, and judgement, seems common with some managers, and security staff with little man/woman syndrome. In my dealing with HOA's it's very common. People with little common sense, put in a position of minor power.

The security supervisor did his job well in this case, but it didn't have to get to that point.

 

[Leeward Rail]

Sooo... can we see some pictures of the Sunfish please!

+1

 

[Jacomo Sailor]

Here ya go.

But don't get used to it looking like this. I may sail it once before I do surgery on it. When I get done with her she will look like this

 

[Meriachee]

Is that the offending trailer? If so, it certainly looks like a good candidate for a nation-wide ban.