Arrow sign backlash in Ballantyne
Some residents at Ardrey Kell Villages oppose HOA's plan for directional signs; 'Whoa those arrows are ugly'
The following article appeared in the September 21, 2020, edition of The Charlotte Ledger. Sign up for free to receive original, local news straight to your inbox:
A fierce debate has erupted in a Ballantyne neighborhood over a homeowners’ association’s decision to install directional arrows by the address numbers of residents’ homes.
According to a letter sent to residents last week by the Ardrey-Kell HOA, at the Ardrey Kell Villages townhouse development near Elon Park Elementary, the association started installing arrow signs on units in mid-August because packages were being delivered to the wrong homes. The signs that mark the address numbers in the development are on the garages but are closer to the front doors of the neighboring units, which apparently confuses delivery drivers.
So in late August, the letter says, the association began installing signs with arrows to indicate the correct front doors, like this:
But the move soon sparked controversy. “The arrows kicked off a sh—storm on Nextdoor,” one resident told The Ledger. The anti-arrow faction posted comments under the headers “ridiculous arrows” and “NO ARROWS.”
For example:
“Looks more like [a] business than a residence.”
“Whoa those arrows are ugly. Why wouldn’t they just move the address numbers over to make it more obvious which numbers belong to which door? It sounds like they just went for the cheapest option.”
After the Nextdoor brouhaha, the board is now allowing residents to opt out of having the arrow signs installed on their units.
However, the letter says that homeowners who have signs installed “will not have the choice of whether the arrow will be above or below the current address sign. It will be installed in a pre-determined location for each home.”
One resident wrote, “I couldn’t send that opt-out email fast enough.”
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