MILFORD:

The Conashaugh Lakes Community will not be required to increase the weight limits on its roads to accommodate builders’ equipment.

Nikles Realty Inc., Ed Nikles Custom Builder Inc. and the Pike County Builders Association were all plaintiff’s in the court hearing requesting an injunction against Conashaugh Lakes Community Association. Conashaugh has a “spring thaw” weight limit of 10,000 pounds on construction vehicles entering the community.

In a July 16 decision set down in the Pike County Court of Common Pleas, Judge Joseph Kameen denied the plaintiff’s petition for preliminary injunction.

Nikles claimed that Conashaugh’s “spring thaw ban” of trucks over 10,000 pounds, as written in the rules and regulations of the community, would cause delays in construction, loss of work and other costs which could not be calculated. Nikles filed an injunction against Conashaugh last March claiming this restriction violated the Uniform Planned Community Association Act 180 of 1997, which states a 20,000 pound weight limit for that same period should be in place.

Conashaugh Lakes Community Association Board President John Crerand testified that Conashaugh’s weight limit ban was put into place in 1995, prior to the 1997 UPCA weight limit restriction. Crerand also showed photographs of the damage caused to the roads within the community by overweight trucks.

In the decision made by Kameen, he noted that all association members, home and/or property owners must abide by the community’s bylaws which were in effect in 1986. He also noted that members must also, as stated in the bylaws, obey at all times the rules and regulations of the community. Since those rules limit the spring thaw weight limit to 10,000 pounds for members, a contractor’s rights of access should not exceed that of owners.

Kameen ruled that the injunction sought by Nikles would do more harm than good and therefore the injunction was denied.