Opinion ID: 1356134
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: approval of plans

Text: ¶ 31 In article I of the covenants, provision is made for the appointment and duties of an architectural committee: No building shall be erected, placed, or altered on any premises in said development until the building plans, specifications, and plot plans showing the location of such building have been approved as to conformity and harmony of external design with existing structures in the development, and as to location of the building with respect to topography and finished ground elevation by an architectural committee composed of CHARLES R. KIRTON and other members selected by him or by a representative designated by the members of said committee. After the district court granted a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against Erickson, and after he had erected his workshop, he sought to comply with this covenant. Mary Campbell and Charles R. Kirton, the two surviving members of the original architectural committee, designated Robert Campbell as the committee's representative. Robert Campbell then formally approved Erickson's shed. However, this approval avails Erickson nothing, for two reasons. ¶ 32 First, the covenant requires that the architectural committee or its designated representative approve the building plan prior to the erection of any building on the lots. That was not done here. Approval came after the workshop had been erected. Secondly and more seriously, the restrictive covenant does not purport to give the architectural committee authority to relieve any lot owner of a duty to comply. There is no language in the covenant that could be construed to give such sweeping authority to the committee. Instead, the covenant grants to the committee the authority to examine building plans, specifications, and plot plans in order to determine conformity and harmony of external design with existing structures and location of the proposed building with respect to topography and finished ground elevation. The architectural committee can perform those duties without violating the covenants with regard to the four types of buildings allowed.