{"id":2391,"date":"2017-03-05T19:16:14","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T00:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/?p=2391"},"modified":"2017-03-05T19:16:14","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T00:16:14","slug":"suntree-wants-to-ban-sex-offenders-from-living-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/suntree-wants-to-ban-sex-offenders-from-living-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Suntree wants to ban sex offenders from living there"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SUNTREE\u00a0\u2014 The Suntree Master Homeowners Association, one of Brevard County\u2019s largest\u00a0residential developments, may soon have one of the strictest policies in the state when it comes to allowing sexual offenders and sexual predators to live there.<\/p>\n

The association is asking residents to amend its housing\u00a0restrictive covenants, which would bar known sexual offenders and sexual predators from owning or renting there. Technically, it\u2019s asking residents to approve expanding the zone of protection of city and county ordinances by restricting sex offenders from residing within 3,000 feet from places where children regularly congregate, essentially covering all of Suntree.<\/p>\n

The proposed changes follow\u00a0meetings with the Brevard County Sheriff\u2019s Office on what crimes are taking place on the Space Coast and what communities can do to prevent problems before they start.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought being preventative was better than being reactive,\u201d said Todd Foley,\u00a0general manager of the homeowners association.<\/p>\n

Lawyers and others familiar with fair housing statutes say what\u2019s being proposed in Suntree likely is legal, as housing covenants generally have more power over a neighborhood\u2019s make-up, much more so than those without official neighborhood guidelines.<\/p>\n

Suntree, as residents often like\u00a0to boast, is one of the most popular areas in Brevard. It\u2019s made up of 4,500 households, including\u00a0single-family homes, apartments and townhouses,\u00a0as well as schools, day care centers, bike paths, walking trails, two 18-hole golf courses, several parks\u00a0and 50 neighborhoods or sub-associations.<\/p>\n

The covenant amendment is scheduled to be voted on at the association\u2019s March 15 annual meeting.<\/p>\n

People already living in Suntree who have been convicted of sex crimes could be grandfathered in if new guidelines are approved, but the association says it will determine that on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe restriction is intended to cover all persons qualifying as sexual offenders or sexual predators,\u201d said Sonia Bosinger, the lawyer for the Suntree homeowners association, \u201chowever, for any offenders that may already be residing within the 3,000 foot zone of protection, Suntree will need to analyze each case individually to determine the parties\u2019 respective rights and obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed amendment comes just about a year after\u00a0the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued guidance about restrictions placed on renting or selling to convicted felons. The department\u2019s concern was that certain races\u00a0could be more adversely affected by such housing restrictions because of the of their higher number of arrests and convictions.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not necessarily the case regarding what Suntree is proposing, said Ryan Poliakoff, a South Florida lawyer specializing in condo regulations and housing association issues. Poliakoff also is a regular columnist with FLORIDA TODAY.<\/p>\n

HUD\u2019s directives could limit\u00a0the use of criminal records by homeowners associations when it comes to race, religion or gender but Suntree\u2019s proposed policy seems to beyond that, said Poliakoff, who predicts\u00a0\u00a0more communities will follow suit on Suntree\u2019s potential ban on sexual offenders and predators.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that ban is part of the association\u2019s declaration of covenants, it\u2019s my opinion it would survive a challenge both under Florida law and the Fair Housing Act,\u201d Poliakoff said. \u201cI think there is a concern within our society\u00a0and our criminal justice system\u00a0that sexual offenders are more likely to commit crimes in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poliakoff noted that governments often restrict registered\u00a0sexual offenders or predators from living within a certain distance from a school or park out of concern that the individual would commit the offense again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the state has that concern, why is it not valid for the association to have that concern?\u201d Poliakoff asked. \u201cThat probably gives the association the sufficient, substantially\u00a0necessary interest to protect the children in their community by saying no\u00a0sexual offender can own a unit or preside in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, studies have produced varying findings when it comes to the likelihood that a sex offender will commit the same crime again. One study, nearly 20 years old, published in the \u201cJournal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,\u201d found that child molesters had a 13 percent reconviction rate for sexual offenses and a 37 percent reconviction rate for new, non-sex offenses over a five-year period. Whereas, another study found reconviction rates to be 20 percent for child molesters and about 23 percent for rapists.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Foley said,\u00a0it\u2019s about the safety of the residents of Suntree. The ban goes for both sex offenders and sexual predators. For the latter, a\u00a0court must make a specific finding that an offender is a sexual predator because they\u2019re considered a particular severe danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have done something pretty bad to get that designation,\u201d Foley said. \u201cA predator is someone a judge takes another look at and\u00a0says \u2018That\u2019s someone that\u2019s really dangerous.’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUNTREE\u00a0\u2014 The Suntree Master Homeowners Association, one of Brevard County\u2019s largest\u00a0residential developments, may soon have one of the strictest policies in the state when it comes to allowing sexual offenders and sexual predators to live there. The association is asking residents to amend its housing\u00a0restrictive covenants, which would bar known sexual offenders and sexual predators […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[104,103],"class_list":["post-2391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sex-offender-news","tag-florida-sex-offender-one-stop-resource","tag-suntree-wants-to-ban-sex-offenders-from-living-there"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2392,"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391\/revisions\/2392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sexoffenderonestopresource.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}