An omnipresent force in suburbia, or at least in most of it's residential neighborhoods.
A quasi-fascist governing board, often set up by a subdivision's
real-estate developer, who strictly enforce such rules and building codes as...
-Grass must be kept watered, golf course
green and closely manicured, even during times of drought and
water shortages
-No one uses their yard to grow their own
food-No patch of land may be permitted to return to it's natural state
-No rooms or other additions may be permitted above or in front of the existing home
-No potter's shed or tool shed may be allowed anywhere on the property
-No yard ornaments
-No
rain barrels
and so on.
The homeowners association says you can't put an addition onto the
front of the
house. They also said you couldn't add a 2nd level (which would keep any additional property from being paved over.) They said that the only place you could add on was the back (which paradoxically is the only yard anyone ever actually uses.)
To get another idea of what a homeowner's association is like, watch the 1999 episode of the X-Files by the
name of "Arcadia."