Shared Use Agreements with Homeowners Associations Open Playgrounds in Maryland

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Leaders from homeowner associations (HOA) across the small community of Greenbelt, Maryland, realized that shared use agreements for the use of playgrounds, between the city and HOAs, could be mutually beneficial to both parties. In order to help increase property values and provide more play space for kids, the HOAs formed a coalition and sought to establish shared (joint) use agreements between the city and the newly formed coalition.

According to the KaBoom! story, Greenbelt, Maryland: Joint-Use Agreements with Homeowners Associations, Greenbelt, was originally developed as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. It was designed to be a complete city with schools, businesses, and places for recreation. By the 1950s, the community was privatized and as a result some playgrounds became the property of new owners.

In the 1980s the Greenbelt Homes Inc. (GHI)—the neighborhood’s housing co-operative—formalized a shared use agreement with the city, which would allow the use of its playgrounds. The agreement worked well—however, as the years progressed additional homeowner associations (HOA) in Greenbelt were created. In order to keep up with these changes and to provide equal use of playgrounds throughout the community, new shared use agreements would have to be developed, so a coalition comprised of the different HOAs was formed in 2000. The HOA coalition sought to convince the city to enter into shared use agreements with all the HOAs. In the end, the city and HOAs entered into a shared use agreement which required the city to pay for the maintenance of playgrounds which were to be left open to the entire community.

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Play Matters: Joint Use Agreements with Homeowners Associations