Preserve at Tara HOA tells resident to remove his Gadsden flag

When John Morrison was switching out the flag in front of his home in The Preserve at Tara, he noticed that his neighbor’s American flag was getting worn, so he offered to replace the flag with his own. 

Morrison had plenty of other flags waiting to be unfurled. 

At the time, he was taking down a Tampa Bay Rays flag that he put up at the start of the baseball season in March. Before that, Morrison had been flying the state flag of Florida in front of his home, so he didn’t think twice about raising his Gadsden flag after giving away his American flag. 

Morrison said the Gadsden flag, which has a yellow background and features a coiled snake with the motto, “Dont tread on me,” flew for a couple of months before he received a notice instructing him to remove the flag.

The notice — dated Oct. 3 — came from the Tara Master Association’s Architectural Review Committee. The Preserve at Tara is a deed restricted community; the TMA is the governing homeowners association for the community.

Morrison wrote a letter of appeal to the board a week later arguing that his flag did not violate the restrictions because it was both an American flag and a military flag, but he was sent a second notice Oct. 22 that issued a compliance deadline of 30 days.

He could either remove the flag or face fines of up to $100 per day with a maximum penalty of $1,000 per violation if he received a third notice. 

Begrudgingly, Morrison removed the flag. 

He also told his neighbors what happened via the Nextdoor app. The post garnered 168 comments debating if the flag was patriotic or divisive, if Morrison should sue the TMA, if HOAs have too much power and if the Gadsden flag represents the Navy or the Marines.

The rattlesnake on the Gadsden Flag was originally a symbol of the unity of the Thirteen Colonies at the start of the Revolutionary War. Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden represented South Carolina in the Congress and he decided that the American navy needed a distinctive flag and took it upon himself to make one in 1775.

However, during the Civil War, northerners began to feel the flag was associated with the Confederacy. It's use was debated and criticized.

Over the years, the flag's use was politicized, used as a libertarian symbol in the 1970s to represent individual rights. In the late 2000s, the flag was used by those who supported the American Tea Party movement.

What authority do HOAs have over flags?

What Morrison considers "censorship," others consider the cost of living in a deed restricted community. 

"That's what you get when you move somewhere where they can tell you what you can do," commented Bradenton resident Barbara Parker.

Flags, and the right to fly them, are governed like most everything else, whether living in an HOA or not. 

On the state and federal level, the freedom to fly certain flags is governed through legislation. On the HOA level, the particulars of when and where that flag can be flown is governed through covenants, conditions and restrictions. 

The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 states that an HOA cannot restrict a homeowner from displaying an American flag on his or her residential property. However, the act also states that the display must be consistent with “any reasonable restriction pertaining to the time, place or manner of displaying the flag.” 

Reasonable restrictions apply because HOAs are designed to enforce rules that maintain a certain standard within a community. 

Florida statute expands homeowners’ rights to include displaying military and first responder flags. 

The two notices Morrison received included the TMA’s restrictions for flags: 

“Any homeowner may display one portable, removable United States flag or official flag of the State of Florida and one portable, removable official flag, not larger than 4.5 feet by 6 feet which represents the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Space Force, First Responder or POW-MIA flag. All flags must be in appropriate condition and displayed in a respectful manner. No other flags are permitted to be flown in Tara Preserve.”

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

Morrison said his flag complies because it's only 3 feet by 4.5 feet, and it represents the Navy. He called the move “arbitrary” and “a bad call” because he was never asked to remove his other flags.

One poster on Nextdoor suggested he sue the TMA for “selective enforcement.”

Kim Loskota, board president for the TMA, declined to comment. 

Joe DiBartolomeo, chairman of the Tara Community Development District, noted that the CDD has nothing to do with the architectural review committee, but he spoke as a resident of The Preserve who is familiar with the rules.

He said nobody from the TMA is driving around seeking out violations. The vast majority of notices are sent out after the biannual inspections, but occasionally residents make complaints. 

If a sports flag is flying on a Sunday, nobody’s going to say anything. But if it’s noted during an inspection, it gets addressed to maintain the standard.

“Tara is our happy place and we’re not looking to break chops,” DiBartolomeo said. “(The TMA) has to address concerns, but that’s why they give three notices and the opportunity to show up at an ARC meeting and plead their case.”