Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I have a follow-up question related to an easement on my property. Last year, Anthony Roach and Timothy McCormick answered me with helpful information. Unfortunately, my HOA is being extremely unreasonable with respect to my situation. My situation is this: I live on a property with a large backyard, the bulk of which is a dirt slope. Apparently, based on our CCRs, the bulk of this slope was given to the HOA as a non-exclusive maintenance easement. Over twenty years ago, the original owner of the house built a fence around the the backyard--our property line, from what I can gather in the County Assessor's blueprints--but around the easement. According to original HOA board members and owners (some of whom still live here), this owner received approval for building the fence at the time. But that approval has long been lost as we are the forth owner and many property management companies have filtered through this community. The fence has always remained unlocked. However, the HOA never maintained the easement (there are seven other houses that have the same easement rights on their dirt slopes, none of which were maintained by previous HOAs. Fast-forward to the last couple of years, when I decided to begin maintaining this part of my yard (it's basically my whole backyard). Three extremely irrational and controlling people are elected to the board and say we must tear down our illegally constructed fence or face fines, or even, they will tear it down and make us pay. I told them that under California law (I'm in San Diego), the easement right has been extinguished, and their point is moot. But they are telling me, due to a poorly written paragraph in our CCRs, that not only does the bulk of my backyard have an easement restriction, it is also part of the HOAs common area. I argued that since it is in our property boundaries, there is no way it can be common area. They assert that there is a special rule that allows these slopes to be both easements and common areas, even though they are inside my property line. I am beyond furious with these people as I am the only one in twenty years who has maintained the slope/yard. Once I started doing this, they began harassing me. I'll copy the poor written part of our CCRs and post it below. Our is Lot 30, but they've included here not only houses, but also lots where community signs have been built. I think the common area part of the clause refers only to those areas, not to our properties. Just really need some feedback on this.

Thanks,

Chris Hendrickson

9.5 Easements for Maintenance. Slope Lpndscapinc and Monu�

nents. Portions of Lot 4, Lots 29 through 36, inclusive, and Lot

58 of Map No. 12005, Lots 70 through 74, inclusive, Lot 152, Lot

153, Lot 154 and Lot 158 of Map No. 12035, and Lot 161, Lot 162,

Lot 163, Lots 184 through 190, inclusive, and Lot 217 of Map 12037,

all as more particularly described on Exhibit "C" and shown on

Exhibit "fl," both attached hereto and incorporated herein by this

reference, are hereby granted to the Association as non�exclusive

easements for the purpose of planting, replacing and maintaining

landscaping, slope maintenance, erecting, repairing, replacing and

maintaining monument signs and installing, repairing, replacing

and maintaining any utility lines to such monument signs ("Association

Maintenance Easements") , all which shall be and remain a part

of the Common Area.

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