Academy/Common Rules & Restrictions
Basketball hoops
Know what actually controls hoop placement, and where your liability exposure exists even if your rules say nothing.
No federal or general state law addresses basketball hoops. Whether you can install one, portable or permanent, and where, is set by your CC&Rs and architectural review rules. Because portable bases can tip and injure a child, boards carry liability exposure under attractive nuisance law regardless of what the rules say.
No rule from Washington or your state house
Hoops don't show up in federal law the way antennas do under the FCC's OTARD rule, or the way the flag does under the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act. No general state statute covers them either. That means the whole question, portable or in-ground, placement, size, whether it needs approval, is answered entirely by your Declaration/CC&Rs and whatever architectural review process they set up.
If your documents are silent, the board's rulemaking power still has to trace back to authority the Declaration actually delegated. A rule invented on the spot, with no textual hook in the governing documents, is on shakier ground than one that ties back to an existing use restriction or review process.
Liability doesn't wait for a rule
A silent rulebook doesn't erase the board's exposure. Portable hoops are typically weighted with sand or water to stay upright, and an unsecured or tipped base is exactly the kind of hazard the common law attractive nuisance doctrine was built for: a landowner can be liable for injury to a trespassing child hurt by a condition the owner knew or should have known would draw children in, where the danger is one children are unlikely to recognize and it would have been cheap to fix.
That doctrine doesn't care whether the CC&Rs mention basketball hoops at all. A board that lets an unsecured hoop sit in a common area or a shared walkway is carrying that risk regardless of what the governing documents say, and no rule change removes it.
Permanent pole or portable base, and what's near the street
An in-ground hoop with a poured footing is a structural change to the property, the kind of thing architectural review exists to catch. Treat it like any other exterior alteration: submit it, get a decision, keep the record.
A portable hoop wheeled to the curb for pickup games is different. If it sits at the edge of the street or blocks a sidewalk, whether that also implicates a local traffic or parking ordinance, and not just your rules, depends on your municipality, so check your local code before writing a rule that assumes only the CC&Rs apply. Neither path is protected by federal or general state law the way a satellite dish or the U.S. flag is, so don't cite one to justify the other.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A homeowner installs a portable basketball hoop at the curb and insists no law lets the board object. What actually controls whether it's allowed?
The rules say nothing about basketball hoops. A portable hoop's base tips over and injures a trespassing child. Is the association exposed to liability?
The board wants hoops removed from the street after games and says "the law requires it." What's the accurate basis, given the evidence base?
Sources
- Attractive nuisance doctrine (Wex), Cornell Legal Information Institute
Common Rules & Restrictions
Check what your CC&Rs say about storage and exterior alterations next, most hoop questions turn out to be architectural review questions in disguise.
Whether a hoop needs architectural approval, and whether its placement runs into a local traffic or parking ordinance, varies by your governing documents and your municipality. Neither is set by federal or general state law.