CHUCK HUMEL / CHRONICLE

Nicholas takes a trip down his slide.

 

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — A homeowners’ association is forcing a woman  who uses a wheelchair to remove a swing set she put up for her autistic son or face a $100 per month fine.

Laura Chapek lives on Overlook Way in the Meadow Lakes subdivision on the city’s north side, between Case and Stoney Ridge roads. She said she has cerebral palsy and cannot walk more than a few feet or drive to take her 8-year-old son, Nicholas, four miles to the nearest park.

Chapek said because of her condition, the association allowed her to put in the swing set for Nicholas when she bought her ranch home in 2006.

“When we moved in, we asked if we could have a swing set,” she said. “Nicholas needs this. He’s not mature like other kids, and it gives him a special place to play. I wouldn’t have bought my house if I knew this would happen.”

But while she may have gotten the OK from the previous homeowners’ association, the group is now under new management, and it wants the swing set taken down.

The previous association manager, Kathleen DeSalvo, and the Willoughby management company she co-owned were replaced last year after she was arrested in a scam in which 43 people were bilked out of $3.4 million in homeowners’ dues. She pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court.

Barry Barnett, who heads Barnett Management Association, said Wednesday there’s nothing he can do about the Chapeks’ situation because they are violating their homeowners’ agreement.

“I certainly sympathize with her, but there’s nothing I can do,” he said.

Chapek said the swing set is centered in her backyard and is pretty much out of sight. She said nobody has complained about it being there for two years.

And she said she’ll do anything necessary to keep it there for Nicholas.

“I will picket if I have to,” Chapek said. “I will sit at the top of my hill at the entrance to the association and hold a sign in my wheelchair.”

She said the swing set is therapeutic for Nicholas, who is not only autistic but also has hyperactivity disorder.

“He doesn’t make good decisions. He has to constantly be watched. He has some behavioral issues,” she said. “He’s constantly climbing on things. That’s where this swing set comes in. If he’s climbing there, I know he’s safe.”

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

 

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