Former HOA Board Member Resorts to Criminal Trespassing and Vandalism to Impede Conversion to Sustainable, Affordable Native Plants!

In the late morning of Tuesday, April 15, 2025, one or more persons trespassed and vandalized the native plant/wild flower test zone which was located on the private property of Rick Lannoye, at 3009 Plumtree Lane, Plano, Texas, cutting down the many varieties of native plants which had been thriving in the test area for a period of about 7 weeks, in coordination with the City of Plano's Department of Environmental Sustainability, the Neighborhood Services Department and Peachtree Village HOA.

Within hours, the crime was reported to the City of Plano Police Department which created an official incident report (25-078335). The Plano Police have designated the act as criminal mischief, which involves intentionally or knowingly damaging, destroying, or tampering with someone else's property without their consent. The severity of the offense depends on the value of the damage, potentially ranging from a Class C misdemeanor to a state jail felony.

At this time, the principal suspects are 1) former Peachtree Village HOA Board president, Joe Tarell, 2) "Mr. Curtis," owner of Southern Style Landscaping and 3) one or more employees of Goodwin & Co., the HOA management company which had been hired by the former HOA Board and which has been directed by the new HOA board to prepare for termination of their services.

The motive for the trespass and vandalism tracks back to a recent statement made to Rick Lannoye by Mr. Curtis, in which, he expressed anger over the New Board's and the majority of Peachtree Village Community residents' rejection of a plan to possibly hire Southern Style Landscaping to charge our community $1 per square foot to dig up all the greenbelt's crabgrass and replace it with brown gravel, or what's called "xeriscaping." Had the plan gone ahead, as Mr. Tarell stated in an HOA Board meeting on March 3, 2025, it would have cost each homeowner $250. Though Mr. Curtis had, at first, indicated he, of his own accord, was terminating his landscaping service with Peachtree Village HOA, he reversed course about a week later, in which he then stated his company would continue mowing down the, largely crabgrass and spawning native plants along with them, covering what had been a communally shared zone "for as long as Joe [Tarell] and Ashley [Aldridge, the "community manager" employee of Goodwin & Co.] want me to!"

For roughly 7 weeks, "Curtis" [Southern Style] Landscaping had respected the area marked off by a gold-colored, cord tied to wooden stakes and, every few feet, signs that clearly stated, in both English and Spanish, "Wild Flower Zone, Do Not Mow." Regardless of the difference of views Mr. Curtis had with respect to the new Peachtree Village Interim Board's authority to terminate the contract with his company, this does not excuse him, Mr. Tarell or anyone else involved in orchestrating this act of violence, and disregard for the privacy of Mr. Lannoye's home property.

The private property also has 2, clearly posted No Trespassing signs which were ignored and which adds to the criminal mischief allegation, a criminal trespass--when someone enters or remains on property without the owner's effective consent, knowing the entry was forbidden or after receiving a notice to depart, which is generally designated as a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $2,000 and/or up to 180 days in jail.

Further, on April 10, 2025, the new HOA Board, with the support of the Peachtree Village community which, in a March 29, 2025 Referendum approved 5 proposals, all by a 95 to 5% margin, one of which, removed the prior HOA's permission to "control" the portions of personal property that had been, in its original, 40-year-old Rules (By-Laws) and CCRs (covenants, conditions and restrictions) "ceded" to the common vegetation zone (the "greenbelt"), effectively returning full control of ALL private property back to each, individual homeowner.

Anyone who may have witnessed these trespassers/vandals or who has any additional information that could help lead to a conviction in a court of law, is encouraged to contact the Plano Police Department.

Meanwhile, the new Peachtree Village Interim Board remains undeterred in the effort to find out the best way to convert our terra (non road, parking or walkway) properties to an affordable, environmentally-sustainable and responsible form of plant growth. The old idea that it ever made any sense to spray drinking water on non-native plants in order, failingly, prop up a "golf course" appearance is no longer feasible. Our old, cheaply-constructed irrigation system has been leaking and breaking for at least a year, if not longer, and the cost of the drinking water alone is only going to go up.

Right now, the City of Plano is already restricting outdoor land watering to 2 nights a week and, by the summer, especially if we have another drought, will likely be restricted further. Instead of ignoring the reality that our community, like every other one in North Texas, must change how we think about what our outdoor plant-covered land should look like, our new Peachtree Village HOA Board is committed to LEADING this transition and helping our neighbors understand why it's vital we change our views about what "looks nice." Nothing anyone from the OLD Board did, or is perhaps plotting to do, is going to stop us and, it's our hope, that this act of violence by one or more persons either on or connected to the former Board of directors, will serve as a wake up call, alerting us to just how wrong their old direction had taken us.