As homeowners start to rebuild in Mountain Shadows, neighborhood leaders want to ensure that existing covenants are followed – but they lack an enforcement mechanism.

As a result, a special taxing district is under consideration.

Mountain Shadows has 31 different filings or subdivisions with separate covenants, which can spell out everything from minimum square footage to height restrictions.

“We’ve stopped people cutting their bushes. Nobody ever expected this fire to (lead to) 346 houses being built at the same time with no oversight,” Francine Hansen, president of the Mountain Shadows Community Association, told the City Council on Monday.

At the request of council President Scott Hente, the City Attorney’s Office studied whether the city could create a special district to enforce existing covenants.

“Can the city play a role in this? The short answer is probably no,” City Attorney Chris Melcher said.

“The reason for that is these are private contracts,” he said. “By and large, this is a relationship between two private property owners.”

Chuck Fowler, president of the Parkside Owners Association, said it’s “very difficult” to enforce covenants without a funding mechanism. The Parkside association, which collects monthly fees from homeowners, will approve every house that’s built, he said.

Fowler said neighborhood leaders aren’t asking the city “to take control of anything.” He said they’re looking at creating a so-called approving authority to operate like a homeowners association over the entire area.

“Put us in the due diligence category right now to find out whether or not this is a good fit for us,” he said.

“Obviously, there’s significant political hurdles, (such as) people who don’t necessarily want to be in the service area,” he said. “There’s definitely some work to do. We’re simply looking at this as a potential option.”

Melcher said property owners will have to work together or fight it out in court.

“Awkward as it might be, the property owners have to sue each other,” he said.

“If you think your neighbor is violating your covenant and you’re in the same filing … then you as the owner of your own rights have to go sue that person to enforce those covenants,” he said.

Hansen emphasized that discussions are still preliminary and that a different solution could be proposed.

“Maybe we’ll just cross our fingers,” she said.