Some residents in the Baltimore region are being hung out to dry as restrictions limit the use of clotheslines.
Homeowners associations, including some in Howard and Anne Arundel, have regulations concerning the use of outside clothes dryers, and this is not right, said Jeanne Ketley, president of the Maryland Homeowners? Association, an advocacy group for homeowners living in condominiums, homeowner associations and cooperatives.
“I think condos and homeowners associations have to think of ways to help save energy in any way they can,” she said.
The nonprofit Project Laundry List said clotheslines and other outside dryers are simple and effective ways to save energy.
“We try to get people to hang clothes out to dry,” Executive Director Alexander Lee said. “Clothes last longer and smell better.”
Hanging clothes out to dry saves more than $100 a year on electric bills for most households, according to Project Laundry List.
Tracking homeowners associations with this ban is difficult because the rules vary, Ketley said.
In Columbia?s homeowners association, the regulations vary among the 10 villages.
In the Town Center village, which is the most urban village consisting almost entirely of town houses or condos, an application is required for all exterior clothes dryers, Village Manager Patricia Laidig said.
The dryers are approved so long as they are umbrella or retractable designs and are removed when not in use and daily by sunset, she said.
“It sort of implies that it?s allowed if it?s reasonable,” Ketley said.
However, in the Oakland Mills village, an application is not required for umbrella or retractable designs, Village Manager Sandy Cedarbaum said.
All of them have to be removed when not in use, except if the homeowner has an enclosed fence, she said.
At the Crofton Civic Association in Anne Arundel, the umbrella-type clothes dryers are banned, Town Manager Larry Schweinsburg said.
“Other than that, there?s nothing else that addresses hanging up clothes,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
