I would drive around the hood and see if you can find examples of similar " violations". The easiest way to foil HOA overreaches is to prove that they are either not enforcing the rules in their entirety or simply being arbitrary. Either thing will , by law, abrogate the restriction(s). I had my HOA raise hell about my front yard trees until I traveled the hood and found over 20 other yards with virtually the same issue. I talked a number of these neighbors and discovered that ALL of their trees were planted by the builder over 20 years ago, no one ever complained, so I simply presented this to the management company WITH a threat to lawyer up and challenge the entire deed restriction package for numerous un-enforced or randomly enforced covenants which would cause holy hell for the HOA. They agreed to forget their " issue " if I kindly dropped my " issue".
I think you can easily find numerous non-compliance events all over your hood to use as a battering ram.
I believe in HOA's and think they serve a very needed purpose UNLESS they revert into hood-nazis...as many do.

Don't be so sure of yourself.

Individual members of the community can come after you. If you are in violation of the HOA by violating deed restrictions, anyone can bring suit.

My father spent 5 days in jail for violation of HOA deed restrictions. HOA is still alive and thriving. The case was brought by a devil reincarnated neighbor 3 houses down.

I am not a proponent of HOA's but we live in one with deed restrictions. I somehow have gotten onto the board and have found myself as the sole remaining board member due to attrition. I have researched the hell out of it and talked to a lot of real estate lawyer buddies and gotten scared enough to take advantage of some retained attorneys our management company pays for.

What I have learned is that if they are deed based, and have any form of community property, do not eff with them. Sure you could go into litigation but as much as you would think they do not want to go there or pay for it, they are typically heavily over-insured and those *******s get off on it. So they slap you with a fine, then a lien, then collection charges, then legal charges, $#!+ gets out of hand quickly. My advice would be to kiss whoever's ass you need to in order to get your arbor approved. If you can't then there is likely some basis in the CC&R's that they are using. If that is the case, you will need to figure it out.

Now some will say "they cannot foreclose" not true, they can foreclose, they have to remove any superior liens in order to do so. If you piss them off bad enough they can and might do it. Sure you will get your due process in court, but plead your case to yourself and decide what a judge would rule. Remember you agreed to the HOA when you purchased. You have benefited in quality of life and property appreciation. You bypassed the Arch review committee, you built your arbor out of compliance, you stuck your middle finger up when they challenged you. OK so you are not going to move, and they are not going to foreclose. You still have a lien on your house that will be dealt with the next time you touch your mortgage.

What you run into with these as some posters have mentioned is consistency. I guarantee the HOA has talked to an attorney, and he has informed them that they must stay consistent to avoid setting bad precedents and the appearance of any of the -ism's. Ignore your lack of permission or architectural style and they have set precedent.

You bought a home in a deed-restricted neighborhood, and violated the rules. I'm not sure what your grievance is.

You gotta love people that sign real estate contracts in an HOA and then don't want to operate within the contract rules they supposedly said they would abide by. Makes you wonder what other contracts they act like weasels and crooks on. Stories from HOAs around the state people tell where homeowners don't think the rules apply to them are easily one of the bigger things that makes people all over the country think the state is filled with ignorant necks.

Just do what you have to do to get it fixed or approved. If it gets sideways, the HOA is spending your, and your neighbors, money. You will prolly run out of money before the HOA does.

Our HOA is about to drop the hammer on 20 or so properties for non-payment. That will be as fun as a toothache.

There was a guy in or HOA that wanted to leave his boat in his driveway, which is in violation of the CC&Rs. It ended up being a pecker measuring contest between the HOA and him. He lost to the tune of close to $10K in fines, atty fees, and court costs. He ended up filing bankruptcy.