I've lived in a number of communities with HOA's and largely anyone involved with them who lived in the community was a complete asshole to deal with. i've seen people like this harass and chase people in their cars until they left the community without any proof or reason to justify it. i've had people come over to my house to tell me i had too many guests/cars in the vicinity and was only permitted "so many guests or guests vehicles near my property at any given time", basically any bullshit they want to make up to punish people they don't want in the community.
worst I ever had to deal with was a neighbor on the HOA board (a retired elementary teacher much less), blacklisting me because she saw that I let a teenager (who happened to not be white) into the community through the side gate along my home. that night i got a call from her to remind me im not allowed to let anyone into the community without proper ID, "how many black people live here to believe he was visiting family?" lol
two weeks later i got notices about having too many wind chimes on my patio and that my garden lighting was "distracting my neighbors", much less the crap i've dealt with over things like the confederate flag/tea party shit being allowed outside of some homes but being told a small political sign in my yard wasn't allowed (it was for a democrat). HOA's and gated communities are trash, even in more "progressive neighborhoods" in LA i've seen people behave like bigoted trash once your behind some gates.