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Started by MarioE • 14 replies • 3710 views

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MarioE (Florida)
Posts: 1

Posted:

I am the President of my HOA, in Miami Florida. Since the community was formed over 15 years ago, I am not sure how legal our street signs (speeding, stop etc) are. Without having to higher a consulant, where can I find this information? We are having a speeding issue and what to higher police officers to stop it.

JosephW (Michigan)
Posts: 882

Posted:

You probably can, the state law says:

2 (b)4. The board of directors of a homeowners' association as defined in chapter 720 may, by majority vote, elect to have state traffic laws enforced by local law enforcement agencies on private roads that are controlled by the association.

Here's the link to the full act:

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0316/SEC006.HTM&Title=->2006->Ch0316->Section%20006#0316.006

Joe

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JohnN3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 6

Posted:

You could even go a step further as our community did. We sponsored SB 601 (North Carolina) which applies to our community and allows law enforcement in to enforce traffic laws, but still allows us to travel our roads with ATV's, dirt bikes, go karts, Golf carts etc.

LanceT (Alabama)
Posts: 121

Posted:

You don't hire police officers. Police officers are PUBLIC servants. You do hire "security guards" who can be off duty police officers.
If you want better control on your streets, turn them over to the city/county. That way the city/county will be responsible for enforcing the PUBLIC laws of no-parking, speeding, or other illegal activities. It will mean your HOA losing it's ability to put their own tickets or tow cars themselves but it doesn't mean they lose the right to have it done. The residents simply have to call the police and have tickets/citations issued. The police should be the ones doing this anyways.

Recovering Ex-President of a HOA

JulieS (Georgia)
Posts: 412

Posted:

Are you a gated community with private roads or are your roads maintained by the city/county? If you are in a gated private road community, you could have your own security or people hired to give out tickets on behalf of the HOA. Some neigherhoods do this by issuing a ticket, which is a fine and if not paid, you become a member not in good standing. If it is a guest that is caught speeding and the guard knows who you visited, that homeowner can get a ticket. It doesn't go on your license but you do have a fine to pay.

If you have public streets maintained by the city or county, contact the police and share your concerns. Ask them to patrol or sit in your neighborhood to catch the speeders.

We have issues with speeders and residents often complain. We ask them to call the sheriff. If you get a tag number and know where the person lives, sometimes you can report them. If this information is reported to the HOA, a letter could be sent asking them to slow down.

If all else fails, there are speed bumps which everyone hates.

LindaC3 (Florida)
Posts: 526

Posted:

Julie--- You have to be real careful about the speed bumps ....At least in Florida-- There was a case filed by a gentleman whose HOA placed speed bumps on the private roads thus impeding his ingress and egress from his home-- He sued and won an injunction to have them removed. Linda C

JanM (Texas)
Posts: 142

Posted:

We are having the same problem with speeders. We are a gated community and own/maintain our roads. People seem to think that lowering the speed limit, with signs posted saying so, will slow people down. We also have a safety patrol equipped with radar who is authorized to write traffic tickets but there is only one. If you come thru the gate and the patrol truck is parked there, feel free to speed, which many do. Posting signs with a lower limit is not going to slow people down, only speed bumps will do that. Our neighborhood has lots of hills and curves. My neighbors and I are just waiting for a bad wreck to happen.

WilliamT (Arizona)
Posts: 489

Posted:

Posted By LindaC3 on 02/17/2007 5:33 AM

Julie--- You have to be real careful about the speed bumps ....At least in Florida-- There was a case filed by a gentleman whose HOA placed speed bumps on the private roads thus impeding his ingress and egress from his home-- He sued and won an injunction to have them removed. Linda C

Do you have a case number for that, or a url so we can read it. I would be interested in reading the case, and the law that the judge relied on.

LindaC3 (Florida)
Posts: 526

Posted:

William T--- Give me a few to go look thru my files.....I know it was an article I believe I read on Hoa Talk News....Palm Beach County ---- I will try my best to locate it for you and post..LindaC

JulieS (Georgia)
Posts: 412

Posted:

I don't particularly care for speed bumps and would only use them if all else fails. A large neighborhood in my area installed stop signs at intersections, turning them into 3 & 4-way stop signs rather than 1 or 2-way. The streets with long stretches of straight road where speeding was a severe problem, they petitioned the county for speed bumps. Try adding additional stop signs...if they don't do a complete stop, at least they should slow down a bit.

HaroldS (Arizona)
Posts: 906

Posted:

And then as here, speed bumps aren't much good if you have to leave two openings in the middle of the street so fire, police and ambulaces can sail thru without slowing for the bumps. Of course, most everyone else uses those openings too so now you have most everyone driving down the middle of the street to avoid the bumps instead of driving in their proper lanes. They play chicken to see who will move over first when they come upon each other. These are public streets, and yes I see the police using those openings even when they aren't going anywhere particular. Human nature. Harold

LanceT (Alabama)
Posts: 121

Posted:

Our solution to speed bumps and/or traffic violations was 2 fold. First, we turned our streets over to "Public" control. Once we gave the control of JUST the streets, the city came in and put their signs up and posted speed limits. The police could then come in and patrol our neighborhood. We still had control of the property but weren't responsible for road maintenance/laws.
Second, we did research into speed bumps. There are soo many hurdles that it wasn't worth the effort. It really does matter the traffic volume that determines the need for bumps/humps. Emergency vehicles despise them. Our solution: We got an ordinance with the city to paint ONE side of the road RED. (HOA's aren't allowed signs so we couldn't put up "No parking" signs). The "Red" zone means "No Parking" which the city can enforce. Our streets are too narrow to have 2 sides parking plus a flow through lane. We had to put the "RED" curbs on the SAME side as the fire hydrants so the fire trucks could park in front of them.
In the past, we had ambulances that got "stuck" coming in to get patients. Unfornately, there could have been 1 death related to this situation. So it was important for us to work with the emergency services to provide them better access to our property.
I would suggest talking to your city council for instructions on how to create an ordinance and getting it approved. It may require that the HOA get a vote on the solution they want and then the board approve to make the ordinance with the city. The city must have an ordinance created in order to enforce any laws.

Recovering Ex-President of a HOA

CharlesW1 (Georgia)
Posts: 826

Posted:

Posted By LanceT on 02/17/2007 11:03 PM

Our solution to speed bumps and/or traffic violations was 2 fold. First, we turned our streets over to "Public" control. Once we gave the control of JUST the streets, the city came in and put their signs up and posted speed limits. The police could then come in and patrol our neighborhood. We still had control of the property but weren't responsible for road maintenance/laws.
Second, we did research into speed bumps. There are soo many hurdles that it wasn't worth the effort. It really does matter the traffic volume that determines the need for bumps/humps. Emergency vehicles despise them. Our solution: We got an ordinance with the city to paint ONE side of the road RED. (HOA's aren't allowed signs so we couldn't put up "No parking" signs). The "Red" zone means "No Parking" which the city can enforce. Our streets are too narrow to have 2 sides parking plus a flow through lane. We had to put the "RED" curbs on the SAME side as the fire hydrants so the fire trucks could park in front of them.
In the past, we had ambulances that got "stuck" coming in to get patients. Unfornately, there could have been 1 death related to this situation. So it was important for us to work with the emergency services to provide them better access to our property.
I would suggest talking to your city council for instructions on how to create an ordinance and getting it approved. It may require that the HOA get a vote on the solution they want and then the board approve to make the ordinance with the city. The city must have an ordinance created in order to enforce any laws.

LanceT,

I would have to agree. We looked into “speed bumps” for our community as well. I thought long and hard.One questions I kept asking myself the same question, over and over.

Would I want to drive over these “speed bumps” in order to slow down a few speeders? I truly despise “speed bumps”. They do a tremendous amount of damage to your vehicle. Driving over these speed bumps on a occasion is bad enough, let alone having to do it every day! I personally wouldn’t want to deal with that, so I wouldn’t expect my neighbors to want it either.

Our streets are public. Ever since I have lived here we hadn’t had any problems with the streets. We don’t have snow removal. We have yet to have any repaving projects, although the streets need it.

Painting certain areas red and adding the additional “no parking” signs, certainly would deter many of homeowners and their guests from routinely parking in the streets, for us. I believe!

I know you said that you had to paint the curbs in front of the fire hydrants red, for emergency vehicles. I thought we would do the same. I would paint the curbs red (add a no parking sign) in front of all fire hydrants, on hills and any turns (blind spots). Have you had any other locations you discovered should have been painted red?

I’ll forward your post to the other board members and see what they think of that idea.

Thanks Lance.

Chuck W.

Charles E. Wafer Jr.

MikeS1
Posts: 668

Posted:

Here in Northern Virginia, we are able to have the Board file a letter of authorization with the local Police Dept. that gives them the right to come into the community and enforce any of the traffic codes to include licensing etc. This has worked out fine. Also you might want to contact your engineers with your state Dept of Trans. We contacted VDOOT on some issues like speed bumps and speeding, and they were very, very helpful.

LanceT (Alabama)
Posts: 121

Posted:

I would hesitate to add "No parking signs". HOA's typically don't allow signs other than "For-sale/For-Rent". No parking signs may be required to be installed every few hundred feet from eachother. That doesn't look that attractive. An option is to paint the words "No parking" in white on the curbs themselves.
If your considering these actions, First contact your local city/county code enforcer. They will have all the codes to see if you have to add one or can use an existing code. We had to actually create an ordinance for our curbs to be painted red and get permission NOT to use the city's no parking signs.
Another good hint: Talk to the local fire chief and city representative. That's what I did. I got into the fire marshall's car with a City rep and we drove around the neighborhood planning what would work for everyone. Make sure the Representative is from your local district representative. They will make sure changes will be done so they get the communities votes.
Board and community support is important. Try to have the community vote "yes" to the changes to allow the board to do the final touches. That seemed to work best so a minority of homeowner's were upset. (They lost parking spaces on the street).

Recovering Ex-President of a HOA

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