Assigned Parking

Started by JamesC • 10 replies • 2513 views

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JamesC (Maryland)
Posts: 282

Posted:

Private Community of 167 Townhomes in Maryland.
The community is 32 years old, and has never had assigned parking. I am on the board and also the committee looking into having assigned parking because several residents have multiple vehicles. Some as many as six. We do not have street parking because there are sufficient facilities on the common area of our community to accomodate even those having more then two.
Our Rules/Regulations as well as the CC&R's state every home should be alloted two parking spaces in the front of each home. Unfortunately the ones having the multiple vehicles are parking all their cars in front of their home.

Question: Has anyone out there lived in a private community that originally did "NOT" have
assigned parking, then decided to assign spaces? Looking for suggestions on how you did it.

BIGGER QUESTION:If the Association is proposing an Amendment change to the Declaration, do the proxies/ballots need to be notarized?????????????????.

Thanks:
Jim

BradD2 (Florida)
Posts: 418

Posted:

Notarized no, unless specifically required by your governing documents. Usually the requirement is the address, the name and signature of Owner (at least person on the deed itself). That is the taken back and the information confirmed correct so that if it is ever contested everything is in order.

JamesC (Maryland)
Posts: 282

Posted:

BradD

Thanks for your reply:

When we met with our attorney he said we could do it one of two ways.
1) The course we are on now scheduling a special meeting for May 3rd to try and get some signatures, (he said we need 126 homeowners voting ya) then the community will need to be convassed to get the other needed votes for approval. Last year we held a special meeting to raise a late fee change and did not need to have anything notarized. It is my understanding this was never required on any changes in the past.
2) He said we as the board could do the change with only board approval, but we risked a disgruntled homeowner possibly filing a law suit against us. (It is common area controlled by the board) I do not think that would be likely, but the board voted to do the vote thing with the community.

Jim

MikeS1
Posts: 668

Posted:

Jim, We've been to this Movie in No. VA. ... As long as the Docs say that these spaces are common area and the docs also say that they Board may determine how they are used; as per your attorney indicated, you should be able to pass a resolution and be done with it. (No community vote required). I would recommend that (30 -60 days prior) you mail out the proposed resolution to the community prior to when the Board will vote on the resolution. Our townhome community is 16 years old and with the real estate prices they way they are now, there are many more occupants per household now. Originally, (right after the developer relinquished control), the Board established the Reserved Parking Resolution which gave 2 spaces to each town home (one was very proximate to the home and there was no guarantee on the second space location). (see link to review Resolution - http://unionmills.com/resolutions/ReservedParking.pdf). The remainder of the spaces were allocated to be open to anyone on a first come, first serve basis. There are just 2.3 spaces per townhome in the community. Where there are Garage townhomes, the 2.3 spaces includes the driveway space and the garage space. Most of the homes are non-garage and some of them are 1 car garage townhomes. Then in 2004, we had to tighten things up again and restrict folks from "storing" their additional 3, 4th and 5th vehicles in the visitor spaces. The biggest problem areas originate where the garage owners reside, since a lot of them use their garage for junk storage and our docs just don't address this problem. I have noticed that many of the newer community documents state that you garage must be accessible and that you must use your garage space as a primary space (words to that effect).

Our current system isn't perfect, but every non-garage townhomeowner has two reserved spaces and most of the residents respect the visitor spaces more so these days. One of my neighbors had 5 vehicles, 1 wife, a one car garage full of junk and 3 driving children. It's just amazing how much stuff folks can store in one townhome. We also have problems in the neighborhood with owners renting out flop space to as many as 7 additional unrelated individuals which is clearing against the zoning laws, but the county is either too lazy, or too afraid to enforce the zoning laws.

Peace!

MikeS1
Posts: 668

Posted:

While it's your attorney's job to point out that you may be sued; I wouldn't worry about that. When the neighborhood realizes that the Board is doing the RIGHT Thing or the FAIR thing, then I really think that the threat of a suit will diminish. Why would any of your neighbors with 4-5 cars feel like its fair for them to park all these cars in the neighborhood.? Sounds like it's time for some folks to move on to bigger homes and just get out of a townhouse.

HaroldS1 (Arizona)
Posts: 314

Posted:

Sounds like it's time for some folks to move on to bigger homes and just get out of a townhouse. >>
Now there's an idea! Why don't we all revise our CC&Rs to limit each townhouse to two cars? Works for limiting pets. Why not cars? Cars are a bigger pain than pets anyway. Harold

JamesC (Maryland)
Posts: 282

Posted:

Harold:

Possibly you miss the point of my question.
No one is suggesting limiting anyone to "two" of anything. When you live in a private community the regs say each homeowner is entitled to two parking spaces directly in front of their home. When someone who has multiple vehicles want to park all their cars in front of their house it means the next door neighbor gets moved further and further up the parking lot. Most of these owners having multiple cars are young kids. Why should a senior citizen for example, have to carry groceries, or anything from ten or so houses away from their own front door?

Jim

PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

JamesC:
I sympathize with your dilemma. But, if the vote passes to change to assigned parking, how would you enforce this? Would you have to have a person to monitor the parked cars to ensure that they are entitled to be there?
What about the common parking areas, would these be assigned also for those with more than 2 cars? Would there be a fee required?

JamesC (Maryland)
Posts: 282

Posted:

Paul:

We plan to register the cars of the homeowners and give each one two stickers. (or something to that effect)
Our concern is when someone comes home late at night Example: We have a member of a band who does not get home until after 2 A.M. and has to carry his equipment from about ten homes or more to get to his house.
We are still trying to figure out the enforcement thing, as we have been going around to other communities to see how they handle it. Some allow the individual homeowner to have the vehicle towed. I checked with our own towing service and was told if we escalate to their patrolling the area, they would tow anyone not authorized by having a sticker in their window.
We really don't want to go there because no one wants to have anyone towed, but we are being forced to get things under control.
Common areas or overflow would be assigned as guest parking where in reality those having the extra vehicles will probably end up parking.

Jim

MikeS1
Posts: 668

Posted:

Gee guys, I don't even think that you have to go to the extreme of implementing a permit system. A lot of townhouses just lable the 2 spaces with "RSVD LOT#" and just let the homeowner to whom the space is assigned, deal with policing their own two spaces. Our Reserved parking resolution gives them the right to call a specific towing vendor and request a tow. They requestor must prove that they reside at the residence to which the space is assigned and they must sign the tow ticket. However, we recommend that if they know the owner of the encroaching car, then they try the direct approach first, then if that doesn't work, put their request in writing and cc the PM. Then if that doesn't work, they can tow. Although we recommend that they try the direct approach first, they can tow at any time. It seems to work fine.

When it comes to permits, the residents loose the hang tags, forget to put them up in their car, and they hate the permanant stickers.

KH (Maryland)
Posts: 2

Posted:

I sat on a Board for a condominium development in the Kentlands (Gaithersburg, MD). All parking was commonly held property. When parking became an issue, we simply ASSIGNED one space per unit and put up signs identifying the rest of the parking as "GUEST" spaces. We then notified all owners that they were assigned such and such a space. In the 5 years since instituting that non-binding policy, we never once had to reprimand, tow or mediate any conflicts between homeowners.

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