Insufficient Parking

I wanted to use one of the previous post but the system will not allow me to search.

I am the President of a 40 home townhome development with three streets. Each unit has a garage and two parking spaces in the driveway. Some end units can accommodate 3 vehicles in the driveway. There are 23 overflow parking spots and most times residents take them.

The board has been reluctant to enforce the parking rules per or declaration & bylaws because one of the board members have five vehicles on property. The issue has now escalated to residents parking five, six and sometimes eight vehicles on property. One unit is "double parking".

The problem...homeowners with one or two cars are taking visitor parking and not parking in their driveways or garages for convenience sake.

The problem has escalated to the point of a screaming match that the police had to be called to our development and residents are taking pictures of everyone's vehicles!!

As the President, I called a special meeting next week and informed the board we are meeting ONLY on parking and we are coming up with a solution and a communication to ALL residents including tenants that will be mailed to each unit. We would have our attorney review before our management company send out to residents.

We want to impose a restriction on how many vehicles one unit can park on property (3) and we will grandfather the vehicles that are already on property, however, we want to designate a section of parking spots for the overflow.

Does the board have the authority to do this? Our attorney said we can but it would be best to amend our declaration. Problem is we would need to get 27 units to agree and we have several homeowners renting.

A special meeting is fine, but I'm not sure the board can come up with something in one night. Why not send a letter to everyone detailing what the problems are and do a poll on what they think the most serious problem is? From there, you can review the current rules with the attorney to see if they're adequate. Tweak as necessary if your documents give the board the authority to do this (your attorney said you can, but read them anyway because someone WILL ask). Then the Board needs to brace themselves and start enforcing the rules.

Send everyone another letter setting out the new policy, appeals process, etc. and make it effective 30 days from the letter date. After 90 days or so, you can reassess and see what's working or not.

Security officers might help. A year before I moved into my community (also a townhouse development), the Board hired security officers (off duty cops) because there were problems with junk cars, double parking, parking on the grass and what not. Our documents have adopted the city/state rules on parking as community rules, so the officers can ticket people and have them towed if they don't behave. It's worked pretty well for us.

forgot to add we are a PRIVATE road gated community. The police that were on property on Monday said they cannot enforce any parking violations (only if there is a crime).

Agree with enforcement. You need to start towing. People will get the idea. Otherwise, it won't matter what else you come up with. It will be meaningless.

If the majority of the Board isn't on board with enforcement, that will make it even tougher.

private roads = common element

your 'docs' give the BOD authority to make rules re: common elements

simple:

no parking on street 2 AM - 6 AM

see your local towing company to establish a 'tow-away' policy and procedure

remember: stopping and standing are NOT parking

Has anyone ever tried letting air out of tires? ... lol.