There have been plenty of justified complaints about the selfish and dangerous parking practices of a few owners and a few tenant occupied homes. And many of these people take great offense to a note being placed on their car to remind them of the need to confine parking to the driveway and keep the road clear.
The HOA Covenants are very clear about parking -- every home has a right to park 2 vehicles on their own driveway and every home is entitled to full ingress and egress to their own driveway without interference from others. The Covenants also give the HOA board discretion to set out rules and regulations to clarify and enforce covenant provisions. This is a two car community, if a resident was expecting capacity for more, they have picked the wrong living situation. They need buy or rent a free-standing house with a big driveway and garage
As an accommodation, the HOA has been allowing for three cars to be parked if all three can be squeezed into the lot and off the road. The HOA board reserves the right to reconsider this arrangement.
For those who fail to cooperate with the parking policy, the HOA has various options:
i) Leave a note on the vehicle to request compliance with the policy
ii) Ask the police to ticket cars that park in front of their own driveways or in front of mail boxes
iii) Go to small claims court to break the lease for failure to conform to the parking policy, and charge the landlord for the court costs/legal fees and to empower the HOA to tow violating vehicles
iv) Go to superior court to for an injunction against the violator, charge the owner for court costs/legal fees and get an order to authorizing the HOA to tow violating vehicles.
v) Revoke the violator townhome's ability to care for their lawn and impose the full $889 assessment along with having the HOA arrange for lawncare. The full lawncare assessment goes up 5% every year.
vi) Declare homes with more than 2 vehicles to park "high risk" and demand that they provide 1 million dollars liability insurance to the HOA (in accordance with the HOA's insurance powers under the Covenants).
We really prefer that the parking policy just be honored:
The HOA policy is that residents are not to use street parking, so that is available for service vehicles and for short term, infrequent guests if absolutely necessary -- the HOA expects members to move their own cars to other allowed places (such as a friend's driveway spot or the street parking next to Cayce Foods) so there is room for their guest's car. It is also policy that vacant homes are deemed to imply consent to parking in their driveways, provided contact info is in the parked car's dash and no sign is present saying "no parking" or "no trespassing." (And please don't hog the whole driveway by carelessly parking one car.) Also, if the residents can fit 3 cars into their driveway without being on the road, for now the HOA board is not considering that arrangement a violation .
Please do not park your vehicles in front of your driveway or on Springleaf Circle. It obstructs the access others have to enter and exit their own driveways. It also adds to congestion on the road and creates more hazards for drivers and pedestrians.
Our HOA has the been very fortunate to have a member of the Smyrna Police Department as a resident. The department prefers that officers bring their vehicles home with them, and the Windy Hill Forest Board of Directors prefers that police presence be very prominent so as to deter theft, vandalism and other crimes. The presence of a squad car on the curb or in front of the officer's driveway is exempted from the HOA parking policy. No others should assume they are exempt also.
Article II, Section 4 of the recorded HOA Covenants make it clear that each home is to park within the confines of their driveway and that this is a 2 car per home community.
