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October 5, 2006
RV Parking on the Street in an HOA - What Can You Do?
Here is a question published awhile back in "Common Ground", the national publication of Community Associations Institute (CAI) ... The question sent to me, and my answer follows:
Question: “Our CC&Rs restrict RVs, boats, and trailers from parking on public streets within our CC&R area, but a city ordinance has a 72 hour parking limitation on RVs, etc. Can we enforce where the CC&R is more restrictive than the ordinance and the violation is on public not private property?” – Westlake Village, California.
Answer: Maybe - Maybe not. Unfortunately, California attorneys do not uniformly agree on the answer to this question so it would be important for you to seek advice from the attorney of your choice. Some attorneys believe that Associations may control parking by residents of the development on the public streets and others believe that they may not. These opinions stem from a California case called Citizens Against Gated Enclaves, et al., v. Whitley Heights Civic Association, (March 23, 1994), and cases in other jurisdictions like the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Two, MARYLAND ESTATES HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION v. Karen PUCKETT and Chris SCHALLERT, No. 70105, Dec. 17, 1996.
In the Maryland Estates case, the court found that a homeowners association could indeed restrict parking on the public streets as to its members (but not others). The arguments in this case support a Board's ability to enforce parking on public streets that is prohibited by the deed regulations. The Whitley Heights case is a about a community that wanted to put up a security gate, but ran into problems when the court found that the public should have rights of ingress and egress and use of public streets. The Whitley case did not specifically deal with restrictions on members of the Association and that may be the key to distinguishing it in the case of an RV or commercial vehicle parked on the street. These violations go beyond normal use of the public streets.
Neither of these cases deal with potential nuisance and possible safety issues like the parking of an oversized vehicle or use of portable basket ball standards on public streets. I think this is still an unsettled question in California, i.e., whether the Association can enforce parking restrictions that prohibit the members from parking of RVs within the development.
However, even without an answer to this question, many municipalities have ordinances with size restrictions and although the writer in this case said that the City allows parking for 72 hours at a time, I have seen restrictions on public streets of vehicles more than 20 feet long,and the like. It never hurts to check the local ordinances and if they are being violated, urge the City to enforce.
Posted by Beth Grimm at October 5, 2006 9:17 PM