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April 16, 2007
Bigger is Not Always Better - Parking Next to A "Hummer"
I hate to pick on Hummers (and other giant vehicles), but they are not for everyone, and not for every homeowners association. Here is a real live dilemma from a reader:
"When I purchased my condo I did not know the parking space that came with the condo would be a compact parking space. My neighbors on each side own oversized trucks and they are also parking in compact parking spaces so I have real problems getting in and out of my car. What can I do? Should the HOA tell these owners to park their oversized trucks either in their garages or somewhere else? Is legal to park oversized truck at compact parking space?"
This is a real problem, and not an uncommon one. Developers often have a minimum number of parking spaces that have to be included in a plan before it will be approved by the City or County. In order to do so, the spaces are drawn very tight. This same thing happens in many parking garages (such as Pier 39 in San Francisco - ever been shut out of your car there because you could not get the door open?). Then, the car factories turn out bigger and bigger cars. The result - cars that are too big for the parking spaces.
It's hard to say what happens in the above circumstance. If the Association limits vehicles in the development to those that will fit in the parking spaces, it leaves open the possibility that everyone could park, but no one could get out. If the HOA limits the size of vehicles that can be parked in the development, it might run into trouble - especially when owners who have already purchased there have their vehicles and have no where else to park. If there are garages that would accomodate the bigger vehicles, it seems fair to require that owners park the larger vehicles in the garage and not the [tight] open parking spaces.
If owners have larger vehicles that do not fit into the garages or reasonably in the parking spaces, it might be time to look at expanding parking space size somewhere in the development, even if it is in an inconvenient area in the parking lot (assuming you have areas where this could be done).
If the HOA does nothing, an owner might be successful (take pictures with) in small claims court by claiming "nuisance". Most CC&Rs (and there are also laws in the state) prohibit nuisances and this might be considered one of them.
In a development in Tahoe years ago, most owners and visitors ended up with SUVs which did not fit in the single garages. There were not any parking spaces, so the residents parked the vehicles all over the complex, including in emergency fire lanes, especially when there was snow. It was a mess. The choices were to rebuild all of the garages (at a huge cost) or park off-site. The resolution was that the Association was able to lease some space next door to the development and turned the area into a parking lot where residents with vehicles that did not fit in the garages had to park (hence, the idea to utilize space - although inconvenient - in the back area of the parking areas in the HOA that no one uses because of the inconvenience).
This seems fair to me. How about you?
Posted by Beth Grimm at April 16, 2007 9:25 PM