Parking enforcement

We have rencently taken out HOA from a management company. we are in Hall county, Georgia. Our streets are county not private. In out covenants it states. no vechicle shall be parked on any subdivision street. Is this enforceable? Who would I contact to find this out? if not what do we do?

Missy,

I'm in Cherokee county, GA, and we do not have anything in our covenants that states we cannot park in the street but our attorney and management company has told us that since the streets are owned and maintained by the county, we cannot do anything about anyone parking in the street.

We have had people park in the street causing problems and we call the sheriffs department to handle this. There are rules about parking in curves, too close to stop signs and hydrants, etc. This is how we handle parking problems if we have them.

This is just FYI, but thought I'd explain what was done in our HOA. Several years ago, when the streets became governed by the county, the HOA filed a petition (got 75% of assn. member's votes) and amended the Covenants with an amendment about parking on the street. This is filed with the court. Parking on the street is prohibited between 11p and 6a. It states that any assn. member can call and have a vehicle towed--not just the board. To my knowledge this hasn't been done, but there are a lot of homeowners who HATE abiding by this amendment. They have raised all kinds of he$$ and a resident attorney claims she has checked with the county attorney and it cannot be enforced. If, in fact, it cannot be enforced, then no CC&Rs can be enforced. The board has sent nice letters to offenders with a copy of the amendment first, and a more stern letter if it continues. The board did finally ask the patrolling officer to ticket vehicles parked facing the opposite direction, too near a stop sign, or too near a fire hydrant. This also incensed some homeowners--like they should get special privileges, and frankly, some of them do by the board. An officer told me that if a vehicle is parked headed in the wrong direction and gets hit, their insurance will not pay because of the illegal parking. I think it's worth having an amendment to CCRs because at least, it's available to homeowners and they know the rules-it can be published in the newsletter a few times. It is common sense that it isn't a good idea to park on the street. We have a subdivision with large driveways and large garages, so there is no excuse for street parking except for visitors. When we have had vandalism or theft--it's to the vehicles parked on the street. The vehicles are in the way of the school bus and children can dart between vehicles and not be seen until it's too late. I can't imagine why a homeowner would want their car on the street at any time, day or night.
EdR

William,
Are you from California? IF not, do you know if what you entered above applies to California. The part about placing fines against parking violators into a lein against their property? Lorenzo

No, I'm in NC, but do not know whether this applies to California or not. Our HOA retains the services of an attorney who advised us on this. The attorney sends offical letters to violators, files judgements and the sheriff's office will enforce the judgment by seizing property.