The goal of the Association’s parking plan is simple: make community parking as accessible as possible to everyone who lives here, while preventing unnecessary overflow parking that reduces availability for other residents and conflicts with the parking structure established in our governing documents.
This is not intended to make parking more restrictive. In fact, the new system is designed to make parking more flexible during the day, while preserving reasonable controls during the hours when parking demand is highest.
OPEN PARKING DURING THE DAY
During daytime hours, community parking areas will generally operate as open parking. Residents, visitors, contractors, delivery personnel, caregivers, and others will be able to use available common-area spaces without needing a parking permit.
This removes unnecessary daytime restrictions and recognizes that parking demand changes throughout the day.
Beginning at 5:00 p.m., a valid parking permit will be required for vehicles remaining in permit-controlled common-area spaces. This allows the Association to distinguish authorized vehicles from unauthorized or excessive overnight parking when spaces are most limited.
WHY THERE IS STILL A TWO-VEHICLE LIMIT
The permit system does not create an entitlement for each household to park an additional vehicle in the common area.
The community was designed around a basic principle: each lot has parking allocated for two vehicles.
For homes without garages, those two spaces are the reserved spaces assigned to the lot.
For homes with garages, the garage and driveway provide the two parking spaces allocated to the lot.
Residents are required to use the parking spaces allocated to their own lot first. For homes without garages, that means using the reserved spaces assigned to the lot. For homes with garages, that means using the garage and driveway before relying on common-area parking. This requirement applies even when a resident has a valid parking permit.
The remaining common-area parking was not designed to function as a permanent third parking space for individual households. Those spaces must remain available for the broader needs of the community, including visitors, temporary parking, service providers, caregivers, and other short-term uses.
For that reason, receiving a parking permit does not change the governing documents’ limitation on regularly parking more than two household vehicles, nor does it eliminate the requirement to use the parking associated with the lot first.
WHY THIS MATTERS
There simply are not enough common-area spaces for every household to have a permanent third space.
If some households regularly use common-area parking for a third vehicle, those spaces become unavailable to everyone else. Over time, that creates exactly the problem the parking limitations were intended to prevent: a relatively small number of households consuming a disproportionate share of a limited community resource.
The fairest system is therefore one in which every household receives the benefit of the two parking spaces associated with its lot, while the remaining shared parking stays genuinely shared.
A household that owns or regularly operates more vehicles does not receive a greater right to the common area simply because it has a greater parking demand. Likewise, a household with a garage is expected to use the parking capacity associated with that lot before relying on shared parking.
TEMPORARY PERMISSION FOR SPECIAL EVENTS AND EXTENDED GUESTS
The governing documents allow the Board to approve circumstances in which a household may temporarily have more than two vehicles on the property.
That authority is intended to address temporary and legitimate needs, not to create a permanent exception to the community’s two-vehicle parking structure.
Examples may include
- A graduation, milestone birthday, anniversary, family gathering, or similar special event where a household expects additional guests.
- Family members or friends visiting from another state or country for an extended stay.
- Other temporary circumstances in which additional guest parking is reasonably necessary for a defined period of time.
In these situations, owners may request temporary permission from the Board for additional vehicles. Any approval would be limited to the particular event or visit and the period of time approved.
This provides flexibility for real-life situations without converting shared common-area parking into permanent overflow parking for individual households.
The distinction is important: temporary guest accommodation is different from routinely parking a third household vehicle in the community.
PERMITS ARE ABOUT AUTHORIZATION, NOT ADDITIONAL PARKING RIGHTS
A permit answers one question
Is this vehicle authorized to be in the permit-controlled parking area after 5:00 p.m.?
It does not answer a different question
Is this household entitled to regularly park more than two vehicles within the community?
Those are separate issues.
Residents are still required to use the parking spaces allocated to their own lot first, even if they have a valid parking permit. For homes without garages, that means using the reserved spaces assigned to the lot. For homes with garages, that means using the garage and driveway before relying on common-area parking.
A permit does not give a resident the right to leave an assigned or otherwise available space on their lot unused and instead occupy a common-area space.
A vehicle may require a permit to remain in a common-area space after 5:00 p.m., while the household must still comply with both the community’s two-vehicle parking limitation and the requirement to use the parking associated with its lot first.
This distinction allows the Association to manage evening and overnight parking without converting limited common-area spaces into additional reserved parking for individual homes.
SNOW REMOVAL, EMERGENCY ACCESS, AND COMMUNITY SAFETY
Parking in common-area parking spaces is prohibited during declared snow emergencies and during snow-removal operations so that snow removal can be performed safely and efficiently.
This is not simply a matter of convenience. Keeping streets and designated parking areas clear directly affects emergency access, snow-removal efficiency, contractor costs, and the Association’s ability to maintain safe passable roads.
When vehicles remain scattered throughout common-area parking, plow operators are forced to work around them. That makes it harder to clear travel lanes completely, narrows available roadway space, creates obstructions for emergency vehicles, and greatly reduces the number of locations where snow can be safely pushed and stored.
Empty parking spaces provide something extremely important during a major snow event: nearby snow-storage areas.
If those spaces are available, a plow can clear a section of roadway and push accumulated snow directly into a nearby open area. This allows the contractor to move through the community much more efficiently and restore safe access faster.
When those spaces are occupied, the same snow still has to go somewhere.
That becomes even more important when heavier or more detailed snow removal requires the use of skid loaders or similar equipment. A skid loader may be needed to relocate large piles, widen travel lanes, clear intersections, or remove snow from areas a plow cannot adequately reach.
Without conveniently located open spaces, an operator may have to carry or push snow from one side of the neighborhood to another simply to find somewhere suitable to place it. That process is extremely time-consuming and can significantly increase the amount of equipment time required to complete the work.
By comparison, if designated spaces are kept clear throughout the community, contractors can move snow to the nearest available storage location as they work.
That provides several important benefits
- Faster clearing of community streets.
- Better access for police, fire, ambulance, and other emergency vehicles.
- Wider and safer travel lanes.
- More effective clearing of intersections and turning areas.
- Easier operation of plows, skid loaders, and other snow-removal equipment.
- Less unnecessary movement of snow from one end of the community to another.
- Reduced contractor time and potentially lower snow-removal costs.
- Faster restoration of usable parking after the storm.
- Reduced risk of unsafe conditions remaining because equipment cannot access or clear an area properly.
The Association also has a responsibility to take reasonable steps to maintain common streets and access areas in a condition that does not unnecessarily create or prolong hazardous conditions. Allowing vehicles to obstruct snow-removal operations can make that responsibility significantly more difficult to fulfill.
For these reasons, vehicles may not remain in common-area parking spaces during a declared snow emergency or active snow-removal operation.
The purpose is not to inconvenience residents. It is to give snow-removal contractors the room they need to clear the community as quickly, safely, and efficiently as possible for everyone.
MAKING PARKING MORE AVAILABLE, NOT LESS
The purpose of these changes is not to tow more vehicles or make life more difficult for residents. The purpose is to ensure that parking remains available when people actually need it.
By opening parking during the day, requiring permits during higher-demand evening and overnight hours, requiring households to use the parking already allocated to their lots, preventing routine third-vehicle overflow into common areas, and preserving the ability to clear parking areas during snow emergencies and snow-removal operations, the Association can make better use of the limited parking we already have.
The result should be
- More flexibility during daytime hours.
- Better availability of shared spaces in the evening.
- Less long-term storage of household vehicles in common-area spaces.
- More room for visitors and legitimate temporary parking needs.
- More efficient snow removal.
- Better emergency access during winter weather.
- Equal treatment of households throughout the community.
- Clearer and easier-to-understand parking rules.
A SHARED RESOURCE REQUIRES SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Every homeowner contributes toward the maintenance of the community’s common areas, including its streets and parking areas. No individual household therefore has a greater claim to shared parking simply because it owns more vehicles or chooses not to use parking available on its own lot.
Our objective is to preserve a system in which everyone receives the parking associated with their home and everyone has reasonable access to the remaining shared spaces.
That is the principle behind the parking plan: maximum reasonable access, minimum unnecessary restriction, and fair use of a limited resource for the benefit of the entire community.