SIDE STREETS: Overnight parking a covenant headache

Who doesn't get bugged finding a parking ticket on their windshield? Maybe your meter expired while paying a speeding ticket downtown. It can ruin your good mood.

Imagine, then, how you'd feel if you woke up and discovered you'd been ticketed by your homeowners association for parking in front of your house overnight.

It happens regularly in Colorado Springs neighborhoods.

Don't laugh. Many neighborhood covenants ban overnight parking on city streets.

One Springs man even was sued in 2000 for parking in his own driveway overnight.

It's all about covenants - rules related to landscaping, paint colors, parking and other issues that homeowners agree to follow when they buy in many neighborhoods.

Recently, overnight parking has become a hot issue in Springs Ranch east of Powers Boulevard near Constitution Avenue, and north in Ridgeview at Stetson Hills where 3,200 homeowners are split over the rule.

Many ignore it, while others demand the HOA enforce it. That means fines of $50 to $150 for repeat offenders. It's a lose-lose proposition for the HOA board caught in the middle.

Ridgeview's HOA board has wrestled with parking nearly every month for two years. It's the biggest issue it faces. The board has discussed abolishing the covenant and eliminating fines.

Then, in April, the HOA hired a security firm to patrol at night and write tickets. (See them on my blog.)

In July, patrols between 1 and 4 a.m. produced more than 300 violations. Fines generated enough cash to pay for the patrols. But at what cost?

"Three tickets and you get a $50 fine," said neighbor John Van Winkle. "What value does this have? How does it benefit the community? What does it matter if someone is parked on the street at 1 a.m.? It's moronic."

Kathy Peat in Springs Ranch echoes the complaint, noting that her home has a short driveway and she can't squeeze four cars into it.

"About 9 p.m. every night I have to go out and pull my cars into the driveway," she said.

"I have to do this turkey dance every night. For what?"

Garry Gambill calls the tickets "ludicrous." He's looking to move away.

Most Ridgeview residents disagree, said Sandra Bowers, vice president of the Ridgeview HOA board.

"My husband and I bought here because we didn't want parking on the street," she said.

"We wanted a neighborhood with an active HOA. A lot of people do."

She said the HOA will let homeowners widen their driveways if they have room on their lots to hold more cars.

But the covenant is permanent.

"They need 2,000 signatures to remove a covenant," she said. "It will never happen. We didn't get 300 responses to a survey we did on parking. They just didn't care."

There's another way. Art Romero used it in 2000 after the HOA in the St. Andrews neighborhood, near the Colorado Springs Country Club, sued him for parking in his driveway.

"It was a runaway board that was arbitrarily going after people," he said. "They came after me."

He responded by joining other neighbors to work for change. They knocked on doors, wrote newsletters, attended board meetings.

"It was a true grass-roots effort from the neighbors," Romero said. "We replaced the board. The lawsuit was dropped. Everything calmed down."

Ridgeview at Stetson Hills holds its annual meeting Nov. 22. It's a chance to voice complaints. Change rules. Elect new leaders. Romero said it's hard work. How angry are you?

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Tell me about your neighborhood: 636-0193 or bill.vogrin@gazette.com