SIDE STREETS: The HOA signs may look official, but if they tow your car, it's probably a crime

Lots of homeowners associations, or HOAs, have covenants prohibiting residents from parking their cars on public street overnight. Some neighborhood rules even ban cars from being parked in driveways. They must be housed in a garage.

Most send nasty letters to scofflaws. A few threaten to tow offending cars.

That’s happening in Rockrimmon in the tiny South Face and Eagle’s Nest neighborhoods near Ute Valley Park. They are upscale neighborhoods on public streets -- not private, gated communities where streets are private property and maintained by the HOA. Different rules apply in the private enclaves scattered around the area.

Both South Face and Eagle's Nest HOAs have erected signs threatening to tow any cars parked on city streets overnight.

There’s just a couple problems. Police say the towing threats are illegally attached to city traffic signs.

More important, the signs imply the HOA can — and will — have cars towed off public streets.

Nice try.

“They can’t do that,” said Colorado Springs Police Sgt. Lonnie Spanswick, parking enforcement supervisor. “It’s all illegal. They can’t attach their signs to city signs. They can’t even post them in the city right-of-ways. And they can’t tow cars.”

Spanswick said towing is a common HOA threat.

“I get a lot of these calls,” he said. “But they can’t tow a car legally parked on city streets. That’s motor vehicle theft. People should call and report the crime.

“Only the police can authorize the towing of cars off public streets.”

Whoa! What about the covenants? Are they illegal?

Spanswick said the covenants may be legal. But they must be enforced in civil court with fines and liens. Not by HOA boards acting as vigilantes.

Lenard Rioth, attorney for South Face Community Association, said the board has never called a tow truck, despite the signs and neighbors’ allegations.

“We don’t have tow trucks rolling through the neighborhood and the board hasn’t authorized any cars to be towed,” Rioth said.

He said a tow truck would only be called after the board has secured a court order from a judge authorizing the towing of a car. It would be a lengthy process.

But Rioth defended the neighborhood covenants as legal and necessary to protect South Face.

“It’s a safety issue, especially in winter when narrow streets need to be plowed,” Rioth said. “And it’s an issue of honoring the covenants, which everyone in South Face agreed to when they bought in the neighborhood.

“Why do people agree to abide by the covenants and then violate them?”

It’s not that simple, insists Allen Brumbaugh, an ex-police officer from California left disabled from on-the-job injuries. He visits his children in South Face for weeks at a time.

Brumbaugh, citing his disability, said he needs to park on the flat street, not the sloped driveway. He said he asked the HOA for permission, but was denied.

“They are in violation of so many laws,” he said, vowing to pursue state and federal complaints. “The must accommodate the handicapped. I’d appreciate a little compassion.”

—

Read my blog updates at
 gazette.com/blogs/sidestreets