Article Courtesy of Channel
6 -- ClickOrlando.com
By Nadeen Yanes
Published May 13, 2019
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OCOEE - Two lawsuits have been filed against Ocoee's Wesmere subdivision over
street parking. Residents say the HOA is now enforcing a street-parking ban that
is in the bylaws but hasn't been enforced in nearly 30 years.
"You can't go from allowing it or there
is no enforcement to suddenly no exceptions," said Denise
Harrison, who is upset about the parking ban.
Harrison has a 22-year-old son in college who lives at home,
bringing a third cars to a family that soon will have four.
"My almost 16-year-old is at high school but he will be
allowed to drive in the summer and if we chose to get
another car we will have nowhere to put it," Harrison added.
Harrison said she knew the street parking ban was in the
bylaws when she moved in 22 years ago, but said it has never
been enforced. That was until now.
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A new HOA board was elected in 2017, she said, and it
began warning residents about the enforcement.
A copy of the letter explaining the change, "However to obtain and hopefully
promote your property values, the Association needs to compel each owner's
compliance with the Governing Documents."
The letter to residents continued: "We understand that for reasons out of
our control, parking restrictions may have not been performed regularly,
uniformly, timely, and consistently in the past to the enforcement of the
Governing Documents."
However Harrison hopes there could be a resolution.
"Can you please put a moratoriam until we get this resolved?" she asked.
In the meantime, two residents have separately filed lawsuits in Orange
County Civil Court against the Wesmere Maintenance Association.
According to the lawsuit, a group who was against the parking ban gathered
together and got 315 of the 565 homeowners to sign an amendment that would
allow for restricted parking. Rick Leone, a resident and attorney who filed
a lawsuit in the name of another homeowner said the HOA not accepting that
amendment and continuing to tow cars is a violation of owners' rights.
"The petition was filed because the owners have legally adopted an amendment
to the Declaration of Protective Covenants and Restrictions for Wesmere, but
the Board has refused to acknowledge that such has been done," Leone wrote
in an e-mail to News 6. "To the contrary, despite being informed that the
amendment was adopted, the Board has continued to place warnings on vehicles
which may, or may not, have been legally parked on the street if the
provisions of the Amendment had been put in place, and has also towed a
number of vehicles. This is a violation of owners' property rights."
Leone has filed an emergency injunction to get the enforcement to stop while
the battle goes to court.
However, another homeowner -- who says he's fearful of retaliation and
didn't want to give his name -- called News 6 to say he supports the ban on
street parking. In fact, he said he moved to Wesmere because of he didn't
want street parking and doesn't want his HOA fees to pay for a court battle
he disagrees with.
In the meantime, News 6 emailed each board director and the property manager
for comment and haven't heard back.
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