Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published March 5, 2008

Inviting friends home is not an option for residents of several older communities.

There is no space for guests to park. For that matter, there are not enough places for all the owners to park.

"We're in terrible straits here," said Norm Blanco, president of the Villages of Arista Park, a Davie homeowner association community of 86 attached villas. Built in 1978 primarily for retirees, it has carports — most of them enclosed — no guest parking and driveways that hold two cars.

"The demographics have changed a great deal and our community now is comprised mostly of [working] people with kids," Blanco said.

Several years ago the board encouraged owners to widen their driveways and negotiated a parking agreement with an office across the street for nights and weekends.

"But we have not solved our problems," said Blanco.

Many association-controlled developments were built 20 and 30 years ago when families had one or two cars. Maybe the developer provided guest parking every couple of blocks, but the clubhouse was off limits for resident parking.

Anita Osborn of Fairway Views, a community of more than 200 single-family homes on a golf course in Margate, said her association forbids parking on the streets and swales.

So it isn't unusual for owners to ask neighbors for help, said the owner of 18 years.

"My guests can park in my driveway while I'm parked in my neighbor's," she said.

Still, families have so many cars these days they take up the garage, driveway and guest spaces.

"That means we now can't have company," Osborn said.

The economy has made the problem worse, said Sherry Scarborough, president of the West Boca Community Council, a volunteer organization of 110 condo and homeowner associations.

She lists three factors: young adults who move back home, owners using their garages for storage and snowbirds unable to afford rentals who stay with friends or relatives.

Many associations ban street parking because ambulances and fire trucks can't get around parked cars. They also ban swale parking, as it puts ruts in grass and endangers children, who can't be seen dashing into the street between parked cars.

Because communities are private property, local governments generally don't control parking.

Bob Schulbaum, president of the Delray Alliance, which consists of 68 condo and homeowner associations, said some communities let residents park at clubhouses and encourage them to widen driveways.

"But you can't make room where there isn't any," he said. "It's a major problem there is no answer to."

Q&A

Q: A Lauderdale-by-the-Sea condo owner asks if posting meeting notices in elevators is sufficient. If you're a snowbird, on vacation or live on the ground floor, then you miss out, the owner says. Shouldn't the board be required to mail notices? Meanwhile, an owner in a Davie homeowner association wants to know why associations can't accept e-mails as official written requests.

A: Steven D. Rubin, a Boca Raton attorney who chairs the Palm Beach County Bar Association's Real Estate and Community Association Continuing Legal Education committees, said the state requires associations to post notice in a "conspicuous" location on the property.

"If the posted notice cannot be seen by a substantial number of unit owners, which would certainly include the ground-floor unit owners, then the association should post the notice on the ground floor, too, or in such other location which is readily visible to them," he said.

"There is no obligation of an association to notify unit owners of board meetings by mail or delivery, unless the board is considering adopting an assessment, the annual budget or amendments to use rules, or if the association's governing documents provide otherwise," he added.

An alternate provision allows associations to broadcast board, committee and unit-owner meeting notices on their internal television systems. Notice to owners also can be provided by "electronic transmission" but only if an association's bylaws allow it and an owner consents.

As far as owners making requests by e-mail, Rubin said, "e-mail is a relatively new phenomenon and even today most associations do not have a dedicated e-mail address." Many directors, he added, don't regularly read e-mail. He recommends owners send requests in writing by certified mail so they have a receipt as proof for meeting time-limit requirements.