Parking face-off takes toll

[question everything]

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Parking face-off takes toll

Homeowner association sues a couple for parking a van in their driveway. Family members say they need the van to transport their gravely ill grandfather.
By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ and CRISTINA BAUTISTA
The Orange County Register

ALISO VIEJO - Lenand and Carol Henderson moved into their four-bedroom home impressed with the manicured lawns, the maintained slopes and the overall neatness of the planned community. Now the elderly couple, both 82, are looking for a way out. Family members said they are stuck with a $1,400 "parking ticket" from their homeowner association, a lawsuit, and a lien preventing them from selling or refinancing their home.

(snip)

The couple have been squaring off in a lawsuit filed against them by their homeowner association. The issue – the prohibition against parking large commercial vehicles in the community and parking regular vehicles in driveways and on public streets – pitted several homeowners against the association more than a year ago and has culminated with the Hendersons facing a judgment against them in Orange County Superior Court.

(snip)

It all began in May 2006 when homeowners in the Laguna Audubon II homeowner association started finding what looked like parking tickets on their cars... Infuriated, several homeowners attended an association meeting in December 2006 where several protested against the fines and the association's enforcement of parking. A petition was organized to recall the board. Meanwhile, the fines increased for the Hendersons, even after their grandson, Ron Wright, 39, told board members at a meeting that the family didn't own a vehicle – only a white van with handicap plates for his ill grandfather.

But Newkirk said the Hendersons told the board they would correct the violation. Wright said they never agreed to that. Instead, they explained to the board that the van was usually parked near his office in Laguna Niguel and was brought to the home as needed. The notices kept coming between June and September and the fines totaled $1,400.

(snip)

Throughout the dispute, Lenand Henderson was hospitalized three times, and Kathy Griffith, the Hendersons' daughter, was injured at work... Now the Hendersons have a $5,500 lien on their home.

(snip)

http://www.ocregister.com/news/association-hendersons-parking-1791951-home-family

[hobbit709]

1. Most homeowners associations are run by wannabe control freaks.

[VP505]

2. Sounds like that

Home Owners Ass is overdue for a BIG Americans With Disability Law Suit.

[Solo_in_MD]

4. Not clear if ADA applies

the terms and application are fairly specific, not clear if it would be applicable to an HOA

[Solo_in_MD]

3. Mixed feeling here...

They moved in knowing there was an HOA, and agreed to follow the rules. It also looks like they did not pursue all thier options to get it dropped.

[Kingshakabobo]

5. "The family did not attend any more association hearings. It seemed useless, Wright said."

Shame on them.