Education Center

Almost daily we hear from frustrated residents regarding the way their Community Association handles on-street parking. Complaints include, but are not necessarily limited to, roads being too narrow to accommodate on-street parking, neighbors failing to utilize their garages and driveways for parking, parking too many vehicles on the street, and parking in front of neighboring homes. On the other side of the argument, we also hear from plenty of residents who are unhappy with the fact that their Community Association prohibits on-street parking. This topic has become a hot-button issue again recently, because of COVID-19 and Arizona's Stay-At-Home orders. With many people working from home, people staying in during the weekends, etc., parking frustrations have been escalating. We suspect those frustrations will begin to subside with everything reopening and people returning to work. This topic does warrant further discussion, though.

 

Before we dive deeper into on-street parking, please understand that restricting on-street parking, with all of the nuances that arise during enforcement, the statutes that govern it, and the passion people have about the topic, should include your Community Association's legal counsel. Remember, seeking and adhering to the advice of professionals such as legal counsel provides the Board safe harbor in the event of legal action. We would recommend having your legal counsel confirm, in writing, your Community Association's ability, authority, and, if applicable, obligation to restrict on-street parking. Further, you should have legal counsel review any Resolutions or Policies you adopt to clarify and enforce on-street parking restrictions.

 

• Private Roads - Community Associations with private roads (roads owned and maintained by the Association) have the ability, the authority, and often an obligation to regulate those roads and restrict on-street parking, with some exceptions for emergency responders, which we discuss further down in this article. Still, however, any such restrictions/regulations need to be included in the Declaration or properly adopted through Board Resolution. How do you know if your community has private roads? Living in a gated community is an obvious sign that the roads in your community are private and are maintained by the Community Association. There are, however, instances where private roads exist in non-gated communities. Community Plat Maps and the Declaration are the best resources in determining whether your community's roadways are private or public.
• Public Roads - A.R.S. § 33-1818 states that an association has no authority over and shall not regulate any public roadway (roadway dedicated to or otherwise held by a governmental entity). This applies only to communities for which the Declaration was recorded after December 31, 2014. Communities with a Declaration recorded before this date may have the ability, authority, and even an obligation to restrict on-street parking or otherwise regulate public roadways if, and only if:
  • Such restrictions/regulations are included in the Declaration.
  • The authority to create restrictions/regulations governing the public roadways is included in the Declaration.