Thursday, June 17, 2010

More on parking

Thanks for the comments.  Please keep them coming.  If you attended last night's Board meeting, you know that we had a very good discussion.  Please keep watching for another homeowner's open forum on parking in July.  Specific announcement will follow.

Regarding recent comments:
I want to thoroughly disabuse everyone from the idea that  "a GARAGE is our personal space and that it should not be dictated what we can and can not do with it." When we bought at Copper Hill we all agreed to abide by the CCRs , and they are quite explicit in stating that a garage is for parking vehicles and only that use.  Abiding by the CCRs is one reason many people gravitate towards a gated condominium community, where there are rules and people expect that all residents will live by those rules.  We have many freedoms, but the freedom to ignore the rules we agreed to is not one of them.  There should be no resident who "simply cannot use the garage" unless all of that person's vehicles are demonstrably too large for the garage (then you have to wonder why a person with those kind of vehicles would choose to buy in a condo community where the garage size is well known).

In my view, the only "restriction" (and it's not "heavy handed") is that everyone actually has to use their garage as intended and as spelled out in the CCRs.  The rules in that regard are not new.  Why is that a "restriction"?

As said before, please detail an alternate plan for insuring that everyone uses their garages as required in the CCRs that is objective, easily monitored and enforced, doesn't require the Board to be parking police and is  evenly applied to all.  Please.  Where are your ideas?  Just saying "no" doesn't add to the discussion or our overall knowledge.

There was a recent comment that began, "Hi, I agree with Umang....." but there was no identification on the comment.  Every comment that has an ID (Peachtree account 036-XXXX) will be posted.  When that comment is resent with ID, it will be posted.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Thanks for your comments

Comments on proposed parking rules are always welcomed and are posted in full when the commenter includes some ID.

For those following the comments, please look under all current blog postings for comments.  I noticed that a recent comment was posted to an older blog, so be sure to check them all.

Regarding the comments so far:
1. The rules would only be enforced at night, when the parking problem is the greatest and the patrol people are on duty.  There are essentially no restrictions on daytime parking - number of guests, etc.
2. These proposed rules are really quite similar to existing rules, with the exception, of course, that the proposed rules actually provide an objective means of determining which vehicles should be in a garage at night.
3. Please look closely at the means of monitoring parking.  The only vehicles that would be subject to fine and/or towing are those that are unregistered or should be in a garage and are parked overnight for three nights out of seven.  If your significant other stays overnight three or more times per week, good for you, but all you have to do is put his/her car in your garage one of those nights.  It's not rocket science.
4. The regulations under which Copper Hill was built require 2.25 parking spaces per unit.  With a 2-car garage, the two spaces are in the garage; with a 1-car garage, one space is inside and one is outside.  That's such a straightforward concept.  The proposed policy obeys the city's regulations and is completely logical. 
5. Fines are large because they get people's attention and maybe even make people think twice about willful violations.  I would be thrilled if we never had to levy a fine - it would mean everyone recognizes the CCRs and all are using their garages as intended.  Fines are not fundraisers.
6. According to the patrol company, the current rules are unenforceable.  They cannot tell who should be parked outside overnight and who should not be.  The proposed rules provide a completely objective means of making this determination.  No neighborly snitches, no false accusations, no intrusive and illegal garage inspections.  Please, post an alternative that is objective and thorough and easily enforced.  I assure you it will be carefully considered.

Keep those comments coming, please.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Parking rules comments

I wish to remind you that a totally anonymous comment won't be posted.  I need to know if you are really a Copper Hill homeowner.  Please use your Peachtree account (36-xxxx) in your comment.  There was a comment sent Friday night that started out: "I think the proposed parking rules...." but without ID.  Please re-send this comment with your ID and it will be posted.

Regarding the question of guests and guest passes:  Yes, the rules are most applicable for overnight parkers (although the restrictions on parking on the aprons are for all day).  Note that the proposed rules call for an unidentified vehicle (like your second or third guest) to be tagged, no penalty happens until the third occurrence in a 7-day period.  So, your guest gets a note from the patrol but nothing real happens immediately.  If you know that more than one guest will be staying for more than a week, you would notify Peachtree with appropriate vehicle id, which would be forwarded to the patrol company and your guest would be OK. 

Hope that helps.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Proposed Parking Rules

Please refer to the proposed rules you received in the mail recently and comment on them here.  I am looking forward to hearing from you.  Remember, no totally anonymous comments will be posted.