Folks living in Ridgeview at Stetson Hills are upset.
Some are angry that their own homeowners association is spending HOA money to hire a security service to patrol neighborhood streets at night looking for illegal parking.
Not thieves. Or vandals. Or speeders.
They are hot on the trail of those darned illegal overnight parkers. And we’re not talking folks in RVs camping out like it’s some Wal-Mart parking lot. We’re talking Ridgeview residents parking in front of their homes.
Technically, they aren’t parking illegally. Actually, most are simply parking parallel to the curb on public streets. But they are violating Ridgeview covenants mandating all cars be off the streets at night.
Turns out a lot of people in Ridgeview _ a neighborhood of 3,200 homes developed over the last 10 years _ want those overnight parkers to get tickets. Here’s a map of the neighborhood.
It’s a nightmare for the Ridgeview Homeowners Association board. They have spent two years struggling to solve the parking issue. They’ve written about it repeatedly in monthly newsletters. They’ve conducted an analysis: stetsonparkinganaylsis. Urged people to get involved.
Here are a couple newsletters: 
Read more here: stetsonfall2008newsletter
Here’s an view of the problem. As you can see, there are too many houses, squeezed on tiny little lots. (It happens all over Colorado Springs. Thanks, California-inspired developers.)
Inexplicably, some of the houses have only one-car garages. (Did they think we’d be all be riding scooters by 2008?)
Also, the driveways are very short and many are too steep to safely park a car, residents argue. See for yourself.
If you are one of those people who store things in your garage other than your car, you are in trouble.
Dare to park on the street overnight and you are likely to get one of these:
Ridgeview at Stetson Hills HOA board members say they are only doing their job and enforcing covenants everyone agreed to follow when they bought their homes.
They say the fines are not designed to generate revenue. They simply seek to encourage enforcement. Doesn’t hurt the fines cover the cost of the security patrols, though.
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The Stetson HIlls Master Homeowners Association encompasses more than 3200 homes. It is inevitable that a percentage of owners would be upset with the Covenant restrictions against overnight street parking, while many are just as strongly in favor. As Side Streets correctly notes, the Board has attempted to ease the situation, instituting a temporary parking permit program for guests and proposing to allow parking in certain common areas (an idea rejected by the owners). In the end, the volunteer Board members – who are also all owners – do their level best to balance the individual and collective interests of our members. We encourage our members to voice their opinions, and hope they will attend our upcoming annual general membership meeting to not only express their concerns, but hopefully offer constructive suggestions for improvement.
- Kevin Curry
President, Stetson Hills Master HOA Board of Directors
Communist. By what right do you have to tell people where they can or cannot park in front of their own property? I’m sure Mr. Obama and Ms Pelosi would approve of you though.
According to the bylaws that we originally received upon moving, it states that the HOA will be dissolved ONCE the area has been completely developed OR 10 years of the area being around which ever comes first. I would love to know when this HOA is going away!!!
Just received a letter stating that I had violated the “no overnight parking rule”. It says that I parked a blue Acura, overnight in front of my house. I kinda have a problem with that….I don’t now or have ever owned a blue…or any other color Acura. It could have been my neighbor (not really sure)….but as far as I can tell I can’t tell anyone where or when to park on a publicly owned street. Don’t know what I can do to resolve something like this.