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Paradise Gardens III Towing Cars?
• Local HOA may have civil suit on their hands
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Saturday,
June 19, 2010
According to a Paradise Gardens III Margate homeowner, eight cars were towed off PG III streets on Mother’s Day by his homeowners association. Add to that his HOA covenants have been amended to include ‘no parking allowed’ on either side of the street.
Both moves conflict with Margate law, says City Attorney, Eugene Steinfeld.
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Paradise Gardens III single-family homes, similar to all other Paradise Gardens subdivisions along Margate Boulevard, are situated on public streets constructed and maintained by Margate tax dollars. HOA boards governing these subdivisions have no jurisdiction or police authority to tow cars from neighborhood streets, Steinfeld said.
Nor do they have the power to prohibit residents from parking on public streets by amending HOA covenants.
“Not unless they had some kind of special arrangement with the city," said Steinfeld, "which they don’t.”
According to Margate law, parking is allowed on only one side of the street across all five Paradise Gardens subdivisions to allow for the safe passing of emergency vehicles.
Parking alongside double yellow lines and on sides of the street marked “No Parking” is clearly prohibited.
If cars are illegally parked, police can cite vehicles and / or tow them. Paradise Gardens HOA boards cannot.
"They don't have the authority," Steinfeld said.
Furious over being told by a PG III board member that her car would be towed, one long-time Paradise Gardens III resident told MargateNews.net that if the board tries to tow her car “they’ll answer to my attorney,” she said, “because I’ll sue the heck out of them.”
Paradise Gardens I, II, III, IV and V subdivisions are zoned “R-1 One Family Dwelling Districts,” not “Planned Unit Developments” or “Planned Residential Communities,” many of which are gated communities and own and maintain their own roads, an expensive alternative to residing on a public street.
Reader Opinion.
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