HOA asks City for Thanksgiving street parking ban, homeowners not happy

By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities

How would you feel if your city council and police joined forces with your HOA board to create a parking ban on public streets in your neighborhood?

Sounds unbelievable, right?

But it’s really happening in one Texas association-governed community.

NBC Dallas Fort Worth, Channel 5 news reports that the Allen Police Department has worked with City leaders to pass a parking Ordinance, at the request of Star Creek HOA.

The new Ordinance will ban on-street parking in the Star Creek community for five days, starting Wednesday, November 21.

Why would the HOA want to ban parking on public streets over the Thanksgiving holiday?

Apparently, some homeowners and board members don’t want Black Friday holiday shoppers parking on streets in their neighborhood. Star Creek HOA is located near Allen Premium Outlets. Ironically, that’s one of the community’s bragging rights on its website.

It seems that last year, some homeowners complained about holiday shopper parking. They don’t like the increased traffic, people hopping over their community fence to get to the shopping center, and inconsiderate behavior such as littering.

But now that the HOA board worked with the City to pass the 5-day parking ban in Star Creek, homeowners are reportedly very unhappy about it.

Allen police say they won’t issue temporary parking passes to Star Creek residents or their invited guests. The City says that would be unfair to other members of the public, who would normally have a right to park on public streets.

The 5-day parking ban in Star Creek is an “all or nothing” deal.

Oops! Talk about unintended consequences for homeowners in Star Creek. Now residents don’t know where their Thanksgiving guests are going to park.

Yes, the spacious homes in the community all have driveways. But many homeowners scheduled large gatherings of family and friends for the holiday. And they were counting on street parking.

The intriguing thing about this saga is how the HOA board essentially colluded with City government to pass an Ordinance that has taken most Star Creek residents by surprise.

How did that happen?

The story also highlights the underlying arrogance of some who reside in HOA planned communities. Obviously, some influential homeowners in the Star Creek subdivision view parking on public streets as a right reserved for their community only.

But with a lot of unhappy homeowners, the holiday parking ban might not last beyond this year.

Allen Residents Served ‘No Parking’ Signs for Thanksgiving

The parking ban is geared toward preventing Black Friday shoppers from parking in residential areas

By Vanessa Brown

Published Nov 12, 2018 at 6:04 PM | Updated at 6:37 PM CST on Nov 12, 2018

Imagine hosting Thanksgiving at your house, but suddenly your guests have nowhere to park. It’s a reality for some people in an Allen neighborhood who say they’re being punished because of Black Friday shoppers.
The holiday mall madness has been maddening to StarCreek residents over the years.

“People were just parking all up and down the streets, they’ll hop the fences,” Antoine Byrd said.
First, because of unwanted traffic from the nearby Allen Premium Outlets.
…

“We obviously own these homes, we pay taxes. Why should we not be able to park on our street on a holiday?” asked John Johnson.

Johnson is one of many residents told that there will be no parking in front of his Allen home this Thanksgiving, even though he’s hosting dinner.

“Ten to 15 (people) depending on who shows up. Our daughters, their boyfriends, grandsons, great grandma,” he said.

Johnson was just informed by his homeowner’s association about the new five-day street ban. About 130 signs will go up in the StarCreek neighborhood, beginning Wednesday, Nov. 21. Many residents wanted to know why they can’t just put a tag or permit in their car, but Allen police said because the neighborhood has public roadways, they can’t legally pick and choose who parks here. For this ordinance, it’s all or nothing. Three officers plan to enforce the ban and call a tow truck for those in violation.

Read more (video):
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Allen-Residents-Served-No-Parking-Signs-for-Thanksgiving-500320192.html