Condo talk: Condo associations can partner with police for parking enforcement

It almost seems like every family member owns a car today; turn 16, get a car, and park it in the association’s parking area. As a result of the increased number of vehicles out there, there are any number of condominium associations that have adopted extensive rules to address parking areas and traffic issues within the association.

However, enforcement of these regulations can be very time consuming for board members and property managers alike, and can take time away from important other duties. Well, it’s time to meet your condominium association’s potential partner in this endeavor — your local police department.

Illinois law provides a powerful tool for condominium associations to enforce their parking and traffic regulations. Deep in the Illinois Vehicle Code is a provision that permits your condominium association to enter into a contract with your local municipality to patrol your parking areas. The law provides that a condominium association which controls a parking area that is located within the limits of the municipality, or outside the limits of the municipality and within the boundaries of the county, can enter into a contract to authorize the municipality or county to regulate the parking of automobiles and the traffic at your association. Some may argue that this gives the police too much access to private property; however, on balance, most associations look favorably on the increased security that comes with the police patrols.

A contract between a condominium association and the municipality or county can permit the police department to accomplish all or any of the following parking and traffic regulations:

Ÿ Provide for the removal and storage of vehicles parked or abandoned in the parking area during snowstorms, floods, fires, or other public emergencies, or found unattended in the parking area, (a) where they constitute an obstruction to traffic, or (b) where stopping, standing or parking is prohibited, and for the payment of reasonable charges for such removal and storage by the owner or operator of any such vehicle.

Ÿ Erect stop signs, flashing signals, person with disabilities reserved parking area signs, yield signs at specified locations in a parking area, designation of any intersection in the parking area as a stop intersection or as a yield intersection, and the ordering of signs or signals at one or more entrances to such intersection.

Ÿ Designate safety zones in the parking area and fire lanes.

Ÿ Prohibit, regulate, restrict or limit the stopping, standing or parking of vehicles in specified areas of the parking area.

Ÿ Prohibit or regulate the turning of vehicles or specified types of vehicles at intersections or other designated locations in the parking area.

Ÿ Regulate crossing of any roadway in the parking area by pedestrians.

Ÿ Designate any separate roadway in the parking area for one-way traffic.

Ÿ Establish and regulate loading zones.

Ÿ Contract for such additional reasonable rules and regulations with respect to traffic and parking in a parking area as local conditions may require for the safety and convenience of the public or of the users of the parking area.

These arrangements also have “teeth” in that violation of any parking and traffic regulations established at any parking area by the contract is a petty offense.

There are some limitations and procedural requirements that have to be followed though. The contracts must be recorded in the office of the recorder in the county in which the parking area is located (easy). The contracts cannot exceed a period of 20 years (most associations don’t enter contracts that are more than a few years in term anyway, and may even have restrictions in their own governing documents that limit terms to just a few years). Regulations created under the contract are effective or enforceable no earlier than three days after the contract is recorded (no big deal).

If enforcement of traffic and parking regulations has been a problem in your association, it may be useful to contact your local police department and enter into an agreement that meets the specific needs of your association. In addition to the assistance that these arrangements provide for parking and traffic regulation, they offer a tremendous potential intangible benefit. We live in an extremely security-conscious time, and patrol of parking areas may provide residents a sense of, if not actual, increased security. In today’s world that is probably not a bad thing.

Ÿ David M. Bendoff is an attorney with Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit in Buffalo Grove. Send questions for the column to him at CondoTalk@ksnlaw.com. The firm provides legal service to condominium, townhouse, homeowner associations and housing cooperatives. This column is not a substitute for consultation with legal counsel.