Unintended Consequences of the Stay at Home Orders INCREASED VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION’S VEHICLE RESTRICTIONS BY JENNIFER M. JACOBSEN, ESQ. & RAIHANE A. DALVI, ESQ.
The COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions and the
duty to enforce the governing documents in order
pandemic in general have together significantly
to protect the interests of the association’s
increased the number of Californians working and
members as a whole. On the other hand, boards
learning from home. Additionally, many
must also acknowledge the changing needs of
Californians remain unemployed during state and/
their communities and must act reasonably with
or county shelter-in-place restrictions.
enforcement. Many of these increased parking violations result from associations being unable to
Due to the unprecedented number of residents
provide adequate parking amenities in light of
working, learning, and staying at home,
shelter-in-place orders amid the COVID-19
community associations are finding many new
pandemic. Communities are not typically
challenges. One notable challenge is the increased
designed for all residents to be working and
strain on parking amenities. It is no surprise, then,
learning from home, and therefore many of these
that many associations are dealing with a
violations are a product of necessity during the
substantial increase of parking-related violations
pandemic. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic
such as improper parking on common area streets
has raised anxieties and placed many members in
and residents using parking spaces that are
a difficult financial situation, which can make
exclusively reserved for guests.
violations (and resulting fines) an even more stressful issue to deal with for associations as well
Boards of directors are now faced with a unique challenge. On one hand, boards have a fiduciary
12 The Law Journal Spring 2021 | cacm.org
as the owners.
