The first Meeting of the reactivated RHOA Parking Committee was held on Monday, August 17, 2009, at the Franconia Governmental Center.  There were 12 attendees, representing all streets except Knights Ridge and Ambassador. The meeting proceeded according to the agenda. 

Ms. Mahoney, Committee Chair, welcomed all Committee Members and guests. She briefly reviewed the history of the Committee, outlined what the reactivated Committee would be doing, and encouraged all members to use the web site and blog to communicate Committee matters.

Mr. Strojny, RHOA President, gave a fire lanes issue update. The next step in the RHOA appeal process is to present our case to the State Technical Review Board (TRB) – provided it is determined that the issue is centered on violation of state law and thus within the TRB jurisdiction. If it turns out that the TRB does not have jurisdiction, the issue will then be brought to a state court for a declaratory judgment. There was a discussion of the fire lanes issue. The three Langton residents at the meeting, Ms. Cerasani, Mr. Richardson, and Mr. Kavinski, will serve as an informal subcommittee to support Mr. Strojny, as needed.

Ms. Mahoney and Mr. Strojny discussed the recent lawsuit that was settled out of court and explained that the current parking policies were still intact. 

Ms. Mahoney proposed that she develop a draft Parking Committee charter and operating procedures (e.g., relationship to RHOA Board, etc.). Ms. Mahoney explained that the Committee would be a working committee and there was a lot of work to be done. At the outset, she explained, the Committee needs to gather information about the parking conditions and issues on each street, as the conditions and issues on each street differ widely. For some streets, Castletown and Heatherwood in particular, parking has been a problem since those streets were created in the 1980’s. On Langton, on the other hand, parking became a problem only after the fire lanes were painted in 2006. 

Members of the Committee felt that the Committee members could and should canvas their own streets and determine the issues and problems on their streets, including the information noted as work to be done under items 4(a)-(c) on the meeting agenda, the number of reserved and non-reserved parking spots, and the number of cars possessed by each household/townhouse on their respective streets, and report back to the Committee.

The Committee Members asked and agreed that a letter be sent to the Community telling residents that a Parking Committee has been reactivated and what the Committee is trying to accomplish. The letter would point out parking issues in the Community, and laws and community declarations and resolutions in effect that affect parking. Ms. Mahoney suggested that she would draft two letters, one that encourages residents to respond to Committee members seeking info on their streets and one that addresses issues and enforcement. 

The Committee discussed several other issues regarding parking, including under agenda Item 4(h). These included revising policy where needed ( e.g., moving PODS - where and how long to park); re-aligning parking so that it coincides with a resident’s house; limos and taxis parking in residential parking spaces; allocation of additional parking for disabled residents; creation of more parking spaces in green spaces; and large vehicles parked in residential parking.

Committee members also discussed trying to find out what other communities are doing regarding parking issues, policies, and regulations – agenda Item 4 (o).

After a review of action items, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM.