Unpermitted Motor Court Parking - Log and Photographic Evidence

After receiving Meritage Sales' repugnant May 1, 2025 phone caIl during which a Sales agent accused me of driving away Meritage's business and threatened me with arrest, I knew I had to protect myself, so I started logging and reporting incidents of unpermitted motor court parking in the Willow community and, specifically, in the motor court in which I reside. I must confess I feel quite dismayed as my husband and I don't see an end in sight- despite the 3 signs that, in its BBB response to my complaint, Meritage boasted about putting up at its own expense (eyeroll).

In the only communication I've had with Meritage to date (which I received with the assistance of the BBB), the builder indicates that it has put up signs (see above picture) at its expense given my concerns. However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the issue of parking in the motor courts is not MY concern, per se, but rather a rule per Section 4.28.2(b) of the community's CC&Rs which unambiguously states that "There shall be no parking of any vehicle within the Motor Courts... temporarily or otherwise." Section 4.28 states that "... The association shall enforce the respective parking restrictions by all lawful means, including... towing of any violating vehicle. [And that] the Association shall contract with a towing company to remove vehicles that violate the no parking restrictions and ... provide [Homeowners] with a telephone number to report violations...

Incidentally, my husband and I only recently discovered that the HOA is required to contract with a towing company to address community parking violations and that, we as homeowners, should have been provided with the telephone number for said towing company to be able to report said violations.

Live Oak Redlands CC&Rs Section 4.28 regarding Parking and Vehicle Restrictions

We had no idea and could not recall a conversation regarding this rule, so, we decided to review all of our correspondence with Meritage and Keystone/ the HOA. Sure enough, we found the following text message in which Meritage's Customer Service Rep, Hector Estrada, reassures us (after the March 18, 2025 incident during which our garage was blocked by 2 vehicles belonging to prospective homeowners) that Keystone actively addresses the matter regarding unpermitted parking in the motor courts and has and/ or will tow a vehicle after an initial courtesy notice to violators. Of course, we've never witnessed any vehicle being towed and Keystone/ the HOA never communicated that we had the right to report to the towing company any instance of unpermitted parking in the community.

Text message from Meritage Customer Service Rep re HOA's Enforcement of Unpermitted Motor Court Parking

The Davis-Sterling Act (https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/P/Parking-Towing) notes that Associations may tow vehicles for parking violations if, as provided for in Vehicle Code § 22658(a)(1), Associations have installed proper signage which meets the following requirements:

is in plain view at all entrances to the property,
is not less than 17 inches by 22 inches in size, with lettering not less than 1 inch in height,
states that public parking is prohibited and unauthorized vehicles will be towed at owner's expense,
provides the telephone number of the local traffic enforcement agency, and
provides the name and number of each company party to the towing agreement with the association.

We would argue that the 3 signs erected by Meritage along Bergamot Street in the Willow community of Live Oak do not conform to the Vehicle Code per the Davis Sterling Act and need to be replaced with conforming signs.

If I could have a discussion with Meritage and/ or the HOA and obtain a meaningful answer- or any answer at all without the assistance of the Better Business Bureau- for starters, I would ask who it believes bears financial responsibility for the community's parking signage as, per its BBB response, Meritage implies it's done the community a favor by erecting 3 signs at its own expense, but that this may have been the responsibility of another party. I'd also ask why an adequate number of signage was not immediately installed at the time when Meritage and the HOA first learned of the issue of unpermitted motor court parking (which precedes our arrival in late Feb 2025)... and why Meritage and the HOA appear to resist to take definitive enforcement action now that the WiIlow community to the south of the community park appears to be predominantly occupied and given the multitude of unpermitted motor court parking violation reports and evidence available to date.

On second thought, I'd simply request that signage (per Vehicle Code § 22658(a)(1) as referenced in the Davis Sterling Act) be installed in each motor court and, perhaps, that the motor court curbs be painted red, as suggested by a Redlands Police officer who recently responded to a neighbor's complaint that we were harassing him because we tried to speak to him about the motor court parking rules and HOA rules which preclude homeowners from using their respective garages as gyms and storage facilities. The responding officer informed us that the neighbor is a first-time homeowner, that he doesn't appear to know much about HOAs, and that we should keep a distance since he appears to be ready to escalate with a restraining order. I'll post the video of the entire conversation with the officer as soon as possible.

Anyway, as it turns out, Keystone, the property management company, is off-site, conducts enforcement rounds twice per month, and gives homeowners 14 days to remedy a violation. How will parking issues be addressed if Keystone only comes around twice per month and there is no clear signage to indicate that motor court parking is not permitted? Sigh.

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

Log of Incidents of Unpermitted Motor Court Parking

We, of course, have photographic evidence of every incident noted in the aforementioned log, but because these are numerous, we are sharing only some of our favorites:

1. Video: A Neighbor's Egress Blocked by a Meritage Contractor's Unpermitted Parking