SHEFFIELD HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

VEHICLE PARKING AND MAINTENANCE GUIDELINES

The following guidelines and regulations are published for the mutual benefit and safety of all residents and members of the Sheffield Homeowners Association (hereafter called the Association). The Board of Directors of the Association derives its authority from the applicable provisions of the Articles of Incorporation and the By-laws of the Association.

A. Motor Vehicle. The term "motor vehicle" includes any licensed and inspected vehicles which are used for personal or commercial purposes, such as cars, pick-up trucks, vans or recreational vehicles. Any vehicle which is more than eighteen feet in length and eight feet wide is considered an oversize vehicle.

B. Parking Spaces. Each townhouse owner of record will be assigned two numbered parking spaces, adjacent to each other, in the townhouse parking area in front of their group of houses. Please be aware of parking in another homeowner's assigned space and inform your visitors of the policy as well. The resident does have the "Authority to Tow" a vehicle that is parked in the resident's numbered space. The resident will have the authority to tow a car from their space only. Those parking areas that have an extra space will have one space marked "visitor". All residents are urged to treat the visitor space as just that, for the use of visitors. Vehicles owned by residents will be towed from visitor parking spaces without notice and at the expense of the vehicle’s owner.

We have been reminded by the Fairfax County Fire Department that cars parked in fire lanes and/or double parked behind other cars are subject to being ticketed and towed. This will be at the expense of the vehicle’s owner.

C. Parking Regulations.

1. Motor vehicles may be parked in the parking spaces maintained by the Association in townhouse areas and along the curb of any County or State maintained road unless such areas are posted or curbs painted yellow.

2. Oversized vehicles, as defined above, will not normally be allowed to occupy parking spaces maintained by the Association. If there is a pressing need to temporarily park an oversized vehicle within the Association maintained area, the owner of the vehicle must request permission to do so from the Association Board of Directors. Each request will be considered on a case by case basis, with safety being the prime consideration.

3. Boats, on appropriate trailers, and small trailers must be parked in Association assigned parking spaces unless their size puts them in the class of an oversized vehicle as defined above.

4. All vehicles must be in operating condition. In Fairfax County, it is unlawful to keep inoperative motor vehicles, motorcycles, trailers or semi-trailers on any property unless they are kept within a fully enclosed building or completely screened. "Inoperative" is defined as a vehicle that is incapable of starting or moving by its own power. There will be no vehicles, parked in our development, that are in violation of this Fairfax County ordnance.

5. There will be no vehicle parked behind other parked vehicles. Blocking in a parked vehicle is in violation of Fairfax County fire codes.

D. Vehicle Maintenance Regulations. It is recognized that some members of the community do minor repairs on their vehicles. For reasons of safety, primarily, and to some extent appearance, the following rules apply.

1. No motor vehicle will be permitted to be parked and raised from the surface of the parking area (jacked up) for more than three consecutive days. Vehicles that are raised overnight must be placed on stands or lifts designed for the purpose. Bumper or other similar jacks are not considered safe except for emergency repairs, i.e. changing a tire which requires a relatively short time.

2. No motor vehicle will be permitted to undergo repair work in the Association parking area for more than a two day period. For instance, cars involved in an accident and not in driving condition, should be placed at a repair facility until restored to safe driving condition. Major repairs that could be delayed for lack of parts, work time, etc., should not be attempted in Association parking areas.

3. A vehicle, while being repaired, must not present a safety hazard or prevent use and access to sidewalk areas.

E. Enforcement. It is the hope of the Board of Directors that all members of our community will cooperate in following these minimum rules of safety and courtesy, and that action by the Association will not be necessary. The following procedures will be followed and appropriate actions taken in order to correct any violation.

1. Residents have the authority to contact Dominion Towing to have them tow a car from their space only.

2. All other violations will be handled by the Board.

3. It is the responsibility of each person living in the community to report violations to a Board member of the Association. These reports must be in writing, describing the violation as briefly as possible, and signed by the person making the report. Board members will initiate reports of violations if they see them occur. They will also take appropriate action on violations reported by others.

4. Whenever violations of these parking Guidelines are reported to, or found by the Board of Directors, the Board will take appropriate action. This action will include but not be limited to towing at the owner’s expense. If the Board elects to notify the owner in writing, they will have five business days to correct the violation.

5. If the violations occurring on Association properties are not corrected within the specified period, the offending property (vehicle) will be removed to a commercial storage facility for safekeeping at the expense of the owner.

6. Local law requires that vehicles on public roads and property have a current license. All residents are encouraged to adhere to these laws. The Board reserves the right to remove any unlicensed vehicle, that in the opinion of the Board, is unsafe or an eyesore to the community. Removal of these vehicles are at the expense of the owner. The Board is not responsible for any fees or damages. Our towing contractor, Dominion Towing will make periodic runs through our community to remove vehicles with expired registration or inspections. This will include visitor parking areas.

Visitors parking

In the past we have asked homeowners not to park in the visitor parking spaces. We have found this policy doesn’t work, so we will tow vehicles that are found to be consistently in a Visitor Parking space. Homeowners have the right to tow a vehicle in their reserved space, but Visitor Parking space violations can only be towed by a board member. If you see a consistent pattern of a resident’s vehicle parked in a visitor space, notify a Board member. We will arrange for the vehicle to be towed at the owner’s expense. We hope this will curtail the violations and we never have to go to this extreme.