P.M. from Santa Clara County, California writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
If our 60-unit development has no sales office of any kind (or anything for the public in any way), are we required to have handicapped parking spots? Our desire is to convert all “unassigned parking spots” to “assigned parking spots” which would yield 2 parking spots per unit (1 covered, 1 not). To do so, we need to convert 2 handicap spots to regular parking spots. Note, of the current 3 allocated handicap spots, we would leave 1 with overflow space in place.
Mister Condo replies:
P.M., typically speaking, parking lots that are owned by the association are considered private parking lots and, therefore, not subject to the same regulations that bind public parking lots. That being said, the lack of a sales office doesn’t necessarily mean the parking lot is never used by the public. Do you have any amenities or a club house that can be rented to non-unit owners? Check with your association’s attorney before you make any changes that could create a liability for the association. Provided the attorney says the parking lot is yours to use as you see fit, I don’t see a problem with what you are proposing. Keep in mind that individual unit owners can still ask for handicapped parking considerations and that the association must respond to those requests making sure they take “reasonable accommodation” into consideration before granting or denying such requests. All the best!