Greetings from the Board
On behalf of your Board of Directors and the VCA Staff I wish you a very happy, healthy, safe, and prosperous new year. I also want to extend our heartfelt condolences to all those impacted by the unprecedented fires in the greater Los Angeles area. The stories of the loss of lives, homes, businesses, automobiles, and personal property are truly tragic. The efforts of emergency responders and individual citizens has been heroic.
These fires have reinforced the responsibilities of the VCA Board to prioritize the safety of our members and values of our properties and community in our decision making. Such a decision the VCA faces in the next couple of months relates to the enforcement of parking on the public streets in Rancho Vistoso.
A recent change to Arizona statue ARS 33-1818 will remove the ability of the Vistoso Community Association (VCA) to continue to enforce parking restrictions on public roadways within the boundaries of the Association per the VCA Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs). However, since these CC&Rs were recorded prior to January 1, 2015 the law allows the VCA to continue to enforce restrictions on public roadways by a vote of the entire membership. Your Board of Directors has authorized a membership vote to be taken prior to the Annual Membership Meeting scheduled for March 27, 2025.
I have written about this before in previous VCA Newsletters and now it is time for action. The Board is concerned that if the Association loses the right to enforce parking on our roadways, safety and property values may be negatively affected. Specifically:
- Large commercial or personal vehicles such as trucks, trailers, motor homes or campers parked in the roadway may obscure the view of children crossing the street or residents backing out of their driveways. This would increase the likelihood of accidents in our community.
- Narrow streets could impede access for emergency vehicles slowing their response times
- Vehicles parked in these road ways may reduce traffic flow from two lanes to effectively one.
- Potentially increases the likelihood of vandalism or theft.
- Trash collection will be impeded if the trucks cannot get close enough to empty the trash cans.
- A street with parked commercial vehicles, motor homes, RVs, unused or abandoned automobiles is less aesthetically pleasing to current and potential residents negatively impacting property values.
- Parked vehicles leaking of toxic automotive fluids on the street that could be detrimental to road surfaces requiring extensive maintenance and repair.
You will soon be seeing signs posted along public roadways in Rancho Vistoso informing you of the impending vote to determine if the VCA can continue to enforce parking on public roadways. Members will also be getting a letter explaining in more detail the impact of ARS 33-1818 on our community. All members will receive a ballot for them to vote on whether to retain the VCA’s right to enforce parking on public roads. The vote results will be announced at the March 27, 2025 at the Annual Membership Meeting of the VCA.
Matt Wood