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akheel

wrote in news:1187795879.112007.239080
@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

On Aug 20, 11:16 pm, (Bob) wrote:
In article

"No boats, trucks, automobiles, or other vehicles, or trailers may be
stored in the open within view of the public street within this
subdivision for more than twenty-four (24) hours, nor may they be
repaired except in an emergency within said twenty-four (24) hour
period on any of the streets within this subdivision."

To me, this technically sounds like you could work on your boat in the
DRIVEWAY as long as it was an "emergency" AND you did it within the 24
hour period. But I get the feeling that they mean "within view" like
they mention in the first part talking about storage.

To me, this means you can do whatever you want on the boat in a
private driveway or yard, emergency or no, as long as it is not in
view of the public street for more than 24 hours.

The "emergency" clause refers to working on it in a "street", as might
happen if the vehicle got a flat tire and moving it from the street to
a private driveway was not practical without first effecting the
repair.

Could it be argued that "any of the streets within this subdivision"
includes private "driveways"? Possibly. It could also be argued that
if the framers meant it to include driveways, they would have written
"any of the streets or driveways within this subdivision."

I note there is no prohibition from storing or effecting non-emergency
repair on a vehicle in a private yard. The framers could have easily
foreseen such occurring and written a prohibition in the form of "nor
may they be stored or repaired except in an emergency within said
twenty-four (24) hour period on any of the streets, driveways or yards
within this subdivision."

"Said twenty-four (24) hour period" sounds very official and scary but
it merely refers again to the period that a vehicle may be "within
view of the public street." It does not a priori mean that non-
emergency repair cannot be performed on a private drive or yard.

On the whole, it seems to me that the framers most likely just wanted
to keep the work out of the public streets (read: thoroughfares), and
to keep it reasonably brief.

A private driveway is not typically considered to be as much a part of
the "common space" as a public street. So there is ample reason to
have a distinction between streets and driveways. Repairing a vehicle
in the public street could be a problem if lots of people did it even
for short periods. People don't tend to care as much what happens in a
neighbor's driveway if it's temporary.

I am not a lawyer, but I have extensive experience interpreting zoning
codes.

I think you are dead on. I am a lawyer and I used to write CC&Rs for a
living. When we wanted say driveway, we said driveway. The quoted CC&Rs
only restrict repair on the streets. I wrote several CC&Rs (at the
request of the developer) that said no repair in the driveway, only the
garage. I think as long as you can do the repair within the 24 hour
storage period, you're alright. The OP should point that out to the busy
buddy and tell him or her to pound sand. BTW, because of my dealings with
HOAs, I would never live in one. I've only been to New Hampshire once,
but I like their motto: "Live free or die."