Why are parking stickers or guest hangtags required on vehicles parked in Woodland Shores common areas?

Tim Lail remembers:

Years ago we had a lot of outside people and businesses that used our facilities without permission, especially the Dock Builders. Due to the size and central location of our boat ramp, dock builders used our ramp to load out docks to other locations on the lake. Their equipment and materials are heavy. The concrete ramp actually broke-through, and our residents were getting their boat trailer axels stuck in the hole. Repairs such as this are very expensive, and takes the Property Owners Dues money away from other projects.

I was on the board at that time. WSPOA needed a way to identify who were using our facilities including the ramp, docks and the temporary parking of boats/trailers. I was the one who came up with the parking permits. It was decided that 2 parking permits would be given, at no charge, to the property owners when they pay their dues.

Many Property Owners asked for a permit for their guests. WSPOA didn’t want to give out yearly permits to visitors, so that is when WSPOA came up with the visitors passes. We have always charged $1 for a visitor pass, which has never increased. These Visitor Permits changed color every year for easy identification. This was a successful idea. Currently we use the permits to identify who is parking in our common parking areas.

In addition to that, since people are now using ATVs to load out boats, WSPOA requests that a parking permit be purchased for those vehicles as well. These permits are a different size and the yearly cost is one dollar.

WSPOA requested that Golf carts & motorcycles/scooters have parking permits. This is a safety concern. Our community has a lot of children driving these vehicles. We have had accidents in the past where children have wrecked and been hurt. The permit tags are numbered which can help us locate the parents if and when this happens again.

Note: Not all of the property owners have an ATV, Golf carts or motorcycles so it was determined that those parking permits should have to be purchased to be fair to all property owners. Again, they are only $1.00

REGARDING TICKETS GIVEN FOR NO PARKING STICKER OR HANGTAG:  When the Parking Permits were designed and distributed, WSPOA decided to come up with a ticket which could be left on the windshields of vehicles that were parked in the common parking areas without a parking permit. These were simple Xeroxed 3’x5”paper cards (see below) that were issued by a small group of volunteers.

The offenders of our parking permit policy never slowed down. So, several years ago a new ticket was designed which provided a carbon copy so we can now track repeat offenders. This ticket advises that on a second violation the vehicle will be towed. WSPOA has contacted an attorney to see if WSPOA has the right to tow the vehicle at the owners expense and we are currently waiting for a legal response.

WSPOA has added a courtesy dock to our facilities that allows 15 minutes for boaters to dock their boat and retrieve their vehicle & trailer for removal of their boat.

We have had many violations of the 15 minute rule — in fact boats have been left there for hours, or even overnight. This isn’t right, and I will petition the 2022 WSPOA Board to revise the Parking Tickets to include a Courtesy Dock Violation. Although the boat can’t be towed, they could be relocated to the beach area and attached to the wire rope that runs along the park side of the cove.

Reported by Tim Lail, February 2022

[Editor’s note: the above account is a thorough explanation of how the Woodland Shores parking stickers and guest permits came to be. If you have anything to add in answer to this FAQ, please do so in comments, below.]