'It's ridiculous,' says driver whose HOA made neighborhood feel 'unsafe' by towing cars with zero warning

Several drivers said their cars were taken in the middle of the night without warning after their Las Vegas HOA pointed to emergency responder parking rules.

Cars were towed from family's own driveways (stock image)Credit: Getty
Important signs were blocked by trees, according to a report (stock image)Credit: Getty

"It's ridiculous. It's too much," a resident told local ABC affiliate KTNV during the issue in 2019.

"I know multiple people out here had their cars towed."

Several drivers told the network their cars were towed without prior warning and in the middle of the night.

Other residents said their cars were taken in less than 15 minutes - the community's towing drama even disrupted a parent's morning routine to get their children to school.

"It's kind of stressful," Mike Morris, a resident in the HOA, told the station.

"I was actually getting the kids ready for school one day and I was inside, not even 15 minutes, came out and my truck was gone."

TOW RULE

The HOA said that the towing enforcement was strictly enforced per Nevada road laws.

Home prices in Las Vegas spiked in the late 2010s, forcing residents to build on smaller plots of land, officials said.

As the new builds continued to sprout in the community, less space was available for parking.

My car was towed without warning during a birthday party - I had proof I was in the right, but cops could do nothing--

Homes in the community were built with single or double garages attached - but some of the garages couldn't fit larger vehicles.

Drivers with trucks and SUVs too large to jam into their garages were forced to park on the street and in the driveway.

However, the ends of several driveways in the community, and large swaths of the on-street parking, barred any standing vehicles to maintain accessible lanes for emergency vehicles.

The station pointed out that several street signs warned residents about the strict no-parking limits throughout the neighborhood for emergency service vehicles.

But some of those signs were blocked by trees.

"I think there's been some mistakes made in some of the higher density communities," Justin Jones, a city commissioner, said at the time.

Jones said he personally encountered towing troubles - his vehicle had been towed twice.

He said the parking issues were a direct result of increased home prices.

"I do care about the fact that people who live in my district or want to live in my district can't do it right now because they're simply priced out of the market," he said.

The towing drama motivated some residents to look elsewhere for their next home.

"It makes you want to leave the area," Morris claimed at the time.

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