How do we add guest parking spaces on HOA common area?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 19, 2026

How an HOA board adds guest parking on common area: proving the need, owner votes, drainage and city permits, paving bids, space rules, and a sample motion.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Adding guest parking means turning grass or open space into pavement, so treat it as a capital project, not a maintenance job. Prove the shortage first with a count. Then read the declaration and plat to see whether the land can be paved and whether owners must vote. Hire a civil engineer or site designer to lay out the spaces and handle drainage, because paving changes where rainwater goes and often needs a city site or stormwater permit. Get bids against the engineer's drawings, decide in an open meeting, and write the rules for the new spaces before the striping crew shows up. Expect the whole process to take six months to a year. The rules vary by state and by your governing documents, and this guide is general education, not legal advice.

Count the cars before you pave the grass

Complaints about parking are loud, and a board can pay for a new lot to fix a problem that a towing rule would have solved. Before anything else, count. Pick four times when guests visit: a weekday evening, a Friday night, a Saturday afternoon and a holiday weekend. Walk the community and write down how many cars are parked in each existing guest area, along the streets, and on the grass. Note any car that sits in the same guest space for days, because a resident storing a third vehicle is a rules problem, not a capacity problem. Send a one-question survey too. If the counts show the existing spaces full at most of those times, and the survey shows owners would rather pay for spaces than keep the open lawn, you have a project. If the counts show a few long-term parkers filling the lot, start with enforcement and recount in three months.

Check what the documents and state law require

Start with the recorded plat and the declaration. Some plats label a tract as open space, a greenbelt or a drainage easement, and some declarations restrict how common area can be used or require an owner vote to change it. If the land is a drainage tract, you may not be able to pave it at all without the city's permission. State law adds a layer. In Colorado, CCIOA section 38-33.3-302(1)(f) and (g) lets the association regulate the modification of common elements and cause additional improvements to be made, subject to the declaration. Section 38-33.3-312 requires a 67 percent vote only to convey common elements or subject them to a security interest. Paving land the association keeps does not trigger it, but a bank loan secured by common area would. In Florida, chapter 720 has no general owner-vote rule for altering HOA common areas, so the declaration controls. Florida condominiums are different: section 718.113(2)(a) bars material alterations or substantial additions to the common elements unless the declaration allows them, and if it is silent, 75 percent of the total voting interests must approve. In Texas, section 209.0051(h) of the Property Code says the board may vote on the construction of new capital improvements, and on special assessments, only in an open meeting with notice to owners. A new parking area is a new improvement, not a repair, so it falls under that rule.

Drainage, impervious cover and city permits

The EPA's runoff guidance says pavement keeps rain from soaking into the ground and greatly increases the volume and speed of stormwater runoff. That water has to go somewhere, and the neighbor whose yard floods after the new lot goes in will call the board first. A site designer or civil engineer should check the slope, where the water will drain, and whether the community's detention pond was sized with this area counted as grass. Most cities require a site development or grading permit for new parking, and many cap impervious cover per lot or per subdivision. Call the city's development services office with the plat in hand before you pay for drawings. Florida adds a state layer. Under Florida Administrative Code rule 62-330.020(2), an environmental resource permit is required for projects that cumulatively add more than 4,000 square feet of impervious or semi-impervious surface subject to vehicle traffic, or more than 9,000 square feet in total, unless an exemption or general permit applies. A row of a dozen spaces with its drive aisle can reach 4,000 square feet. Nationally, a federal construction stormwater permit applies to projects that disturb an acre or more, which a small guest lot rarely does.

Decide who gets the spaces

Write the rules before the spaces exist, or the first residents to notice will treat them as their own. Pick one model. Open guest spaces are first come, first served, with a time limit such as 48 hours and a ban on residents parking there overnight. Permit spaces need a guest pass or a dashboard tag, which helps enforcement but means someone has to issue passes. Assigned spaces, sold or rented to particular owners, raise income but stop serving guests, and in some states they can count as a lease or license of common area, which your documents may limit. Colorado's 38-33.3-302(1)(i) and (j) allow licenses over common elements and fees for their use. Post the rules on signs at the lot, and if you plan to tow, follow your state's towing law. In Texas, Occupations Code section 2308.002 counts parking areas controlled by a property owners association as a parking facility, so the state's towing rules reach your new lot. Texas section 209.006(i) also treats a parking violation as a curable violation, so the owner gets a chance to fix it before a fine. Our guide on writing an HOA parking enforcement and towing policy covers notices, signs and tow contracts.

Pay for it and get bids

Get the engineer's drawings and a rough cost first, then decide how to pay. Guest parking is new construction, so it rarely belongs in the reserve fund, which was built to replace what already exists. The usual choices are a special assessment, an operating surplus, or a loan. Texas section 209.002(12) lists construction of a capital improvement in common areas among the things a special assessment can fund. Check your declaration for a cap on special assessments or a vote requirement before you set the amount. Send the same drawings to at least three paving contractors and ask each to price the base, asphalt or concrete, curbs, striping, signs and any drainage work as separate lines. Once the lot is built, add it to the reserve study, because asphalt needs sealcoat and eventually replacement. Our guide on restriping an HOA parking lot and marking accessible spaces covers layout, paint and signs.

Sample timeline, survey question and motion

Month 1: count cars at four peak times and send the survey. Month 2: read the plat and declaration, call the city, and decide whether a vote is needed. Month 3: hire the engineer for a layout and cost estimate. Month 4: hold an owner meeting to show the drawing and cost, and run the owner vote if your documents require one. Month 5: city permit application and bids. Month 6: board vote in an open meeting and contract. Build in the dry season, then post rules and signs the week the lot opens. A survey question owners can answer in ten seconds: 'The board is considering adding about eight guest parking spaces on the open lawn near the mailboxes, at an estimated cost of $X per home as a one-time assessment. Would you support this? Yes / No / I would support it only if the cost were lower.' A motion the board can adapt: 'I move that the association contract with [contractor] to build [number] guest parking spaces on common area tract [letter] for $[amount] per the engineer's drawings dated [date], funded by a special assessment of $[amount] per lot due [date], contingent on issuance of the city site permit.'

Mistakes boards make

The common ones: paving a drainage tract or easement without checking the plat; skipping the engineer and finding out in the first storm that the water now runs into three backyards; voting on construction at a workshop or by email when state law or the bylaws require an open meeting; building the spaces first and fighting about who owns them afterward; letting one director's street get the new spaces without a written reason tied to the parking counts; forgetting to add the new asphalt to the reserve study; and taking the lowest bid when it leaves out the base course or the drainage work. Keep the counts, survey results, engineer's report, permit and bids in one project file. If an owner challenges the project later, that file shows the board decided on facts.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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