August2017

Options for Addressing Speeding in Community Associations

By David S. Cerra, Esq. Griffin Alexander, P.C.

A major concern for many members, property manag- ers, and board members of community associations is the issue of cars speeding through their com- munity. This article addresses some options that may be considered in the effort to reduce speeding and maintain a safe environment for community members. Private Enforcement The options for a community association in New Jersey to enforce speeding violations depends in part on whether the association has opened up its private roads to enforcement by local police under Title 39. According to New Jersey statute: “Upon the filing of a written request . . . by the board of trustees of any corporation or other institution of a public or semipublic character not for pecuniary profit . . . with the clerk of any municipality . . . that the provisions of subtitle 1, Title 39, of the Revised Statutes shall be made applicable to the semipublic or private roads, streets, driveways, trails, terraces, bridle paths, parkways, parking areas, or other roadways open to or used by the public, tenants, employees, and the members of such institutions for purposes of vehicular travel by permission of such

persons, corporations, or institutions and not as matter of public right, the provisions of subtitle 1, Title 39, of the Revised Statutes, shall, in the discretion of the municipal authorities vested with the police powers in the locality within which the property of such persons, corporations, or institutions is situate, be made appli- cable thereto. . . .” N.J.S.A. 39:5A-1. New Jersey courts have found that where a community association has opened up its road to police enforcement, its own powers to privately enforce speeding are more lim- ited. In a case called State v. Panther Valley Prop. Owners Ass’n., the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division stated: “[i]n our view, N.J.S.A. 46:8B-15f is a tacit expression by the Legislature that any private homeowners associations, condominiums or otherwise, have no business assessing fines for motor vehicle violations once they cede enforcement jurisdiction to a public agency pursuant to N.J.S.A. 39:5A-1.” State v. Panther Valley Prop. Owners Ass’n, 704 A.2d 1010 (App. Div. 1998). Other opinions issued by New Jersey courts have further analyzed what enforcement powers community associations retain in these types of situations.

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