Homeowner wins fight with HOA over pickup truck

Article Courtesy of Bay News 9

By Josh Rojas

Published December 16, 2008

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A Hillsborough County homeowner has won a battle with his homeowners association over a pickup truck.

The homeowners association at The Eagles had prohibited homeowner A.J. Vizzi from parking his pickup truck in his driveway. The association rules said the truck had to be parked in the garage.

Vizzi thought he was unfairly targeted by the homeowners association because some neighbors have SUVs in their driveways, including a Chevy Suburban in his neighbors' driveway.

The Department of Motor Vehicles classifies that vehicle as a truck, but the HOA said the Surburban is permitted.

"They interpreted the rules, even though it said trucks, that SUV's were not trucks," Vizzi said. "And it said 'vans'. And they interpreted the rules to say that a minivan or even a passenger van was not a van. Yet, because it said pickup trucks, they wanted to enforce the rule on me."

Homeowner A.J. Vizzi said his HOA prohibited this pickup truck . . .

Vizzi, who said his truck wouldn't fit inside his garage, fought the association for two years and spent thousands in legal fees.

A Hillsborough County judge ruled in Vizzi's favor on Friday.

The judge essentially said that the more reasonable and rationale interpretation of the two is that only commercial vehicles should be prohibited," said Vizzi's attorney, Dan Anderson. "Not non-commercial vehicles like Vizzi's pickup truck."

The homeowners association could appeal the judge's ruling, and said they would not comment until the board can go over the judge's ruling with their attorneys.

"A lot of the people who live in this neighborhood do not realize the money that the association has spent to keep one-person from parking a pickup truck in their driveway," Vizzi said.

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