Towing Issue Interrupts Newborn’s Arrival

A Colorado Springs family plans to move out of its home of six years after a dispute with a homeowners’ association that happened while the family’s fourth child was being born.

James and Tiffany McAllister last week welcomed their third son, Colin, at Memorial North Hospital. However, the father said he twice had to leave his wife to deal with the problem.

“There was a great hardship placed on my family,” he said. “We’ve had enough. We can’t take any more.”

McAllister said a relative who was baby-sitting his children had to leave unexpectedly, and some friends who came to help also had to leave but couldn’t because their car was towed. McAllister said the car didn’t have a required visitor’s parking pass, and the family was too preoccupied with Colin’s arrival to remember the pass.

The cost for the tow, said McAllister, was $232, and the HOA reimbursed him only after he complained about rude treatment from HOA president Steve Bell and the towing company — ironically named Colin’s Towing.

“The door was slammed in my face. There was very little compassion,” said McAllister.

The father was present for his son’s birth, but both parents remain upset at the interruption of a precious moment in their lives.

“The first bath, we had to ask the nurse several times to hold off,” said Tiffany McAllister. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

Bell declined an interview on Wednesday but said his intent was to enforce rules equally and that he decided to reimburse the family after “getting all the facts.”

Bell said residents of the 174-unit Dublin Townhouses near Dublin and Powers boulevards may suggest changes to rules by attending HOA board meetings. However, McAllister, a former board member, and at least one neighbor said they suggested changes but received no response.

Tiffany McAllister said she’d like to see the three-member HOA board replaced.