Congratulations to Ania and Chris VanDeusen on the birth of their son Tomek on January 5th. We are sure Zosia will be a great big sister.
Welcome to Lisa Powell, the new owner of the completely remodeled 2139 Colts Neck Court.
We wish the Rahman family the best of luck as we say goodbye to them. Although they moved from the neighborhood years ago, they have been owners here since 1987. We appreciate Mr. and Mrs. Rahman, and Mustafa, for the neighborhood open house to see all the work Mustafa and his brother did, and as a thank you for putting up with the construction over the last couple of years. If you did not get a chance to visit on that snowy day, you missed a beautiful new home unlike anything here.
We also welcome Paige & Keith Hall and their family, the new tenants of 2111 Colts Neck Court.
More goodbyes: By the time of the next newsletter we could have even more new neighbors and be saying goodbye to some great neighbors. Z Wang from 2101 Colts Neck Court is being transferred to China, Atif Irfan & Sobia Ijaz and family of 2123 Colts Neck Court are moving home to Michigan; Pat & Shaun McCabe of 2127 Colts Neck Court who have been here 19 years will soon be leaving to be closer to other family members, and we believe some others are considering big changes. We will miss you all.
New Board member coming soon. With the departure of Atif Irfan from the Board when he moves, Colin Barthel has agreed to take his place. It was not the most enthusiastic yes!, but a yes. We welcome Colin.
Cluster Cleanup will be April 17, 2021. The rain date will be the following weekend. This will be another socially distanced cleanup with everyone working on their own.
Items to consider:
Picking up any downed limbs and branches from the winter
Pulling ivy from trees,
Pruning bushes (only those that have finished blooming),
Cleaning debris around drains,
Cleaning leaves and dirt from the gutter pans in the parking lots,
Picking up of trash along the streets and paths, Weeding hostas on the stairs to the tot lot,
Picking up trash in the woods
We miss our neighbors and would love to have more people to participate in cleaning up the common areas. Remember, there are ways you can help even if you cannot on that day. We also want to thank Rodney D'Souza and Steve Tucker for their financial contributions since they are unable to participate in these cleanups.
We want to thank everyone who helped shovel this winter, especially those who helped neighbors. Snow and ice on the walks are treacherous especially to our older residents and it is your responsibility here to keep the main walks clean in addition to your own walks. The Brownbills would particularly like to thank Colin Barthel and Holly Vanderhoof for keeping their walks clear.
Speaking of snow, we only paid for clearing the parking lots twice this winter - it could have been a lot worse! Our contract calls for plowing when the snow is a depth of 2" (measured at Dulles) and we pay per inch over 5" which most years saves us money. This year, although close once, we did not exceed 5".
Trash: If you have not signed up for the unmonitored cluster e-mail account to alert you to things like trash issues, please do so by contacting Jenni Jacyna or Debbie Carroll. Trash should not be placed out for pickup prior to dark the night before; since it is now spring, and the days are getting longer, trash must be brought out later. Trash cans should be retrieved the day of pickup. In instances where they cannot pick up trash due to weather, there is no makeup day. We alert you as soon as we see the notice from the trash company (via the unmonitored email list.)
Yard waste season began March 1st and runs through December 25th. Yard waste must be placed out on Fridays. American Trash has promised less issues this year than last year as they are back to near full capacity. We have been asked that it only be placed in paper bags no - they will no longer accept yard waste in plastic bags. Any brush you put out must be cut into lengths of no longer than 3 feet and placed in paper bags or tied with string where it will not come loose when picked up. They will not pick up loose or untied brush. Yard waste is still trash and should not be put out prior to the night before pickup.
Special pickups for things like mattresses, furniture, etc. must be made in advance with the trash company (703-368-0500 -Dispatch). Certain appliance pickup does result in a charge to you and must be paid in advance.
Lastly, we ask everyone to remember the rules on the placement of trash cans outside. They can be on your deck (need to be covered) and can be no further off the deck than 6 feet and need to be screened from view. Reston Association does permit a simple screen, but you need permission and to file an application. They can be totally screened by plants in front of the trash cans. They are not to be placed on the sides of end houses. The trash company only supplies the small open 16-gallon recycling bins which remain their property. Many homeowners are now buying their own rolling covered recycling bins. At one point it was cheaper to get these from Amazon who would deliver to you, but that is no longer the case and Home Depot and Lowes are now cheaper for the larger ones. If you use the open bins, please be cognizant of wind and things flying about the cluster since recycling is generally picked up Monday afternoons.
Trees along South Lakes Drive have been a major safety concern for us for a while now. The Board worked very hard to get before the Design Review Board (DRB) of Reston Association to take down the dying trees which were dropping limbs onto South Lakes Court. Debbie worked tirelessly (and estimated 30+ hours of work) to accomplish the following:
Filling out the relatively new seven-page application (two pages basically of instructions, a page of legal things we had to agree to – same for each of you individually);
Submission of lots of photos during the process – we probably have over 200 now of dying trees with bark hanging off the trunks.
Four different statements from our arborist including one in which our arborist plotted each tree on a site plan and provided the diameter (or circumference) of each tree and why it needed to come down.
a copy of the article from the January newsletter about this project.
a phone call to Fairfax County's Land Development Services which referred us to Fairfax County Urban Forestry Department.
And finally, attendance at a zoom DRB meeting where we were 15th on the docket.
We had to delay our normal February tree work because the Covenants Department kept requiring more things and took us off the January schedule. We finally were able to get on the February agenda, and once they viewed the photos of trees hanging over the street and bark peeling of the trunks, the DRB gave us permission to remove them as a public safety initiative. Those trees came down March 3rd and 4th and our liability issue of someone getting hurt on South Lakes Drive due all the dying and falling black locusts has been mitigated. After listening to some things from other clusters at that DRB meeting, Jenni came away believing we are in far better shape than many.
The positive condition of Fairgreen Cluster was also acknowledged in a “meet and greet” with the relatively new head of the RA Covenants Dept and the Cluster Outreach Specialist conducted in early December where Jenni & Debbie walked around with them.
Spring is here and it’s a great time to be outside and fixing up your properties! We encourage everyone to inventory your properties and begin repairing things like leaning fences, decks with peeling paint and all the other issues which would not pass an RA inspection.
If you decide to sell your house you will need a disclosure package from both RA (ordered online) and from the Cluster (written request and $25 payable to the Cluster given to Debbie Carroll). Both homeowner associations are required by law to perform inspections and RA has gotten very picky as has recently been found out by cluster residents.
Cicadas: Keep in mind that now is not a good time for putting in new plants and young trees. April and May will bring the 17-year invasion of the cicadas. They will damage new plants and cut the ends of branches of trees which will hang with dead leaves until the fall. Their crunchy little shells will be all over your plants, the walks, and the cars. The noise will be deafening.
Future Board meetings: Due to COVID-19, Board meetings are still not on our regular schedule. Watch the website for those dates as we determine them. Most have been held outside.
Please continue to stay safe and follow all the CDC recommendations. We are delighted that many have received the vaccine and hope all of us will within the not-too-distant future as we continue to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thanks for the great update.