Goodbye and Best wishes to Val Nowak, Bryant Freeland and Sienna Nowak who have moved from 2121 Colts Neck Court into their new home in Burke. You will be missed. We are losing our resident bug expert in Sienna who was a big fan of cicadas and all bugs. Best wishes for your new arrival and we know Sienna will be the best big sister her new brother can have.
We did it!
We made it through the sidewalk, curb and gutter repairs and the resurfacing of the parking lots. We appreciate the cooperation from everyone. We only nearly had to tow one car that first morning and that tow truck got cancelled. This impressed our contractor. Thanks to everyone for paying attention to the announcements and having this go as smoothly as it was. It was a lot of disruption, Mother Nature interfered several times, but work that was overdue did get done and this should last us many years into the future. As of this date, we do not have the final bill as there were some add ons and some extras called for in the contract. That information will go out to all owners in the September financial report in preparation for the October annual meeting.
Many homeowners (little under 25%) also took advantage of the price savings and had their own sidewalks replaced or broken slabs replaced. There were huge savings over quotes received for the same work the year before if done individually.
There was lots of activity the past 3 months by the board in preparing for this. There was a pre-bid meeting with various contractors, bids to go over, contracts to review and a pre-construction meeting. We secured parking from various places, had a tow company on stand-by, notified landscaping crews of weeks when they could not come in, halted mail for the week the lots would be totally closed, notified the Police Dept. of our license to park at South Lakes Court and requested they patrol there more during that time. We drafted lots of notices so everyone here, including non-resident owners so everyone was aware of information as we received it. We would have preferred the work to be done in July, but the prices on our bids would not hold that long and we learned during the project that costs from the time of our contract to the work had significantly increased.
The Board wants to thank Ron Brookman of ETC, our consultant who has worked with us the past 4 years from determining what needed to be done, to specifications, pre-bid meetings, getting apples to apples bid for easy comparison of the bids, pre-construction meetings, and on site oversight of our whole project with daily reports including photos. Ron was instrumental in the beginning at our first onsite meeting in the plan for the Colts Neck Court entrance to reduce the grade at the entrance. We just said it needed help and he immediately had a solution for changing the bottom grade.
Also thanks to Charles York and the entire crews of Brothers Paving & Concrete who were professional in all they did. The choreography of the work was amazing to see, dumpsters, milling machines, dump trucks, concrete trucks, bobcats, wheelbarrows, and lots of people at the same time doing various jobs to get this project done and in a timely fashion. With the weather report getting bad, we watched the crews work until nearly 8 pm on Wednesday on the Colts Neck Court entrance trying to be in a position to get everything done by Thursday only to have Mother Nature step in before striping could be done.
Parking: Each home on Colts Neck Court has two designated parking spaces. Parking around the island is only if both of your spots are occupied and is for guests, nannies, health care workers and repair people. We have received numerous complaints about this happening. If you take a spot at the island and leave your spot unoccupied, you are taking an additional spot as no one else can park in your designated spot. Only the board can have cars towed and this is not something we want to do. There are also two guest spots across from the island on the Colts Neck Road side.
South Lakes Court currently only has one designated parking spot. For the most part tis works. The same thing applies in that you should not leave your space vacant and take up an unreserved spot. This does not mean that you can't leave your space open for an arriving guest or make arrangements with other residents about parking in your designated spot so that extra spaces are available for the rest of the residents and guests. When you have parties, keep your neighbors in mind so that they always have a parking spot when they come home.
The parking rules also do not permit Colts Neck Court residents to park at South Lakes Court nor for South Lakes Court residents to park at Colts Neck Court.
And lastly we hope everyone has their vehicles in proper working condition with no fluid leaks on the new pavement. Watch your spots for these types of things.
Dues: There have been no delinquencies in 2022. Let's keep it that way. The 2023 budget has to be figured prior to the cluster's August board meeting and several of the figures come from calculations after all dues are paid in July. It would assist the Treasurer if you could ensure that your payments are to her in a timely fashion and received by the last day of the month or earlier if possible. She has very little time to run all the calculations needed before the next board meeting so that we can get all owners information in early September prior to the October annual meeting.
Wildlife: We have plenty of wildlife here. To name some of them: Raccoons, foxes, opossum, skunks, squirrels, way too many chipmunks, lots of birds, and deer that love to graze on your plants. Due to all the wildlife about, please remember the trash rules that no trash should be put out in thin plastic bags for the wildlife to tear up. We have many animals and birds which delight in trying to find food in your trash cans and ripping bags. These bags are also not permitted because they have a tendency to break. If you do not put your trash inside a trash can, place them out in thick plastic bags.
Trash: Once again please remember that no trash should be put out prior to dark the night before pickup and that all trash cans should be brought back in the same day of pickup. During windy days, remember to secure all your recyclables.
The Board has obtained an Alternative Yard Waste Certificate from the County which will permit yard waste to go with regular trash on Thursdays.
The Board also will be making a change to our contractor when this contract ends at the end of September. Stay tuned for more information as it develops.
Fixing up properties: Now that hopefully covid is moving to the rear door – although still in the house - and now that we have the cluster work completed, it is a good time to take a look at your homes and see what needs fixing. Please remember that most things on the exterior of your home need Reston Association approval and we strongly recommend that even when RA tells you it might not need an approval that you get that in writing or submit a simple application so that you have an approval in your file. Different counselors have different interpretations and we have found having the approval for everything or at the very least an e-mail from them can be of benefit down the road. Remember anything changed even from one approved style or color to another is considered a change and all changes needs an approval. Our current counselor at Reston Association is Erin Gable. (703) 435-6521 erin@reston.org; www.reston.org
Upcoming board meetings:
Board meetings: 7:00 p.m.
August 17 – 11856 South Lakes Court
September 21 – place to be determined
September 16 – place to be determined
Annual meeting – Community Center Hunters Woods; October 5, 2022, 7:30 p.m.
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