Post date: Jul 09, 2015 7:8:40 PM
May 18, 2015
A note from the HOA President:
As of the HOA meeting in early May, we now have a new Board of Directors. I (Dave Amos) have accepted the job of being the President, and Jeff Garnett has accepted the role as Vice President going forward. Eugene Lord and Tuan Vo have volunteered to serve as board members. We have fixed the directors@brook-haven.org list so it now contacts the new board members.
We are getting settled into our new jobs, and thank Michelle LaRue for keeping the board going until now. Several of our community members suggest that parking and lamp-post lights be urgently dealt with, which we have heard.
Regarding parking: We are working to have Deputy Turner from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (and our community liaison) come address the group regarding legal and illegal parking in the community, and the process for dealing with that. Several cars and the white trailer parked on Oakgrove at our entrance have been ticketed and will be towed if they remain as they are. We are reminded not to park on the “sidewalk side” of Oakgrove past Earle Wallace and on Earle Wallace itself (essentially the inside of our circle) – parking on both side of the road presents a hazard for large fire or rescue equipment, and we as a community agreed to honor this restriction years ago. More recently it has been observed that cars in driveways are blocking the sidewalks. It would be a courtesy to your neighbors to avoid doing this. We will talk with Deputy Turner about our legal options in this area. We are still considering the option of creating a “parking district” to deal with our problems on Oakgrove (http://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/9336 ) and will be talking more about this soon. Please let us know if you’d like to help our Parking Committee decide what we should do.
Regarding lights: It is every homeowner’s responsibility to keep the exterior of their property in order, including ensuring you have operational lights in your lamp-post. Currently we have 8 homes that do not. We encourage everyone to purchase and install LED lamps in their lamp-posts, as they provide outstanding light and have a very long lifespan. They are worth the cost. In early June members of the board will be walking the neighborhood with low-cost incandescent light bulbs. Any home without operational lights will be visited with the offer of installing them then and there – to get them working and ensure the “light sensor” is working. If it isn’t, the homeowner will have to arrange to get it fixed. In any case, we will have operational lights AND everyone will know it is their responsibility to keep them working. Next time, the letter will come from the HOA management company and there will be a fine. This is a safety issue, and your neighbors are complaining about the dark streets at night.
Lawn Care: I’m a fruit about this, so get used to it. I encourage anyone who isn’t fascinated with lawn care to hire someone who is. Coming into Brook Haven today is not an impressive event, it is embarrassing. Several of your neighbors get it, and take pride in the way their lawns appear. Too many don’t. Hire a lawn care company that will spray for weeds, fertilize, mulch, aerate and re-seed (in late
August). OR do it yourself – pre-emergent in March (when the forsythia bloom), weed control in early May (corn gluten meal products are a natural way to do it), a hose-end sprayer with some Weed-b-Gone concentrate for trouble spots and you are half way there. Come August, get to work killing weeds, getting rid of the rocks, aerate, test the soil PH and amend it with calcium and lime as needed, and be ready to lay seed and start watering in late August. A layer of compost top-spread over trouble areas helps too. Cut at 3 ½ to 4 inches once a week and don’t bag the clippings. Do this for two years and you will have a beautiful weed free lawn.
Dues: It appears several homeowners are behind in their dues. Please let us know if there is a problem resolving these issues with the management company.
We have a long to-do list. We will be meeting with the Sheriff as soon as we can set something up, and we’ll let everyone know once that date is set. I hope to use that meeting to re-set our expectations and plans going forward, to define some teams working our “community appearance”, “parking” and other priority issues, and get moving in a positive direction!
Regards:
Dave Amos – 22811 Oakgrove Rd damos@verizon.net