NEWBERRY STATION HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
November 7, 2007
I. Call to Order
A. The meeting was called to order at 7:10 pm
B. Roster
Board Attendees Kevin Brugman
Brandon Farlander
Michael Miller
Robert Schaefer
Rachel Trudell
Management Ms. Unrath, Community Manager
C. Other than for the correction of Mr. Schaefer’s name, the September minutes were accepted as submitted. Mr. Schaefer moved to accept the minutes, as amended. Ms. Brugman seconded. Passed unanimously. No action was necessary on the October minutes, since that meeting lacked a quorum.
II.
Firelanes
1. Mr. Brugman suspended the agenda to allow discussion of the firelanes.
2. Mr. Brugman summarized his letter to the community (Attachment 1) regarding the recent history of the Firelanes matter. Key milestones —
· In response to a request by a homeowner, the Fairfax County Fire Marshall’s Fire Lane Inspector, Marlene Moran, inspected the firelanes on August 29, 2007, and ruled that our streets are not wide enough to allow parallel parking anywhere in the community. The Inspection Report gave the community until October 27 to paint all curbs yellow (other than those that front head-in parking spots) and forbid parking along those curbs.
· However, the Inspection Report was not officially conveyed to the Community’s Agent, Cardinal Management, until mid-October (when Board members also were first apprised of the Inspection Report’s existence).
· Cardinal Management requested that the Fire Marshall postpone the effective date of the change in the firelanes by a month (until November 27), given that the Community only learned of the Inspection Report a month and a half after the Inspection had occurred.
· The Board turned the matter over to the Association’s attorney, Morris Moylan, to work with the Fire Marshall on a resolution of the matter.
3.
Mr. Moylan reported the results of his discussions with representatives of
the Fire Marshall’s office. He
presented the Board’s preferred resolution of the matter — to make the
streets with parallel parking ONE WAY (see Attachment 2 for a map of the
proposed change in traffic flow).
The Fairfax County Fire Lane Guidelines (www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fr/
prevention/laneguide.htm) permit “parallel parking on one side as decided by
the Fairfax County Office of the Fire Marshall” for ONE WAY Streets that are
24 feet to 30 feet wide.
Those same guidelines absolutely prohibit parallel parking on either side of
a
The Fire Marshall’s office is willing to consider the Board’s proposal but said that we must first submit the proposed traffic plan to the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services for review and approval. This requires the services of an engineer to prepare the submission. Once approved, Captain Keith Johnson of the Fire Department then will review our proposal.
Mr. Brugman gave Cardinal Management the task of recruiting an engineer and returning to the Board for authorization to proceed with this approach. Mr. Brugman also tasked Mr. Moylan to keep the Fire Marshall apprised of our progress and request any further extensions necessary to allow submission of our proposal.
4. The floor was then open for Q&As. Among others —
· Considering that the Fire Marshall back in 1979 approved the current Fire Lanes, aren’t we grandfathered? Mr. Brugman noted that that was the very first question the Board put to Mr. Moylan to research. Mr. Moylan’s answer — grandfathering has never won the day when put to the Board of Supervisors or the Courts, not when it comes to what the Fire Marshall considers necessary for the safety of communities.
· Can’t we widen the streets? The cost would be prohibitive.
·
If we have to obtain approval of the Fairfax
County Dept. of Public Works, why not give the streets back to the County?
Answer — because there are factors other than road width which
determine whether a road is suitable for public maintenance, such as road
composition. But we can
authorize the
· What is the worst that could happen should we ignore the Fire Marshall’s directive? A daily fine of $2,500.
· Shouldn’t this necessitate speed bumps, since cars will go even faster when the roads are one-way. Good point – this needs to be taken into consideration.
· Why not better enforce the prohibition on commercial vehicles? Cardinal Management is responsible for tagging and ultimately towing prohibited vehicles. Residents should feel free to call her if they spot such vehicles (this being something that Dominion cannot do without approval by the Board or its Agent).
· Shouldn’t some spaces in the overflow areas be reserved for visitors (vs. third and fourth cars). This is something which has not been done to date (but could be considered).
A final note — one of the issues which prompted the original request
by a resident for the Fire Marshall’s intervention was the parking of cars
in Fire Lanes. ANY RESIDENT CAN
CALL DOMINION TOWING TO REMOVE A CAR PARKED IN
III.
Open Forum
1. The tot lot light still is out of order and needs repair. (Mr. Brugman directed Ms. Unrath to obtain the repairs).
2.
Vandalism is an increasing problem.
One resident complained about repeatedly finding beer bottles and
other trash atop the hill that flanks
3. The no-soliciting sign is missing.
IV.
Call For Volunteers
The Board asked attendees (and similarly asks all readers of these minutes) to consider volunteering for —
· A Neighborhood Watch.
· The Pool (starting with review of the draft solicitation and bids for pool management and winterization).
· Landscaping (starting with review of the draft solicitation and bids for the next grounds contract),
· Architectural and Environmental Review (starting with a review of the current A&E Regulations).
V.
Old Business
1. Ona Drive remains a
problem — it needs better lighting and any other improvements to improve the
safety of pedestrians and cars.
Mr. Miller again pledged to approaching
2. The Board deferred action to revise the A&E Regulations.
3. Ms. Unrath submitted a revised budget for the next fiscal year, which the Board will consider at its next meeting.
VI.
Contracts
1. Cardinal Management provided copies of landscape contract proposals. The Board deferred action on those proposals.
2. McCarthy Services completed work on the Clubhouse heating and cooling system.
3. Ms. Trudell moved and Mr. Miller seconded award of the snow removal contract to LCB, the incumbent. The Board considered two other bids, but LCB had the advantage of both having delivered (a) acceptable performance and (b) a better pricing arrangement than its competitors.
4. The Board deferred action on proposals from three companies to improving the drainage behind 6920-6928 Hamilton Court and directed Ms. Unrath to investigate why the drainage is so poor (considering that the Community had already invested a considerable sum to improve the drainage in that area).
5. Ms. Trudell moved and Mr. Brugman seconded award
to Barlett Tree Experts for $765 to remove a deceased 16” white pine behind
VII.
Reports
1. Sean Carey delivered a status report on winterization of the pool and clubhouse. — lines drained and antifreezed (with the chemicals appropriate for that purpose, which are NOT the same as those used in cars), filters unclogged, caps replaced, chlorinators fixed, and the like. Mr. Carey has also contacted Virginia Pump to remove, store, and recondition our pump for the winter. He raised several matters for the Board to pursue, namely —
· Installing a pool cover (to keep out debris and algae).
· Obtaining an estimate on whitecoating the pool.
· Repairing several areas of the caulking and concrete.
· Considering shutting off and walling over the underwater lights (which would be far cheaper than ripping concrete to fix them, but at a cost of not allowing swimming after dark).
Mr. Carey has submitted an invoice of $800 for the winterization. It was noted that Winkler had already been paid to perform the winterization (unbeknownst to the Board); but showed up to do the work after Mr. Carey had already completed it. The record should reflect that Winkler and its predecessors have been paid in the past for winterization but, judging by the condition of the filters and drains, have never done the job satisfactorily. Mr. Carey has recommended, and the Board agrees, that the contract for pool management should be severed from future contracts for winterization and capital improvements to the pool infrastructure.
2.
Mr. Brugman reported that completion of the walkway between
VIII. Recess
Upon a motion by Mr. Farlander, seconded by Mr. Miller, and passed by acclamation, the Board adjourned the regular monthly meeting and entered into Executive Session.
Oct 30, 2007
To the Residents and
Home Owners of Newberry Station,
Newberry Station was recently the recipient of an inspection by the
Fairfax County Fire Marshall’s Office.
This inspection was independently requested by a resident of Newberry
Station without any Board or management involvement.
During this inspection, the development was cited for allowing
parallel parking on two way streets that are less than thirty feet wide.
This includes ALL parallel parking within the development.
The resident first aired his concerns at the September HOA meeting
and was concerned that we did not meet local code and advised that he was
going to contact the Fire Marshall for an inspection.
The Board asked the resident to ensure that the board was kept
informed and that a board member be invited to any inspections.
On Oct 13th, three board members were privately contacted
by the same resident and presented with a report from the Fire Marshall’s
Fire Lane Inspection Official of an inspection that had been completed on 29
August. The Fire Marshall
report was addressed to and delivered to the resident who originally made
the complaint, and that resident did not provide copies or even inform that
board that an inspection had taken place until October 13th.
The resident may have believed that the Fire Marshall would send a
duplicate copy to the Board, but the board did not receive a copy.
In effect, this gave the Association two weeks to eliminate all
parallel parking within Newberry Station and mark those areas as fire lanes.
The Board of Directors requested and received a one month extension
from the Fire Lane Inspection Official to understand the issue and then to
see if there were better solutions to the problem.
The Board recognizes that Security and Safety always involve
trade-offs. We need to
ensure that large fire trucks can get into our community in case of
emergency. However, over the
past few years, we were able to maintain our parking spaces and still have
several fire and numerous ambulance calls in the development without a
single complaint from the providers concerning access to the development.
The Board of Directors is concerned with the impacts of the proposed
changes. First; widening the
driving area would lead to greater speeds in areas where children are
playing, resulting in a greater chance of injury or death to our children.
Second; the loss of between 40 and 50 parking spaces would cause a
major Quality of Life impact on all residents.
Third; moving cars to park on
The responsibility of the board is to work
with all the authorities involved to identify reasonable safety and security
alternatives for complying with the published statues and regulations
governing fire lanes. The
board felt that it was best to investigate these alternatives and present
them to them Homeowners at the November 7th meeting.
The board is still working on the investigation and has enlisted the
support of the HOA Attorney Mr. Morris Moylan as well as senior management
of Cardinal Management.
HOA members are encouraged to attend the 7
November meeting to better understand the issues and alternatives.
Sincerely,
Kevin Brugman
President, Newberry Station HOA
Proposed Traffic Flow For Newberry Station
Two
Way
One
Way