Pembrooke Homeowners Association

Budget News

May 02, 2005

By now, you have seen and paid the new higher assessment for 2005. The fee went up 10% and you may be curious as to the reason.

2004 was a stressful year for all us here in ?“Hurricane Central?”. Many of our homes sustained damage and the association?’s common areas did as well. There was damage to our entrance lights, cabana roof, and especially the retention pond area up at the pool.

The large amount of rainfall last year severely eroded the banks of the pond and caused several of the homes on Somersworth and Hunterdon to lose part of their backyards.

We have engaged a professional engineering firm to assess the damage and design a restoration plan. Soil testing was done to determine if the damage was caused by an active sink hole in the retention area. Fortunately the tests revealed no sinkhole activity which would have increased the restoration cost substantially.

We applied for assistance with FEMA but our damage did not qualify for relief. It appears that we can qualify for an SBA loan and we have applied for funds to repair the damage.

We have 7 retention areas in Pembrooke and we as homeowners are responsible for their care and maintenance. We have met with our Orange County Commissioner Teresa Jacobs to determine if there was any assistance available from the county.

Unfortunately the only option that the county could offer would have increased the cost of restoring the retention area. We have created an expense item in the budget for retention pond maintenance and the assessment increase is funding it.