Woods at Jefferson HOA

August 7, 2003 Meeting Minutes

W@J HOA

Minutes from August 7, 2003 Community Meeting
Woods at Jefferson Home Owner’s Association

7:15 pm- meeting called to order
• Officers introduced themselves and reviewed duties
• Kathy Spatz from Columbus Parks and Recreation reviewed site plan for the reserve area
• She prioritized it as play area, asphalt loop track, benches and tables, and then trees and plantings as uses for the funds
• Bidding will begin mid-winter for spring development provided the city budget doesn’t change
• Completion tentatively planned for early late spring
• She asked community members for help with planting trees as quickly as possible
• Q= Why do newer sub divisions have playgrounds already
• A= PDL created in the last three years has helped to jump start community playgrounds. It generally takes a 5-7 year time frame from development of a community to completion of parks
• Cost of trees was discussed, with the average cost being $50-$75 dollars. Kathy recommended that we ask local nurseries to donate left over plantings at the end of the season to help jump start our program. She also stated that there is no limitation on the number or trees
• A suggestion was made that people could buy trees in remembrance of loved ones
• Q= Has parking been addressed for this area
• A= No parking has been set aside, in a community park; typically, people in the community will use it and walk back and forth.
• Q= Parking appears to be a problem already
• Q= Are plantings going to be a planned thing or not
• A= There are plans but they should not limit plantings to those on the plans. Beggars can’t be choosers, but there will be organization to the planting of trees and shrubs. The Parks Department really wants a partnership and community to help in developing what will in essence be their park
• Q= Can we leave an area in front for a concrete pad for parking if it becomes necessary
• A= The play area is set back far enough that this buffer space is already built in to the plans
• Q= What type of equipment has been planned
• A= Left catalog with home owner’s and reviewed play area equipment currently set to be installed
• Q= Have swings been incorporated
• A= Yes
• Q= Is lighting going to be included
• A= Currently, No. Most metro parks close at dark and this is done to discourage unsupervised children in the park at night.
• Q= Teens are already congregating there after dark
• A= Many times lights make this worse and the numbers of unsupervised teens grows. Her suggestion was that we develop a closer relationship with police community liaison who will help with this problem
• Q= Will there be pet restrictions
• A= No but be considerate of other people. An area can be designated for pets but it becomes difficult to enforce
7:40 pm- Juli explained about trying to set up a planting date. She has a tentative date of October 4, 2003. She also explained where the
Park funding came from (seed money and capital improvements monies)
7:44 pm- Juli Norris reviewed PSAM services.
• Contract was established with MI
• The Board is looking into different management companies
• Quick review of what PSAM does
• Q= What is the money going for
• A= $15 per house goes to PSAM; the remainder goes to landscaping, taxes, etc.
• Q= What is being done about consistently collecting dues
• A= The Board is going after the oldest and largest amounts and taking the home owner to small claims court. The judgment can become a lien on the property. We don’t have lien rights in our deed restrictions. Small claims are quicker and more cost effective.
• Q= Has PSAM straightened out all the billing errors
• A= PSAM has had trouble matching people to property they are continuing to work on this problem, utilizing the auditor’s web site
• Q= Who is responsible for curbs and roads
• A= the City of Columbus. Which department is dependent on the problem area
• Q= Are we going after late fees, interest and penalties with the people we take to court
• A= Yes. The Board is currently looking into filing collectively but doesn’t think this will be a realistic option
• PSAM representative recommended that everyone in attendance mention this to their neighbors- word travels fastest that way
• Q= What about new owner’s getting old owner’s over due bills
• A= Call PSAM and they will handle it
• The PSAM representative also reminded people that if any changes are going to be made to the property at all they should be approved through the management company first. This will limit conflicts between neighbors and cover you for changes.
• Q= If a fence or something is already up what can be done about it
• A= The Board will look at it and have the city enforce the restriction
• Q= Do deck repairs need to be approved
• A= If you are replacing decking with the same it is o.k.- if anything is being changed in appearance or grading it should be approved
• Q= So if we change anything, we should submit to you
• A= Better to be safe than sorry
8:05 pm- Committees
• We need more people on all committees. We don’t need huge time commitments just a little help from more people
8:07 pm- Jasson discussed the fact that we can cover this years’ expenses
But this will leave us little carry over for future years
• Financial statements should be out to the home owner’s at the beginning of the new year
• Future newsletters will address more of this type of information
8:10 pm- Dave spoke about ravine
• This Board has met four times for several hours each time
• The Ravine has been a large topic of conversation
• We don’t own the Ravine. Two different property companies own it, The Limited Corp. and Waggoner Chase Ltd.
• Contact has been made but neither owner has been very cooperative
• The limited offered to donate this land to the Association. The Board declined as it would be cost prohibitive to own this property. It is a designated conservation area which means it can not be developed in any way. The upkeep and taxes would make it incredibly expensive to maintain
• Keep calling and complaining about the area. Dave read off the complaint # to reference when calling code enforcement
• Q= Why didn’t PSAM deal with this previously
• A= PSAM was not paying for it to be taken care of. The contract for 2003 included it in the bid since the previous contractor was mowing the area.
• The developer did not grade the Ravine properly so the city will be repairing it. This will require some heavy machinery and a lot of patience from the home owner’s in the area
• The Board has managed to cut the landscaping costs to somewhere between $10,000-$13,000 dependent on number of cuts.
• Canceling the current contract would incurred a large cancellation fee
• Next year the bids range from $9,000-$13,000 for mowing, mulching, and fertilization (up to 28 mows)
• Bids for planting flowers are separate
• Dave addressed homes where lawns are not being cut. If it is a HUD home contact the number on in the window.
• All other calls should be directed to code enforcement.
• Commercial vehicles in the community 48 hours in driveway and 72 hours on street without being moved are city code
• We want to encourage people to utilize business owner’s in the community to do work for you
• Dave asked people to bear in mind that the committees are only two weeks old. We are still determining who to call regarding what.
• There is a larger police presence in the community-they are hoping this will slow drivers down before someone is injured.
• It is up to the community to police dog and other deed restrictions
• Q= Is Ravine from curbside in
• A= The owner’s are responsible from the curb in so call about the high weeds
• Also, utilize the mosquito hotline- this seems to get faster action
• City info. Phone numbers will be put on the website for home owner’s convenience.
• Dave told anyone to feel free to e-mail him or any other board member with any questions
• Q= What is the time frame for financial letter going out to home owner’s who haven’t paid
• A= there will be a newsletter going out 10/1. Financial letters will go out shortly thereafter. The Board wants to be fair and give homeowner’s time to understand what will happen if they refuse to pay
• We do not have legal authority to mow other people’s property so the Board recommends utilizing code enforcement rather than cutting someone else’s property on your own
• Q= Can we change the by-laws
• A= Yes but changing by-laws requires 2/3 of homeowner’s to agree. To change the deed restrictions requires 100% agreement
• There are currently 66 homes for sale or empty in the development
• Q= Is everyone under deed restrictions and required to pay
• A= Yes
8:42 pm- The Board wanted to thank the church for allowing the association
Free use of the area for our meetings
• In May, the biggest concerns were communications, information, collections, etc. We are here to protect and improve our investments
• The newsletter cost $341 every time it is sent
• There will be quarterly meetings to continue to improve our community
• Once again, e-mail any Board member and they will respond within 48 hours
• The Board is looking for advertiser’s to supplement the cost of the newsletter. Business owners in the community can advertise for $20 per issue.
• New homeowner’s packets will include coupons for local businesses, deed restrictions, copies of newsletters etc.
• We will pay what we have to for the newsletter but we would like the advertising to cover most of the cost
• We will be sending copies of the newsletters and deed restrictions to all the local realtors
• Q= Could we advertise on the web
• A= Yes
• We also plan a community phone book that people could opt in to or out of with a local yellow pages for business owner’s in the Woods at Jefferson
8:50 pm – Meeting adjourned

Email us
president@woodsatjefferson.org