Walnut Ridge News and Updates
Last Updated (Tuesday, 29 December 2009 10:10)
The Board has negotiated an agreement with a new property management company. Select Community Management of Ann Arbor will be serving the needs of our Walnut Ridge community, effective January 1, 2009.
Poor service levels and deficiencies in performing elements of our service contract by Kramer-Triad led the Board to seek bids from other property management companies. After evaluation of competitive bids from three companies, Select Community Management has been selected.
You will be receiving communications from Select Community Management soon. We expect our new property management company to effectively address the needs of our residents and the Board in managing and maintaining our community in a professional manner.
Annual Association Dues for 2009 will remain at the current level of $1,320. The dues are payable in one payment due on January 1, 2009 (Ref. Exhibit A Bylaws, Article II Assessments, Section 4 Apportionment of Assessments and Penalty for Default, “Annual assessments as determined in accordance with Article II, Section 3(a) above shall be payable by Co-owners in one installment, which is due and payable on January 1 of each year …”). The requirement to pay the total amount of the annual dues in one payment is a change from last year when dues were payable in two semi-annual payments. Please mark your calendars and plan you payment to avoid a past due condition and associated late fees.
Because all properties in Walnut Ridge were created by the developer as part of a site condominium, all properties are subject to deeded restrictions. The Walnut Ridge Master Deed with Attachments A and B define the site condominium and contain the restrictions imposed on all residents as members of the Association. (Ref: Master Deed pg 1, “the Developer does, upon recording hereof, establish Walnut Ridge as a Condominium Project …subject to the provisions of…restrictions…set forth in this Master Deed and Exhibits A and B hereto, …”)
The Condominium documents also establish the enforcement of deed restrictions as a responsibility of the Association Board of Directors. The Condominium Documents provide residents the right to expect deed restrictions be upheld by the Association Board. (Ref: Bylaws Art. 11, Sec. 4(j), pg 24, “To enforce the provisions of the Condominium Documents”)
These Board responsibilities are established by the Master Deed to guarantee aesthetics and physical harmony of the community. The purpose of which is to maintain property values for all co-owners of the Condominium. (Ref: Bylaws Art. VI, Sec. 3(a), pg 11, “The purpose of this Section is to assure the continued maintenance of the Condominium as a beautiful and harmonious residential development, and shall be binding upon both the Association and upon all Co-owners.”)
The mechanism, provided through the Bylaws, to control aesthetics within the community is to require approval of Co-owner property improvements by the Association Board. The Board has the responsibility to apply equitable standards in evaluating and approving property improvement plans consistent with the Association Bylaws.
Although some violations of our community Bylaws have been brought to the attention of the Association Board, there may be others that are unknown. To fulfill the Board’s responsibilities and provide optimum protection of property values to all co-owners, the Board will be conducting a Seasonal Compliance Review. The purpose of this review is to determine any conditions which may require documentation of improvements or to notify co-owners of potential Bylaw violations of which they may not be aware.
Association Board members will be walking neighborhood streets and common areas to make observations of any conditions that may require attention. Observations that appear to be Bylaw violations will be brought to the attention of co-owners for their input and response.
The purpose of the Seasonal Compliance Review notification and follow-up is to ensure our community is being maintained consistent with the Bylaws which govern our development and maintain conditions most conducive to property value appreciation.
The Board has received a couple of complaints from residents regarding poor drainage conditions affecting their property. In response to these concerns Board members met with the Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner, Janice Bobrin and a Scio Township Trustee, James Dries, to discuss our concerns. In our meeting the municipal authorities advised us that as a private development our Homeowners Association has primary responsibility for drainage maintenance in our community. The Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner did offer to assist in evaluating any concerns of our community and help develop alternative solutions.
To assist us in this effort the Board secured the services of a civil engineering company to provide us with an assessment of our drainage conditions. A representative from the company accompanied the Board members to the meeting with the County and Township.
An initial review of our site drainage conditions by the civil engineer did not reveal any major deficiencies requiring immediate corrective actions. The initial observations included some swail conditions (road side drainage ditches) that may require re-grading to control direction and flow of storm water drainage.
Our plan is to re-engage civil engineering services after the winter, to provide a detailed assessment of our community drainage conditions and provide recommendations to correct any concerns.
In the meantime we invite all residents to report any known drainage concerns to the Board so they may be addressed by this effort.
Notice Regarding: Trees originally planted by Developer along edge of front property line near road.
The Board has received several inquiries regarding the need to replace boulevard trees in the community. The Board is planning to allocate a portion of the 2009 annual budget for the replacement of boulevard trees located on common property. We estimate there are approximately ten trees located at the entrances and near walking trail entrances that will require replacement.
Other boulevard trees on individual homeowner lots that may need replacement are the responsibility of the homeowner to replace (Ref. Master Deed, Article IV Common Elements, (a) Co-owner Responsibilities, (i) Units, “The responsibility for and the costs of maintenance, decoration, repair and replacement of each Unit (including the dwelling and all improvements located within the Unit) shall be borne by the Co-owner of such Unit;…”). The Homeowners Association has the responsibility to maintain common properties of the community and will allocate budget resources to meet this need (Ref. Master Deed, Article IV Common Elements, (b) Association Responsibilities, “The Costs of maintenance, repair and replacement of all General Common Elements shall be borne by the Association…”). The Homeowners Association does not have the authority or the budget resources to maintain homeowner landscaping.
In the spring when the Board negotiates a purchase agreement for replacement trees, we will include an agreement to extend our negotiated pricing to Walnut Ridge residents. This may provide homeowners who are in need of tree replacement to obtain trees at a reasonable cost. We will publish an additional announcement on this subject in the spring.