Lake Linganore Association, Inc.
October 20, 2003
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Call To Order
The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. Those in attendance were: Alan Dinkelacker, Grant Sheehan, Todd Young, Andrew Twillman, and Bill DiLoreta.
Also in attendance were: Stephen Hembree, LLA general manager; Larry Brown, LLA assistant general manager; Joy Gurley, community resource manager.
The meeting minutes of the September 27 special meeting between the LLA board of directors and the Environmental Control Committee were approved as written.
Approval of October 6, 2003 Meeting Minutes
The meeting minutes of the October 6, 2003 meeting minutes were approved as written.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Security— Deputy Venzin reported that September had been a busy month. He noted an arrest made at the Brosius Dam area and reminded residents attending the meeting to make certain they locked their vehicles while enjoying the dam area. The deputy said that an LLA member who had been visiting the dam area had not locked his/her vehicle and someone stole the wallet in the vehicle and went on a shopping spree.
Environmental Control Committee— ECC administrator Larry Brown presented a report that outlined a new fee scheduled being developed by the committee. He said that he intended to get together with the LLA Finance Committee to review the proposed new fee schedule and to talk about justification of the fees to cover the cost of ECC administration.
Mr. Brown also reviewed the information about the Summerfield townhouse parking survey. He said that Summerfield was the only townhouse section that did not have assigned parking. He explained that when that townhouse section was built it was designed to give each unit two designated parking spaces. He said that nowadays it is not uncommon to find households with more than two vehicles, sometimes four to five vehicles per household, in addition to having residents bring home “company” vehicles such as commercial trucks. He said that he was considering a proposal that would charge a fee to each household with more than two vehicles. The fee would be per vehicle and would be an annual fee. He said that the fee could be determined at the time of year when residents turn in their membership data forms to register vehicles. The funds raised through this fee could then be put into a fund that would be used to increase the amount of parking space for the townhouse section. He said that the definition of a commercial vehicle is outlined in the townhouse covenants.
Director Kopec pointed out that he did not believe that the North Shore townhouse section had assigned parking. Mr. Brown said that he would double check that area to see if this was accurate.
Finance Committee— Director Young reviewed the financial statements for the month of August. He said that based on the finances the association was now entering “cash crunch” time and that staff would have to keep a close eye on expenditures. He said the reserve fund deposits for August reflected a larger cash deposit to make up for some months in the past year when full deposits were not made. He said the income and expense summary in the report reflected quarterly payments on accrual basis to better reflect actual expenditures.
He said that staff was preparing a budget draft at this time. He said the goal was to set down with the board in December to work out the final budget. Mr. Young said that the finance committee would be looking at essential items and major projects. He suggested that the board meet before the draft is presented to it to begin outlining its “wish list”. The board set a meeting date for this purpose for November 8 at 9 a.m. to discuss executive and financial issues.
Trails Committee— committee co-chairperson Katrinka Westendorf thanked the maintenance staff for their work on cleaning up trails after Hurricane Isabel. She said the committee had checked the Balmoral trail and noted that huge trees had fallen onto the trail. She suggested that residents stay away from this trail. The same was noted for the Aspen trail. Ms. Westendorf said that the committee had planned a November work party and would be cleaning up trails that are more frequently used by residents. One area the committee had in mind was the concrete esplanade near Indian Cave, which she noted was covered with mud. She said the committee could use more volunteer help to get some of the work done. Director Dinkelacker noted that the Balmoral trail has suffered “serious devastation” due to fallen trees. Director Kopec asked when the restricted use signs would be coming down off the trails. GM Hembree said that many of those trails were still saturated so the signs would not be removed.
Social Committee— chairperson Rachael Kopec said the committee was always looking for volunteers to do adult and children activities. She said the committee was currently organizing a holiday dinner party on December 5 and a visit with Santa on December 6. Mrs. Kopec also said that if anyone was interested in being the chairperson of the committee they were welcome to take the position that she was ready to “pass the torch”.
VILLAGE COMMITTEE REPORTS
Westwinds— village chairperson Carol Thames thanked Mr. DiLoreta for use of the Eaglehead Barn for Westwinds village meetings. She said that Westwinds trails had lots of trees down. She said that streetlights were out along Panorama Drive, Country Club Road and Cherry Tree Court. The village is having trash collection problems, some residents going a week at a time without pick up and that there was no notice given to such conditions. Mr. Hembree asked about the lights being out and Mrs. Thames said that lights would be on, then out, then on again. She also noted that there is a soil erosion problem on the hill near the Sanandrew Road entrance.
Resident Fred Pfistner said the trash problems stem from changes going on in the company now providing the service. One of the problems was the new collection staff that was not familiar with the area. Mrs. Thames said that another waste collection company had been suggested to her. She told GM Hembree that the company suggested was called ADS. GM Hembree pointed out that the LLA signed a two-year contract with Waste Management in February 2003.
Woodridge— new village co-chairs John Cunha and Steve Oesterle introduced themselves and explained that the village had held a meeting and selected them as co-chairs. Mr. Cunha said that the village had three concerns:
1.) The weir wall at Lake Marian, the village understood it to be a work in progress but asked that Land Stewards notify the residents as to what was planned to improve the appearance of the wall. When the wall is finished residents asked that the sign say Woodridge at Eaglehead.
2.) The village sent out a petition regarding the parcel C land exchange. He turned the petition in to the board. He said the petition voted against the land exchange and preferred that the parcel be kept as an amenity. He said this was the only spot in the village where a tot lot and other amenities for the village could be placed. He asked the board to consider other sites for the land exchange.
3.) The village asked that the no trespassing signs be replaced at the Brosius Dam.
Director Dinkelacker told Mr. Cunha that the board would not make the land exchange without a public hearing on the issue. He said the board needed the village input and that the board was only looking at possibilities. He also noted that the sites in Nightingale and Coldstream, as suggested by Mr. Cunha as alternative sites for the LLA maintenance facility, were “dead deals”.
Director DiLoreta said the construction of the weir wall would be completed within two weeks and asked for patience. He said in two weeks that Land Stewards would begin the design work to cover the wall. Director DiLoreta said that Land Stewards was going to make a presentation on the new phase of development on December 13 at Deer Crossing Elementary School.
The no trespassing signs on the Brosius Dam were further discussed. Woodridge residents then noted that the construction entrance to the village from Gas House Pike was becoming a trash dump and asked that something be done. GM Hembree said that Deputy Venzin was aware of the problem and was already working on a solution. If the plan does not work, something else will be examined.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bid Openings for Brosius Dam and CDA/CIP— GM Hembree said the bid opening for the CDA/CIP took place and that the engineering firm of Whitman Requardt would be reviewing the bids during the next few weeks. He noted that a meeting to review the dam bids was scheduled for later in the week with the design engineering firm of URSG.
SHUR Funds— GM Hembree said that he spoke with county manager Doug Browning who said that he has approved the disbursement of $52,000 to the LLA as its share of the SHUR funds. Mr. Browning told Mr. Hembree that he had budgeted the $52,000 and that the LLA should expect to get its first quarterly check on November 10. The second check would be coming in February.
Aspen North CDA Status Report— Director Sheehan reported that on November 7, board president Dinkelacker appointed Mr. Sheehan and Kathleen Barry, another Aspen North lot owner, to pursue non-responders to the survey on the feasibility study for an Aspen North CDA. As of October 17, 68 percent of the represented lots responded in favor of the study. Of the number of represented lot owners, the response was running at 56 percent in favor of the study. Director Sheehan said that the matter was more positive than he had originally thought.
Mr. Hembree noted that the vote count for the feasibility study did not have to reach the percentages as required by the CDA and that only a majority of lot owners in favor of the study needed to be achieved in order to have the study done.
Building Addition Update— GM Hembree said that the new revised plans for the addition had been delivered to the estimator in mid-September and that a new cost estimate on those plans would be completed by the end of October. Director Kopec asked if the estimate was coming from the preferred contractor. The GM said yes. Responding to questions from director DiLoreta, Mr. Hembree reviewed the background as to why another cost estimate was needed.
Some discussion centered on what impact the weather would have on the cost of the project considering that a contractor still gets paid even though construction activity may have stopped due to bad weather. Director Twillman asked whether the LLA could meet the deadline of completing the addition before the beginning of the next pool season. Mr. Hembree felt that it could still be done.
Woodridge water Quality Facilities Easements— GM Hembree said that with new regulations now in effect that Land Stewards was the first developer in the county to have to build water quality facilities on individual lots and in road rights-of-way, which require easements. He said that staff recommended that the board approve the easement on LLA roads as written. The GM said there are still many aspects of these facilities that have to be worked out but not in the easement language. He said the LLA attorney had reviewed the easement and believes it protects the interests of the LLA. He added that the LLA could end up with 15 to 20 of these sand filters. Director DiLoreta said that the state would require these. Director Young asked about the technical specifications on the sand filters because he believes they had the potential to be an open-ended cost for the LLA. GM Hembree said that no one has the numbers of these yet. Engineers are working on this so that with a good design the only thing that will have to be replaced is the sand. Mr. Hembree said that Prince George’s County and Carroll County have these facilities in effect now and that they work.
Director DiLoreta said that the easement before the board was the first on 42 lots. He said that as the county and state tell Land Stewards how they want it done and those specifications will be in the easements on other sections to follow.
MOTION: Director Young made a motion to approve the easement as written. The motion was seconded by director Sheehan.
VOTE: 5-0-1 in favor of the motion. Director DiLoreta abstained from the vote.
Pinehurst Pool Timeline Extension— GM Hembree reported that the LLA did receive an extension on the timeline for building this pool. The LLA will have to have the pool ready to open in May 2007.
Pinehurst Pool Concept— Ad hoc committee chairperson John Snow told the board that the idea for a year-round aquatic center in Pinehurst was not possible. He said the biggest obstacle was that such a facility would need approximately three to five acres and the available site was only two acres. He said the preliminary plan for a community pool, as presented to the LLA by Paddock Pool Company of Rockville, was something to start the process. Mr. Snow said the cost of the pool facility alone, without a bath house or parking lot, was in the neighborhood of $200,000 and estimates for a complete facility would be in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, noting that water taps alone would be a significant portion of that cost. Director Kopec said he was pleased with the Paddock Pool design and believed the cost to be reasonable.
Ben’s Ford Bridge Update— GM Hembree said that the work on the footers for the bridge was to begin that week. He said the county engineers would start work in mid-November. He also noted that the project could use some volunteers. Director Twillman said that the Westwinds HOA would like to have a schedule and cost estimate for the project and that payment of its donation to the project would be done in 25 percent increments of the total committed. GM Hembree said he would send out the schedule the following week.
NEW BUSINESS
Legal Opinion on Westwinds and All ECCs— GM Hembree said that LLA attorney Shelah Lynn had begun a review of the related documents regarding the various ECC entities within the Eaglehead PUD but that she still needed certain documents before a final decision could be made. He said once that legal opinion was completed that the LLA ECC and the Westwinds ECC would have to sit down and discuss the matter.
Westwinds resident and ECC member Doris Teti said that she felt the LLA ECC was not enforcing the covenants in Westwinds and that she felt the village residents were not getting anything for the dues they pay. She said she understands that the LLA and WW need to work out where there are differences but that she felt the LLA could enforce where there are similarities between the two sets of documents. She said it was the primary responsibility of the board to enforce the covenants.
Director Young said that LLA was not diligent in enforcing covenants anywhere in the PUD. ECC administrator Larry Brown said that was not true and that he has been going from village to village documenting violations and conducting letter campaigns to notify people of such.
Mr. Hembree said that people were mixing the concepts of covenants and guidelines in their discussion and that it was important to remember that the LLA cannot enforce another entity’s covenants. Mr. Brown said the LLA also couldn’t enforce something for which it does not have a written policy.
Mrs. Teti said she had submitted a letter to the board encouraging it to hire another staff person to help handle enforcement of covenant and guideline violations.
Director Twillman said that research on many matters needed to be done because as the community has been built in Westwinds, builders and developers have made special “deals” with individual residents to allow certain things to be done that are technically in violation of the covenants and ECC guidelines. He said the situation is filled with lots of gray areas that the LLA must be careful about. Mr. Brown said that clear violations are handled promptly. Other suggestions were discussed but GM Hembree asked that the attorney be allowed to complete the legal review before any course of action is set.
Nightingale Village— Director Kopec had sent a request to GM Hembree and the board to ask that the old barn located in the village be removed. The board agreed to knock down the remaining portion of the standing barn so that it could not provide harbor for underage drinking or drug activity. Removing the debris would be decided later when a cost estimate had been determined.
Library Proposal— Coldstream resident Mary Prentice presented the board with a petition that had 172 signatures from Eaglehead residents who were requesting that the board donate land to the Frederick County Public Library System to bring a 15,000 square-foot branch facility to Eaglehead. She suggested the land between the Coldstream Pool parking lot and the LLA office building but other sites were also discussed. Director DiLoreta suggested she talk to the Frederick County Board of Education (BoE) about using some land that Land Stewards was in the process of transferring to the BoE. She asked about the twin barns area in Coldstream but director DiLoreta said that Land Stewards did not wholly own that land and as such it could not donate the land unless the other owner agreed to the proposal. Mrs. Prentice said that she had a deadline of November 7 to present a proposed land donation to the library system director. The board agreed to create an ad hoc committee— the Lake Linganore Library Committee— to look into the matter and asked Mrs. Prentice to head the committee.
Land Exchange— Director DiLoreta asked the board to review an email he recently sent to GM Hembree about the land exchange. He felt the GM had not presented the entire exchange package as proposed by Land Stewards and wanted it clarified to the board. GM Hembree said the entire package was presented to the board and discussed but the part of the package that director DiLoreta felt had not been presented was quickly dropped from the discussion. The board agreed to put the matter on the November 3 board meeting agenda. Some board members said they did not understand that the Aspen North parcel was still included in the land exchange proposal.
Request from Town of New Market Re: Adventure Park— the board discussed the letter from Mayor Burhans briefly and suggested a letter be written to support the mayor’s request. Director Twillman offered to draft the letter.
Recommendation on Handling Covenant Violations— Following a special meeting between the board and the ECC, director DiLoreta forwarded a proposal to the board on how to handle the violations, which included hiring a part-time person to work on enforcing the violations. After reviewing the proposal, director Sheehan suggested that the board not adopt something that was not in line with what it already had on the books. ECC administrator Larry Brown said that he had been doing enforcement and was trying to hit all the villages within the community but that documentation had to be followed in order to give the enforcement efforts the proper standing. He said a process is in place that he is following and it requires such documentation. He noted that all boats in the Lake Anita Louise section of Pinehurst were gone, at the time. He said that one of the problems that he is experiencing is that residents will adhere to the enforcement notice and then after some time has passed allow the violation to occur again. That often forces him to have to continually address the same violations. Director Sheehan said that until the community becomes large enough to fund the proper staffing for addressing the matter, to some extent the community would have to live with some of the violations. Director DiLoreta asked that Mr. Brown forward him a copy of the notification process.
MATTERS FOR BOARD INFORMATION
Lot 220 Woodridge Retreat— no board action was required at this time. GM Hembree said the LLA was selling the lot to Bill Russell of Fencepost Realty with the following conditions as stated in the letter of October 13, 2003:
1. The LLA must net the amount of three thousand dollars ($3,000), which includes the amount owned from October 1, 2003 to the end of the fiscal year, February 28, 2004. This amount is for past and current assessments, legal fees and interest but does not include the required $75 transfer fee.
2. Interest penalty fees will be waived until settlement can occur as long as settlement occurs on or before December 21, 2003.
3. The LLA is provided a copy of a ratified contract to purchase lot 220 Woodridge Retreat on or before October 20, 2003.
4. The LLA is provided a copy of the settlement charges worksheet and the title opinion (or title insurance) within two weeks after the date of settlement.
Notice of Open BoD Position— LLA staff placed notice of the board position in the Frederick News-Post on October 10 in the Public Notices section of the paper.
City Contract on Brosius Dam— the board was provided a copy of the amendment to the contract for the dam rehab project.
Change to Legal Representation— LLA attorney Shelah Lynn served notice to the association that she was leaving her current legal firm to join Linowes and Blocher. Following that board president Dinkelacker and treasurer Young, along with board vice president Sheehan agreed to continue legal counsel with Ms. Lynn but decided to leave the collections work with her former firm of Chadwick Washington Moriarty. Director DiLoreta felt that proper notification of this decision had not been made to the board but the board generally disagreed with that assessment.
RESIDENT FORUM
• Summerfield resident John Shreve wanted to know how the board justified the amount of the ECC fees; he believes the LLA fees are much more than related county fees and wanted to know what kind of input the residents would have in the decision to set new ECC fees. Director Kopec said that the ECC has the authority to institute reasonable fees and that the lowering of many of the fees currently being discussed by the committee was an effort to make the fee schedule more member friendly. Director Young said that the committee needed to develop a reasonable cost estimate of the fees and fines, that it did not need to develop a specific formula, only that the fees could not be arbitrary and capricious. Mr. Shreve asked to be notified of upcoming meetings on the matter.
• Director DiLoreta announced that the engineering on the Eaglehead Drive Bridge had been submitted to the county on October 9.
ADJOURNMENT
Director Young made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by director Twillman. The meeting was adjourned at 11:20 p.m.