The Fair Lakes Crossing Home (FLC) Owners Association (HOA) Board of Directors (BoD) convened a regularly scheduled meeting via Zoom videoconference beginning at 7:00 PM on 14 September 2022. The meeting and instructions for attending were posted on the HOA website calendar.
Attendance: 3 of the 5 members of the FLC HOA Board were present: Kevin Nawroth (Treasurer), Clarence Hunter, and Pete Mattes. Ms. Lan Choi of the FLC Architecture Review Committee (ARC) joined the Zoom meeting.
The agenda for the meeting included two topics:
- BoD election prep
- VDOT I-66 easement settlement.
- Tree Removal
- Tot Lot Mulch Status
- Architectural Design Guidelines & Standards Document Update
- CMC Contract Renewal
Board Action:
- The BoD members took up the topic of the elections to replace 3 of the 5 BoD members. However, Mr. Ganji, BoD President and lead for elections preparations, was unable to attend the meeting. Given that the BoD intent was to have elections conducted no later than 1 October, the BoD members present unanimously agreed that the BoD needs to convene a special meeting before 21 September in order to lay out the path to elections and identify the venue in which the elections will be held (Mr. Ghattu’s action). Mr. Nawroth will contact Mr. Ganji to set up the meeting.
- The BoD members then discussed the status of the I-66 VDOT easement settlement. The BoD membership received notice from the BoD legal advisor last week that she has concerns with the agreement between the FLC BoD and VDOT on a $4,000 settlement to allow indefinite access by VDOT to a 1116 Sqft strip of land on HOA property. The legal advisor’s concern is that the BoD retains any liability associated with the land since it will retain the deed to it. The BoD considered this topic in February/March 2022 and determined that the liability concern was limited and that the settlement should go ahead. In the interim, VDOT has begun eminent domain proceedings. The BoD members present unanimously agreed that the topic needs to be discussed with the BoD President in attendance since he’s done all dealing with VDOT and the legal counsel. This discussion will occur at the special session of the HOA BoD no later than 21 September.
- Mr. Hunter brought up the topic of tree removal. He is concerned that there could be significant liability to the HOA BoD under the current BoD dead tree removal approach in which the BoD pays to assess and remove trees on HOA property that present hazards to homeowner’s property. Mr. Hunter discussed with Ms. Choi from the FLC HOA ARC the possibility of the ARC conducting a survey of the HOA land and compile an estimate of the number of trees on it that might need removal, giving the BoD an idea of the cost involved. Ms. Choi will take this to the ARC to discuss how they can undertake this task and report back to the BoD. In the course of this discussion of HOA properties, Mr. Mattes identified that a request to have trees removed may not have been for trees on an HOA property but on a homeowner lot. Mr. Mattes will contact CMC to determine why the trees were cleared for removal at HOA expense if they are not on HOA land and report back to the BoD.
- Mr. Nawroth next discussed the mulch replacement in the HOA’s tot lot on Marshall Crown. Mr. Nawroth noted that the mulch has been replaced, but is not as deep in the lot as the original fill was. The BoD believes that the mulch is slated to be replaced every two years based on the Reserve Study completed last year and will monitor the situation to see if it needs more mulch with each replacement to maintain safety of the play area.
- Mr. Nawroth and Ms. Choi discussed the HOA standards document and the status of updates to it. Mr. Nawroth input the final update to the standards related to storm doors and posted the updated document to the website, forwarded to the BoD and ARC membership, and sent a copy to Capitol Management Company (CMC) for their records.
- The final topic brought before the BoD was renewal of the CMC contract. The contract normally renews in the fall (October/November) and the BoD members considered how the BoD evaluates the CMC performance for the HOA. The BoD members present did not resolve the issue, but did vote unanimously to formally request that CMC provide a member to begin attending the monthly BoD meetings beginning in October 2022. The BoD members present requested that Mr. Nawroth ask Mr. Ganji make the formal request to the CMC management this month.
- With no further business proposed, the BoD members moved to adjourn the meeting. The BoD adjourned at 8:08 PM. The next BoD meeting will be a special meeting held prior to 21 September; the next scheduled BoD meeting will be on 12 October. Whether in person or by Zoom, the meeting will be announced to the community to allow participation by any interested homeowners.