My main purpose in writing this blog, which is written for the property owners of the Timberwood Park development, is for a means to keep my neighbors informed and apprised of things in and around our development that might be of interest or concern.
I’ve heard the new HOA board is asking to be given a chance when discussing plans to potentially shift culture and perhaps take on changing some neighborhood operations. I hope that this proves to be true going forward.
To see that change might be brewing look to the first neighborhood HOA meeting this year where some of the highlights included replacing the attorney who has represented the HOA since turnover forward.
If you know the history of lawsuits and other issues which have faced our development this was a good move. With the replacement comes the potential to correct and move past some of the troubling decisions which were made by previous boards that have impacted all property owners in Timberwood Park.
Concerns for property owners to ponder going forward:
The rise in vandalism in our private park and the lack of onsite security patrols and/or staffing to address this problem continues to be a concern for our assets, property and our park. As owners, we should all be paying attention to the social media posts which are showing up regarding recent destruction of our common area property by individuals in the park without regard for any repercussions or the fear they might be held accountable. There have been several since the 1st of the year.
Most recently, the NextDoor post about individuals destroying one of the tables in the park who then left the park without ever being confronted by either our park manager or any security.
No security? That’s probably because we haven’t hired any and our park manager does not seem to have the responsibility to patrol the park with any regularity. Is this how you want your park and its amenities to be taken care of?
Without exception, I receive inquiries almost daily through the same website from which this blog comes – timberwoodparksa.org – from surrounding developments, people who do not own property in Timberwood Park, and/or organizations who have heard about the clubhouse or seen it under construction, and are interested in the possibility of “using” the clubhouse for events, activities, meetings, etc. While I’m sure at least some of these inquiries would be willing to pay for the opportunity to use the facilities that’s not the point.
Here’s the rub…we are a private park that commonly belongs to the property owners of Timberwood Park. If we start renting out the facilities outside Timberwood Park property owners, we risk losing our private park status. This in turn could affect our tax status as an organization as well as our property tax valuations for the park.
Even if that didn’t happen, the costs to maintain our private park and its amenities, the additional wear and tear and the additional liability we will incur from public usage will increase our overhead accordingly. Who benefits from this? Not the property owners of Timberwood Park who are footing the bill for these costs. And for those property owners who say “we only pay blah blah blah a year so who cares?”……you should!
It is more and more apparent that growth in surrounding developments is making the case for tightening how our park is accessed, how our private social events are advertised and how access is granted for those events. This in turn aids in ensuring that our assets will continue to be maintained in the best interest of the property owners of Timberwood Park, not the greater public at-large.
Ask your board members to seriously work on changing the culture that has been allowed for the last 8+ years.
- Gate access should be monitored and ID controlled
- The park should be patrolled regularly, after-all we have an on-site manager living in our park. This should be part of that individual’s responsibilities in the very least.
- Events should not be advertised outside Timberwood Park. As an example those bands we contract with are contracted to provide a “private event” not an opportunity to advertise to their followers they can attend a “free” concert in our private park.
- Food trucks should adhere to the same policy. Advertising for their foodies to enjoy a meal and a free concert at our private events is not in the best interest of the property owners of Timberwood Park.
- This should apply to all our private social events in the same manner.
It’s a private park for a reason. It is an amenity we each purchased a “common” interest in when we bought property in the Timberwood Park Development. As such, having an open gate policy and an “anyone who wants to attend in our park can” attitude for the many social activities sponsored by our HOA diminishes the unique amenity that should be a crowning asset for the property owners of Timberwood Park. Otherwise the case is made for why buy in Timberwood Park when we can use the park and attend the great activities put on there anytime we want. We don’t have to own there.
Especially when we are building a $1.2 million dollar clubhouse and counting!
This year, we have a new association management company and corporate legal counsel.
It remains to be seen whether the new Board will delegate authority to Lifetime, as our designated association manager, to supervise our employees. We currently rely on two volunteer Board members to oversee our “full-time” employees. No homeowner should be directing our staff. The lack of professional onsite supervision in past years has resulted in a poorly-maintained park, and a high employee turnover rate.
Apart from detailed job descriptions for each employee, and formal performance reviews, our staff should receive a yearly maintenance schedule from Lifetime, since they are the experts on best association management practices. This plan should be reviewed annually by an independent Park Maintenance Committee and approved by our Board.
Our staff should also be given individual maintenance checklists for the new clubhouse, gates, roads, playground, sports courts, golf course, pond, fences, walking paths, and landscaped areas, all of which must be kept in a first-class condition. These same checklists need to be periodically reviewed by senior management to assure that work is getting done as planned, and meets our quality standards.
With regard to our new corporate legal counsel, I’m cautiously optimistic that given our past history of failed litigation, the new Board will exercise greater discretion with regard to collections, issuing fines, or as a last resort, filing lawsuits to enforce restrictions or to seek reimbursement for property damage.
I could not agree with you more. From my perspective, past boards have been insidious boards of corruption.
Park Manager SHOULD have some security duties assigned but I doubt few on the board have a clue. This would require a new job description, and a new agreement with current property manager.
Security and the responsibility of the park is the ONE THING that the board can not relegate away. A homeowner can not relegate away his or her responsibility for their dwelling. So, damaged tables, while not the result of actions by the board, the damage addresses their neglect of same.
Why do we have a park manager ? he should be patrolling the park as part of his duties, not just the club house. If not we should look at applicants that can handle this. Is he afraid to confront ? If so get someone else.
All things being considered perhaps the Music in the Park and all other highly people populated events should be placed on hold until we have a better read and control on the coronavirus threat that has been created and the National Emergency that has been declared. Even the schools have taken a sabbatical. That would be a good first start for accepting responsibility and changing the culture moving forward. Many very good points described above. It is our park. It is NOT a public park. As these high density neighborhoods rise up around us the incidence of others using and sometimes even abusing our park, our facilities and our new clubhouse will increase substantially. The time to take charge and implement a solid set of plans is right now. I do hope we all move forward in continuum for the most positive benefit of “everyone” in our neighborhood. – Mark Metzger your Precinct Chair for Pct. #3089
Excellent article & completely agree!
Thank you for addressing such an important aspect we pride.
Agree 100% It concerns me when I see people from outside our neighborhood wanting know when our park will open so she can take her kids to the playground, posted on social media. there have been several that I have seen like that. I don’t want to be a scrooge but this is a huge investment and having it trampled by more and more non owners will cost us even more and we are already seeing a lot of vandalism. It has to stop
I agree. Our money by HOA fees have paid for this and I do not want to share it with non-residents.
November 10th. I understand we have 3 open positions on the board with three people who want to fill those positions. Thus no need for an election. Does that also mean that we don’t need to know them or don’t need to know anything about who these people are that are filling these seats. Nothing in the recent newsletter. Have they been properly vetted? Are they being back doored? I’ve seen nothing regarding them. Who are they? Have any of the issues and concerns addressed in the March 13th piece been addressed or implemented by this board? Interactions with the new HOA management group have been very disappointing. No change or worse from my experience.