[email protected] 410-569-1344 www.bhshoa.com

Hoping that everyone had a joyous and safe Holiday Season.

I am happy to announce that your Homeowner’s Association has retained all of its Board members from last year. The members attending the annual meeting held November 9, 1998 at the Abingdon Volunteer Fire Station Hall reelected the three incumbent members. This provides for a knowledgeable and dedicated Board of Directors.

Approximately thirty people attended the Box Hill South Homeowner’s Association’s annual meeting, representing about twenty households. The agenda covered:

• Highlights of 1998
• The continuing effort to dedicate Hidden Ridge Terrace to the county
• Repairs to townhome courts (Woodbrook and Split Oak Courts)
• 1999 Annual budget
• 1999 grounds maintenance contract and the possibility discontinuing the cutting of individual townhome yards.
• Community Projects and open discussion

Following the presentation and discussion, the floor was opened for nominations to the Board of Directors. After brief comments by the four nominees, the election was held. Reelected were Rob Furlong, John Munno, and Dave Riggin. I wish to personally thank all of you that were able to adjust your schedules and attend.

On November 16, 1998, your Board of Directors met with the primary goal of establishing the 1999 annual budget. The meeting started at 7:30 p.m. with the election of officers and general business. The meeting ended at 11:00 p.m. without a completed budget. The biggest concern was the increase in the grounds maintenance costs and whether or not to stop cutting individual townhome lawns. The new officers are as follows: President – Rob Furlong, Vice-President – Tom Pearson, Treasurer – Dave Riggin.

Your Board held a special meeting on December 3, 1998 at a Board member’s home to finalize budget concerns and to establish the 1999 budget. After nearly three additional hours of discussion, and a split vote of 4-3, a difficult, but fiscally sound, decision was made to discontinue the individual grass cutting service. This is reported in more detail elsewhere in this newsletter. The final budget is also included in this mailing.

As we begin a New Year, I would encourage every member of our community to become involved in our Association. Your input as to the concerns and needs of the neighborhood is needed and welcomed. Your Board has established various means of communication including a "Hotline" phone, e-mail address and an improved web page. The "Hotline," #410-569-1344, provides information on current events and schedules for the community. It also accepts messages from Association members. The e-mail address is "[email protected]". Your Board and not Trenton Property Services checks both of these and responds accordingly. Our Association’s web page has been improved and updated thanks to some members of the Board and especially community member Jim Mellarkey. The site has information concerning the community as well as a history of the area and some useful links. Jim has put together a great web page, please visit it and share any comments you may have.

Our property manager, Ms. Sallie Foster, Trenton Property Services, phone #410-879-8333, may be contacted in emergencies or in reference to any correspondence from them.

In closing, I would like to thank the members of our Board of Directors and remind everyone that they are all volunteers from the community. Each has a full time career and families that demand much time. However, they spend numerous hours each month discussing and deciding issues that affect all 527 households in our Association. I sincerely appreciate their dedication and service to our community.

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Many of you are now aware that next year the individual lawns of the townhome owners will not be maintained by the Association. The hotline has been burning up with calls. Unfortunately as volunteers we do not have the time to respond to each and every complaint. That does not mean that the complaints are not considered or understood. In fact all of the comments coming into the hotline were raised by the members of the Board during the budget meetings. This was not an easy decision.

The problems started when we received bids for the 1999 contract that were 70% to 170% higher than the budget for 1998. We looked for ways to reduce the service without totally eliminating it, but the bottom line was that none of the contractors would offer to cut the individual yards for a price that we could legally afford. It is estimated that we would have had to raise dues by nearly 7 dollars per month to be able to pay the lowest bidder to cut the individual yards. Our governing documents would not allow us to raise assessments by more than $3.90 per month; not even close. We looked at cutting other areas, but there really wasn't any room for the large price increase.

Some have suggested that we use the money budgeted for, but not spent on snow removal to cut the grass. Even though this is a misguided approach it was considered for the short term. However, it only amounted to $2.30 per month. Even if added to a maximum dues increase it wouldn't have been enough. Not to mention that it would not be consistent with the long term plans that were implemented due to lessons learned from the Blizzards of 1996. Some have commented that we don't always need to remove snow, but the grass always grows. While that may be true, there are several ways for individuals to have their grass cut, but individuals simply can't clear snow from the courts or common roads; that kind of problem must be handled by the association. We therefore have to continue our approach to ensure that we don't need any more special assessments for snow removal.

Several callers have questioned how the $1.50 dues reduction could equate to the elimination of the service of having their individual yard mowed. It doesn't. The fact is that the cost of cutting the common areas went up too. We accepted the most reasonable bid for maintaining the common areas and it turned out to be slightly less than last year's budget for the entire grounds maintenance contract. What was left over was the $1.50 per month for the townhome owners.

Some people have concerns that they were led to believe that cutting of individual yards was guaranteed, when they were buying their home. Naturally, realtors are going to present all of the current benefits as well as proposed or projected amenities when trying to sell a home. However, the governing documents do not indicate that individual yards will be maintained. Very few communities maintain individual yards.

Some of the callers questioned whether this topic was "put up for a vote." The topic was discussed at the Annual Meeting in November. Even though it was on the agenda for discussion, only 25 to 30 people showed up for the meeting. Of those in attendance, the room was split as to whether they wanted the service to continue or not.

We are also concerned that the appearance of the community will suffer. Callers have encouraged the property manager to patrol the neighborhood and strictly enforce our maintenance covenants.

Several callers have expressed anger at "having to buy a lawn mower and a shed to keep it in for such a small yard." There is no reason why individual homeowners can't contract their own lawn maintenance. Many individuals in other neighborhoods do just that. The successful bidder for the common area maintenance will be provided with a list of names of persons who might be interested in their service. It may be possible to contract with that bidder directly.

One caller insinuated that this Board was the same group that tried to implement the fine structure in 1995. On the contrary, many of us were on the floor fighting that proposal, and decided to get involved. Since then we have done our best to keep costs down, streamline the architectural request process, and to be as invisible as possible. Many of us believe that the best kind of governing body is one that does not make new rules arbitrarily, does not harass its constituents, and listens to problems and acts appropriately, when it's within our power to solve them.

The decision to stop cutting the grass was not unanimous. It was not agreed to with ease. We did our best to solve the problem, but the solution was not within our reach.

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Now that we have your attention, let me state the problem. When the HOA started offering dumpsters as part of the Semi-annual Yard Sale event, only three dumpsters were provided. The event has grown to seven dumpsters. All are usually overflowing by pick up. We are receiving requests to provide more dumpsters or to empty the existing ones on Saturday afternoon. This is part of the problem. We get an excellent rate per Dumpster from Harford Sanitation, provided they can drop off and pick-up dumpsters on their normal workdays. The rate is also based on emptying the dumpsters at the Harford Land Fill. Saturday afternoon is not a normal workday for them. The original total cost was less than $1500 for 3 dumpsters in Spring & Fall. In 1998 our budget was $2500; our costs even exceeded that budget.

Harford County Land fill authorities have recently restricted the type of material that can be dumped there. They will not take automobile tires or construction materials like wood. Furniture with wood on it is OK. Pressure treated wood and batteries are considered hazardous waste. They do not take hazardous material in Harford County. This material must be trucked to a Baltimore County Land fill at Texas, Maryland. This adds considerable costs to the Clean Up weekend. At the November Semi Annual meeting, it was announced that all seven of the dumpsters were contaminated with these types of materials.

Harford Sanitation was able to separate the material from the dumpsters by hand reducing the number of dumpsters going to Baltimore County. Baltimore County charged $565 per Dumpster during the Fall clean up. Costs are going up every year, especially with hazardous waste.

The Cost is going to make our budget decision clear; 7 x $565 = $3955 in the Spring will exceed the Spring and Fall budget of $2500 for 1999. The Fall dumpsters will be cancelled. The Dumpsters event for year 2000 will be in jeopardy.

What can you do to save our Clean up week? The Board is open to answers, please call the Hot Line at (410) 569-1344 or our e-mail site at [email protected] with your suggestions and how you can help to save our event!

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The Board would like to thank Jim Mellarkey for developing a community web page. The address is:http://www.bhshoa.com

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This form is available on-line. Click here.

Approval of this architectural change request, by the Box Hill South Homeowners Association (BHSHOA) signifies that the request has been reviewed and meets the requirements contained in the BHSHOA: Articles of Incorporation, Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions, and By-Laws. Approval is subject to any comments included. Approval may be contingent upon a final inspection to verify compliance with request. By making this request you are authorizing the Association or it agents to enter upon your lot for such purposes. All required State and County permits must be obtained before starting any construction.

NAME: ________________________________________________

ADDRESS: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SINGLE FAMILY or TOWNHOUSE

PHONE:______________ DATE OF APPLICATION:__________

DESCRIBE YOUR PROJECT:(Attach appropriate drawings and permits as necessary.)

ARCHITECHTURAL REVIEW ACTION:

DATE:____________ Completed By:_________________

APPROVED/ REVISE and RESUBMIT/ REJECTED/ APPROVED/ Contingent upon final inspection / Final Approval

COMMENTS:

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