Leewood Homeowners  Association

The time has come for me to step down as President of the Board of Directors for Leewood, and expand my family. I leave with mixed emotions. It was a chaotic year, to say the least. We had many people step down from their posts on the Board and on some of our committees, so just covering the basics to manage the Association was a challenge. I do wish we could have accomplished more things. On the more positive side, though, I feel privileged to have met and gotten to know many neighbors that otherwise I probably wouldn’t have.

The three officers remaining on the Board – Al Carchedi, Julie King, and John Davenport – are great and able folks. In the short time they’ve been on the Board, they’ve already made a difference. I thank them for stepping up to take on the responsibility when the Board was in desperate need of help. Our community is lucky to have their enthusiasm and willingness to do the work of the Board.

I will close with one last plea – please, if you have some time to commit, consider serving on the Board or on one of the committees. Al Sanford, our Grounds and Maintenance Committee Chairman, has been serving in that capacity for six or seven years now. There is ALWAYS grounds work to be done, from the smaller jobs (fixing a mailbox or two) to the bigger ones (finding a contractor for painting our parking spaces and overseeing the work). Al works without complaint, but I know he and his committee members could use the help.

Serving Leewood is a great way to be involved. You learn a lot about property management, and you get to meet some pretty neat people in the process.

Thank you to everyone who served on or assisted the Board during my tenure. I wish Julie King, our newly appointed President, the best of luck. Now, on to having a baby….

And then there were three —

This month saw more turmoil on the board of directors. Anne Esquivel resigned, as promised, to have her child. Dune Ly (Vice-president) resigned also. Julie King was elected President of the board. We all wish Julie great luck – as we do our departing members.

You Probably Don’t Want to Read This, But You Should

(by Craig Guthery, first appearing in the February 1993 Newsletter)

When I moved into Leewood, it was with some trepidation. I was a first-time homebuyer and I knew that it was only a matter of time before I had my first contact with a (gasp!) “Homeowners Association”– the bane of many a independent-minded Virginia resident. I had heard all the horror stories: bans on ornamental plants, vigilante city sticker patrols, prohibited (or mandated) Christmas lights, etc. So I prepared myself for a first amendment crusade against self-important zealots who lived only to legislate their whims on a meek and subservient community.

My expectations were wrong, very wrong. I did have frequent contact with the board, but over time I realized that the stories I had heard, while probably not untrue, were not typical of community associations, and definitely not representative of Leewood. What I saw on our board, and on our committees, was a small group of people trying their best to run the day-to-day operations of our community and maintain the appearance, quality, and value of our homes – all of our homes. Because we live in a townhome community it does indeed matter whether your neighbors keep up the exterior of their houses, because their houses are attached to yours! Think about this: in the middle of the night when you are sleeping soundly in your bed, your next-door neighbors are sleeping less than 20 feet away, sometimes just on the other side of the wall! (On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t think about that.)

For my wife and me, our home is the single greatest investment we have ever made, and I intend to do everything I can to protect that investment. It is in my best interest to take an active part in preserving the value of my home. In addition, I live here. I want to feel safe, comfortable, and as undisturbed as is possible in such a densely-packed community. For those and other reasons, I became an active member of the Leewood community. I joined a committee, chaired a committee, and eventually was appointed to the board of directors. I am doing what I can – what about you?

Here’s the story. We need help. Only about 10-15% of Leewood homeowners and renters are participating in the operation and management of our community. This is not enough, there is simply too much to do. An option, of course, is to hire a management company to do part of the work, but this would require a substantial increase in dues, and I don’t really believe too many people want that to happen. But in effect, the participants are currently getting the benefits of having a management company for free (our assessments go to trash, grounds, and other expenses, not into the pockets of board and committee members.) Look at the numbers: each active member is doing the work of eight residents. Is this fair?

There are 195 homes in Leewood. Each resident – owner or renter – has the same interest in the welfare of our community. For the owners, when you bought your house you signed papers joining Leewood Homeowners Association. You didn’t just agree to abide by the bylaws and covenants, you obligated yourself as a part of the community. Roughly put, if you didn’t want to take the responsibility, you shouldn’t have bought the house. Whoops, that was a bit harsher than I intended – but you noticed I left it in, right?

Come on, do your part. We have a lot of openings on committees; in fact, some committees are all openings. We need people to monitor our contractors, people to assist in financial matters, people to make decisions on what is best for all of us. Our annual meeting is March 9, 1993. Plan to be there: make your views known, vote for the board of directors –run for the board of directors. But most importantly, do something.

Editor’s Note: Some things never change. You could substitute the annual meeting date of March 8, 2005 and perhaps the estimate of the number of volunteers should be lower to bring this article up to date!

New On the Website

The website celebrated the snow with a facelift and continued with its job of distributing up-to- date news. A tricky new way of having “printer friendly” pages throughout our site is being incrementally implemented, and an informational article on Font Sizes is featured on our main page.

A interesting show on community associations was announced via the message board and our list (in theory, it will be re-broadcast on channel 16, Feb. 9, at 8p.m.). On the zoning front, a email that we received from a McLean association concerning a proposed amendment to the law was published, and there was also an article encouraging people to volunteer.

Join us on the site (www.leewood.us), and participate in your community!

Home Improvement

 As you plan your home improvement projects, please remember to check our Leewood Standards if the project affects the exterior appearance of your home. Chances are good that you need approval before continuing. Allow time for this approval process – don’t just wait until the painter shows up and desperately try to get someone to approve those purple shutters! Sample application forms are in your Standards manual, or you can go to our website, click on Architectural, and then click on the appropriate form to print. It is also very convenient to use the Standards manual on our website to search out whether there are limitations on your home improvement. Go to the manual (Architectural menu) and then use your browser to find the rules about windows, fences, or whatever.(Usually you click edit, find to do this)

Remember, when you contract your work out it is advisable to get a written document stating exactly what is going to be done, and what the price will be. We have had homeowners who just relied on the verbal “contract” and they were startled when the final bill was considerably more than they understood it would be. Your written document should define the scope of the job and the price that it will cost to complete it. You should ask for this even if it is not offered, just to protect yourself and make sure there are no misunderstandings about the work you want done. Having such a document puts the contractor on notice that the quoted price is what you expect to pay for the job. Anything above and beyond this price is up for discussion. Please protect yourself!

As you might know, a contractor list is maintained for our community. Mary Ann Wilson is the person to contact concerning it, or even easier – go to the website and it is posted there under Home Repair. Just remember to contact Mary Ann about your experience with the contractor – if they are good, bad, or indifferent, if they are out of business, if they never return your call. Mary Ann is in the directory, and may also be reached by emailing consumer@leewood.us. Further, there is a topic in the registered user section of our message board (topic Services) where you can discuss your experiences with contractors, ask about good ones, and so forth. We put it in that location so that you can discuss these matters freely with your neighbors.

January Board Meeting - ARC and G&M

In January, the board held the first of their hearings on outstanding violations of our Standards. Please remember we have them, and save everyone heartache by obeying them!

The fence along our Southern boundary is now completely replaced. Thank you, Ron Filadelfo, for managing this project. Al Sanford is investigating our options concerning a tree in the same area. 

Searching our Website

Ever go out of town or get busy and forget to check the website for new information? Perhaps you will have seen an article mentioned in the newsletter, but never got around to reading it – and now, it’s gone!

It is very unlikely that the article has actually disappeared from our site, it was just moved to a less prominent place. The only articles that actually get discarded are those that are time-sensitive. Examples might be announcements of meetings or events in the community. Even some of these are kept, but they might disappear forever.

All articles start out on our front page. Generally the link to them is in the middle section, though there have been instances (as with the Leewood brochure) where they started out either under “What’s New” or “And More —“. Normally articles are placed in an index that can be reached by clicking on News, Web/Other Articles. The exception to this placement is when there is a particular heading for that type of article – e.g. Administration for minutes, financials, etc.

In addition to these locations, we were concerned that not too many people were exploring our site that deeply so we also created a yearly archive of front page articles. That is on the right hand side of the screen. Thus, if you remember the year you will also be able to retrieve the article. As a courtesy to our members with slower speed connections, often the pictures are removed from the stories when they are archived.

Perhaps simpler than looking for the articles, you can also search for the article, using our excellent search engine. You might find others of interest at the same time! Use the search engine, and then when you locate the article, use your browser to actually find the discussion you are looking for (Edit, Find on this Page). As more and more information is added to our site, the search engine will probably become the method of choice for retrieving articles.

Communications

 In the last newsletter, we mentioned the mailbox notices as a means to communicate with those that did not use the web or read the newsletter. So far, the response to this has been very positive. Residents like the idea and believe they can see a difference in Leewood on those topics that were covered.

Another item that has been kicking around for a very long time is whether we should eliminate the printed newsletter and go with a web-based method of communication. This would still include the mailbox notices, but longer articles would be distributed entirely using email and the website. To make a decision on this issue, we need to know how many people who actually read the newsletter don’t have easy access to a computer (anyone can go to the library and use the computer there, so everyone has access actually). There is also the question of whether people that do read the newsletter prefer being able to curl up in their easy chair by the fire to do it, and would not read the newsletter while sitting in their office chair – a strong possibility in some minds.  

The issue is not just one of expense. The website is a wonderful media: pictures are in color and length of article is not as important. Further, it should be clear that we are having a hard time finding a newsletter editor who will consistently publish a newsletter. A newsletter editor is one more volunteer we need. For the writers, it gets somewhat confusing as to the issue of “I think I wrote this, but where did I put it?” It could be on the website proper, in the newsletter, on the website’s message board, or merely an idea that passed through one’s head. Clearly there are pros and cons to this whole matter.

If you have an opinion, you can email newsletter@leewood.us or president@leewood.us. If emailing the president, please identify that you are answering the question posed in the newsletter. Probably at the annual meeting we will see what the people there think – however, that is a fairly select crowd who cares enough about Leewood to come to a meeting at least once a year and find out what is going on. (Actually some of us just attend for the social!) Annual meeting attendees might give us an indicator, but any “vote” would not be statistically valid. Probably a poll would not be either, as again, one is counting only those who care enough to respond. Of course, without a newsletter editor this whole matter could become moot, as the website, by default, will be the means of communicating longer messages.

Trash Containers

Remember: You must bring them in as soon as possible after trash pickup, and no later than the morning after trash pickup. (Standards Manual, section 7.4.4). The same rule applies to your recycling bins. In addition, trash containers or recycling bins must not be put on front porches or in front or side yards. (Standards Manual, Section 7.2.5).

Important Dates:

Board Meeting: February 8, 2005. 8:00 p.m. at the Phillips School. Check the website for an agenda.

Regular trash days: Every Monday and Thursday

Regular Recycling days: Every Thursday