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Date: Sunday, 15th June 2006
Subject: Annual Meeting of Owners
Attendees:
Minutes:
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The tenth annual meeting was held in the small north gym of the old Newcastle
Elementary (temporarily Kennydale elementary). The meeting was called to order
at about 7 p.m. The current board members are Chuck Freedenberg (President),
Beth Glynn (Treasurer), Bryan Lee (Secretary), Don Williams (Architecture), and
Matt Bomberger (Landscaping). Chuck opened and led the meeting.
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Salina Lyons was our guest speaker. She indicated she really appreciated our
input on the Cottington development as it really helped.
FYI: Cottington (to the south) will no longer put a road through on 121st. The
access for this development will be off of 84th (the road the Drayton Park
homes are on). A buffer strip will separate our 121st cul-de-sac with the backs
of Cottington homes.
The city is starting work on the non-motorized transportation plan which
addresses the city infrastructure of trails, bike lanes, and sidewalks and will
dictate where capital improvements are made in the future. Right now is the
very start of the process. If you e-mail Salina she can put you on a list for
notification of when planning meetings are held as well as the quarterly (one
hour) public meetings. Salina encouraged us all to get involved. The phase
right now is to define the scope of the plan and submit that to the city
council in July. Then that starts the ball rolling for the plan to be completed
within 1 year’s time. Note that the Comprehensive Plan recently approved is a
20 year plan providing the whole framework for all capital improvements. The
non-motorized transportation plan is meant to help prioritize the expenditures.
We discussed the possible road at the end of 121st. Salina indicated that the
decision for not doing it as part of the Cottington project was really pushed
by her based on the problem of increased traffic for us. She admitted that it
will probably be put in sometime in the future but not any time soon. The
Cottington developer will re-grade near the cul-de-sac where the road would
start—this area being left as a right-of-way for the future. Salina predicted
that when some other development is done to the east of us, the road will
likely be put in then to give those residents access. The road will not create
an arterial. Salina complimented our involvement with the Cottington affair
saying she often tells people the Dorchester Ridge folks are really organized.
(Editor’s note: this was primarily the efforts of Beth Glynn and Mike Imler,
with support from Don Williams, thanks again!).
Other tidbits: Directly east of us the city plans to put a city park. The next
neighborhood meeting is 27 July (the 4th Thursday) and Salina encourages you to
bring you children—they have ideas too and then no worries for baby-sitting.
The planning commission is considering allowing digital reader boards for
schools and churches in Newcastle. The new King County library will go next the
Washington Mutual bank. Salina closed by saying if you ever have any questions,
please e-mail her! (salinal@ci.newcastle.wa.us)
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Introductions were made around the room. Welcome to new residents Chris and
Gina Pudlicki! The previous year’s meeting’s minutes were reviewed and
approved.
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Beth presented the budget, noting we were short about a thousand dollars for
the 2005-2006 period in net income but still have a bit over $3,700 in the
coffers. (Editor’s Note: In 2004-5, we had a $384 surplus.) With plans to not
cater the BBQ but get supplies from Costco and cook ourselves, we think we can
have a small surplus for 2006-2007. So, no need to raise dues. The current dues
are $66 if you provide the board with your e-mail address, and $70 without (to
cover costs of postage, envelopes, etc.).
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Kollen Glynn has agreed to take over maintenance and production of our web site
(http://www.dorchesterridge.org)
from Chuck Freedenberg. We reminded everyone that the web site has a list of
recommended tradesmen/contractors, as well as kids who want to do yard work or
baby-sitting, so we encourage everyone to submit referrals or kid’s names if
interested. Kollen can be e-mailed at kbmg@comcast.net
in the interim to make the posting. The kids for hire list, neighbors list, and
meeting minutes are all in the protected section for which you can get the user
name and password from a board member or fellow resident.
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The upper street, 120th, has a common area next to the Kuch’s, which the HOA
paid for yard maintenance last year one time. This will be repaid with a
special assessment to the residents on that street (the total bill was
approximately $600). The board will try to help decide what to do this year as
we could opt to form a neighbor gardening party to do the work.
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This year’s block party/picnic is scheduled for Saturday, August 12th. Anyone
who would like to volunteer to help with arrangements or setup on the day
please contact a board member. This year Don will be making the Costco run for
all the fixings, Matt will probably get the keg of beer (small fee to drink),
the fire department may be invited again, we will probably get a clown for the
kids (does face painting, stories, and magic tricks), etc. Any ideas for more
fun activities or desire to help please make yourself known to the board!
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The subject of roof replacement was brought up. Most of the houses should be
good for another 5 years if you have taken care of it, if not then maybe real
soon. There is no ordinance actually banning cedar shake roofs but all new
construction is being pressured by the City of Newcastle to avoid using roof
shakes due to the fire hazard. We need to decide what to do as a HOA because we
would like to have harmony in the neighborhood.
Don did some research on composite roofs and took the floor to present his
findings. It appears the trend in Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions for
new developments is to require simply that houses are roofed with an “unlimited
lifetime” roof, as opposed to a 30 or 50 year roof for example. There are many
composite shakes out there that are lifetime and some are not. Cedar shakes
cost more than composite unless you get the newer composite shakes that are
made to look like cedar or wood from a distance. An example of the latter had a
50 year warranty whereas an example of ordinary composite had a Lifetime and
transferable warranty. Don brought several brochures and is planning to go get
some real samples.
Chuck pointed out a few of our houses have no sheathing under the roofs, just
1x4’s, so roof replacement may cost more to have sheathing put in to support
the composite shakes. Mike Smith mentioned he had to replace his roof on his
previous house and he got a 50 year with transferable warranty, composite roof.
The hip & ridge vent modification to his roof was an option, but they did
not say it was necessary even though his roof did not have good ventilation.
Chuck had mentioned that poor ventilation is one of the causes of roof aging.
We discussed we might have to change the CC&R’s to cover roof replacement.
Ideas were put forth that the new language should be kept vague for flexibility
(do not want to dictate something, nor preclude the use of new products that
may come along later). It seemed a consensus that something like “Roof
replacement will be reviewed for color and quality of materials and approved
through the architectural request form process.” Scott Kuch, Tom Anderson, Don,
and Mike Imler were among those offering to form a small team to look in to
this issue. Chuck pointed out that our goal should be to solve this within a
year. As a side note, getting your roof cleaned nowadays varies in price from a
few to several hundred dollars.
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Since Beth is on the Newcastle Planning Commission she offered to give up here
board membership, which expires next year. Alas no takers. Note that when the
board members have turnover, all the positions are shuffled around again.
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We recognized the efforts of Don and Matt in putting in procuring,
coordinating, and installing all the locking mail boxes. Many, many thanks!
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A few issues were brought up by homeowners to the board for their attention
which have been noted and will be reviewed at the next board meeting.
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Ted Manullang noted that the street lamp post near him fell over but luckily
did not hit anything. It was quickly replaced by the city. They are just made
of fiber glass so please keep an eye on them. Each has a number on them so you
can identify them when you call the city.
Respectfully Submitted,
Bryan Lee, Secretary
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