MAILBOXES— AND A GARDEN PATH
I
By Steve Berube Chairman HCDD and President HROA
n recent months, several residents complained about mailboxes— specifically, the condition of mailboxes. More specifically, the individual mailboxes (generally along alleys) in “old Harmony.” These areas are unique in that “new Harmony” is mail-served via “gang boxes” rather than single boxes on posts. Anyway, the HROA’s initial response was to simply replace the boxes which was supposed to happen with the start of the new October budget. You might have noticed that this hasn’t happened for several reasons. First and foremost is ownership of the boxes—and lawsuits. Because the boxes belong to the homeowner, Counsel has advised that we NOT do anything with the boxes. Why? Well, lawsuits. Yes-lawsuits. It seems that HOAs are being hit with lawsuits for all kinds of ludicrous reasons—perhaps because HOAs are required to carry insurance. And lawyers (you’ve seen them on TV) love insurance, because insurance companies settle, rather than defend, lawsuits. So, rather than risk a suit by replacing your mailbox, the HROA will maintain the posts and arms supporting the boxes, but you will be on your own to maintain/replace your box. As ownership of the posts is rather fuzzy, we feel solid in maintaining those. Another reason is fairness; as only a small percentage of owners have these individual boxes, it might be unfair to have everyone pay to replace the single boxes. The HROA will be inspecting mailboxes just like the rest of your property; if yours is not up to snuff, you will be asked to repair/replace it with a standard box that matches most of the rest of them. On to the Garden Path: if you’ve visited the Garden or Commercial Parking area lately, you know the path/road leading there is pretty rough. We are very limited in surfacing materials there because the gas pipeline runs under it. The road was in similar condition two years ago and the Board sought specs from our Engineer to resurface it with “shellrock” which the Board then voted 4-1 to spend $17,000 to install. I was the lone vote against simply because I knew the shellrock wouldn’t hold up very long—and I have now been proven to have been correct. Field Services has received quotes to surface it with “concrete fines” but I requested the Engineer provide us with a “compaction density spec” to ensure a longer life. That spec was not received until the day of the last meeting so we are awaiting revised specs to include compaction which will provide a firm surface that will last a reasonable period of time. Of course, this will cost more money but repeating past mistakes is even more expensive. I mentioned the Commercial Parking Area above; if you’ve seen it lately, you’ll know that we began a significant expansion almost 2 years ago. Upon requesting a permit for a perimeter fence, the County decided that we needed to revise our PUD documents. PUD stands for Planned Unit Development; in practice, this means that everything one might do in Harmony is listed in a Development Plan—including parking areas and fences. As it turns out, when Starwood Capitol (second developer of four so far) built the area, they didn’t permit it—
The opinions expressed in the Harmony Life Magazine articles are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions of Quantum Marketing Communications, Harmony Life Magazine or the Publisher.
and of course that meant it wasn’t in the PUD plan. And getting the PUD changed is quite an aggravatingly detailed process. Nonetheless, we should be nearing the end and once permitted, we will finish the expansion which will make the area 600% larger than it was. The area will also be hidden from view by extensive landscaping, secured by perimeter fencing and may even see keycard access as used at the pools and docks. When finished, all current stored vehicles will be spread out into the new area and CDD Field Services will reconfigure the existing area to house its outdoor equipment as well as place its CONNEX storage containers behind the new locked security fence. This parking area exists because Commercial Vehicles, Trailers, Motorhomes, Boats and basically anything other than a private passenger vehicle is banned throughout Harmony. Understanding that many of these large vehicles can be unwieldy to maneuver, the traffic pattern in the expansion area is designed to allow easy maneuvering and slot access. So, if you need to store any of these type of things, please call Association Solutions (407 847 2280) for more info and pricing. See you next month—STAY SAFE!! n
December 2020 | Harmony Life Magazine 9
