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Neighborhood Spotlight: Berkley Ridge
Neighborhood Spotlight: Berkley Ridge
Homeowner Association:
Berkley Ridge Homeowners Association
Management Company:
Innovative Management Inc.
Years Built:
2012–2014
Number of Homes:
45
Home Types:
Single-family
Builders:
Heartland Homes and NVR, Inc.
HOA Top Issues of Interest:
Code enforcement, parking, safety
Location:
Former vacant farmland off Oakridge Road
Streets:
Berkley Ridge Drive and Farmview Drive
Fun Fact:
The neighborhood is built on 40 acres of former Torre family horse farm property. Scenic Ridge Farm, a horse boarding facility, owns the remaining 20 acres, including a barn and riding arena near the entrance to Berkley Ridge.
Squeaky wheels get the job done
Residents form homeowner group to finish building Berkley Ridge in South Fayette
By Andrea Iglar
The squeaky wheels got the grease in Berkley Ridge.
When completion of the South Fayette housing development dragged in 2015, a few residents banded together to finish neighborhood construction, form a homeowner association (HOA) and adjust the community regulations.
Today, two of those residents remain on the board of the homeowner group— Danny Cerrone Jr. and Craig Molinaro. The third, Jennifer Wolf, has since moved out of state.
“Before the HOA formed, Jen and myself and Craig were squeaky wheels for the neighborhood,” Cerrone, the board secretary, said in March.
“We formed the HOA so that it was the advocate for all the neighbors, not just the three of us as concerned residents.”
Amid building the community of 45 single-family homes, the developer failed to complete construction of roads, stormwater detention basins, streetlights and other features.
Subdivision developers are responsible for building infrastructure, and they sell lots to homebuilders.
The township could not accept Berkley Ridge Drive or Farmview Drive for snow plowing or other maintenance until $150,000 in work was correctly completed.
“It wasn’t a little bit of work,” Cerrone said. “It was a lot.”
The residents retained a property management company to help form the Berkley Ridge Homeowners Association.
The resulting homeowner board worked with the township to access the developer’s escrow money and pay to complete the work.
“People were very appreciative of what we did at the beginning because I don’t know how long our neighborhood would have sat unfinished,” board president Molinaro said.
The next step was to customize the generic regulations and standards initially established for homeowners.
“We wanted to have the voice of the neighborhood kind of build that declaration instead of it just being given to us,” Molinaro said.
The homeowner board surveyed neighbors and found the main points of contention were that rules prohibited residents from storing garbage cans outside, installing swing sets in side yards and building sheds.
The homeowner group proposed rule changes during an annual meeting, and residents voted to amend the Berkley Ridge bylaws to allow sheds and swing sets and to let residents neatly tuck cans in their driveways.
Cerrone— an attorney specializing in construction matters—said amending the founding documents allowed residents to dictate what they wanted.
Cerrone coaches community soccer, baseball and basketball and serves on the township Planning Commission. He lives on Berkley Ridge Drive with his wife, Shannan, and children Amelia and Miles.
“It’s a nice, quiet community with a lot of great families,” Cerrone said.
Molinaro, a resident of Berkley Ridge Drive since 2013, had lived in the Northridge community before moving to Berkley Ridge so his family could build and customize a home from the ground up.
“It was kind of always a dream for us to do that,” he said. “We really love South Fayette.”
