Minutes of the Lake Barcroft Association - Board of Directors

The meeting of the Lake Barcroft Association (LBA) was called to order at 7:30 PM by President Sally Determan at 6425 Lakeview Drive, Falls Church, Virginia.  Those present were LBA Directors Sally Determan, Warren Russell, Jim Kilbourne, Lee Price, Pat Payne, Betsy Washington, Diane Smalley, Rick Aldrich, Shane Oleson, Diane Davidson, Frank Phillippi and Anne Cullather.  Eva Kosztarab attended by teleconference.

The minutes of the March 13, 2013 board meeting were approved by all as corrected. 

Diane Smalley raised the issue of recording Board votes. After a discussion, it was agreed that the minutes should record divided votes by name unless the Board is in Executive session. 

OLD BUSINESS

CALENDAR REVIEW:  The calendar was reviewed.

BEACH 5 PAVILION UPDATE:  Sally reported that the committee to review and explain the possibility of a Beach 5 pavilion is coming along but she has one more person left she is trying to contact to serve.  October is the projected time frame for information to go out to the community via the NL. LBA members would have the options of expressing their opinion on the pavilion by both paper and electronic responses. Diane Davidson has agreed to draft the arguments against it.  Sally will circulate the names of the committee members.

GEESE PEACE UPDATE:  Betsy reported that Holly Hazard has contacted a breeder about purchase of a trained border collie dog for Geese Peace.  She added that there would probably be an untrained dog from the community that could serve as a fallback for this year. They are making good progress in recruiting coordinators and volunteers.

NEWCOMERS REQUEST UPDATE:  Eva reported that the Newcomers Club withdrew their request to use Beach 5 for a party.  She has given their president the contact information of our insurance agent.

BEACHWAY TRAFFIC SIGN UPDATE:  Sally reported that she has heard from approximately 10 residents about sending a letter to the county concerning signs for speeding fines on Beachway Drive.  Because almost all favored sending the letter, Sally proposed that the letter to the county should go out now.

NEW BUSINESS

WID ANNUAL MEETING:  Sally reminded the Board that the WID annual meeting is taking place next week and encouraged Board members to attend.  Warren commented that the WID has never invited an LBA representative to speak even though we invite a WID representative to speak at our annual meeting and questioned why.

Pat Payne discussed the East County Center project that was brought to her attention by a neighbor.  The plans involve development of a parcel at the east side of Columbia Pike at Moncure Street.  In addition to new county offices, the private owner plans to develop market rate residential units, with some affordable units, as well as parking.  Pat felt that LBA needed to be involved and suggested a few people should be appointed to a committee to become informed about this project and update the Board and community.  Warren suggested having the Mason District Council get involved including David Feld and Priscilla Weck.  Sally will also contact Priscilla Weck and Kay Cooper.

EASTER EGG HUNT:  The President, on behalf of the LBA, thanked the Woman's Club and Jean Meyer and her volunteers for another wonderful Easter Egg Hunt.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

LEGAL:  Eva reported that she had a few legal issues to address:

1) Separate insurance coverage for all Newcomer events:  As noted under Old Business, Eva spoke to the president of Newcomers, Nomi Taslitt, and gave contact information for our insurance agent to look into insurance for Newcomers events.  

2) Authority to fine for ARC violations:  Eva spoke to our outside counsel who said that even though we have the authority to fine under Virginia Code Section 55-513 (B), under two recent court decisions, one in Fairax County Circuit Court and the other in the Virginia Supreme Court, because our LBA covenants do not explicitly say we “have the authority” to fine, we would have limited ability to collect the fines.   Wecan ultimately compel compliance  when the homeowner seeks to sell the property because the LBA can withhold the certification required to sell the home until architectural violations are corrected.  Sally reminded the Board that the new article on ARC reviews in the NL will describe both approved and non approved plans.

3) Article in Washington Post  stating that Capital Improvements by a homeowner’s association can be added to the basis of each owner’s house in the association:  She again spoke to our outside counsel who found errors in the Post article discussed on lakelink concerning the effect of LBA capital improvements on the tax basis for individual homeowners.  It was determined that with LBA’s 1045 lots that an average tax savings might be $5 per lot and not worth the record keeping involved . Sally will meet with Eva to post something on lakelink to clarify the legal issue.

4) A resident contacted her about a concern that public play grounds had tighter restrictions against registered sex offenders than LBA common property.  Eva suggested developing a rule on our books stating that a resident or a non-resident would not be allowed on LBA common property if they are a registered sex offender.  Eva will circulate prior to the next meeting.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY:  Betsy e-mailed her report to everyone and it is attached with the minutes.  She continues to work with the Humane Society, residents, and with the ARC Committee on protecting residential properties from beaver damage.  She stated that beavers have been very active this year and there are a number of reports of damage and reports of beavers moving farther from the lake.  She urged the ARC Committee to find ways to approve beaver protection fencing and devices that follow the specifications approved by the Beaver Task Force, that included ARC Committee Chair, Rick Aldridge. Because beavers can take down several mature trees in a single night so it is important to work with residents for quick remediation to insure resident compliance and cooperation. Specifications for approved fencing and protection devices are posted on the LBA Website.  A new handout on Rabies has also been sent to be posted on the LBA Website with useful information for residents.

She encouraged everyone to come to Earth Day on April 21 at Beach 5 from 2-5.  

The Invasive Management Plan has been approved by the county for the RPA Garden.  She thanked Kay Cooper for all of her help and stated that she has volunteers ready to start the work.  She has authorized $200 out of her budget to replace invasive plants removed from the RPA Garden with equivalent biomass as required, but in this case with native plants.

Sally said that the fountain in the Woman’s Community Garden is now working and Betsy is working with WID on insuring planting plans are appropriate. Planting will be installed in phases beginning this spring. For proper drainage, the path will be re-routed and done in June.

WATER SAFETY:  Pat will be sending out an announcement for the beach clean up scheduled for May 4.  She currently is working on a draft contract for Kevin Hardy.  She updated the board on the recent situation regarding a boat chained to another neighbor’s boat.  The resident complaining actually separated the other boat with WID’s assistance and moved the boat to another location. The lot number on the other boat was not current so the present owner has not been identified.  Pat has posted several announcements on lakelink and will contact the WID to store it.  The Board asked Chris to write the lot numbers on the boat stickers prior to mailing.

SPECIAL EVENTS:  Diane Smalley informed the Board that Nancy Walker has agreed to help with Sand Day.  A rain date was discussed and she will work with Chris on this.  Charlotte Flounders has agreed to again take charge of the Ice Cream Social. Diane had also recruited volunteers for the July 4 fireworks and the Labor Day Games.

SECURITY:  Frank will be meeting with Officer Murphy next week to discuss the upcoming patrol schedule, Neighborhood Watch, and trespassing problems.  Sally asked Frank to post a reminder on lakelink asking residents to carry their prior beach tags and cell phones with them.  Mike Niebling informed Frank that Rick Clayton found a Neighborhood Watch sign in his trash and it has been recovered. He expressed his appreciation for Kevin Howe serving as go-between for the kids who did graffiti vandalism of boats and signs at Beach 5 and the boat owners.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Jim reported that revenues are down a bit from the comparable period last year but expenses are down as well.  Overall, things seem to be doing fine.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Shane reported that the directory is going well and approximately $24,000 has been sold in ads versus the $10,000 budgeted.  He thanked Chris and Vince for all of their hard work in such a short period of time.  He is ready to hand everything over to Mark Cavich for layout.

Sally asked that future reports submitted at meetings should be attached to the minutes on the website.

Sally also asked whether the directory would have separate alphabetical entries for spouses with different last names. Shane said that he thought that this year's edition would be done that way.

Shane stated that he and Chris met with the contracted website company and things are moving forward.  He asked the Board if they wanted the budget and minutes on a private (LBA members only) section of the website.  In the discussion, everyone agreed that only the bylaws, covenants, rules and governing documents should appear on the pubic side and that budget and minutes should be on the members only side.

ARC:  Rick reported 12 applications have been received since the last meeting, of which 4 have been approved.  The other 8 are pending either comments or additional items needed.  Fences, docks, seawalls, green house and sheds appear to be the main submittals.  A new scanner has been purchased for LBA and will be used to scan previous years’ ARC records.  He discussed a recent situation regarding a home that has an existing pool extension into the lake.  The current owner is not interested in maintaining it and would like it removed and asked if the WID could possibly remove it. He also raised the general problem of rotting piers and rusting barges on the waterfront.

MAINTENANCE:  Diane stated that she has asked George McLennan to help her with maintenance in George Waters' absence.  

MEMBERSHIP: Anne reported that for the month of March, eight transfer fees were received for a total of $400.  At last report, there were 65 lots unpaid for this year.  She has posted a reminder notice on lakelink.  Warren suggested that she should send them e-mails prior to the letters going out.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.  Submitted by, Lee Price, LBA Secretary