Leewood Homeowners  Association

Assessments were due on 1 July!

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New Website	Street Work Planned	Capital Gains	Safer Drinking Water
Windows	July '99 Board Meeting

 
 

Leewood Welcomes New Website

Leewood has a new website. Log on today! It is really easy. Log on to www.CommunityPath.com and enter our zip code, 22151. Check the box next to Leewood Homeowners Association, enter your email address and create a password. Use your email and new password to enter our new community site. You are on. Now read the latest news, check the updated calendar, leave a message for the community, download forms from the library or vote in the latest community poll. Don’t have a computer at home, not a problem, you can access the site from work (check your workplace policy, but there is nothing here to embarrass you or your company) or access the site from a computer at the library. This site is too good to miss!

If you don’t have a current Leewood Handbook, you can download it from the library on the site. This is the governing document for our community. Every home should have a copy handy. Other forms and useful documents can be downloaded as well. Happy surfing!
 

SEALER PLANNED FOR LOWER LEESTONE STREET

We have planned to have Professional Striping and Sealing put a sealer on Lower Leestone Street the second week in September -- Tuesday, September 12th to be exact   Lower Leestone is the short section of Leestone closest to Backlick.  We patched this section of street last summer and have filled in cracks.  It is the oldest paved street in our Community and we want to dress it up and protect it.  IF YOU HAVE VACATION PLANS THE SECOND WEEK IN SEPTEMBER, PLEASE PARK YOUR CAR ELSEWHERE OR LEAVE YOUR KEYS WITH A NEIGHBOR  SO THAT YOUR CAR CAN BE MOVED EASILY AND TOWING CAN BE AVOIDED.
 

CAPITAL GAINS CORRECTION:   by A McSorley

Today’s laws allow homeowners to exempt $250,000 from capital gains if they lived in the home for two years. Only investors who rent out their property are subject to capital gains if any based on their costs.

Also, our townhouses are selling in the mid-range of $190,OOO, well below the  250K maximum exemption.
 

A Cleaner Potomac = Safer Drinking Water.  Citizens Can Make a Difference!

(From Conservation Currents)

The next time it rains, take a look at the water running down the street.  Is it muddy?  When you see muddy water washing down the gutter and into a storm drain, do you ever wonder where it goes?  What happens to the mud?

That storm drain leads eventually to a stream that feeds into the Potomac River, the source of our drinking water.  Did you know we pay $1.5 million a year to remove 30,000 tons of sediment from our drinking water?

Sediment makes drinking water more difficult to treat.  It also helps transport pathogens.  In 1993, pathogens passed through the water treatment plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, resulting in the illness of nearly 400,000 people and almost 100 fatalities.

Like all other jurisdictions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Fairfax County has regulations aimed at preventing sediment from leaving construction sites.  However, a citizen doesn’t have to read hundreds of pages of text to know when something doesn’t look right.  Common sense should prevail.

According to Dan Nicholson, General Superintendent of the Site Inspections Branch, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, the most obvious signs of a problem on or near a construction site include:
 

•  The silt fence around the site has fallen down or is blowing around in the wind;
•  There is a lot of mud on the street adjacent to the site;
•  Temporary sediment traps are filled beyond capacity; and/or
•  Nearby streams have extremely reddish muddy water.

One option for reporting sediment leaving construction sites for adjacent land or bodies of water is to contact the County’s Code Enforcement Branch at 324-1937.

For a faster response, Nicholoson recommends contacting the Site Inspections Branch and address your complaint directly to the are supervisor.  Going to the area supervisor will save time and head off potential problems before they escalate.  The Supervisor for both the Braddock and Springfield Districts is Art Singer, 658-3805.  For Mason & Providence Districts it is Glenn Huffman, 633-8525.

President’s Note: When they were building Aarondale, Backlick was covered with mud for a few days.  I worried that it was a traffic hazard, but it seems we should have reported it to the Site Inspections people.  North of Braddock Road and East of Backlick near us is the Mason District.

Now we know what to do if Braddock or Backlick becomes muddy when construction starts there – two projects are in the works!
 
 

Windows

The original Leewood windows neither require nor invite much movement of the top unit or of the screen.  WARNING: Just for the giggles move them every once in a while.  They can freeze up on you with the parts bonding to each other, and are very difficult to move.  WD40 or Silicone Spray can be used on the metallic runners to help windows move more easily, and also may, if you are lucky, unfreeze non-moving parts.  If you are having a hard time moving the window, stop for a bit, and spray the runners as that is a part of the problem.

If your problem is the opposite, and the windows will not stay up, open a window and note the little square box as you stare up at the window on each side that can be removed.  Behind that is a spring that runs up the window.  You can make the window not slide so easily by shortening that spring.  Be careful not to lose the spring in the window casing!
 
 

President's Notes   by Judy Currier (1999 RE-RUN)

In July, a group from a replacement window company were soliciting in our community.  When a resident told them that they were not supposed to do this, and to leave, they got belligerent.  Further, they stated that the Association had given them permission to solicit.  Be assured, the Association has never given permission to anyone to solicit.  Do not be put off by such statements.  If you have asked solicitors to leave, and they won’t, call the police.  Tell them about our no trespassing signs, that you have asked them to leave, and get the police to come out.  If the people have been asking strange questions, or are rude, also tell the police that.  As it turns out, after leaving the Bradwood Ct. area the people came up to Leebrad.  They were sitting on the stairs of a house where the people had just left for a vacation and starting goofing around and chasing each other in the streets.  A resident went over and asked them what they were doing here, informed them that we had no trespassing signs, and asked them to leave.  They refused, and did not take the threat of calling the police seriously.  I called the police, and then noticed the message on the answering machine from our Bradwood Ct. neighbor.  The police did come, and would you believe it, they started giving the officer lip also.  A backup was called and the group was dispersed.  I must say, the police responded rapidly to my call.

I hope you are surviving the heat and drought well.  Thanks to all who are helping out and watering our trees and bushes.  Remember that slow watering is the best as you want the water to get down deep into the grounds.  Nicely enough, it also uses less water. There was an article in the latest Conservation Currents about watering.  It gave the usual advice to water in the morning before the sun is so intense to lessen evaporation.  Also late evening watering may encourage mildew and disease on plants. They say that most lawns and gardens need watering to a depth of at least six inches and that it is better to water deeply and less often (every four to five days) than to water every couple of days but not reach a sufficient watering depth. It turns out that Green Spring Gardens Park (behind the Salvation Army building off of 236) has some “Water-wise Garden” beds.  There they have plants that are suggested for sunny, dry conditions.  Visit them, and see their drought resistant plants, or for more information, call 642-5173.

Recently my telephone was out of service for three days.  It happened as a result of Bell Atlantic accidently pulling my wires as they were doing maintenance in one of the junction boxes.  Some people emailed me, and got no response.  Others might have, as when I finally got back online I had exactly 50 messages which, seems suspicious to me.  Anyway, I want everyone to be aware that technological difficulties in communications may occur.  If I don’t answer, something went awry, try again.

Talking about technology, what would you think of a web site for Leewood?  How much do you think it would be worth to the community?  For sure, we could post all of our documents on it.  We could also post announcements.  Some communities use their websites for marketing purposes.  To keep it really current and changing would probably take an interested party.  One place charges $60/month for the service.   Tell me what you think, or if you would like to volunteer to explore the possibilities, even better!

This seems to have been a pretty quiet month in Leewood.  As far as I know, the agenda items for the August meeting may include a waiver request for a sun control device, and the go ahead for second letters to be sent out on ARC for those that have ignored the first letters.  The latter depends on Koger getting us the information in time, of course.  We will have our usual financial discussions, and August is when we start our budgeting process.

In addition, there are a couple of interesting problems that have surfaced  this month, which we will discuss.  One is to set a detailed policy for driving on the common area.  Currently, Bell Atlantic may bring heavy equipment onto our common area.  Should we allow the same for homeowners, in the interest of having them improve their homes?  Should we have a set policy on the subject, so that we can check on the insurance of the people, perhaps require indemnity, etc.?  Maybe we should require a deposit or an access fee?

Related to this subject is another of concern to the association.  People do things to their homes that change the drainage pattern, thereby harming the common area.  What should the association do about it?  We have the right, under our documents, to require anyone that damages the common area to be required to “make it whole” again.  Drainage, in particular, is slow in developing, but has had a great impact on our common area.  One group of residents, realizing they impacted the whole problem, contributed to the building of a dry creek behind their houses to improve the drainage.  What influences drainage?  If you build an impervious surface in your backyard – like a huge patio – water will run off faster into the common area causing erosion.  If you change your downspout, or the former owner did, to make it dump into the common area – again, you are changing the design, making the water escape your yard faster and cause damage to the common area.  I love the people with downspouts that dump from 6 feet up who then are surprised that a hole develops underneath them, and think the association should fix it.  Is education enough?  What should we do?
 
 

July ‘99 Board Meeting

•  The new Virginia laws were discussed, along with their impact on the Association.
•  The width of fence pickets was discussed.  It was agreed that approved fences would include pickets up to 4" wide.  The slimmer pickets are available in the Spring, but are difficult to obtain later on in the summer.  Fences should have uniform picket sizes (no mixing and matching)..
• A waiver on the double fencing/”good side out” rule was issued to a homeowner on Bradgen Ct.  His home was situated so that the fence was not visible from the street, other Leewood homes, or any common area (other than the border alley).  In this case, it was felt that the effect of having the ugly side out did not impact the look of Leewood.
• There was a lively discussion concerning whether Leewood should approve any other type of fencing than stockade.  In particular, whether a fencing such as we installed along Backlick should be considered as an alternate approved style.  The question is whether Leewood’s looks would be enhanced more by an upgraded fence style, or uniformity of style.  There was no consensus in sight, and the discussion was tabled.  If anyone has any opinions on this subject, please contact a member of the board or the ARC chair, Pam Stover.  Written opinions (email or notes) are best.
•  It was decided that according to our Standards, approval was necessary for storm doors.
•  Barbara Rolling volunteered to try to find someone to sweep our streets.  No one has seemed to be interested so far.