Leewood Homeowners Association

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President's Notes

Well, Leewood, I have had an exciting month. I was perusing one of the magazines for associations and came upon an ad for free websites for associations. So, I wandered to the site to see what was up, and it was interesting. They had the capabilities to immediately help us with the start up information on a site. I signed us up!  Leewood is now on the web! Just go to www.communitypath.com and you will see in the upper right hand corner a place where you can sign up - you give them our zip code (22151) and they will ask for your email address and a password. Then you are in! After that initial registration, you will see a logon box in the lower left hand of the page. I have told them to remember my password, so generally if I just hit that button I get directly into the page. Sometimes, for some peculiar reason, I still have to give them my email address - but not often!

I am hoping that you will help us develop this site by being very active in your suggestions on what we can put there that would be of interest to you. We are starting from ground zero so it is a perfect time to influence the site so that it represents what you, our community, wants. There are many features built in, which we just fill out with material. CommunityPath has already asked me what more features we would like - so even if it is structural change, we can impact that. As time goes on, if not immediately, I am sure some will go looking for something that is not there. If you do, please inform me - that is how we can build the site to be exactly what Leewood needs and want. Please see more of my ramblings on the subject in the article titled Leewood Website

This month seemed to be filled with reports to me of  abandoned cars. I appreciate people letting me know about the problems, and hope I was helpful. It does help me if you call the police first and see whether it is a stolen car. I have written an article in this newsletter about the subject which applies to both those who are concerned about abandoned cars and those whose cars might be considered to be abandoned. I would be interested in knowing what you think Leewood should do about these concerns. Meanwhile I am beginning to wonder whether someone is using Leewood for a used car operation. It has been suggested to me before, and two of the cars this month were from the same county in Virginia, which makes me suspicious.

Leona Taylor and I attended a seminar last month, and thought that perhaps it is time for a poll of our residents. We have been locating polls used by others, as a starting point, and are aiming at the November mailing to all residents as a good time to conduct the poll. If you have issues that you would like to see discussed in the poll, please contact me (email or in writing is the best as I end up with little slips of paper throughout the house that tend to get lost). Just the other night I was talking to John McDonald about his concerns with yard sales in Leewood. He has written an article describing them for this newsletter, so look for it. As many people love yard sales, and others have safety, security, and littering concerns about them it seems like a perfect question to be put on our poll. I have now started a poll folder where I can put ideas that people send in to me - so if you have a burning question that should be put before the residents - write in! As you know, a poll is not a vote, but it does give the board an idea of what residents think about the various issues. It can be most helpful to us in representing you better. The results, of course, will be tallied and reported in the newsletter. 

At the board meeting, the follow up letters to people with ARC notices were discussed and if you are in that category, you have probably already received a letter. Also, there was a problem with one resident who called Koger to report an ARC letter and the response was "call Judy". Hmmmm. We are trying to get us on the same track as far as procedures go, as it is unacceptable for homeowners to be given the run around like that. The board did write a letter to Koger several months ago outlining deficiencies in their contract performance. We have received a response from them offering to reduce the fees, and a meeting will be set up between Leewood and Koger, once again, to hopefully get on the same page as far as their functions. 

At the Board meeting we also started up a nominating committee. The nominating committee's job is to find candidates for the board of directors of Leewood. At the next election, we will have at least two positions open. So far the nominating committee consists of Pam Stover and Al Sanford. We need at least one more homeowner on the committee. They will be writing articles for the newsletter concerning volunteering, and also be trying moral suasion. The association absolutely cannot function without volunteers. No matter what you contract out, there is still a need for a strong board and committees. The nature of the job changes, depending on how much is contracted to outsiders, but not the need. There are many reasons to volunteer. For homeowners, the most important one is your home is the biggest investment that many have, and if you have no association, or a poorly run one, you will definitely see the result in lowered property values. Another reason: studies have shown that volunteering is good for your health - no joke, people who volunteer and help others live longer, happier lives. First and foremost, though, is that this is your community and it can not exist without you. I always say there are rights and responsibilities. One of the responsibilities is to help in the functioning of the community. It can be both intellectually and personally challenging, and carries with it all the rewards of using your mind and self to help others and the community in which we all live. If you will volunteer for the nominating committee, contact Al Sanford. Even if you don't, search for neighbors that would be good for the association and encourage them to volunteer. We can have all of Leewood be an ad hoc nominating committee.

Thanks to Barbara Rolling for organizing our window washing group rate, Bob Nelson for delivering the website fliers, Joe Strickland for web support, and a big hero star to William Wilkinson for his great help on the website.

Check out our website, and have a terrific August! 
 
 

Abandoned(?) Cars (by Judy Currier)

First the facts, so you will see the dilemma we are in when someone calls with a report of an abandoned car. Cars do get abandoned in Leewood from time to time; I have no idea where they come from. One would hope that the Association could get the address of the owner of a registered vehicle from the police, but that is not so. There have been a few occasions where I have played 20 questions with them - does the owner live on Leebrad Street, Leestone Court, etc. - but they are getting resistant to this game also. So, the fact of the matter is we do get unidentified cars that don't move and we have no way of finding out who owns them, if anyone legitimate to Leewood. Are all cars reported to me truly abandoned? Not at all. Sometimes it is a car owned by someone in Leewood, they have parked in an area where the people do not recognize their car, and they have not moved it for a long time (or have moved it and put it back in the spot without people realizing that fact). 

Now, there are those that say all cars should be moved regularly, and Leewood should have a rule to that effect. The problem with this is: what happens if you go on vacation for 1 month without your cars? If you just have one car it can be put in your reserved slot. What if you take a plane and leave both cars behind? What if you are in the hospital/nursing home? Another issue is: who would enforce this? Would you be willing to volunteer for a committee to go around and mark tires or look at odometers? Certainly the board does not have the time to do this with all their other duties. It appears that Fairfax considers a car abandoned if it has been left in one place for ten days (four days if it is not properly registered). So, we are within Fairfax's law to consider cars that have not been moved for ten days as abandoned. As we have adopted all relevant county and state laws as they pertain to vehicles, the association is within their rights to tow such a car. In practice, since we have no specific rule about moving vehicles regularly, if we know a car belongs to a resident or a guest presently we do not tow even if the car has not been moved. How can you insure that we know this? I always peer in the windows of "abandoned cars" and try to get a clue as to who owns it. So, you could leave a note on the seat - this car belongs to XXXX at YYYY address. That would help. Of course we could have all cars registered with the association, but that is something of a mess to keep up with as you change car ownership, have guests, etc.

Question: What should we do? Do you want us to have a "car must be moved" policy? If so, would you help enforce it?  
 

Leewood Website (by Judy Currier)

As stated in the President's Notes - we are now online! The site is located at www.communitypath.com, and is free to Leewood. 

This is an amazing service - sort of like seeing a tree you plant grow overnight. The ingredients for a basic web site are there. There is a library section which really contains the "meat" of the website. William Wilkinson has added a Leewood Links page there since we first announced the site, and it is extremely handy. He is looking for suggestions for more links, so tell us your favorites! Also, William is working on getting the floorplans of the our homes on the site, and other graphics. That turned out not to be as trivial as I had hoped. I have uploaded the ARC forms, the Standards manual, updates to the manual if you would like to print out clean copies for yourself, and the always sought for contractors list, plus a few other things. We will be able to update the contractor list and via the website, you will always be able to access the latest and greatest. I plan to post the monthly agendas there, the monthly financials, and probably the minutes if technical difficulties can be worked out. Larry is working on uploading the newsletter, so if yours gets misplaced or blown away, you can see it there. Most of the articles on the site are readable and printable at the site. One of my questions is whether you would like more documents uploaded in wordprocessor format so you can easily download them. The advantage to having such a copy on your computer is that then you can use the wordprocessor to search for certain things. For example, in the Standards manual you could enter fences, and find all references to fences. I do this myself to make sure I haven't missed something. Also, if the document has graphics, it often is quicker to download it then look at it on the site. 

Other features: There is a calendar where Leewood events can be inserted. The events coming up are displayed on the main page. There is a message list where you can post messages. The association can post a priority for a message so if something drastic happens (like no trash pickup) it appears at the top of the page as URGENT in red. It wouldn't be a great idea to post messages that you would normally email to me - that is still the preferred way to communicate one on one - but if you have things to advertise for sale, a yard sale coming up, a bake sale, or whatever that you would like residents to know about -- post your message! There is also a section that facilitates ridesharing which looks like it could be very useful for all you carpoolers. With the news corner where we can post the latest in Leewood news and other timely articles. Often we get notified of things between newsletters, and by the next newsletter, the event has already occurred. If you use the website, you will get notified of these events. One cute feature is an instant poll. I put a little poll in there just to see how it works, so please try it out. Oh yes, there is a directory which I've tried to fill with handy information about contractors, board members and committee chairs. You can email us directly from this spot.

CommunityPath itself has a couple of features which appear to be "under construction". They have a spot where they ask you for your favorite businesses. It appears that then they will be listed for us some day. Meanwhile, you earn the opportunity to win a Palm computer if you enter a business. I figure perhaps they are going to try to get money out the businesses to support this venture. They also seem to be working on a group discount feature. That would be a nice supplement to our Leewood group rates that we get going if it ever goes into effect.

The site is not glitzy, but I do think it could help us to communicate with each other better, and definitely can help us with emergency communications. I'd like you to visit the site, and give me your thoughts on what you would like to see there as far as information and documents. It could be we will want a more customized site in the future, but this seems like a wonderful first step for us. From visiting other's sites we already have more material on it than most. One of the problems that William and I are working on now is how to organize that material so what you are looking for doesn't get lost in all the words.

Don't have access to the internet, but have a computer and modem? Channel 7 (WJLA.com) has free access. For those without internet access, of course we are going to keep up with our newsletter and other means of communication with everyone. The website will just make life simpler for those with a computer and generally announcements/news dealing with other websites will be posted on our website as that information is aimed at the computer user. For example, today I posted about a Better Business Bureau site. In case of fast breaking news or emergency information, I am hoping that neighbors with computers will talk to those without them. I've never quite gotten over the blizzard we had a few years ago and how difficult it was to communicate with people about what was going on. 

Yard Sales (by John MacDonald)

While I realize many people derive great pleasure from yard sales, I wonder it they are appropriate for our community. I admit to only attending maybe half a dozen yard sales in my life and being caught in yard sale traffic maybe another half dozen times. On all of these occasions I was struck by the frenzy of the yard sale shoppers. My major concerns with yard sales are the traffic generated and the potential that careless and frenzied drivers will cause an accident. Plus with our home values rising, do yard sales diminish the image of the community? Or put another way, if you were selling your home would you appreciate a yard sale in progress during a visit by a prospective purchaser. There are other considerations, especially problems with parking and impeding the assess of residents running errands on the weekend. Further, yard sale shoppers may leave trash and some may even "case" our homes for return visits of a criminal nature. 

There are numerous options. We could leave the situation as it currently exists; permitting individuals to have yard sales with no approval of the Board and with yard sales conducted either on the common grounds or in front of individual homes. The other extreme option is the outright banning of yard sales. Options in the middle could place restrictions on location, time and require approval of the Board. 

I would be interested in my fellow residents' opinions on this matter. I am sure there will be space in the next newsletter for your opinion if you write, E-mail or call Judy. At present, as I am sure is obvious, I tend to an outright ban on yard sales in Leewood. I donate items to charity and write them off at fair market value on my Federal and State taxes. Since I understand yard sales do not generate high sale prices my fair market value is probably twice the yard sale price. With recovery of Federal and State taxes of around a third of the fair market price my "return" is not that far behind the yard sale seller.

President's Note: I would be interested in your opinions; any you want to be published can be sent along and they will be run in the newsletter. You could also mark them as private if you don't want them published. As I stated earlier, I think this is an excellent question for a poll. My personal opinion is that if we are to have yard sales I would prefer them to be concentrated on common areas. I believe cars roaming the community looking for the particular houses having sales are hazardous to the health of children and pedestrians.It also reduces security concerns and littering problems if yard sales are concentrated in one area. Anyone who contacts me, I tell them that is my preference. 

Leewood Nursing Home Expansion/Traffic (by Judy Currier)

The Leewood Nursing Home expansion was approved by the Mason District Land Use Committee. It goes before a vote of the Planning Commission in September and then on to the Board of Supervisors for approval. Chances of passing those two groups appear to be good.

I am sure it will interest all of you to know that our traffic problems in this area are not impacted at all by the expansions and new development that has been approved. So say the wizards of land use. I would like to get them out as all the vans are turning into First Immanuel Church, as the Mustafa Center lets out, as the church lets out, and also to be run into by people making U-turns after visiting someone at the Nursing Home or the Phillips School and see whether they still believe that. Looking at the traffic patterns around here, I believe one of the problems is that there is no way for people to head in the direction they want to after going to the School for Contemporary Education, Leewood Nursing Home, First Immanuel Church, etc. People have suggested "No U Turn" signs, but these cars have to get turned around somehow. They might just come into our community to do that, or go through Bradlick Shopping Center, which is what I do. No joke, three times this last month, I have had to head East on Braddock in order to go pick up the Association mail. I turned around in the shopping center, but that could explain why it sometimes seems worth your life to drive in that shopping center parking lot.

I was not enthusiastic about this project from the beginning because I have become convinced that Fairfax does not give a whit about the increasing traffic here and its causes. I can't even get them to put a crosswalk at Leestone Street so people can have a chance to get to the bus stop across Backlick, or maybe even go to Deerlick Park. There seems to be no concern for the safety and well being of the current residents - just a rush to increase the population with more high intensity development. Now I have a quote from the Mason District supervisor's office that they don't know what our problem is, as people complained about Leewood when we went in. Those people were right, if Leewood was going to be used as an excuse for denser and denser development. The concept that you should let anything happen to you that the County wants if you have a density of 8 houses per acre or up seems ridiculous to me. 

By the way I have also tried to find out when Manor Care is to be built, and no one seems to know.   
 

Potomac Watershed Forum

Friday, August 25, 2000. 9am - 3pm. (Registration and continental breakfast at 8:30am)GTE Auditorium, George Mason University, Prince William Campus in Manassas, 10900 University Boulevard, Manassas, Virginia. $15 registration fee.
The purpose of the forum is to bring together leaders, decision-makers, and citizens to exchange information and identify and prioritize water quality issues in the Potomac watershed. For more information call 703-361-1710 or email Greg Evans at soilandh20@aol.com.