Preserve at Wynmar
Board of Directors Meeting
15 August 2006

Present:
Board: Mike, James, David, Kevin, Jim
ARC: Nancy
Koger: Saundra

The meeting convened at 7:00 pm at Mike's house. The minutes from the July meeting were accepted.

Koger's conversion to new financial applications is taking longer than expected. However, once it is complete, the Board should be able to access detailed financial information online, as well as Board and ARC having access to ARC database information (application history, etc.)

Outstanding issues:

• Saundra has pictures submitted for an already complete sidewalk and lighting project, she will ask them to file a formal application for the record.
• The one homeowner seriously in arrears for dues has not responded to a certified letter, and Koger wanted board approval to refer it to the lawyers to proceed on collection. Board approval was moved and unanimously approved, that Koger would refer this issue to the lawyers for collection processing.
• The deck application which includes a ramp from the side-load garage to the rear deck was discussed. It is the Board's understanding that such decks entering into the side yard are specifically prohibited by County Zoning regulations, and it was determined that, should the homeowner procure a zoning waiver for the proposed ramp, the Board would seriously consider the request, given the expressed need for the ramp. For the moment, however, the request must be denied.

Because of the delay with financial software, we do not yet have the July financials. Once we receive those, Kevin will review and report to the board.

The bulk of the meeting was devoted to ARC issues. Some comments that were raised (by Board, ARC, and Koger reps):

• Might be useful to have more illustrations in the guidelines, of both acceptable and unacceptable examples.
• It was suggested that we might develop "pre approved" applications, templates, or exemplars, that homeowners could build to. A counter-argument was that many people will blindly copy much or all of such a template, regardless of whether it's applicable to their own project.
• We never formally sent new copies of the guidelines to the community, partially for cost reasons. We'd planned to do a newsletter and include them there, but that hasn't happened.
• There was debate over allowable decorations. "Soldier Gnomes" were cited as an example of decoration "inappropriate for the character of the neighborhood," but an argument was made that there's nothing in the rules that prohibit such decorations. Similar arguments were made for and against decorative seashell borders, loose white stone garden edging, and Pink Flamingoes.
• The concept of a "Statute of limitations" was raised, for violations that go unacknowledged by the Board for over a year. Though the Board has the explicit right to address violations at any time, no matter how long-standing they may be, an argument was made that we didn't have the "moral right" to do so, that it simply isn't fair to the homeowners to let something slide for so long and then to suddenly reject it. There was no clear consensus on this issue.
• We clarified the "pocket approval" rule -- that only applies to those applications which do not represent any violation of guidelines. Specifically, an application which meets guidelines and is not acted upon by the ARC or Board within a set timeframe is automatically approved, but an application which does not meet guidelines requires an explicit approval, and cannot become automatically approved by inaction.
• Concern was expressed over making violations penalties stick. Thus far, the Board has not issued any fines for architectural violations, and the question of "Why bother?" was essentially raised by the ARC.
• We discussed the need for consistent, standardized templates for letters, to ensure that the right tone is kept for all violations being reported to homeowners, for consistent and fair treatment, as well as for fair and accurate reporting and resolution of problems.
• A question was raised regarding a new deck that had some problems with it, including that it was painted white. The Board had discussed officially permitting white as a color before, and certainly many decks are painted white, but we couldn't remember the exact details of the discussion and changes adopted last fall didn't specifically list white as an approved color.
• With regards to the spring's walkthrough, we've had several different spreadsheets, databases, mail-merges, and so forth, and while it's been reasonably effective by itself, it presents a serious hurdle to Koger in its implementation and administration. With the new software now in place, we will use Koger's systems for next year's walkthrough. This will allow us to better track violations by house, letters generated and responses received, etc.
• Ultimately, it was decided that we need to have a joint Board and ARC meeting to discuss the concerns of the Board and ARC, and to ensure that the Board's approach to ARC matters is clearly communicated to the ARC. We tentatively scheduled the next Tuesday, 8/22, for such a meeting.

Following the ARC discussions, Jim mentioned that he'd talked with Skip Raynor with the county, and they "need to get a surveyor" out into the community to check on grading and such. Jim was concerned that the county might be backing off on holding Edgemoore to some of its promises regarding the condition of common space. Beyond that, we've heard nothing further on Bond release, the condition of the ponds, etc.

The Board asked Saundra to try to reserve the Small Theater at Rocky Run Middle school for October 17, for a General meeting. The board meeting adjourned at 9:00.

Action Items

Saundra:
* Get formal application for house we'd just recived sidewalk / lighting pictures from.
* Refer discussed homeowner's payment issues to lawyers for resolution.
* Research new software capabilities and work with ARC and Board for, perhaps, a brief meeting to demonstrate capabilities and get us using it.

Kevin: Review financials when they become available and report back to Board

David:
* Re-send final guidelines to ARC
* Ask Rob about zoning regulations he'd unearthed regarding decks intruding into the side yard
* Locate notes on color choice discussions and whether we'd intended to permit White as a deck / rail / trim / stone color.