HOA Annual Board Meeting Minutes – Apr 19, 2017
The Crossings Homeowners Association
Annual Board Meeting
Date: Apr 19, 2017
Location: Common Area
Meeting started at 7:00 PM. All board members were present. The following residents were also present: Bill Meyers, Dan Kraemer, Mark Harley, Kevin and Jill Walker, Jenn Chrin, Rick and Penny Blum, Jack Curran, Scott Minnich.
Treasurers Report:
Checking - $18,706.70
Savings - $ 5,731.92
We have received 1 resale certificates so far in 2017.
We have discussed the possibility of raising the dues in the near future. We have not raised them for several years, and we are not having enough money to accurately cover the ongoing expenses of the neighborhood. More information will be provided in the future.
Grounds:
The annual spring cleanup is scheduled for May 13th at 10am. A reminder will be sent out to all residents.
We renewed the annual contract with our landscaping provider for the future.
10 Trees were cut down last year and this is one of the reasons why the HOA dues will need to be increased due to the increased cost of maintaining the property.
Web Site:
The Crossing’s HOA Website has 173 users registered. There are also 131 Facebook members in the Crossings Neighborhood Group.
Old Business:
There are no more updates with the house in foreclosure on Trowbridge Place. When anything changes, we will communicate to the residents.
We are continuing to work with the lawyers to address the covenant violations. All the violations are either corrected or in the process of being corrected.
We are amending the covenants to address the rental situation. As a result, amended covenants will be sent to the attorney for review. After they are approved, they will be sent out to the neighborhood for a vote. The basis of the covenant changes were based upon the survey response that we got back from the neighbors.
New Business:
We want to thank Ken Chrin and Ray Speicher for their service on the HOA board. In addition, we also are welcoming Carrie Silvers and Keith Meyer to the HOA Board serving two year terms. We are looking forward working with Carrie and Keith.
Carrie is going to be leading up the social committee in the neighborhood. We thank Carrie for leading that function and excited on bringing back some of the events that we missed the last few years. Currently we have three other members who are willing to help on the social committee. If there are any other volunteers, please send a message to board@thecrossingsneighborhood.com and we will pass along the contact to Carrie.
The first event that the social committee is planning is the annual party on May 19th. In addition, we were notified by Cranberry Township that they are starting a program to promote block parties in Cranberry. The Crossings is the first neighborhood that they approached and they will be providing supplies for us to help the party. More details will be provided for the party.
The HOA Board is looking at closing the time window for paying the HOA dues. Currently, we allow 90 days. This time frame will be reduced in the near future.
We want to thank the turnout of 10 neighbors to the annual board meeting. It was up from the previous years and some of the questions asked were the following:
- There was a lot of discussions about the details of the rental provision. We continue to work with the attorneys to ensure that the rules and restrictions make sense.
- There was a question about Meghan’s Law and how residents can find details on who is living around the neighborhood.
- There was a question about fences on Rochester and Powell Road. These fences are put in by the homeowners and not the HOA Board.
- There was a suggestion of adding garbage cans to the phase 1 common area. We are going to be placing the cans in the neighborhood. In addition, a neighbor volunteered to empty the garbage as well.
- There was a discussion about dog droppings on people’s yards. As mentioned previously, this is rude and ignorant for any resident to not pick up their pet’s droppings. In addition, residents are going to be posting pictures on Facebook of any resident caught not picking up their own dog droppings.
- There was a question about the HOA board providing bags for dog droppings. Unfortunately, the board does not want to undertake this for two reasons. 1) No one is responsible for emptying the bags and 2) In the new development there are tons of bags thrown in the woods. We don’t want this to happen to the Crossings.
- There was a question about the old trail connecting Crossings with Park Place and the lack of grass seed on the old path. We agreed to put down grass seed on the part that is owned by the Crossings.
- There was a question about extending the mulch on the trail to the park from Hunting Ridge Trail. This will be discussed at a further board meeting.
- There was a concern from a resident about residents leaving grass on the sidewalk and then becoming slippery have a rainfall. We would like residents to be concerned about other residents and children that might slip and fall on the sidewalk.
- There was a question regarding a log chipper that the HOA rented in the past for residents use. We were not aware of the chipper rental in the past.
We also decided to start hosting HOA board meetings in the common area during the summer months.
Upcoming Events:
Annual Cleanup – May 13th 10am
Neighborhood Party – May 19th
Neighborhood Garage Sale – May 27th and 28th
Next Meeting:
The next board meeting will be held on May 17th at 7:00 PM at the Phase 1 Common area.
