Wheelwright Cluster Board Meeting Minutes – June 2021

Thursday, June 10, 2021, at 7 pm via Zoom

Board Members: Kelly, Kristina, Sandy, Cindy, and Ruthie

Residents: Matt and Sarah K

Community updates

Door Styles – Sandy

RA wants residents to pick what they desire so Sandy drove by newer construction to get a sense of the current market; aim to keep it simple. We need guidelines because RA won’t let clusters eliminate them.

Question from residents: Why are we changing the guidelines now? Answer: We are updating the siding colors so the door colors need to coordinate with new siding colors. We are going for a more universal style and expanding brand choices so residents can take advantage of sales.

New door options will include different door material options (i.e., steel, wood, fiberglass, etc.). We plan to include glass panel options. New options will mimic what we currently have – flat panel – and add in divided two-panel option (¾ glass and ½ glass), all glass option, and a craftsman style door with one glass panel at top.

Do we want to include privacy glass options (i.e., frosted glass, simple privacy glass, satin etch) and art glass option as long as it is simple? Sandy will present glass styles at next meeting.

Colors – Sandy

How many colors? Goal is to make the colors subtle or pop if wanted, and allow for individuality. Ask Meghan if 18 door colors is too much before completing the DRB application. If RA thinks 18 is too many, the board will reduce color palette.

Do we want to include a wood grain option? Popular but limit to one manufacturer and one color.

DRB applications update – Sandy

No news from Meghan but application is available online to be downloaded. We can bundle the changes for trim, siding style, and colors together. After DRB application is sent to RA for changes to the siding, we can work on DRB application for doors.

Landscaping – Kristina

We can use proposal from Hemax as base to fix non-compliance problem. Otherwise Hemax proposal is over our budget.

Concrete – Cindy

Do we have a date scheduled for the work? Juan got back to Cindy and said we can get railing on the left side of the stairs by for same amount as proposed for the right side. Once we have decided, we can circle the options we want in the proposal, sign and then submit the contract. A 40% deposit is required if we want to proceed and the work will be scheduled 6-8 weeks after the deposit is received.

Parking lot & asphalt updates – Kristina

Kristina contacted Brothers Paving and Concrete Corporation for another 3rd opinion and they are coming out next week. No new updates otherwise. Kristina can update everyone at the next meeting.

Erosion – Kristina

For drainage and erosion solutions, Hemax quotes were complex engineering solutions and out of our price range. Suggest contracting with Jose’s company for the French drain.

To address RA non-compliance around the rock swales, we can use plants suggested by Hemax to submit to RA and strategize on what we can do as a cluster to save money. Kristina will ask Hemax to line item landscaping installations so we can pick which areas we really need to focus on.

Landscaping – no updates, begonias went in and look good

Garbage/Recycling – no updates

Trees – inspection aim for late July or early August, after cicadas are gone

Other topics?

Neighborhood donation drive – Kristina wrote to Cornerstones about working with them, aim to hold it weekend before the Fall Cluster Clean Up (October 16th).

Communicate events sooner rather than waiting until it gets closer so residents can plan ahead. October 23rd was proposed as the tentative date for Fall Cluster Clean Up.

Summer community cookout scheduled for Sunday, August 1st.

Financials

Treasurer expressed budgetary concerns as to how we will be able to afford the upkeep of the neighborhood. Board suggested communicating with the cluster about participating in cluster cleans ups to stave off costs. Other options include a special assessment or raising dues.

Other financials were discussed.

Next Meeting

July 8th at 7 pm via Zoom.

Wheelwright Cluster Board Meeting – March 11

Board Attendees: Kristina, Sandy, Cyndi, Kelly, Ruth

Members: 2207, 2237

Community Updates

Door colors and styles

  • Sandy has not heard back from Megan about updating glass door styles. 
  • Goal is to narrow down color choices to 6-7 colors, with 1-2 alternates. 
  • Residents will be able to pick any of the colors, not based on siding color, so there will be some freedom of choice there.
  • Board and members in attendance viewed mock up versions of the house colors with the suggested door colors. Of those mock ups, there was consensus on the following colors:
    • Burgundy red,
    • Purple but not too grapey,
    • Black,
    • Creamy white (slightly darker than Amber White used on stucco), 
    • Mid-tone gray brown,
    • Deep green,
    • Navy or strong blue,
    • Aqua or slate blue, and/or
    • Possibly a mid-range blue
  • Sandy agreed to get larger paint samples for the navy and strong blue to help decide which one is preferred as well as larger paint samples for aqua or slate blue.
    • Consensus was that it would be better to stick to one shade in a particular color than have a variety of different shades in that color family.

Spring Cluster Cleanup:

  • Date set for April 24th 
  • Projects:
    • General trash pick up (need to purchase more trash bags)
    • Kristina will make a list of projects and necessary supplies so we can coordinate purchases.
    • Possibilities include:
      • Erosion control on Cyndi’s hill 
        • Potential path (i.e., wood chips) to guide people to walk at base of hill rather than on the hill
        • Might need to grade the path some and set up edging to keep the wood chips from washing away
      • Wash, sand, and repaint/reseal the benches at the playground/tot lot. 
      • Build trash can enclosure for the trash can by the tot lot (Sandy).
      • Plant bulbs around the cluster.
      • One of the steps on the hill by Duncan’s old house is missing and should be replaced.
  • Socialization – Decided to delay community BBQ until this summer based on current social gathering guidelines and to give more people a chance to get vaccinated. This will be mentioned in the next newsletter.
  • Cyndi will lead and direct residents to various projects since Kristina works on Saturdays.

Parking lot rejuvenation – Zoom meeting with Tri-technologies on Wednesday March 24th at 7pm

  • Kristina is also looking at resealing the parking lot with Finley Asphalt and Dominion Paving rather than going with rejuvenation 
  • Estimate will include evaluation to determine if we are still on track for grind and mill in 2025

Erosion – Some work can be done on Cyndi’s hill during Cluster Clean Up

Tree Work – Pausing tree work due to pending cicada swarm. Planting new trees will wait until fall or next spring.

Landscaping – Sandy will look at planting more bulbs and flowers around the cluster. 

Snow/Ice – No real updates.

Concrete – Cyndi will reach out to Juan about replacing steps in front of Nick’s house as well as sidewalk surrounding steps.

Garbage/Recycling

  • Kristina got quotes from other companies
  • American Disposal Services quote was slightly under what we pay Bates 
    • Kristina will look into their capabilities to get more information
    • Do they already have customers that get pick up trash on Mondays and Thursdays? 
  • Waiting for estimates from Waste Management and Republic

Cluster Connect – RA’s newsletter to clusters in Reston

  • Wheelwright Board getting the RA’s newsletters and will forward to other board members 

Next meeting 

  • April 8th at 7 pm via Zoom

Wheelwright Cluster Board Meeting – February 11

Board Attendees: Kristina, Sandy, Cyndi, Kelly, Ruthie

Members: 2207

Community Updates

Parking lot rejuvenation – Kristina talked to someone at Tri Technologies and she will send someone out to look at our parking lot to give us an estimate. Might be too late to try this option. Kristina spoke with someone else at an HOA that had the rejuvenation done by Tri Technologies. The work quality was great, but she seemed unsure that it was a better option than asphalt seal coating. Grind & mill schedule for 2025, but the parking lot seems like it needs work. Tri Technologies offered to give a 15-20 min presentation at the next meeting. Sandy suggested getting a prospectus for how long the rejuvenation would last. Effectiveness reported to be better when it’s put on early after the grind & mill (within 4 years and then subsequent 4 years to extend the need for another grind & mill). Kristina will do more research.

Erosion – Kristina spoke with Chris Hughes and looked at Cyndi’s hill. Discussed planting to help stabilize the hill and asked about putting in pavers so that people can get behind the houses along that row. He will give us an estimate for the work and we can look at what we might be able to do on our own.

Tree Work – Sandy said nothing is going on with tree work at the moment. There could be a tree credit for the over trimmed holly tree that could be used toward labor for planting a new cherry tree (which we would have to buy) or grinding of stumps (which would require us to pay for renting a grinder). Sandy agreed to get numbers on the cost of cherry tree and grinding equipment rental. Not sure what the tree credit is, so Sandy will ask Chris.

Landscaping – Sandy talked with homeowners with concerns about damage done (divots) to their yards when the crew last came through for mowing.  Chris Hughes said he would reseed this spring for those who had their yards seeded.

Snow/Ice – Peyton has come out to handle the snow and ice when needed. We could get a bucket of sand for the playground area or check with Peyton on how much it would cost to sand and/or salt common areas.

Concrete – Cyndi hasn’t contacted Juan yet because it’s too early in the season. Areas have been identified last year, but Juan needs to walk the neighborhood to assess if more areas have become problematic over the winter.

Siding color palette/door colors? – DRB application – Sandy still working on it. Cluster residents should meet in a special session (or roll it into a regular board meeting) to discuss door colors. We need approval from the Cluster before we can submit new door colors to DRB. Or, if our HOA guidelines don’t require a meeting, we can notify the cluster of the change using a flyer and that appears to be sufficient based on DRB guidelines. Kristina will look through the cluster guidelines to determine what is required. Sandy agreed to have a color palette for the doors by the next meeting so we can proceed one way or another.

Composting – A new compost bin has been installed by the playground. Sarah is the contact and agreed to maintain. Sandy is going to laminate the Do’s and Don’ts. Cyndi pointed out that there are discrepancies between the newsletter and the graphics provided by Sarah. Kristina will double check the different versions and send a copy to Sandy to laminate instead. 

Garbage/Recycling – Kristina talked to Teresa about the communication problem as to when garbage and recycling are supposed to come, particularly when it changes due to weather conditions. Kristina will reach out to Republic, American, and other waste management companies for updated quotes. Waste Management appears to accept new business, so we could try to contact them to see if they would serve our area again.

Parking registration – 42 homeowners have responded via online form or paper document! That leaves 20 homes not registered. It appears that many homes have more than two cars, which is against our guidelines. We will keep an eye on it to make sure that parking is still available. We can send out reminders as needed.

RA HOA cluster meet and greet – Sandy attended. Got a lot of good information on DRB application. 135 clusters in Reston. 

  • Meet & greet available to view online via YouTube. Survey sent to clusters to determine how cluster boards engage with their constituents. 
  • RA is trying to get a list of contractors and vendors and which clusters use those contractors and vendors so that we can determine which vendors are good to work with and not good to work with. 
  • RA is looking for ways for clusters to connect to each other and looking toward clusters to work with RA to facilitate those connections. Several new people joined the website after Sandy shared the information. 
  • RA has discount codes for Sherwin Williams 30-40% off so we can contact them to get that information. Sherwin Williams has a point of contact we can use and work with. 
  • RA is pushing clusters to go back and update guidelines and color palettes. RA will enforce whatever is in our guidelines, so if we don’t want those out-of-date products we need to submit new guidelines. 
  • Sandy discussed door colors and door styles with them. They shared new door styles that have been submitted and already been approved, which is a good sign that we can get the doors we want (especially if another cluster already has that door approved).
  • RA has revised DRB situations. There is now a 30-day turnaround. Previously the time was 5 months. RA is working on digitizing cluster standards so we will be able to go online to look at other clusters and see what they already have approved. Fences, decks, siding, and trim decisions now take place in the covenants committee to avoid going into additional committees.
  • When updating guidelines, we need to pay attention to wording so that older, original versions can be grandfathered in (except in cases like the color palette where we want only the new colors).
  • Sandy will look for a way to get us on future RA cluster DRB info meetings

Climate planning meeting in Fairfax County – Kristina attended. Action plan being put together to develop environmental standards and changes they want implemented in Fairfax County and they want to engage the community as much as possible. Group is looking for help from HOAs, churches, and other community groups to get their new standards and guidelines communicated to the public.

Financials

Treasurer went over monthly financials

  • P.O. Box fee went up. 
  • HOA fees will need to go up, probably up by $20 per quarter to increase operating budget. Previous increases in dues were put into capital costs rather than operating expenses, so we may have spent from capital costs to cover operating costs. Kelly will look into this in more detail.
  • Other clusters charge $270 to $350 per quarter, but some of these clusters have 100 or more homes so their budgets are much larger. Kelly will inquire what services these clusters provide to their residents. 

Next meeting 

  • March 11th at 7 pm via Zoom


News this Week (November 9-13)

Concrete work has been scheduled to start on Monday, November 16, 2020, due to rain in the forecast this week.

Bright Construction, due to anticipated rain next week,  concrete work is scheduled to commence Monday 11/16. Cyndi will be meeting with him next week to mark the sidewalk sections and he’ll be providing traffic cones to mark the parking spaces to be vacated for the work access. Any homeowner wanting work done must send a signed contract and deposit or pay in full with a signed contract by Monday, 11/9.

Fairfax County Help with Heating Bills this Winter

If you think you, or someone you know, will need some help paying for your energy bills due to heating this winter, you can apply for assistance from Fairfax County’s Energy Assistance Program. Applications are due by November 13.

Fairfax Count Recycling Webinar

Will be held virtually on Monday, November 16. See the flyer below.