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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Fearrington Homeowners Association

MAY   2003  MINUTES

DATE:         MAY 6, 2003

PRESENT:    Frank Chut, John Custer, Jerry Gaudet, Mary Hammond, Nancy Kern, Al Lebeau, Jay Olson

ABSENT:    Joyce Berg, Richard Bird, Cynthia Jones

GUESTS:     Marilyn Band, Jim Granger, Carol-Ann and Forrest Greenslade, Tom Hauck, Bill Kern, Joy Metelits, Bob and Nancy Oram,

APPROVED:  June 3, 2003 

President Kern called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. and welcomed guests.

1. Resident input-none

2. The April minutes were approved.

3. Treasurer Frank Chut presented his monthly report (Appendix A). With 25% of the year completed, receipts in most income categories are consistent with expectations with exception of interest income, which has been discussed previously. The 19 month CD at CCB was not rolled over since income would have been only a little over I %. Instead the funds were put into a 90-day CD yielding a little less than I % with the hope that interest rates would increase over the next several months. Total expenses for March are also consistent with budget expectations. The one big exception was that printing expense for the Directory was about $1,000 below budget. Editor Mike Cotter obtained a lower bid than before. Also Federal Taxes were about $500 below budget because of sharply lower interest Income.

4. Issues requiring immediate attention-none

5. Old Business-none

6. New Business-none

7. Committee Reports

a. Community affairs - President Kern reported for Cynthia Jones who was unable to attend. She stated the Easter egg hunt was successful.

b. Gathering Place-President Kern reported for Joyce Berg who was also absent. She stated Jeanette Chambers had been doing an excellent job running the GP and there were no problems.

c. Grounds and facilities Chair John Custer reported on the progress of sign painting. He needs more volunteers and had advertised on the website. He made several brief announcements. Spring Cleanup is May 12-16. He asked all residents have debris at street side for pick-up by May 13, as only one pick-up will occur. Four volunteers had signed up for maintenance of the flower pods and he will be contacting them soon. Bush Creek roadsides have been aerated and fertilizer will be spread soon.

He then presented a motion. "The driveway and parking area at the Smokehouse Kiosk is gravel. At the time the site was conveyed to FHA by Fitch Creations, the board asked that Fitch blacktop the area. He ignored our request and we accepted the transfer without prior paving.

There have been requests over the years to pave the area. FHA ran a short, informal survey earlier this spring. We posted a questionnaire in the kiosk asking people's opinions. About a fifth of the kiosk users responded and the majority of these people favored paving. Nevertheless, there is a significant group of kiosk users who favor the gravel parking area.

The gravel has been maintained a number of times, but in a superficial way.

Now, potholes and ruts occur with considerable frequency. This is not surprising. Traffic patterns are circular rather than straight. This geometry coupled with the stopping and starting of cars exacerbates the situation.

I have gotten preliminary prices for two courses of action: 1. Perform a major upgrade of the gravel structure by scraping, replacing and re-compacting the base and then placing a new top course of aggregate. This would cost $1,750. The contractor estimates that an annual maintenance, at a cost of approximately $200, would keep the area in good shape. 2. Pave the area: Fine grade the existing stone base; add 2" stone base; place and compact 2" asphalt surface course; and layout and paint pavement markings. The cost of this work would be $11, 500.

At this time I favor the upgrading of the gravel rather than paving. There is not a convincing groundswell for the paving, and the expense would reduce our reserves. I do believe that future budgets should include a significant amount for work of this type.

The Motion - I move that the board approve the expenditure of up to $2,000 for upgrading of the gravel driveway and parking area at the Smokehouse Kiosk."

The motion was discussed in detail. Marilyn Band stated that potholes usually recur within weeks of repairs. How would this plan be better? Custer said more extensive grading is planned and aggregate rock will be used instead of gravel. Carol -Ann Greenslade commented that the worse potholes are at the exit. Could about 10 feet of the driveway near the road be paved? The point was made from the residents that although only 25 % responded to the majority did want it paved. Frank Chut asked which would be cheaper, in the long run one paving or many repairs to the gravel? Custer said long term paving might be cheaper. John Custer said he needed to pursue the cost of partial paving as an option and withdrew his motion.

d. Gathering Place Office-none

e. Covenant concerns- Jay Olsen, Director, stated he had no problems to report. Jerry Gaudet asked about some changes in Camden and Olsen stated that Camden Park had a separate covenant committee.

f. County Liaison Chair Al Lebeau presented his report, which is attached. (Appendix B). He drew special attention to Chatham County's request for federal funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to create a volunteer citizens group, which would be called on to help in times of disaster. The Citizen Corps would consist of members from the county who would volunteer their services year round. Some of the services needed would be bilingual volunteers, ministers, medical doctors, dentists, and veterinarians. The goal of the Citizen Corps is to make the county a safer place in which to live and work and play and provide the opportunity for all people to participate. The Corps would focus on homeland security, disaster management, personal safety and public health issues.

Chatham County Commissioners are soliciting the support of other county commissioners throughout the state in their effort to obtain a favorable decision to construct the state's new mental health hospital in Chatham County. In addition, Rep. Joe Hackney recently introduced a bill into the state House of Representatives to construct the new hospital in Chatham County. To support Rep. Hackney's efforts the Commissioners offered the state a portion of the county owned 459-acre property near the Wal-Mart in Siler City at no cost to the state.

The County Commissioners in a 4 - 1 vote rejected a request by Triangle Brick to waive a $17,523.39 late tax penalty citing poor health of an employee. While the County's tax administrator, Kim Horton, reported the company was a model taxpayer and had never been late in prior year payments but the Commissioners decided they did not want to set a precedent.

8. Resident input - John Custer spoke for the residents in regard to problems with the water company. They have no responded to multiple problems with fire hydrants, have performed partial repairs and damaged property.

He also spoke for the Board in thanking Jim Granger and Creekwood for the invitation to the Board to attend their recent celebration of their new kiosk. He commented how well the neighborhood had worked together on several issues. Other members of the board also thanked Granger for inviting them. Jim Granger brought pictures of the presentations and entertainment at the party.
Marilyn Band asked about the proper mailing address Pittsboro vs. Fearrington Village that many see on incoming mail. If the 9 character zip codes are used, some come up as Fearrington Village for mass mailings. The post office suggests continuing to use Pittsboro.

Carol-Ann Greenslade suggested linking our emergency plan to FEMA and this will be passed on to Cynthia Jones.

Jim Granger reported on the Deer Committee and Questionnaire. 200 questionnaires have been returned. The committee would really like more so they can get a more representative sample and more resource persons. They hope to report by early June. Carol-Ann Greenslade asked about the committee's mission and goals. Granger said they want to gather more information; interactive with the community by interviewing individuals, make recommendations to the board and interface with other agencies and groups to share our findings.

A suggestion was also made to have a place on the FHA website where people can report deer related disease or accidents.

9. Nancy Kern announced that there would be a town meeting on 5/22/03. Evy Barrow will present the long range planning committee report and Bob Eby will present a progress report on the development of the compact community ordinance. She will post announcements for the community. The Meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.


Respectfully submitted,
Mary Hammond, Secretary