Sunday, January 25, 2015 More: Streets, Earth Movement ...

Having trouble viewing this email?Click here

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Garage "Dust Lip" Repair - (From Harris Lineberger, Pulte representative at RAC meetings.)

More: Streets, Earth Movement, & Contact

Information

In This Issue Streets: More Pod V Paved County Accepts Streets "Earth Movement" Governing Parties

Contacts Forwarding This Letter

Yes, we said "Dust Lip". That's the slight depression across the front edge of your garage floor where the door closes.

IF (and only if) you own a BASEMENT home, and IF there is a gap between the dust lip and the garage door in the middle, it is probably because the garage floor is settling. If that condition is "structural", Pulte will repair it under its 10 year structural warranty. On the internet, go to . At the top right, click on "Owners Entry" and at the left middle of the next page, click on "Service Requests".

Here's a link to make it easy: Del Webb Service Request

Streets: More

For the benefit of new, occasional, and/or out-of-town readers:

There is an ongoing dispute between Pulte (developer) and Lancaster County over some streets. The County's position is best understood by clicking and viewing the statement of County's legal counsel at the December 8, 2014 County Council meeting: John Weaver, Lancaster County Attorney Video This dispute does not at this time involve Sun City Carolina Lakes Community Association, our HOA. No one can answer questions from some of you to the effect: 'Can Pulte transfer these streets, (which were designed as public rights-of-way) to the HOA?' That would be conjecture which we don't do. We will however, diligently follow events and report facts as we learn them.

Pod V Paved

The streets of Pod V (the 'roller coaster' pod) are at the core of the dispute. Those streets were paved last week by Lane Construction. Steve Willis, Lancaster County Administrator and Jeff Catoe, Lancaster County Director of Public Works, stopped by Pod V on Friday the 16th to inspect the work. While here, Mr. Willis stated that Lancaster County Resolution 860 stands and the

County won't accept any additional streets unless the Council decides to change its policy.

Steve Willis, County Administrator

More Streets Accepted by County

In a deed dated January 12, 2015 and filed January 15, 2015, Pulte conveyed and Lancaster County accepted responsibility for maintaining the streets in Pods A2, P, X, and Phase 5* from Pulte. When asked for an explanation of why the County accepted these streets in spite of its resolution of December 8th, 2014, Mr. Catoe explained that the County had agreed to accept them prior to passing the resolution and therefore believed they had no choice but to execute the deed. Mr. Catoe also stated that there are no further roads planned for transfer and the County will strictly adhere to the requirements of its ordinances and its published policy going forward. As in all the previous deeds of streets from Pulte to the County, our HOA (per the deed terms) has the responsibility to maintain and/or repair sidewalks, landscaping,

storm water infrastructure, and numerous other specifically listed items outside the road right of way.

* Sometimes erroneously referred to as "EE" or "E extension". It's legal title in its plat, supplement, and deed is "Phase 5, Maps 1, 2, 3".

Follow Up On "Earth Movement"

Last week, we reported that the December board meeting minutes contained a paragraph stating that Pulte had accepted responsibility for repairing about 15 cases of earth movement around the property. A couple of these cases go back years.

First Service distributed a list of these earth movements to all RAC members. A copy is available in WORD format on the website, Community Home Page, down the left side in a folder titled "Earth Movement." If any of them involve you, you can contact First Service Vernon Kline or discuss with your RAC Rep. In addition, we learned that this list will be treated as a living document...i.e, new cases will be added and resolved through the board of directors.

Governing Parties

Continuing where we left off last week, following are additional contacts information of those who represent or work for us.

Lancaster County. The best place to find contact information is to visit the Lancaster County web site: When you get there, click on the drop down box titled "Government" to reach all the governing functions. Click on the drop down box titled "Departments" to reach the numerous departments that are part of the administration.

Sun City Carolina Lakes Community Association. Our HOA is governed by a Board of Directors which is all powerful in the policies and decisions of all aspects of the Association. Our board should be thought of as a collective group of seven people who are collectively responsible for making collective, prudent, responsible decisions which are at all times in the best interests of us, the owners.

Before we list Association contact information, its important to understand how communication between owners and the governance structure works in a wellmanaged HOA.

The vast majority of issues relevant to owners are handled by the property management company, in our case First Service Residential. The property management company is supposed to be staffed with employees who are specialists in the many subjects that impact owners. The property management company is hired by the board of directors under terms described in the

management agreement. For us, contact information is provided on our website,

In the past, if an owner had been dissatisfied with First Service performance, answers, or service, there has not been a practical path for escalating your issue other than to First Service. As we noted last week, that is in the process of changing. Our advisory committees are all working through their processes for interacting with us owners. We need to wait until we hear from them, hopefully in the near future.

But if you have a suggestion, inquiry, complaint or other issue which you think is about policy (rules, laws, finance, property, etc.) or has implications to the entire community and it is not answered, you have a right to communicate with the board as a whole. (There are currently about 4,960 of us - think what would happen if even 10% of us called or sent emails to individual board members every time we have a complaint: communication chaos) The most effective way to address our board directly about policy issues or cases relevant to the entire community is by hand delivered letter. Write a courteous, well documented, fact based letter, place it in a sealed envelope marked "Official Board Business" and address it to:

The Board of Directors Sun City Carolina Lakes Community Association C/O Christina Blue, Secretary to the Board C/O South Carolina Registered Agent Jessica Shipman

Hand deliver it to the front desk and ask for a receipt. (Because in the past, the board has refused USPS attempted deliveries at its postal address.)

Contacts (Part II)

Sun City Carolina Lakes Community Association: RAC

The Resident's Advisory Committee (RAC) was established by Pulte way back in 2008. It was originally designed to provide direct contact between owner representatives and Pulte's most senior management who were also the board of directors. In recent years, it has drifted, discussing a variety of issues, mostly about conditions of the property and grounds. As our Advisory Committees evolve, many of the issues previously discussed at the RAC will be directed to the responsible committees, e.g. property and grounds, finance, compliance, etc. The RAC will evolve its focus over time as its members choose.

Your RAC representative has volunteered his/her time and energy to have your concerns heard, to hear first hand from our governance structure, and to represent your interests. Give them a big THANK YOU for hanging in! There were many changes in members during 2014, so the list on the Sun City website is outdated by

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download