Town Crier Articles

It always seemed like a thankless job – not quite in power, advisory to a Developer Board of Directors that could overturn whatever you planned or expected, acting as a sounding board for everyone’s complaints, and responsible for “day-to-day oversight” without the ability to actually task or hold our Managing Agent, Town Management, accountable. Yet since September 2010 New Town has been blessed to have had a group of residents who volunteered to serve on the Residential Advisory Board (RAB) as the eyes and ears of the community. Better yet, many of these members served for multiple terms!

 

 

The charter of the RAB described one of their challenging purposes - to “advise the Board as to the consensus of the Members on Association matters and bring to the attention of the Board matters of special concern.” Hmmm, there’s that word “consensus”…Consider some of the dicey issues the RAB had to grapple with:

·       establishing committees

·       building a community pool

·       lack of meeting space

·       community garden

·       covenant violations

·       starting home maintenance inspections

·       changing landscape contracts

·       trash & recycle bins (debated since 2013 – yikes!)

·       integrating the Village Walk development into the NTRA

·       replacement reserves

·       how to keep residents involved in the association and their community neighborhoods

 

 

With the new homeowner Board of Directors taking office this month, the RAB will no longer exist. So on behalf of all residents of New Town, THANKS to all who stepped up for your service through the years. We may not have always agreed and you may not have always felt community support, but we are glad you were there.

 

 

RAB members have included:

 

 

(My apologies if we have missed someone in reconstructing this list. Know that we are grateful to you also!)

 

On Monday, April 6 th , the New Town Book Clubs’ Little Library was installed and dedicated on the Elizabeth Davis Green across
from the pool. Although the Library won’t be open for donations until the pandemic recedes, it was decided to go ahead to the degree possible, in anticipation of better times. The Library is dedicated to Sharon Keith, former New Town resident and a founder of the Wednesday Book Club. Sharon and her husband Bob lost their lives following a car accident
last April.

 

In order to achieve safe social distancing, those at the dedication with me were limited to Lucy Painter and Daisy Henna of the Women Who Read (Thursday) Club, and Janet Hoffman and Betsy Darling of the Wednesday Book Club. All Club members were thanked for their generous financing of the effort.

 

Other “thank yous” went to

 

The ceremony ended with a final dedication to community, perseverance and hope. Grand Opening plans will be
announced as soon as possible. In the meantime, come check it out on a walk around the neighborhood!

 

Over a week before Governor Northam called for full quarantine restrictions throughout the Commonwealth due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our Edgeworth Park at New Town Assisted Living and Memory Care community, under the direction of Executor Director, Jennifer Henning, began procedures for battening down the hatches.  The facility had already been maintaining CDC flu precautions since October of 2019, and on March 9th, an email went out from the Director’s Desk to all resident families assuring them of the facility’s habitual use of approved disinfectants throughout the building and of the staff’s faithful adherence to all CDC and Virginia Department of Health guidelines.  A sincere appeal was also made at that time that if a resident family member was ill to refrain from visiting their loved ones.  On March 12th, the Executive Director sent two additional emails out, one to all employees and the other to all residents and resident family members.  The former enlisted all staff personnel to help keep the Edgeworth Park Family safe and fight to keep the virus out of the community, reminding them of their training and itemizing the procedures they were to continue to follow with even greater diligence; the latter reminding residents of handwashing hygiene and social etiquette when sneezing or coughing --and requesting that all family members refrain from visiting the community until further notice in an effort to limit potential exposure to the virus.  On March 17th, the Governor called for quarantine of all Virginia residents; and on March 18th, Edgeworth Park escalated the request that families refrain from visiting to the notice of a full prohibition to the site of all but essential employees and healthcare providers of compassionate care.

 

Further precautions were taken as the weeks of quarantine progressed.  Strict guidelines for screening staff and approved care providers were instituted at the front desk, staff received daily reminders as to the need for diligence in maintaining the best hygiene practices possible and the importance of social distancing, and nurses were directed to faithfully take resident temperatures, every day.   Unfortunately, additional precautions for the residents were more intrusive with the cessation of outside excursions, regularly scheduled group activities, salon appointments, and communal dining (the last requiring that all meals be served to residents in their apartments).  In instituting these changes and meeting all needs, Executive Director Henning shared that the biggest challenge has been in continually educating the staff as they are key in keeping residents and their fellow co-workers safe. Henning requested the dire necessity for their self-identification if they or a family member happen to come in contact with the virus or with someone who has.  Nurturing families through this crisis has also been difficult, as separation has been very hard on both the residents and those they love.  Understandably, realization of the gravity of the situation by the residents and their families has been slow but with it has come understanding, acceptance, and gratitude for what the Edgeworth Park owners, management team and employees have instituted for the safety of all concerned.

 

But most problematic during the quarantine has been the disruption in the otherwise fun and busy lives of Edgeworth Park’s residents.  Marketing Director, Victoria Bowen, and Activities Director, Kim Roberts, have worked very hard to make the effects of the quarantine less impactful on their residents and family members.  Not surprisingly, because of the separation and inactivity caused by the quarantine, depression and loneliness for the residents have been of great concern.  Consequently, concerted efforts are made, daily, to keep families connected and residents busy and entertained.  To “stay connected,” iPads have been distributed to employees and FaceTime and Skype sessions encouraged between residents and their families. Every day, the staff send personal messages and pictures to family members and pictures of their loved ones. Regular posts to Edgeworth Park’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn keep friends and family up to date on the excitement happening despite the circumstances. When possible, staff members accommodate family visits by way of a facility window. No less important are the creative ways in which the owners, management team, and staff members are keeping residents entertained and the community’s morale up.  A “Cheer Cart,” containing snacks, beverages, games, books, and DVDs, visits each resident apartment, two times a day. The activities team goes above and beyond their normal programming by giving simple shampoo and style salon treatments to those requesting the service, and favorite gatherings such as ice cream socials, Bingo, and wine-tasting sessions have been modified by holding them more often but with fewer attendees to comply with social distancing.  Walks and games in the enclosed courtyard and gardening are encouraged, as well.

 

While keeping resident and staff morale up has been priority, inventive ways to meet that need have not been found wanting.   Recently, a “Spirit Week,” was launched which saw a week jammed packed with silliness to keep spirits up and the blues away.  Specialty foods were used and “dress-up” by the staff and residents around a specific, daily theme--Pajama Day, Character Day, Wacky Tacky Wednesday, Throwback Thursday, Tourist Day—encouraged.  Adding to the festiveness of the week, a jelly bean count and raffle was also initiated. Was it a success?  Indeed, for while Edgeworth Park is a community offering assisted and memory care, it is first and foremost a family comprised of people and those who care about and for them.  There is a tangible sense at Edgeworth Park that everyone is partnering with each other to fight the threats of the pandemic, together--and goodwill abounds.  Family comes first; and in a crisis, family comes together, giving each of its members strength.   The well-being of the Edgeworth Park Family is paramount at Edgeworth Park, the key reason why precautions were taken early against the pandemic, efforts to cheer and sustain during isolation have been maintained, and unlike other similar facilities in our area, the decision to restrict new resident occupancies until the pandemic quarantine has been lifted was decided upon by both the community’s owners and management team. That decidedly speaks to “The Edgeworth Park Difference.”  All to keep the Edgeworth Park Family well and safe. 

 

We have an insidious invader in New Town, a deceptively pretty and even delicate foliage that sports bright, lime-green leaves on slender stems.  This is Japanese Stiltgrass, also known as Eulalia or in Latin, Microstegium vimenium.  If looks can be deceiving, then Stiltgrass is the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing, offering incursion tactics extremely hard to combat. Even where the grass has been established for a short time, it forms a dense mat of ground cover with leaves growing up to 40 inches long and rooting at the stem nodes, deadly to all other plant growth and efficiently preventing regeneration of forests, fields, and home gardens, thereafter. Within just three to five years, the plant creates impenetrable, single stands which crowd out native herbaceous vegetation with alarming precision, reducing the growth and flowering of native species, suppressing entire native plant communities, altering and/or overwhelming insect colonies, slowing plant succession, and altering nutrient cycling. Only the full eradication of Stiltgrass will assure the recovery of native species, both plant and insect, from the destruction that it brings. 

 

This curious aggressor prefers moist soil that is shaded from full sun.  It is found in marshes, ditches, low-lying woods, floodplains, woodland borders, damp fields, woodland thickets, lawns, and along stream sides and roadsides. Wet soils that have periods of standing water are not suitable for Japanese Stiltgrass.  Regardless, its seeds can survive and germinate after extended periods of inundation. Although moderately prolific, with a single plant typically giving rise to as many as 1000 seeds, the seeds remain viable in the soil for three to five years, and the plant can spread rapidly, particularly following a disturbance such as flooding or mowing.  An additional means of rapid growth of this grass is via the white tail deer, which, while not feeding on the grass itself, remove its competition by feeding on other native plant species of wood and field.

 

 

Proper identification of Japanese Stiltgrass is crucial in the war against growth.  It’s lime-green leaves, four to five inches in length and half an inch wide, taper at both ends and should not be confused with Wavyleaf Grass, whose sheaths and stems are noticeably hairier than those of Stiltgrass.  Waveyleaf Grass is also an invader, though with somewhat weaker abilities, and eradication of the two would require very different tactics.  Stiltgrass is an annual plant, beginning its life cycle from a newly germinated seed each year. Waveyleaf grass, on the other hand, is a perennial that can reemerge from an established root system to spread its seeds. Recognizing these life cycle differences is key to establishing an effective control strategy for Stiltgrass.

 

With warmer weather and the opportunity for outdoor activities, families want to know – what’s happening at the New Town community pool playground? You may have noticed that for the past year or so the playground becomes a soggy bog after heavy rain periods. This condition is affecting its use.

 

The NTRA also received $20,000 in funds from New Town Associates in 2017 for additional equipment at the playground. However, no money has yet been spent and there is no timeframe for when all the playground issues will be resolved.

 

To recap how we got here: In 2016 residents successfully reversed a proposal from the developers to eliminate any further playgrounds in New Town. James City County Supervisors agreed in July 2016 to abide by the decision of the New Town Design Review Board and RAB as to whether an additional playground would be built in the Chelsea Green neighborhood as originally designed in the New Town Master Plan.

 

A workgroup of residents met throughout late 2016 to review whether another playground should be built and if not, consider upgrades that might be possible to the main playground near the pool.  This committee consulted with residents of Chelsea Green, the playground equipment company, and James City County. In March 2017 the RAB approved their recommendations not to build a playground in Chelsea Green and to add umbrellas and an additional structure to the pool playground. In particular, the playground group felt that the use of some type of shading device would protect users from the seasonal heat and rain, thus enhancing the area’s use.

 

In April 2017, the RAB Chairman met with the developer who agreed to fund a new slide, a handicapped swing, additional tables, benches, and umbrellas.  In August 2017, the RAB accepted $20,000 payment from New Town Associates for such equipment and in fulfillment of the James City County proffers regarding playgrounds.

 

Cost then became a factor, since estimates for the recommended additional equipment exceeded the funds provided by the developer. The RAB initially proposed to cover an additional $15,000 expense through a combination of the NTRA budget and a fundraising effort. In November 2017 the RAB also asked that the playground group provide a revised list of equipment to match the $20,000 funding. However, in February 2018 the playground group deferred and asked the RAB to make the final decision considering their prior recommendation for a slide and shade equipment. They further encouraged the association to take advantage of promotional sales.

 

In June 2019 the RAB asked Town Management to research the cost of a slide, handicapped swing and at least two umbrellas for the pool playground. They also recognized that the drainage at the playground had become a problem.

 

In July 2019 New Town’s landscape contractor met with Town Management concerning the drainage problem. The location of the playground is poor with no drainage system provided for runoff from the hard surface of the pool area as well as the interior sidewalk from Roper Park. Their initial estimate of the cost to correct the issues was $18-$20,000. In October 2019, the RAB asked Town Management to obtain at least two additional cost estimates and to consult with a professional and recommend an appropriate solution to fixing the drainage problem. In December 2019, the engineering consultant, AES, had not yet completed its analysis and the RAB asked Town Management to expedite the report.  The RAB further confirmed that funds for this repair should be considered maintenance and taken from the NTRA Reserve Account and that any new playground equipment be purchased using the $20,000 from New Town Associates. AES subsequently provided its engineering analysis and Town Management is in the process of obtaining additional bids.

 

According to Tim Grueter, Senior Community Manager at Town Management, “there are few companies who do this kind of work.” Only one additional bid is available. The second construction company proposes a multi pipe drainage system to correct runoff in multiple locations, similar to a fix provided for a James City County park with a similar problem. Complicating any cost estimate is the fact that the current playground equipment is cemented in place, requiring a contractor to manually dig around the structures to install drainage pipes.

 

Until the drainage problem is resolved, the RAB is reluctant to install any new equipment, according to RAB Chair, Chuck Stetler.

The bottom line - should your family expect a mud-free and shaded summer at the playground this year? Probably not.

 

Message from the Chair of the RAB.

 

The holiday season is in full swing.  We’ve just finished a Thanksgiving food fest and now it’s time for shopping, football games, more food, and enjoying the company of friends and family.   

  

 It is party time here in New Town at Legacy Hall on Friday, December 13th from 6:00PM till 9:30PM.    So gather up your family and join your neighbors for a night of fun and good food at our annual holiday party.

 

Mark your calendar also for the annual NTRA meeting on December 5 that Legacy Hall, starting at 6:00PM.

 

There was a budget town Hall meeting on November 21st at Legacy Hall.  It was well attended by residents from all communities within New Town. Good questions were asked of the committee and subsequently generated more in-depth questions to be answered.

 

Planning for the transition from developer to homeowner control has been in the works for several months.  A transition committee will be named shortly to continue the planning so all runs smoothly before and after the turnover.

 

A quick reminder that there is a new company taking care of the processing of your quarterly dues payment. Alliance Bank will now be in charge instead of BB&T starting January 1, 2020.  No change in anything else as far as payment procedure.

 

Happy Holidays to all.