Town Crier Articles

In order to improve communications with Association Members, Ahmed Desouky, the NTRA Community Manager from Chesapeake Bay Management, holds office hours in the NTRA’s meeting room every Tuesday morning between 10 and 12 noon. The NTRA meeting room is located at 5118 Center Street, next door to the Armed Forces Career Center.  Although Ahmed will be working on his computer, feel free to interrupt him with your questions and comments.  This is a perfect time for you to get to know our manager, discuss problems in our community, and to make suggestions about ways our community could be improved.

 

Please stop by and take advantage of this weekly opportunity.

 

The NTRA uses a commercial landscaping contractor, James River Grounds Management (JRGM), to provide the Association with landscaping services throughout the year. This is a standard service for each lot and is not customized landscaping for our residents. A more customized landscaping package would cost considerably more than we are currently paying.  This article is the first of a series of Town Crier reminders that will address the landscaping services that homeowners receive from JRGM so that owners can better understand which services will be provided throughout the year.

 

Spring brings the pruning of trees and shrubs and the mulching of tree and flowerbeds to all of our neighborhoods.  So, as a homeowner what services can you expect to receive?

 

JRGM will be pruning ornamental shrubs that are less than 12 feet tall; they are scheduled to start in March, weather permitting. Services begin in the Shirley Park/Village Walk neighborhoods and move through our neighborhoods, ending in Charlotte Park. Ornamental shrubs will be pruned, thinned and/or shaped to enhance the quality of their appearance. Boxwoods and other specialty ornamental plants are generally not pruned although special exceptions can be made if requested in writing. Trees, up to 15 feet high will also be pruned as needed. If your trees are larger than 15 feet, you are responsible for their care. In addition to this spring pruning, additional pruning services will be provided two more times during the year, roughly in the summer and fall.  

 

JRGM also provides one annual mulching service for our common area landscape beds, including ornamental tree and shrub beds, and home foundation planting beds, using shredded dark brown hardwood mulch. All beds will be edged in such a way that the bed areas are not enlarged.  Prior to applying mulch, weeds will be removed from beds and pre-emergent herbicide will be applied to help control future weed growth. When this preparation is complete, mulch will be applied to achieve a total depth of 2-3 inches. (Note that old mulch is not removed during this service.) This process is nearing completion. 

 

Residents have the option to opt out of James River Grounds landscaping services if they so desire by contacting Chesapeake Bay Management, our management company.  

 

Next month we will outline what you can expect to see regarding mowing, edging, and turf maintenance.

Homeowner associations (HOAs) are responsible for providing a variety of services to their members, as spelled out in their governing documents. How do we pay for these services?

 

The New Town Residential Association has only one consistent source of funding -- the homeowner assessments (commonly referred to as HOA dues) which are authorized by our Master Declaration and State law, and paid by each homeowner.  While our income is sometimes supplemented by project grants, some investment income, and closing fees, this additional revenue contributes only a very small portion of our budget.

 

Each year the Board develops a budget and generates projected Annual Assessments to be collected for both the General operating expenses (e.g. property management, trash removal, maintenance of streetlights and landscape, shared expenses with the New Town Commercial Association, legal and administrative expenses) and the specific Neighborhood expenses of our community (home landscaping, and various exterior maintenance and inspections provided solely to the Village Walk neighborhood.) Assessments also include a contribution to reserves to fund the replacement of amenities, emergency repairs, and other unforeseen expenses.

 

When expenses exceed the total amount of income collected by the Association, the Board of Directors has a limited number of possible options. They are:

1. To increase the amount of the Annual Assessments in the following year.
2. To reduce services and thereby the associated expenses for the Association.
3. To borrow money to cover the shortfall in funding.
4. To assess each homeowner a special assessment.

Our governing documents give the Board of Directors the authority to increase the Annual assessments and to assess homeowners a special assessment. In the case of Village Walk, there is additional specific language that allows the Board to use a special assessment to raise funds “for significant repairs, replacement or maintenance projects” if the Board finds it is in the best interests of the Association and the Village Walk Neighborhood to do so. Given the continued exterior construction problems in Village Walk, the Board has discussed the likelihood of a Village Walk special assessment since 2022, and is now proceeding to define how this would occur to be both fair to Village Walk owners and fiduciarily responsible to the Association.

 

It is a serious step for any HOA Board to contemplate a special assessment. A variety of factors need to be weighed including how quickly the funding is needed, what the range of expected expenses could be, payment options, and potential financial hardship situations. Paying a special assessment is mandatory for affected owners and nonpayment can result in serious consequences for both the owner and the Association.

New Town’s second Fall Festival got off to a rocky start with heavy rain on Saturday.  Our rain date, Sunday, started with ominous looking clouds and strong winds but slowly cleared up.  Still, during set up the obstacle course tunnels and squares repeatedly went flying across the Village Walk green.  Fortunately, by the 2:00 start time, Activities Committee members had everything battened down and the witches, ghosts, pumpkins and skeletons and bats decorating the trees no long threatened to fly away.

 

Residents enjoyed popcorn, candy, Halloween decorated cookies, and cider as they ambled around the green taking in the fun of an old-fashioned fall festival which featured games and races, an obstacle course, pumpkin painting, and New Town’s version of a cake walk.  Parents relished watching their kids exhaust themselves as they ran or toddled from the toss games-pitching balls, bean bags and disks at Halloween buckets, a shark, and other objects-to the races and then to the obstacle course, where they crawled through tunnels, maneuvered through a long line of boxes and stretching themselves doing the limbo by bending backwards under a pole. Children particularly enjoyed receiving candy for every game or race they attempted and getting a ticket to pick from the prize bucket when they won. 

 

Pie Face Showdown and the Cake Walk were again crowd favorites.  In Pie Face, two kids competed at pounding a button to see who could be the first to get a lever attached to a hand to toss whipped on their opponent’s face.  The “loser” happily licked the whipped cream off their cheeks and vowed to win at their next try.  The Cake Walk, similar to musical chairs, had children and adults walking to music in a large circle around fourteen numbered signs decorated with images of fall and Halloween, competing to win a giant cookie cake.  New this year was a Halloween pumpkin egg hunt, which had kids scrambling through the bushes and reaching up to the trees for their treats.

 

Adults joined in the fun playing cornhole and croquet, painting pumpkins, and laughing as they raced their kids in old-fashioned flour sacks and in a competition requiring and contestants to run across the green with grabbers to pick up small objects and run back to the start.  It was of course enjoyable watching all the children, teens and grown ups having fun outside.

 

In fact, we had so many photo contributions from this event, that we've created a new NTRA website photo album.  You can view all the fun photos here (only a small sample is shown below.)

 

Many thanks to our 15 New Town volunteers, including members of the Activities Committee and their families, who made the event possible.

 

The next Activities Committee event is the Holiday Bake-Off and Dessert Fest on Thursday, December 7 at Legacy Hall.  (See related Town Crier article).

 

     

 

          

 

Here are 6 reasons to run for one of the three upcoming vacancies on the NTRA Board of Directors for the 2024-2025 term:

 

1.   Safeguard our property values       

          

2.   Solve problems

 

3.   Help fellow owners

 

4.   Learn about a wide range of issues

 

5.   Change the rules to improve operations

 

6.   Build community and meet new people

 

Submit your application by November 20, 2023 to ntrasecretary@gmail.com. Your one-page application should contain:

• Name
• Address
• Email address
• Name of neighborhood
• A brief bio showing your qualifications for being a Board Director
• A short statement of why you want to serve on the NTRA Board of Directors

Note:  All candidates must be owners in good standing with no outstanding dues or other violations. All owners are encouraged to apply. (Incumbent members of the 2024 Board are from Charlotte Park and Village Walk.)

 

Board terms are for 2 years. Candidate information will be posted on the NTRA website through the election period for Members to review before voting. 

As you may know, the two large stormwater retention ponds (BMP–04 and BMP–06) located adjacent to the Village Walk neighborhood are owned by CPT Settlers Market LLC. Both of these ponds have only received interim approval for use by James City County and require a significant amount of work before they can be formally accepted by the county.

 

On September 17, 2023 James City County approved the plans submitted by Settlers Market to mitigate the multitude of problems with the two ponds. This work includes the enlargement of BMP–04 by the movement of the large retention wall on the northwest side of the BMP, installing survey markers to track possible movement, outflow barrel pipe repairs, fixing erosion issues, and adding 6-foot-high fencing. Work required on BMP–06 is significantly less and includes a spillway subsidence repair, downdraw angle corrections, and adding 6-foot-high fencing.

 

This project, with an estimated cost of between $1 to $2 million dollars, went to contractors for bid on September 26, 2023. Settlers Market plans to award the contract to the best qualified contractor on October 31, 2023. It is anticipated that the demolition and reconstruction work will begin on or about November 15, 2023. The work on the project is planned to be completed next spring.

 

This project is solely the responsibility of Settlers Market LLC and will be fully funded by them alone.

 

Resident Impacts: The only access for BMP–04 is off of Trailview. As a result, the largest impact of this construction project will be on the residents along Trailview. Representatives of Settlers Market have assured the NTRA Board of Directors that access to Trailview and parking in that vicinity will not be blocked or impacted by the construction. The materials staging area and parking for construction equipment will be in the Settlers Market parking lots adjacent to Settlers Market Boulevard.

 

The community will be kept informed as this project progresses.

 

A New Town resident recently commented to a Board member about a large number of trash and recycle containers left in the streets on the Thursdays after our scheduled Wednesday trash pickups.  They asked if something could be done about the situation as it is really an eyesore and detracts from our community. Article VII, Section 7.1(p) of our Master Declaration of Protective Covenants and the 2005 NTRA Rules document as amended in 2019 addresses trash can storage. 

 

Here is what you need to know: 

• "Trash containers and refuse disposal systems must be maintained in enclosures and screened as approved by the Architectural Review Committee." (Article VII, Section 7.1p)

• "All garbage and trash stored on property shall be kept in covered containers and inside a privacy fence, shed, garage, or other concealed screened area, except when placed at the pickup site the evening prior to the pickup and removed the evening after pickup. Trash containers shall not be kept in driveways and sidewalks or in front yards." (Rules, Section II para. 39)  

However, a few home/cottages within New Town were designed without facilities for shielding trash cans. Others were designed with very small enclosures not large enough for both a trash can and a recycle bin. These homes are identified by street address here in the 2019 Rules Amendment.  Allowed locations for trash can and recycle bin storage are specified for these exceptions only.

 

The Association will begin tagging and documenting improperly stored trash and recycle containers throughout New Town. It is the Board’s desire to attain voluntary trash can and recycle bin storage compliance without having to resort to using the possible $50 per occurrence fine for violations. Please be sure that your tenants are aware of these requirements!

 

Keeping trash containers out of sight, and properly stored is a common courtesy which helps keep our community looking attractive and a pleasant place in which to live.

Our New Town Residential Association (NTRA) website was launched in March 2019. As our community grows, it’s always good to review how the site is being used. Some restructuring appeared beneficial, so a few tweaks have been made to the website layout. 

• NTRA business-related content for the site has been moved to a new tab “ASSOCIATION.”  This is an owner-access area of the website where you can find the current Committee files, Governing Documents, annual meeting packages, and financial information (now in a standalone page).

• General information for residents, including the “Report an Issue”/ticketing feature, remains under the "RESIDENTS" tab. There is a new page "Tools for Residents" to make some of the homeowner resources, like the list of neighbor suggested vendors and the Village Walk maintenance chart, more visible.  Do you have ideas for what you’d like to see linked to this page? Just let us know.

We still need volunteers to maintain the currency of our website info and to keep it relevant to the community.  Please consider sharing your skills with the Communications Committee. Writers for our monthly newsletter articles, photographers to provide new banner photos and capture events, and any techies who want to spruce up our Facebook communications are most welcome.  

Can’t find something on the new layout? Send an email to ntrawebsitecommittee@gmail.com.

 

 

Ahmed Desouky, the NTRA's new Community Manager, brings a rich and varied background to his new position.  A native of Egypt, he arrived early in the 1980’s and lived in Northern Virginia--Arlington, and then, Alexandria--until mid-decade. He then moved to the Tidewater area and lived there until 1991, at which time he married and moved back to Northern Virginia. He commutes early Monday mornings to Williamsburg and leaves after work on Friday afternoons to journey back to his home in Northern Virginia.

 

Ahmed was originally a mechanical engineer, working in the shipbuilding industry for both the Navy and the Coast Guard; and later, as a civilian in the nineties, renovating large cruise ship for a time. When the recession hit, he used his scientific and technical education to transfer to entity maintenance and management. For 28 years, he managed and maintained high-end condominiums in the Georgetown area in Washington DC until he was recruited by Chesapeake Bay Management and accepted the position of Assistant Executive Director (Colonial Heritage) in 2020.  He is now 3-months into managing New Town and believes our Board of Directors and committee members are a great team who make his work a good deal easier. His main challenges, at present, are the transition of common area ownership and maintaining the exterior of properties without changing the assessment fee.

“It is an honor to be part of the CBM team, a management team that sees customer service as its major priority. You will probably most often see me or contact my assistant, Imani, but the skills and experience provided from unseen members of our main office are the cornerstone of our stability. CBM offers the most up-to-date programs to all employees. Our monthly meetings are very effective ways to share solutions and gain new management skills. All this helps us to make sure all resident calls and emails are answered daily and that we do our best to deliver solutions to all problems and issues the same day. We work with many vendors and contractors that must be contacted for services, regularly.  These vendors, in turn, must be reviewed and approved by the Board, first--and expectations of vendor services are very high. Consequently, solutions take time. By way of example, we are working hard daily with James River Grounds Management to make sure all common and private area landscaping needs are met. Services are improving.  A slow process, but it is proving fruitful.”

 

Ahmed has travelled since an early age and enjoys exploring other places and cultures. He looks to travel as a means of adding to his store of cultural knowledge.  He enjoys cooking and creating new recipes, swimming, sailing, and modern classical music. He used to play tennis but now just enjoys sitting back watching main championships.

 

 

Imani Harris is a native-born Williamsburg resident, having been born and raised here until her middle-school years.  The family moved elsewhere when she was a young teen; but after Imani married, in October of 2022, she moved back to the Tidewater area.

 

“I graduated from Bridgewater College with a degree in Communication, Media, and Culture, and used my degree to pursue a career as a program director at various summer camps and daycares throughout the East Coast.  I have been with Chesapeake Bay Management since the beginning of April 2023. At CBM, we each have our own community for which we are responsible, but there are ultimately close to 20 communities in the Williamsburg area that CBM manages.  All CBM employees work together as a team so that we can best service our residents, whether it is for the residents of the community for which we are immediately responsible or not.”

 

Imani shared that Association management, in addition to overseeing routine maintenance needs and schedules, has many proposed projects from amazing vendors to help sustain our community’s reputation as a beautiful place to live. “I’d like to remind our residents that this information can be found on the NTRA Williamsburg website and during our monthly community Board of Directors meetings.”

 

But Imani has a very fun and exciting interest outside of her work.  She co-owns a dog treat business with her in-laws, online. It is called 4Grandpups Homemade Dog Treat Co, and its amazing offerings can be viewed at https://www.4grandpups.com/.

 

She is also pursuing various licenses within the beauty industry and is about to obtain her second license as a wax technician.