Town Crier Articles

Now that we have all, I’m sure, studied the primary Declaration for New Town and the Supplementals, we can peruse the Bylaws in our big fat notebooks or e-document. 

 

Our Bylaws delineate the roles, powers, and duties of the Board and establish the guidelines for conducting business. They also cover varied obligations such as insurance, address the role of the managing agent, and mandate some committees (e.g., Architectural Review) while allowing for others (e.g., Neighborhood Advisory Committees which was used for the original authorization for the Residential Advisory Board). 

 

The caveat, of course, is that these existing Bylaws were written by or for the Developers, New Town Associates, LLC. Although the original Bylaws made some provisions for the day when New Town would be turned over to the homeowners, they are clearly no longer pertinent to our position as an independent Homeowners Association. 

 

Many parts are just simply irrelevant now. Some examples:  A great deal is said about Mortgagees since the lenders were of primary importance to the Developers in the early days of New Town’s development. Section 4.2 allows the (Developers) Board “from time to time elect to have the Association treated as a ‘homeowners association’” to satisfy IRS regulations. The list goes on…

 

Other parts of the Bylaws are in conflict with best practices: Section 4.3, for instance, says that “The Developer or an affiliate of the Developer may be employed as Managing Agent.” It thus allowed the Developer to hire Town Management even though there was a family relationship between the President and one of the Developers. Importantly, real practices are sometimes different than what is stated in our current Bylaws. They call for the Annual Assessments of our individual properties to be established in accordance with “the Declaration and these Bylaws,” yet they are currently not calculated in the manner prescribed. 

 

Clearly, all of our governing documents, including the Bylaws, must be redone to reflect our new self-governance. The NTRA Board is working (with an attorney) on the re-write, so stay updated. You will need to vote when this work is complete!

The NTRA Activities committee will be hosting a Pizza Party at the pool on July 9 5:30 - 7:00. Join in the fun!

 

 

All Committees are currently seeking resident members / volunteers / contributors. Please contact us NTRAwebsitecommittee@gmail.com to express your interest in one of the following

COMMUNICATIONS - help with the crier, social media & website

ACTIVITIES - help plan fun activities for residents

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW - establish & enforce guidelines & standards

ASSET MAINTENANCE - maintain function and aesthetics of community properties

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS - coordinate communications with local emergency services, provide direction to relief in event of emergency

FINANCE COMMITTEE - advise Board of Directors on NTRA financials and funding

LANDSCAPE ADVISORY - keep New Town beautiful, govern landscaping operation, planning, maintenance, and changes by property owners

POOL COMMITTEE - create and maintain standards and policies for our community pool

 

 

Which deal do you prefer? Why not try both!

             

 

    That’s it – no security system signs, no gardening signs, no personal signs of any kind. And signs are proliferating – there are at least 11 different varieties of security systems signs throughout our neighborhoods.
     

Gas prices being what they are, this might be a good time to look for activities even a little closer to home than the usual fare offered here. The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation has the perfect answer for those living in a wide variety of zip codes, including 23188.

                     

 

They likely won’t use this exact phrase but ask residents of New Town why they live here and most of them will point to the development’s philosophy of “New Urbanism.”

 

In short, New Urbanism refers to a community of homes and businesses that buck traditional design by interspersing homes and businesses among one another. Residents can live above restaurants like Center Street Grill, look over at trendy stores like Trader Joe’s, walk to Regal Cinema, Sola Salon Studios, Barnes & Noble and American Family Fitness. There’s even a small seasonal vegetable stand in the parking lot between Williamsburg institution Paul’s Deli and Ironbound Gym.

 

They can opt for inviting views of wooded areas or the community swimming pool. There’s something for every taste here, enhanced by businesses that front broad, brick-lined sidewalks, wide crosswalks, bike racks, streetlamps and welcoming benches.

 

At the heart of New Town’s public square is a fountain, with jets of water that arc toward the center – a striking feature that traditional development abandoned in the slide toward strip malls geared toward motorists.

 

Yet regardless of how well maintained, how eclectic and how welcoming a community is, the pandemic, supply problems and the nation-wide shortage of workers can have a negative impact anywhere.

 

According to an April article in The Wall Street Journal, roughly 200,000 establishments closed just during the first year of the pandemic. Even as we come out of the pandemic, the Federal Reserve acknowledges that many businesses continue struggling to remain open.

New Town is no exception.

 

Lately, residents say that there is a disturbing number of empty storefronts. National merchants like Pier 1 and Stein Mart have departed; other “mom and pop” businesses have followed suit. Adjacent to the movie theater, there have been at least two candy stores in the same location and two Mexican restaurants. One block or so away, two or three Italian restaurants have shuttered. Main Street seems particularly hard hit.

 

So The Crier wants to hear from you, the residents. We’ve placed a poll on the NTRA Facebook page. Tell us what businesses you would like to see come to New Town. Maybe you have a favorite restaurant you frequented when you lived somewhere else. Maybe you can envision a “Cheers”-type hangout doing well here. Perhaps a men’s clothier.

 

Here’s a chance to tell us, and the Commercial Association, what you think.

 

There is much to appreciate about New Town’s design. There are hundreds of homes within walking distance of the community’s 170 or so shops, restaurants, medical offices, personal-service options and entertainment venues. Houses often front greenspace, such as a public park. Homes of numerous styles and price points – freestanding and attached, apartments and live-aboves – welcome a diverse cross-section of residents who have a range of needs.

 

They likely also have a wide range of opinions on how what is already an excellent place to live could be even better. We’re anxious to hear them. Go to our Facebook page and tell us your choice for new businesses.

The NTRA Activities Committee hosted an ice cream social at the community playground on (a very hot) June 13 and drew families from throughout New Town to enjoy cool treats. What an amazing turn-out for our first, in-person event of the summer! The Activities Committee was happy to see the community come out on a beautiful afternoon to enjoy the pool and ice cream! We would also like to announce the RAFFLE WINNER: Nancy Collins! Congratulations, Nancy! We hope you enjoy your next movie at Regal New Town! 

 

  

 

    

Every summer we like to introduce you to our community pool lifeguards...and if you spend as much time at the pool as my family does, they sort of become family. This year both of our lifeguards have traveled here from Jamaica.

 

For Trace Beckford, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica is home. He's a father of two who enjoys soccer and describes himself as cool, humble, and hard working. He enjoys playing soccer in his spare time and says his favorite dish from home is Curried Chicken & White Rice. 

 

Your other lifeguard, Richard White, hails from Setmore, Jamaica. Richard describes himself as quiet and calm and enjoys swimming and working out when he's not life guarding. His favorite traditional dish from home is Aki & Saltfish.

 

Please give these guys a warm welcome and introduce yourselves!

 

   

Trace

 

 

 

1. Ebooks, of which there are 25,000, can be renewed 3 times and return automatically.
2. There are 13,000 downloadable audiobooks which are a great way to “read” while walking and helpful for the vision impaired.  Once they are downloaded, they are offline.
3. There is a large digital magazine collection of 3200 issues! 
4. Streaming and downloadable music can be accessed anywhere, anytime using the FREEGAL App for a total of 3 hours, but during the pandemic it was extended to 24 hours. You can download 3 songs/week and keep them forever.
5. Streaming video is through the Kanopy App. You can get weekly updates on new videos available. The video is available for 72 hours and can be streamed to a Smart TV.
6. The last collection is Learning at Home which offers resources for teachers, school age children and librarians. There is also a section on resources which includes such topics as ancestry, life-long learning classes, languages, arts and crafts.