Board Buzz

 

As indicated in the August 2024 Board Buzz, the NTRA has been investigating the amendment of the Village Walk governing documents to remove the responsibility for exterior maintenance from the Association.  That investigation has been completed, and a proposed amendment to our documents has been provided by the Association’s legal counsel. 

 

We propose to rescind Article 1 Section 4 found in the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Village Walk Supplemental Declarations in their entirety. 

 

The NTRA Board of Directors will ask the Association’s members to approve the amendment to the Village Walk governing documents in November 2024.  Two community meetings will be held before the November vote and the Board will solicit written comments from owners. 

 

If passed, this amendment will give the responsibility for the maintenance of Village Walk homes to the homeowner and give the homeowner the right to determine what is done to his or her property.  It will resolve the vague language regarding maintenance and major repairs that exists in the current Village Walk governing documents.  It will allow the Association to treat every owner more equally regarding assessments.

 

It is proposed that the amendment become effective on January 1, 2026 and that the Association will move forward in the interim with the exterior maintenance repairs recommended in the Fortress consultant reports to bring the buildings to a quality standard with the exception of rooftop decks.  The goal is to have work completed before transferring the responsibility for exterior maintenance to the individual homeowner.  

 

Unfortunately, the Association’s Village Walk accounts do not have sufficient funding to support this repair work.  As a result, an additional Village Walk assessment will be required to perform this work.  This additional assessment (formerly called a special assessment – see VA Code §55.1-1825) will be based upon the Board’s estimates of the costs to perform the work outlined in the Fortress report for each individual building.  Four-story townhouses needing repair will be assessed more than the smaller two-story townhouses.  Some of this work has already been performed and more of it is being placed on contract.

 

Since the amount of the additional assessment is an estimate, it is possible that subsequent additional assessments could be required in 2025 as the repair work progresses.  At the same time, the estimate may be higher than the expenses when the actual work is performed and if that is the case, the additional assessment will be reduced including any later quarterly amounts due for that additional assessment.  

 

In short, if NTRA members approve the proposed amendment, Village Walk homeowners will be responsible for paying the costs of painting, maintaining and repairing their own home, and Village Walk annual assessments will resemble those for properties of similar size in our other neighborhoods.

 

In the event that the amendment to the Village Walk documents does not pass, Village Walk homeowners can anticipate significant increases in quarterly assessments and possible future additional assessments to pay for ongoing maintenance and repair.

So far this year the NTRA Board of Directors has taken several initiatives to improve our community and our neighborhoods. These initiatives include enacting a revised policy for use of the NTRA meeting space, and a charitable activity policy that authorized community volunteers to run a very successful New Town-wide winter coat collection drive and two food drives for the less fortunate members of the Williamsburg James City County area.  We have also honored the late Larry Salzman by naming New Town’s extensive trail system after him and posting signs created by Robert Dennis along the trail with directions to each of our neighborhoods. A volunteer effort led by David Carter has improved landscape of the stormwater retention area in Christine Court into a parklike area that can be used by our community.  Volunteer activities like these have helped unite our community. We cannot thank our volunteers enough. We would not be able to function without the efforts of the Pool Committee, the Landscape Advisory Committee, the Finance Committee, the Asset Maintenance Committee, the Architectural Review Committee, the Communications Committee and the Activities Committee.  Finally, the Board has reaffirmed the 2021 Board Resolution on Village Walk roof decks which makes their repair the responsibility of the individual homeowner.

 

We have done a lot, but the NTRA Board continues to face and deal with significant exterior building maintenance problems in our Village Walk neighborhood. The magnitude of these maintenance requirements is significantly larger than Village Walk’s available funding. The Board is considering several options to address this problem. These options include special assessments to address the painting, caulking, and siding repairs to each of the Village Walk buildings as identified in the recent Fortress Reports. Costs for performing all of this maintenance will be large.  Chesapeake Bay Management is currently soliciting proposals for performing this work which will determine the actual costs. We are also considering the possibility of spreading this charge over multiple years.  The NTRA Board of Directors is planning to make a decision on special assessments at its August 21 Board meeting.  The Board is also working to get Eagle Homes to accept responsibility for their construction defects and assist monetarily with the needed Village Walk exterior maintenance.  However, this process is proceeding slowly through legal channels and may or may not be successful.

 

As a result of the magnitude of these problems and the potential for the reduction of Village Walk resale values caused by large special assessments, the Board is also investigating the possibility of asking the community to amend the Village Walk Supplemental Declarations to remove the Association’s responsibility for exterior maintenance. This would make each homeowner responsible for their own exterior maintenance which is the case for all of the other neighborhoods in New Town.  Approval of this action by two-thirds vote of the entire NTRA community would significantly reduce future Village Walk quarterly assessments and make them similar to in our other New Town neighborhoods. It would eliminate the possibility for future exterior maintenance special assessments, and thereby help protect the resale value of Village Walk homes. The Board will solicit community input on these changes later this summer and fall.

In January 2024 the New Town Residential Association (NTRA) Board of Directors met with the President and Vice President of its Chesapeake Bay Management (CBM) and provided them with a comprehensive evaluation of their company’s performance.  This evaluation listed multiple deficiencies and management shortfalls.  The Board emphasized the fact that New Town was not receiving the quality and level of service that our community expected from a professional manager.  At that time the Board formally asked to have our community’s manager replaced and also to have the vacant administrative assistant position filled.  We were advised that it would be difficult and time-consuming to find a qualified new manager.  However, CBM agreed to immediately begin a search for a replacement manager.

 

During the next four months CBM interviewed several candidates for both positions, but did not find qualified and/or acceptable candidates for both positions.  At the beginning of May, Mr. Jim McEvoy was assigned to the New Town manager position and shortly thereafter Demetria Canaday was hired as the New Town administrative assistant.

 

Jim has extensive previous management experience in hotel, resort, and property management positions. Most recently he was the manager of seven smaller homeowners’ associations in the Williamsburg area where he successfully worked with seven separate Board of Directors and managed multiple large projects for those communities all at the same time. This experience has prepared him well to work with New Town’s six neighborhoods and unique challenges. Jim has hit the ground running and has already impressed the Board and several members of the community with his great attitude and desire to improve our community. Jim lives in Norge, Virginia and it will be nice having a local resident managing our community.  

 

Jim will be in the NTRA meeting room (5118 Center Street) every Tuesday morning between 10 and 12.  If you’re in the area, please stop by even if it is just to say hello. When you see him supervising landscaping or other projects in our community, please welcome him as well.

 

Look for more information about both Jim and Demetria here in this month's Town Crier .

 

 

Board member Sommer Wrona has been working with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) regarding the repair of the sinkhole located on Olive Drive adjacent to the stormwater retention pond.  VDOT has contracted for the concrete drain repair meeting the pond. This work will be performed in the near future and when it is complete the Olive Drive pavement will be repaired.

 

Opening of the NTRA swimming pool has been delayed due to problems with the filtration pump drawing excessive current and tripping circuit breakers which began the day before the scheduled pool opening.  The likely problem has been identified as the breaker disconnect box which is being replaced.  Since the filtration system and the associated chlorination system were not functioning reliably, the swimming pool has remained closed.  The pool will be opened as soon repairs are complete. The operational difficulties with the pool have resulted in rescheduling the pool pizza party to Saturday, June 15, 2024.

Hello, Neighbors! I like to start each activity with a bit of gratitude, so I’ll begin by thanking the NTRA Board of Directors for bringing me on as your new Treasurer. Also a big thanks to our previous Treasurer, Everett Lunsford, for remaining involved in NTRA finances as I learn the ins and outs. And finally, thanks to Dana Shotts-Neff, Chesapeake Bay Management (CBM) President and NTRA’s finance guru, for answering my endless stream of questions. My job is to be a good steward of our money, and I aim for simplicity and transparency. I’m happy to say that we’ve already been able to work together to modify some processes and move us in that direction.

 

We’ve tweaked formatting to make the layout of our financials and budget match more closely, which in turn makes comparisons of budgeted vs. actual income and spending easier to view. We’ve changed some processes for transferring money into our reserves to try to present a more accurate picture of available reserve balances each month, especially for our Village Walk neighborhood. We will reach out later this summer to our residents who may not use CBM’s online payment system and who have credits on their accounts. We want to be sure everyone who has a credit is aware of it and knows how to apply it.

 

Our 2023 financials were held open a few extra months so that we could capture all of the invoices for projects that were substantially or fully completed in 2023 but not billed until January, February or March 2024. That process is now complete, and 2023 financials are closed.

 

For NTRA, our 2023 operating income was slightly more than budgeted, and our operating expenses were under budget in most categories and under budget overall. Our NTRA Operating Reserve and Replacement Reserve both showed net increases. Major expenses from those funds were for pool maintenance/repairs, pool furniture and amenities, and work on our parks, trails, bridges and BMPs.

 

For Village Walk-specific items, our 2023 operating income was slightly more than budgeted, and our operating expenses were under budget in most categories and under budget overall. Our VW Operating Reserve showed a net loss, and our VW Replacement Reserve showed a smaller net loss. These net losses were due to painting and other exterior maintenance expenses of the VW neighborhood.

 

As we enter 2024, there are big projects on the horizon. We will be addressing the repair of community street lights, the repair and maintenance of NTRA-owned streets and alleys, the repair and maintenance of our community fences and, of course, for our Village Walk residents, the ongoing maintenance of exteriors in that neighborhood. In addition, some smaller projects have already been completed throughout our neighborhoods, and many more are yet to come.

 

I can’t end without a plea for our Finance Committee. If you are at all interested in general finance or the financial operations of NTRA, please consider joining our Finance Committee, which is in need of members. You will have the opportunity to be involved in investment strategy, budgeting, and making financial recommendations to the NTRA Board of Directors. We welcome your input.

 

If, when reviewing monthly financial reports on the NTRA website or CBM portal, you are concerned about specific financial transactions that you see, please reach out to CBM through the portal. They will share with you the process for requesting records and provide the relevant documents for your review in accordance with our policies.

 

Thank you all for your continued support of New Town. Together, we make this shared community a great place to live!

 

As required by James City County, repair work has been underway on the bioretention ponds (BMPs) adjoining Village Walk including the removal of large areas of vegetation. The contractor’s extensive cutting of vegetation is necessary for both retention ponds to be brought up to standards. If allowed to grow, root systems of trees or shrubs can intrude upon and damage vital BMP features - dams, walls, drains. Cleared paths are required to the creek areas and creek culverts.

 

More significant reconstruction work will be done on the large retention pond (near Trailside) which must be enlarged to meet County standards and drains reinstalled. The wall must be removed, moved and rebuilt requiring additional clearing of the surrounding land. Another 9 months of repair work is likely for this project.

 

We recognize that the removal of so much natural area is unsettling to neighbors. The NTRA has been assured by Settlers Market’s management company that plants and vegetation in Village Walk proper that are damaged or removed during the reconstruction of both BMPs will be replaced in kind by the contractor. All of this work is the responsibility of the property owners, Settlers Market LLC, and is overseen by James City County. 

 

 

The NTRA Board of Directors is currently exploring special assessment options to cover the Village Walk (VW) exterior maintenance funding shortfall. Owners of VW homes can expect a special assessment this year in order for the Association to continue to provide its obligated services. We want this to be as fair and reasonable as possible, but our extraordinary circumstances warrant taking this action.

 

The current VW funding shortfall has resulted from a combination of expensive investigations and repairs and underfunding. First, the unanticipated expenses, namely:

1. Individual roof repairs and evaluations undertaken prior to the widespread repairs by Eagle.
2. Replacing the failing fiber cement siding on many VW buildings, and
3. Repairing unanticipated leaks in 7 of the 43 rooftop decks which have been very costly to fix.  

Fixing these roof decks combined with the 1st building siding replacement has depleted the 2023 Village Walk replacement reserve fund.  These unforeseen and large-scale expenses for homes that are less than 10 years old are the primary cause of VW’s current funding problems.

 

Village Walk has a separate reserve fund account and financial records to isolate the contributions of VW owners. However, cumulatively low VW assessment levels prior to 2020 (when New Town was under Developer control) have contributed to the current lack of funding. The VW Neighborhood Assessment was much too low to build the reserves necessary to fund routine and expected exterior maintenance such as painting for 99 homes as required by our VW covenants. Even the 2021 revised VW Reserve study recommendations did not envision the extent of premature material and structural failures which we now face. Although the VW recommended reserve levels were fully funded in recent assessment years, the siding replacement costs will easily outstrip our resources.

 

No replacement reserve study contemplates the kind of failures VW is experiencing. While NTRA was successful in getting Eagle Construction to fix roof problems because of demonstrated shingle installation deficiencies, the recent siding investigation at the first VW townhomes did not find that the siding was improperly installed. Rather, siding failures are due to Allura siding manufacturing defects (causing cracking, warping, etc.) NTRA’s legal counsel has advised the Board that an action against the siding manufacturer has extremely limited chance of success because Allura reached a class action suit settlement in 2021.

 

The VW roof deck leaks present challenges because corrective actions have not effectively resolved all the leaks. The Association may not be successful in obtaining compensation from Eagle who has encountered similar roof terrace design/construction problems in at least one other community. It is too early to know whether we will be reimbursed. In the meantime, water intrusion does not allow for an indeterminate delay in repairs and the Association must be prudent and support these affected owners.

 

The Association has contracted for an engineering study in order to assess the full magnitude of the VW building problems. This will help provide the information that the NTRA Board needs to develop a comprehensive plan to address all of the VW siding and rooftop deck problems and determine the associated funding that will be needed.

 

 

The NTRA Board has appointed Sommer Wrona as a full-Board member through 2024, replacing Glen Mitchell who resigned in January. Everett Lunsford has been elected as Board Vice-President and Sommer will continue to serve as Association Treasurer.

2023 was a challenging year for both the New Town Residential Association (NTRA) and Chesapeake Bay Management (CBM), our management company.  As the Board of Directors indicated in our annual meeting, we have had many major successes including relocating the mailbox in Village Walk, improving our relationship with the New Town Commercial Association, holding several outstanding community activities, Village Walk roof repairs, sidewalk repairs by Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), receiving James City County matching grants and providing Internet capability and automation in our meeting room.  

 

However, we have problems in a number of areas that require attention and we are working hard to address them.  Some owners are not satisfied with the landscaping services that they are receiving, and the NTRA Board will revisit our expectations at a meeting with James River Grounds in February. Village Walk maintenance expenditures continue to rise and we are faced with numerous expensive rooftop deck and siding repairs. We have received data that points to construction defects. We will be meeting with legal counsel to address these defects with Eagle homes. Finally, we are concerned about the level of services being provided by our management company.

 

The NTRA Board of Directors met with CBM’s President and Vice President in early January 2024 to discuss our concerns about the services we are receiving and to map our way forward. Our discussion covered improving onsite supervision of our landscape and other contracts, ensuring timely follow-up on requests for manager actions, revising the processing of assessment payment checks, and documenting homeowner maintenance deficiencies and corrective actions in more detail.

 

We are working together with senior CBM management to address each of these concerns.  During our meeting, we developed several changes to our joint processes. Together, we have identified ways that services and communications to our community can be improved. Among other things, the NTRA has adjusted our budget processing calendar so that assessment information can be provided sooner - for CBM to print and timely mail the assessment coupon books and publish the information on our websites. The NTRA also will improve our assessment payment instructions for owners in order to reduce the chances for erroneous late fee charges.  

 

NTRA’s community manager will be spending more time on site in New Town supervising the work performed by our contractors including our landscaping contractor, James River Grounds. He will also be spending more time interfacing with the residents of our community. Weekly, scheduled office hours in the NTRA meeting room will be established for homeowners to meet with our manager. Violations, and all home maintenance inspections will be more fully documented with both descriptions and photographs. CBM has initiated a search for a new administrative assistant for New Town as well to help address our challenges.

 

Chesapeake Bay senior management understands our requirements and expectations. They will be working hard with the Board to improve the services that are provided to our Association.  

I am writing this on December 26, which in our home is Day 2 of Christmas’s 12-day liturgical season. In practical terms, this means that while we may or may not remove the exterior Christmas wreath on our door earlier, most of our Christmas decorations inside will remain in place until after January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. That will include our Christmas tree, easily visible from the sidewalk outside our living room window, and candles and other décor in our windows.

 

For many others in New Town and the greater Williamsburg area, however, Christmas is over after Christmas Day on December 25, and all the decorations have to come down and be stored by New Year’s Eve.

 

So, first of all, thank you NTRA for allowing people like me to observe and celebrate Christmas for a full 12 days, even though for lots of folks in New Town it may be time to pack up the December holiday décor and prepare to move on

 

Secondly, as an NTRA Board member living in one of our neighborhoods, I want to remind all our homeowners and renters that, according to our NTRA rules, exterior Christmas decorations should be removed on or before January 7. This year, January 7 is a Sunday.

 

• Street address: 4615 Town Creek Dr.

• Neighborhood: ABBEY COMMONS

While living in northern Virginia we purchased a New Town townhouse in 2006 as a second home. We observed New Town grow from the Sun Trust bank, Corner Pocket restaurant, and a few townhouses to the community it is today and find ourselves making New Town a primary residence.

 

My 20-years of service as President of an HOA in northern Virginia, prior employment as a Senior Systems Analyst, experience teaching college-level Information Systems, and Master of Science in Management give me the experience, skills, and knowledge to interpret complex issues and develop collaborative creative, economically sound solutions.

 

There are two major challenges facing our homeowner’s association:

 

First, New Town is beginning to show its age. Infrastructure wear, maintenance costs, and landscaping issues need to be addressed and resolved to keep New Town a vibrant, thriving, attractive community -- and a wonderful place to live. The resolution of these issues will require teamwork in the form of homeowner interest, input, and involvement coupled with careful planning and judicious use of both budgeted maintenance funds and reserve account expenditures by board members.

 

Second, effective two-way communication and resident involvement in issues and events continue to lag. This is detrimental to the management of the association. Communication, including timely responses to homeowners’ concerns, needs to be enhanced to better engage our residents in issues and activities. Maintaining open lines of communication between our board and management company also is essential.

 

Last year I served as the NTRA vice president and this year as president. I have worked to improve the relationship between the New Town Commercial Association and the New Town Residential Association. I have worked hard to follow our outdated governing documents and at the same time resolve our problems by doing what is right for our Association. If reelected to the NTRA board, I will continue to work on improving our community.

_________________________

 

 

Background. In January 2022, the New Town Residential Association (NTRA) stopped providing mowing and pruning services to fenced yards throughout New Town.  This decision was based upon our governing documents which contain language prohibiting: 

"mowing, edging and trimming of grass within portions of lots inside a fenced area," and  

"trimming of shrubs, trees and bushes within portions of lots located inside a fenced area." 

 

Not all of the ten supplemental documents that established the Charlotte Park neighborhood included this language. This statement was missing in Supplemental Declarations 1, 2, 3, and 4.  In fact, landscaping was not even addressed in the first four Charlotte Park supplementals.

 

The 2021 Board requested legal guidance on this overall issue and the specific Charlotte Park inconsistency. Legal counsel advised that the missing section in the first four supplementals was likely the result of a developer oversight and that the Board should follow the intent of the majority of the supplemental documents and provide landscaping for all homes in Charlotte Park with the exception of areas that were fenced. Legal counsel emphasized the fact that the NTRA Board must follow the Association’s governing documents.

 

As a result, in 2022 the NTRA Board ceased providing mowing, edging, and trimming of grass and pruning services in fenced yards throughout our community even though the Developer Boards of Directors had consistently provided this service to fenced areas. The past actions by the developer-controlled Board of Directors, multiple inconsistent HOA documents, and much misinformation became and continues to be a very contentious issue in New Town.  It needed positive resolution.

 

The NTRA Homeowner Board of Directors attempted to resolve this issue by developing and presenting a revised set of governing documents to owners in 2022 that would have provided landscaping services throughout New Town without regard to fencing. Unfortunately, although the vote in favor was very close, these votes did not reach the needed two-thirds of owners needed to pass the revised documents.

 

The interim solution. The current NTRA Board of Directors has found a work around that comports with our governing documents and provides full landscaping services for fenced yards.  This workaround treats fenced yards as a “limited common area” and allows the Association to collect a special services assessment from homeowners with fences under the provisions of Article 5.3(c)(2)(ii) or (v) of our Master Declaration and to use that assessment for the limited purpose of providing mowing, edging, and trimming of grass and pruning services in fenced areas. 

 

Since we are at the last quarterly assessment payment this year, a limited common assessment of $6.00 per service (each cut) will be charged with payment deferred to 2024 for those homeowners who wish to begin receiving landscaping services of their fenced yards for the rest of this calendar year. 

 

For 2024, a limited common area assessment will also be an option for homeowners desiring full landscaping services inside the fenced portions of their property. This temporary solution meets the requirements of our documents and at the same time provides full landscaping services to the fenced yards as desired by many of our homeowners. 

 

Landscaping of fenced yards in New Town has been a very contentious issue over the past two and a half years. Your NTRA Board of Directors hopes that its temporary solution to the fenced yard landscaping problem will help unite New Town and restore harmony to our community. It is, however, only a temporary solution that will be used until the NTRA can pass new HOA documents that do not prohibit the full landscaping of fenced areas.  

 

Next step. Another effort to pass new documents will begin in the near future. The existing draft revised documents will be used as a starting point for new HOA documents that remove developer language, clarify ambiguities and allow flexibility for future NTRA Boards of Directors. If you are interested in reviewing these drafts and making recommendations for changes, please make your interest known to the NTRA Board of Directors (ntrasecretary@gmail.com). We would like to have new draft documents completed and ready for a vote by late spring/early summer 2024.

 

Be assured that your NTRA Board of Directors is committed to solving problems and serving the NTRA’s best interests. Our goal is to continue improving New Town with your help.  Together, we can keep it excellent place in which to live. 

 

 

Kudos to our hard-working Activities Committee – even with rain delayed events and heat. They are focused on bringing some fun community building events to New Town. For example, the rescheduled June 28th Pool Social was a great success. Having it at the end of a day’s pool hours meant that several families with children came and had great fun. (One family brought their own dinner because that worked for them; their children sampled dessert items and then jumped in the pool.) There were over 50 attendees. The more recent July social was also well received.

 

The pool now has a new handicap chair lift to replace the one that was broken. Repairs to the Casey Boulevard retention pond were completed in June, and instead of trees growing wildly, you can view the stormwater being held.

 

The U.S. Post Office has approved moving two group mailboxes for Village Walk from their current location on Merchant’s Court to a nearby location on Greenview. Soon those of us who are served by these will no longer have to stand in the street across from Trader Joe’s to get our mail, and our mail carriers will not be putting their lives at risk or blocking traffic as they stop on a very busy street to fill our boxes. Indeed, the proposed new location is more convenient for our carriers because they will be stopping to fill our mailboxes at a spot on a fairly quiet street that they typically pass by daily. Win-win all around!

 

 

VOLUNTEER CANDIDATES for BOARD of DIRECTORS: Where are you?

Volunteers are needed for several NTRA committees, two important offices of NTRA's Board of Directors, and for two newly vacant slots on the 5-person Board of Directors. Sounds like old news, doesn’t it, until you get to the end of the sentence.

Yes, those of us remaining on the Board, have reluctantly accepted the resignations of John Ryan, elected by the Board last summer, and Caitlin Melchior who was elected in December's Member election. A special election is being planned in order to fill John Ryan’s replacement for a term to end December 31, 2023. The appointed replacement for Caitlin also will serve only until December 31. NOTE: Since two of three remaining Board members live in Village Walk, candidates to fill the currently vacant board openings must come from the other NTRA neighborhoods - Abbey Commons, Charlotte Park, Chelsea Green, Savannah Park, and Shirley Park.

 

Of course, anyone elected or appointed to the Board now may run for a full-term on the Board in NTRA’s next regular election scheduled for early December, 2023. At that time, there will be four vacancies to fill since two current Board members will be completing their two year terms then. Are you a Village Walker interested in Board of Director’s service? Consider running in our next regular election at year’s end!

 

 

Time: A willingness to serve, and a schedule sufficiently flexible to allow for participation in sometimes long monthly meetings, preferably on weekday afternoons. Also needed - time to relate to committees for which one is the assigned Board Liaison, time to attend extra work sessions or called “emergency meetings”, and time to address special projects in areas related to your gifts and skills. What else? Commitment to taking seriously legal and fiduciary responsibilities associated with attending to the essential business of the community. Do you have sufficient commitment and ability to function as part of a team where members must value, respect, and support one another if the vital work is to get done? How about the self-management needed to keep confidential information confidential? Will you prioritize the Board’s legal responsibilities and the best interests and welfare of the whole NTRA community, over personal agendas or loyalties to a limited group within the community?

 

In addition: No outstanding violations: Candidates for the Board of Directors or any of our official committees cannot have uncleared or unaddressed violations. If you think you would be willing to serve the NTRA as a Board member — please, please, please! - clear your violations before you put your name forward. Catch up on your assessment payments if you are behind.
Paint, power-wash, make repairs identified as needed during last summer’s inspections. Ask ARC to review an alteration or addition to your home or your property, even if made years ago before you realized you were supposed to get permission first. Fill out the form and show up for consideration of your application. Whether you have to pay off a backlog of assessments, plus late fees, or pay fines, or modify your additions to come into compliance, commit to doing what you are told you must do to make things right, and apply yourself to doing it. THEN, volunteer!

 

Finally, ability to handle criticism as it inevitably will come your way. Be prepared for criticism, justified or not, and whether it’s offered as friendly suggestion, or as an ugly, meanspirited jab, or even the well-deserved rebuke and a call for your apology. Can you learn from negativity as you weather it? Can you swallow your pride and say “I’m sorry” when that is warranted? Good luck on growing a thicker skin, but can you slough off some unmerited criticisms - to prevent them from hobbling you? CRUCIAL: Can you serve on the Board and preserve a life balance that helps you to stand through the rougher seasons?

 

Thoughtfully consider what may be involved in serving as a Bard member. If you think you can handle the time commitments, the investments of self, and the responsibilities of an NTRA Board member, and are not in violation, please put your name forward! Do this by sending an email with your full contact information to NTRA.secretary@gmail.com, along with a picture and a brief biographical statement which includes relevant vocational information, your special skills, or earned credentials, and your reasons for being willing to apply your particular gifts, skills, available time, and energies to serving your community in this way.

The New Town Residential Association (NTRA) 2023 Board of Directors has gotten off to a good start. Our organizational meeting has been held, officers have been selected, and committee liaison assignments have been made. The Board has also created a list of projects to be executed throughout the upcoming year. These items will be reviewed and priorities set for planning and implementation during the Board’s February work session.

 

One of our first major actions is to schedule a special election to fill the remaining 2023 term currently held by Board Member John Ryan. As a result, the Board is looking for qualified candidates who are interested in joining the NTRA Board. If you are interested in becoming a member of the NTRA Board of Directors, please submit an application via email listing your experience and reasons for becoming a Board member. Once qualified candidates are identified, a special election will be scheduled. In the meantime, John will continue to function as a member of the NTRA Board of Directors.

 

James River Grounds Management, our new landscape contractor, has begun work in our community. One of their first actions will be to inventory our community and make recommendations on areas that need attention.

 

Already known are two significant landscape issues which involve our beautiful crape myrtle trees and the numerous knockout roses growing throughout New Town. (See related Town Crier articles of April and July 2022). The crape myrtles have been infected by a small insect that appears as a white or gray felt-like encrustation on the trees. The bark of the infected trees also often appears black. Our Association has begun treating the infected trees in our common areas. However, homeowners are responsible for treating the crape myrtles located on their lots.

 

The best window for control of this white scale is in late April or early May as the crape myrtles begin to really flush. The treatment consists of a soil and mulch drench of an imidacloprid product which is commonly available at Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Tractor Supply. In addition, soap and water can be used to scrub the bark of the crape myrtle to remove the white scale like material. This can be done at any time during the year. In the summer infected trees will have thousands of pea-sized insects climbing up and down the tree.

 

The second infestation affecting landscaping in New Town involves the numerous knockout roses found throughout our community. They have become infected by a virus which makes new growth look unsightly and will eventually kill the plant. Unfortunately, there is no treatment for this disease and the only available solution is to completely remove the diseased plants. Since the virus remains dormant in the soil, roses of any type should not be used as replacements. The NTRA Landscape Advisory Committee recommends the use Goshiki Osmanthus as a replacement plant. This attractive evergreen will change colors at different times throughout the year. It is a hardy, deer resistant, and slow-growing plant. That makes it is an excellent replacement in New Town.

 

Currently all of the knockout roses in the NTRA common areas are being removed and replaced by Goshiki Osmanthus where appropriate. Homeowners are required to remove their diseased knockout roses from their lots and replace them with appropriate plants no later than June 1.

Three new faces will be joining the Board soon! Elections for the 2022-2023 Board of Directors will begin on Thursday, December 9th. Each candidate has submitted an application outlining their background and reason for running for the Board – these applications are posted on the website Board of Directors page. Please take some time to consider who you believe will best serve our community in this important function. Email links to vote electronically through EzVote will be distributed when the polls open. (To obtain a paper ballot, please contact Chesapeake Bay at 757 706-3019.)

 

An early Christmas present? In response to NTRA’s report of water intrusion problems in Village Walk, Eagle Construction has notified the Association that they will be conducting “an assessment of the current condition of all the roofs at Village Walk built by Eagle Construction during the month of December.” This will be a drone inspection. We do not have details or dates, but will share additional information with the Village Walk community as it becomes available. The Board is hopeful that this first step may alleviate the need for us to pursue forensic inspections of roofs in 2022.

 

 

Two articles in this month’s Town Crier mark a first – pieces written by Randy Casey-Rutland of Town Management and Larry Salzman, President of the New Town Commercial Association - providing some historical perspective on the NTRA and NTCA relationship.

 

Don’t forget our Annual Members Meeting on December 16th in Legacy Hall at 6:30PM.  All homeowners are invited to meet Chesapeake’s representatives and celebrate with our newly elected Board of Directors who will be announced at the meeting. Mask up and visit with neighbors.

 

 

We have made excellent progress in each of these areas.  

The Managing Agent Financial Audit began on May 17th and will conclude at the end of August. At that point in time, the Board of Directors (BOD) will receive an Audit Report which will be posted on the website.  

Capital Contributions and Administrative Fees collected at closings for new sales and resales have been deposited in our Operating Savings Account.  This has allowed us maximum flexibility to address incremental expenses not identified in the Adopted Budget.  In the first six months of the year, a number of unbudgeted expenditures have been required (Note: some projects have been approved for completion but are not yet started):

The Village Walk irrigation system is being mapped with the direct involvement of the builder Eagle Construction and significant progress has been made. We are currently spending less in this area than Budgeted. 

Major Association Assets identified in the 2019 Replacement Reserve Study, will require repair and replacement earlier than planned. Major items that have already been or must be addressed are:

“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”                   CS Lewis

This quote brings to mind two of the major challenges facing our Association: 1) revising our Governing Documents to reflect the operation of a homeowner-controlled HOA, and 2) a likely rezoning fight over adding additional property to the New Town Residential Association (NTRA).

In June the Board of Directors finished its initial review of new draft documents written by our Association attorney. Our comments will now be reviewed and the documents revised to incorporate the many changes the Board feels will improve these texts. By September we hope to have a satisfactory version of the drafts to share publicly with homeowners. Our current Governing Documents are the “wrong road” and the only way we can progress as a community is to start over on the “right road” with a stronger and more appropriate Master Declaration, Supplemental Declaration, Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation.

Meanwhile, a “tsunami” arrived on our doorstep on June 12th in the form of proposed revisions to the James City County Comprehensive Master Plan, Our County, Our Shared Future. These revisions include a redesignation of Eastern State Hospital surplus land for Mixed Use so that 324 acres of this federal land can be developed over the next 20 years. The State of Virginia is anxious to sell the property, and ABVA Development LP¹ has a contingency contract to develop the two parcels of land immediately adjacent to Charlotte Park (C-1 and C-2). Their land use proposal (LU-20-0002) envisions building up to 235 homes (both detached and townhomes) on this land. 

The “wrong road” in this case is that these 81 acres have been labeled as “Mixed Use – New Town” based on ABVA’s land use application and its proximity to New Town. The application states that “The Property would be subjected to the New Town covenants and restrictions, owners would be members of the applicable New Town owner’s association and all development would be subject to the New Town Design Guidelines.” Based on this presumption, County staff titled these parcels “Mixed Use-New Town” and throughout the Plan incorporated language such as “any portion of the Eastern State Hospital property to be brought into the New Town development.” 

All of this has been done without any consultation with the Board of Directors or knowledge of NTRA owners.

To be clear, no land can be annexed or lots added to the New Town Residential Association without the consent of the Association. The parcels being sold are not included in the New Town Master Plan or covered in our Master Declaration. So, although there may be a desire by the developer to market this area as New Town and although the new Comprehensive Plan will certainly add to confusion and misleading assumptions in the future, the Eastern State Hospital property is not in New Town.

Not yet at least.

In my opinion, the most grievous part of the ABVA application is the intention to access the new development by extending Olive Drive. That’s despite the fact that VDOT and County specialists have advised that neither Olive nor Rollison Drive can sustain the heavy traffic and stormwater impacts of this development without reinforcement. Where will the land come from to widen these streets? 

Think about the increased traffic and the effect construction cut-through will have on the community character of Charlotte Park – including our pool complex, the Federal Townhomes and Roper Park. A second site access point is Discovery Park Boulevard and while wider, its increased traffic would create an issue affecting thoroughfares like Casey Boulevard and the vibrancy of Chelsea Green. With new office complexes and 235 additional homes, this growth will likely be felt New Town wide.

In just 10 days, my Charlotte Park neighbors garnered the written objections of 114 NTRA owners – 20% of the Association - to this land use application to bring to the June 24th Planning Commission hearing. ABVA representatives personally lobbied some owners, saying they want to do the right thing for New Town, that they may remove the Olive Drive cut-through and work on buffers. But they’ve also threatened/warned that if they do not prevail, a large developer will snatch up the land and be even worse. 

 

Nonetheless, as of today, ABVA has not amended their June 2020 JCC application or adjusted its drawings. The Planning Commission approved it and is recommending the Board of Supervisors also approve it as submitted.

 

This storm was set in motion years ago. A 2008 study about the future of Eastern State Hospital has driven this planned expansion. In 2013, the County platted and reserved all of Olive Drive as a right of way “with the intent of being extended and continued in order to provide ingress and egress to and from future subdivisions of the remaining parcel and to and from adjacent parcels…” Rollison Drive Lot CA-6A was never developed and is still owned by ABVA, although this plat, incorporated into our Supplemental Declarations, says that “All Common Areas (C.A.) shall be dedicated to” the Association.

Can the NTRA prevail in the future? The stakes are high and affect all of us.

To those who say "it’s only a plan”, “the real changes have to go through rezoning” where there can be negotiations over density, access, etc., I would reply that our community has endured 15 years of construction. We are already behind in this process of defending our small-town community and lifestyle and have lost some ability to influence the outcome. The Comprehensive Plan is considered “rigid guidelines for development.” Since ABVA has a purchase contract with the State, formal rezoning of the property may begin within a year – Not 20. Our Association will be negotiating and likely fighting and spending legal fees for months to come. 

 

Yes, Mixed Use at Eastern State was probably inevitable. But New Town is already a model, complete mixed-use community in James City County. How can we make this new land use change the progress we want?  

You have two opportunities to learn more - both at Legacy Hall:

Look for emails with more details on these meetings.

Earlier this year the Board decided that it is necessary to revise and update the Association’s Governing Documents. At its March meeting, the Board emphasized its goals: understandable documents that provide a transparent assessment methodology and reflect New Town as a community with common areas and amenities shared by all homeowners. Those goals were highlighted in NTRA President Dick Durst’s April 1 “Board Buzz” article. Finally, on May 17 all NTRA owners received a letter from the Board explaining the background of this matter as well as some future actions. (That letter can be viewed on the NTRA website).

We are seeking equitable treatment of owners in our revised documents. We must strive for fairness in assessments, while recognizing that our New Town homes are not cookie-cutter units in a high-rise condo. One of several issues that must be resolved is the provision of landscape services in fenced yards. For more information, see the article in the May Town Crier.

 

Your part in this process will come this Fall. As you know, Member approval is necessary in order to change the Governing Documents. The Board will hold a town hall meeting at which you can ask questions about the revised documents and, later, vote on them. In the meantime, educate yourselves by reading eblasts, Town Crier articles, and website notices to stay informed about the issues. For example, we are already updating the FAQ page on the website with answers to your questions. 

On a different topic, I’d like to remind owners of an existing covenant that is sometimes overlooked - - the requirement to obtain approval from the Architectural Review Committee (ARC) before commencing a project that alters the exterior appearance of your property. 

Before starting construction or installation of a patio, deck, fence, generator, or other structure, and before starting any alteration of the exterior (including changing a paint color) of any dwelling, the owner must submit an application to NTRA’s ARC and secure approval. The application form is available on the website. Other improvements that require ARC approval include awnings, changes to exterior lighting, storm doors, window boxes that are to be attached to the house or garage, large yard ornaments, play equipment, satellite dishes, and solar panels. See the ARC Procedural Guidelines for more information. Failure to submit an application and obtain approval before altering property is an NTRA violation and may result in a penalty. 

 

Finally, the Activities Committee is planning several fun and family-friendly events this summer. An ice-cream social will be held in mid-June and a pool party will be scheduled for July.  Also, the next New Town Talk (on Zoom) is scheduled for June 12. The title is “Williamsburg Regional Library – We’re Not Just Books” and the speaker will discuss the library’s digital collections that can be accessed with a library card.  Watch for more details on each of these events on eblasts, and Town Crier and Facebook notices.  The events will be posted on NTRA’s website calendar.

Membership in the NTRA carries with it both obligations, and benefits. Obligations include knowing and following the rules. Benefits include enjoyment of the Association’s amenities, such as social activities, our beautiful walking trails and, of course, the pool.  I hope to see you out and about this summer!

 

 

This is the official definition but for this Board Buzz article, you can throw out the culinary definition. This article will focus on a smorgasbord of updates from your Board of Directors. 

And that’s what is taking place in our annual AMC Exterior Inspection, for 2021, of the Savannah Square and Abbey Commons neighborhoods. The 2021 inspection process commenced on March 1st with the first inspection of townhomes and notification of violations were sent out so that homeowners could begin planning for their action on the necessary corrections. On April 5th, the second inspection was conducted and after these two inspections and notifications, 75% to 80% of homeowners have responded by taking care of the issue or providing their plan of correction. The final inspection will be conducted on May 3rd and those items that have not been acted upon, either by correcting the issue or by providing a corrective action plan, will be cited for non-compliance and face potential penalties. 

This is a busy time for contractors so actual completion of work may not take place until much later, into the summer months. Some homeowners facing the need for shutter painting are trying to coordinate, with adjoining townhome owners, the timing of painting of all shutters. This will maintain a uniform appearance and a much better “curb appeal”. So, remember that the important thing to do is respond and not remain silent.

The Board has approved a contract to open the pool for the 2021 season on Memorial Day weekend; we will be following Virginia’s Covid requirements.

Back by popular demand, the 2021 summer season will, once again, include Ironbound Gym’s ever-popular Aqua Zumba classes at our community pool. The classes will be conducted on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s beginning Tuesday, June 15th and continuing through September 2nd. A couple of major details about timing are yet to be determined. If there are no Covid space limitations, then there will be one class starting at 9:30 AM. If Covid space limitations are in effect, then there will be two separate classes: 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM. Stay tuned!

April was “National Volunteer Month”, and we wouldn’t want this to pass without expressing our heartfelt thanks for all that our New Town Residential Association Volunteers do to help make our community the special place that it is. Did you know that this community is primarily governed and run by the volunteer homeowners who call this wonderful place home? New Town needs support in so many ways and luckily, we are able to find the talent from the members who live here. Let’s take a look at the scope of work that our volunteers generously provide to their neighbors.

There is always a need for members on these committees. Being on a committee allows you an opportunity to use your skills to serve your neighbors. The New Town Residential Association is dependent on our volunteers, past, present and future!!! 

Our community relies on your dedication and diligence and we say, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all that you do in the service of others. You are the UNSUNG HEROES!!

• The Good: The Board has completed orientation training for all Directors and reviewed its insurance coverage in anticipation of a new contract later this year. At our February meeting, the Board adopted two new policies – a collection policy for delinquent assessments and a new policy on the transition of assets from the Developer to the Association. Under this policy, the NTRA will use both a neighborhood working group from the area being transitioned and an independent engineering firm to examine the final common area/asset’s condition. The Board has also approved funds to remove dead trees and replace certain street trees. This work should begin shortly. 

The other “ugly” news is that several Village Walk homeowners have experienced a series of roof leaks and water problems. The NTRA is responsible for the “repair, maintenance and replacement of roof shingles, sheathing, felt and flashing” in Village Walk, which is part of this neighborhood’s separate assessment fee. The number of these leaks is troubling. Forensic inspections are underway as we plan next steps. It behooves all Village Walk homeowners to inspect and clean their gutters, drains and collector boxes to be sure they are clear of debris. (See February Town Crier article “Best Practices for Roof Maintenance.”)

 

My message essentially is that your fellow homeowner Board of Directors is doing our best to balance community expectations and our fiduciary responsibilities. Stay informed, join in our Board meetings which are posted on the NTRA website calendar, and read minutes and other important NTRA communications. As the Irish also say, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass...it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” 

 

Have a happy and healthy St. Patrick’s Day!

• Incorporation of Savannah Square into the Association

• Updating/Re-writing Committee Charters

• Identify and documenting key operating policies and procedures

• Reviewing existing association contracts

• Developing and adopting the 2021 Budget

During January, the Board’s focus has been on:

 

Beginning with the January meeting, the normal Board monthly meetings will be held from 3-5PM, generally on the fourth Thursday of the month. This is a change from the 6-8PM time.  Although evening meetings will be held when necessary, the Association must pay TM an after-hours charge which we would like to avoid unless it is necessary. Members are still encouraged to participate via Zoom. All the planned monthly meetings as well as quarterly landscape reviews (new) are now available on the website calendar.

Chuck Stetler has announced his resignation from the Board for personal issues.  Over many years, Chuck has contributed to the Association in key leadership roles.  His wise counsel and considerable experience will be greatly missed.  We wish Chuck and Susan the very best.

This has been a very unsettling year for our country and our little community. But we are all hoping for a healthy, prosperous New Year.

Unfortunately, we had to cancel our holiday party in December. Plus, the Covid virus impacted opening of the pool .. Despite the restrictions caused by the coronavirus, the Activities Committee carried out a successful and well attended Halloween party and parade at Sullivan Square.   

The Board of Directors is searching for a person to fill the non-voting position of Secretary.  This is such an important job, which was performed by Dave Holtgrieve who will be resigning in December.    

Recently we had informative Town Hall meetings to explain the proposed 2021 NTRA budget and the proposed exterior maintenance program for Village Walk. This assessment was increased because both painting and power washing the homes in Village Walk were not included in the 2019 Reserve study.

The transition to homeowner control of the NTRA has been challenging and demanding of the newly elected members of the Board of Directors. Thanks to these volunteers who have contributed their time to work and resolve many issues.

Thank you to all volunteers who participated on our committees this past year. Your help was appreciated in carrying out the necessary activities that benefit our HOA.

This coming year we will need new volunteers to participate on both the Landscape and Communications committees. Consider joining one of these important groups.

The 2020 Annual Members Meeting has been scheduled for December 10th. Please watch for more information and use the website calendar Zoom link to the virtual meeting.

Welcome to the New Year....2021!!!!

Community service and participation is very important—not just to me, personally, but to the long-term success of our neighborhood.  We very much enjoy the location and atmosphere we’ve found here, after having had a home in the Williamsburg area for more than 20 years.  The volunteer committees ensure that the quality of life we all enjoy will be maintained; even though the two committee charges (our “charters”) are vastly different.  That has appealed to me, since the Activities Committee is all about the “social” aspects of New Town; providing a way to enjoy the company and camaraderie of our neighbors and friends.  Together we’ve planned pool parties, Kentucky Derby celebrations, Oktoberfest, billiards, Halloween parades, the great Noon-time Talks, and several other events, all designed to bring us together as a community.  It’s a lot of work and the committee needs help to maintain (and expand) those social interactions.  COVID 19 has forced us to rethink the kinds of events we’ve done and I assume that in the future (when life returns to some semblance of social interaction in addition to social distancing) we will discover the “right” blend of those opportunities. 

The Asset Maintenance committee charter couldn’t be more different—our charge is to annually coordinate the “inspection” of all of the “built” assets of the New Town Residential Association, including residences of our homeowners and the shared community assets (like the pool buildings, our white fences, and our green spaces), to ensure that all those remain of a quality that is representative of a first-class community and reflect positively on our neighborhoods. 

As you are well-aware, many of our homes, beyond those newly constructed in Village Walk, Roper Park, and Shirley Park, are beginning to “come of age.”  Karen and I live in Abbey Commons and our home was built in 2006.  Unfortunately, in developments like ours, builders don’t always use top of the line, first-class materials and equipment, which means for all of us our own personal assets are beginning to need attention.  We’ve just replaced one of our air conditioning units, both inside and outside.  We’ve replaced the flooring in the first floor, had shingles replaced and gutter systems redone.  The paint on many of our homes are beginning to show their age.  I’ve noticed as I walk around New Town that even some of the brickwork is beginning to need attention.  My point is that the volunteer work on the Asset Maintenance committee will become increasingly important as our homes and community assets continue to age. As our committee members reach the end of their terms, it is gratifying to see others step forward to help, but we always need more.

There are six additional committees, all staffed by volunteers, that cover most of the aspects of our community, in addition to the Board of Directors (also, all volunteers), so there are so many ways you can contribute.  Those of us who are retired (and seem to have more time to give) also need the balance of younger residents, so that we benefit from all perspectives.  Please think about how you might help?

I, along with all Board members, welcome your questions and comments.  See you around the neighborhood!

• Susan Tarley of Tarley Robinson, PLC as the NTRA attorney provided instructions on the roles and responsibilities of board members.

• TM provides management services to the NTRA. TM is hired by the NTRA Board specifically to assist the Board to fulfill its responsibilities as defined in the Association documents, including assisting the Board to educate, encourage, and enforce owner compliance with NTRA rules. Helps the Board to manage the assets, funds, and common properties and interests of the NTRA. Supports the efforts of the Board to nurture a lively, healthy, and vital community. NTRA going from a Developer’s board to a Residential board needs a management company that can provide continuity, history, an abundance of experience and professionalism in addition to the services mentioned above. TM brings that to the table for us.

• Committee support in governance is a treasure to a thriving community. We foster good working relationships and saw the need to formulize Roles and Responsibilities of the Board of Director with Committees.

• Plan: provide each non-voting homeowner with a paper ballot and a stamped envelope to return to NTRA . New Town residents would get a doorknob bag that included the ballot.  Addresses outside of New Town (approximately 158 of the 500 New Town properties) would have the ballots mailed to them.

To develop a budget, NTRA’s Finance Committee takes into account all financial aspects of the association, including both sides of the income/expense equation. On the expense side, the Finance Committee asks NTRA’s Committees to submit estimates of the funds needed to accomplish that Committee’s particular objectives in the following year. Working with Town Management, the Finance Committee considers these requests, along with the known and forecasted expenses that NTRA must incur to continue operations and maintain its assets in a manner that meets owners’ expectations for the development. In other words, the Finance Committee considers what it will cost to accomplish the things it must do plus the things it wants to do.

On the income side, by far the largest source of income is the annual assessment or HOA dues that each owner pays. The NTRA assesses a fee for each home based on the home type: detached homes, townhomes, and cottages. The other significant source of income is fees collected at closing on sales of both new homes and resales. As discussed at the November 2019 Budget Town Hall Meeting, the addition of new homes in NTRA will slow in the upcoming years as the development nears final build-out. This will result in a decline in income from closing fees and that income will have to be replaced with income from HOA dues.

If NTRA’s expenses (for both needs and wants) outweigh its income, the Finance Committee must re-evaluate and prioritize the association’s expenses and also consider what increase in the annual assessment is warranted to fund those expenditures required bring the development up to a level that the owners expect. In prior years this has resulted in an increase in HOA dues. In large part that increase was necessary just to pay for the needs of the association.

A new development’s assets require little maintenance at first, but more maintenance (and expense) is to be expected over time. Our pool is just one example: the NTRA pool was new in 2012 and required little maintenance. Now however, after a number of years of normal wear and tear, the NTRA must incur some expense to maintain that important asset to a standard consistent with the development.  

The final steps in NTRA’s budget process are the Finance Committee’s submission of the proposed budget to the Board of Directors for review, presentation of the proposed budget to homeowners at the Annual Budget Meeting (usually in late November), and the Board’s adoption of the budget which includes the annual assessment for the upcoming year. 

In my application for the Board election I stressed the importance of balancing current needs/expenses with expenses that are projected for the future.  I believe that balance is essential to building a strong community and maintaining property values. Thank you for the opportunity to serve on your Board and to maintain NTRA’s secure financial position.

As the September weather cools, I hope we can all find time to enjoy a stroll in the beautiful neighborhood that we call home and to think about what it takes to preserve it. I hope to see you (socially-distanced, of course) outside this fall.  

 

Read the June message from the Chair of the RAB

Read the message for May from the Chair of the RAB

Welcome to our new NTRA website. After almost a year, the platform "HOA-Sites" recommended by a resident search team is up and running. You should notice a lot more functionality and ease of navigating this site to find important information.  

 

We need ALL residents of New Town to LOG IN and create a profile.  None of your personal information from the old NTRA site has been saved. When you sign up, be sure to identify your neighborhood (property dropdown box). This will allow Town Management and others to target messages of importance just to your community.  

 

Special thanks to Communications Committee Vice Chair, Anthony Dunleavy, without whose perseverance and remarkable skills this transition would never have been possible!

 

You can help us by getting the word out to your neighbors, and by suggesting items you'd like to see on the site.  Provide us your comments and ideas.

 

If you are a photographer, we could use more horizontal slice photos (1088 X 414 pixels) to post in our banners. And if you have any web skills, please consider joining the volunteer team maintaining the new site. Your Association needs you - just contact Lucy Painter, Chair of the Communications Committee at hokiegirl70@gmail.com.