Changing the Village Walk Governing Documents
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.