With 2020 coming to an end, the Board wanted to provide a 2020 recap, and what’s anticipated for the coming year.
We would like to thank our Board members, Bruce Watkins, Lisa Goldfisher, Michele Phillips Brenda Lambert, and Gev Grgodjaian for their time and work. In spite of working around the Pandemic restrictions and a number of high-cost unplanned building expenses, the Board put a lot of time and care to meet the common area maintenance and repair obligations. It’s important to continue to keep the buildings and grounds looking good and not to defer the maintenance.
We would also like to thank the members of the Pool Committee, Eric Hormell, Teresa Wayne and Dave Phillips, who worked with the Board and the pool contractor to finish our beautiful new pool on time, under budget and to code. We now have a fence around the pool which is of utmost importance for safety. In addition, we have installed gates that self-close and lock to ensure that even the craftiest of children are kept out of harm's way.
We would also like to thank the community for their contributions, patience and understanding during the pool remodel. The board appreciated the support.
Unplanned, Non-budgeted Repairs
We started the year with a surplus in our operating budget, however, by mid year we had to borrow money from reserves. Please see list below of unplanned projects:
Balcony repairs 8,000
Garage Beam repairs 13,800
Water Line repairs 10,889
Irrigation line repairs 3,309
New irrigation pool 1,1 1 5
Total $37,113
New HOA laws from Sacramento
The legislators in Sacramento have passed several new bills that could increase our HOA expenses and have a negative impact on our property values.
Senate Bill 326 – On January 1, 2020 a new law SB 326, went into effect which requires all HOA’s to conduct visual inspections of balconies. The inspections must be done by either a structural engineer or an architect, who submits a report to the board detailing the physical condition and useful life of the balconies’ load-bearing components and their waterproofing systems. This new law was brought on by a balcony failure in Northern California where a number of people lost their lives.
As a result of this new law, we hired a Structural Engineer that inspected our ten balconies and found that three needed to have the decks totally replaced and resealed. Two other balconies need to be repaired and resealed in 2021. With the completion of the Reserve Study in August 2020, the balcony decking was added as a component, which will provide reserve funding for the possible replacement, repair and reseal of the balcony decking.
While the Engineer was on site, we had him inspect the main support beam in all the garages and he found that six beams had lateral cracking and recommended the beams be strengthened to prevent a collapse in an earthquake. We are now not only safe but also conforming to state law.
Assembly Bill 3182 – Under this new law which takes effect January 1, 2021, any provisions in the HOA governing documents which prohibit or restrict renting will be considered VOID and unenforceable. The law will require HOA’s to change their governing documents to reflect these changes by December 31, 2021.
Our current rules require new homeowners to live in their homes for one year before they can rent their units. This rule is no longer enforceable under AB 3182. The new law does allow HOA’s to set a 25% cap on rentals within the association.
We currently have ten rentals in the association, 28%. The Board will likely present a rental cap of 25% to the homeowners next year.
Senate Bill 323 – Requires HOA’s to implement new Board member election rules, including hiring outside companies to manage their elections. Our attorney wrote a new election policy which the association has approved, and we hired Official HOA Elections to manage our current Board election process.
All of these bills have added new expenditures to our budget.
2021 Budget – The budget maintains the current monthly dues. In July 2020 we had to borrow $4,000 from reserves to cover some of the un-budgeted expenses. We will need to pay back this money to reserves by July 2021.
Regular Maintenance – to save money, the main drains on the property were cleaned two times this year. There are a couple of connections from the garages to the main line that are pulling away from the main line on building number three, that we’re monitoring. The garage drain cleanings and termite inspections were completed. The tree trimming was delayed until December 2020, we’re using a new arborist.
All six roofs were inspected and repaired as needed. Our roofing contractor has advised that some roofs are getting to the end of their useful lives. He suggested we start thinking about replacing one or two roofs in the next year. Roofs will be a priority project in 2021.
HOA Website – Michele has updated the association website with all the current rules, newsletters and Board minutes. Please visit tolucatownhouse3.com password Kling
Partners Community Management – Effective November 6, 2020, the Board hired a new property management company, to provide the association with professional and improved service. Our new representative is Alex Stevenson. You can reach Alex at 626-529-3918 or alexs@partnerscm.com. Alex lives locally.
Per our agreement with Partners, Alex will be participating in quarterly Board meetings. We’ll continue to use Zoom meetings for the foreseeable future.
Gardening – Michele continues to work with the Gardeners on Monday’s to direct their work and improve the gardens around the property. New drips lines have been installed in and around the pool. We are also putting in compost around the property to try and enhance the soil. There is new bender board around the sidewalks, which helps keep the water and dirt from running onto the sidewalks. The Gardeners installed some new fencing along Clybourn and Kling, to help keep the dogs out of the flower beds.
Once the weather warms up, we can start replanting spring plants around the interior of the property.
New Families – Welcome the new owners of 352 N Clybourn, Erich Petros and Nician Gelfo.
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