Roadway Maintenance

Workers finished the last of the asphalt paving at
around 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 4th.

The Association's Board of Directors recently contracted to have two catch basins rebuilt and approximately 220 feet of access drive replaced in front of 6915-6979 North Central Park.  This work took place over the past two weeks and was completed today. 

The asphalt needs to harden for three days before it will be safe to drive upon. In the meantime, affected residents may park along the north side of the North Central Park roadway.

Road and access drive closures for seal coating

UPDATE (2:30 PM, Oct 3rd):
The last of the seal coating was applied at 1:00 PM this afternoon.  The work was completed early enough that any rain later this afternoon or evening will not negatively affect the coating. The contractor advised us to keep the roadways closed to traffic until 1:00 PM Friday afternoon.  This will give the coating enough time to bond to the asphalt surface and resist marking from tires.  
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DCAM, INC. has scheduled the remaining asphalt seal coating work for tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 3rd  beginning at 8:00 AM (weather permitting).  They will be applying seal coat material to the private access drives in front of 6915-7355 North Central Park (Units 1-22), the Walter Ct. stub street and also in the roadway in front of 6958-6980 Lexington South (Units 166-167).  

Do not walk on the fresh seal coat unless you first check and confirm that it is dry to the touch, which depending on the weather might take several hours after it is applied.

Parking and vehicular traffic will not be allowed on these affected roadways beginning at 8:00 AM Oct 3rd and ending at 8:00 AM Oct. 4th (or earlier, depending on temperature and humidity levels).  Please do not remove or drive around any “CAUTION” tape.

Residents at the addresses listed above must park their vehicle(s) out on either North Central Park, East Broadway or on Lexington South (west of 6936 Lexington South) prior to 8:00 AM on Oct. 3rd or risk the possibility that they will be towed or trapped in their garage or driveway for most of the day and evening.

No parking is allowed on West Broadway between North Central Park and Lexington South at any time.  

Seal coating cannot be applied if there is a risk of rain prior to the estimated time that the seal coating would be fully dried to the touch.  Rain will cause the fresh coating to wash off and congeal into messy clumps that not only would have to be removed but which could also get into the storm water system and into our retention ponds.

Therefore, if there is a threat of rain for Thursday, this work will be postponed and rescheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 9th.   If necessary, an e-mail blast will be sent out to those on my Manors e-mail distribution list prior to 8:00 AM Thursday morning, announcing the postponement; the announcement will also be posted here on the Manors Blog. If there is a chance of rain on Oct. 9th, the same postponement notification procedure will be repeated.

If you wish to be added to my Manors e-mail distribution list, please send your request (including your name and street address) to my e-mail address shown in the right side of this blog.

Mike Grobbel - President, Board of Directors

Upcoming asphalt maintenance work

DCAM, Inc. has recently been contracted by the Manors Condo Association’s Board of Directors to perform asphalt maintenance work on our roadways.  This work will be performed in three separate stages over the next three weeks.

Stage 1:  On Monday, Sept. 16, 2013, DCAM will be performing pothole patching using a compacting roller machine and hot mix asphalt to repair several areas where the original top layer of asphalt has deteriorated.  These locations are scattered along the private access drive in front of 6915-7011 North Central Park and also in the roadway in front of 6958-6980 Lexington South.   

Parking will not be allowed on these affected roadways beginning at 7:00 AM on Sept. 16^th until after the repair work is completed. Traffic on these affected roadways will be blocked during the short period while the work is being performed since the workers will have the affected roadway blocked with their equipment.  The patches will be able to be driven on as soon as the crew leaves.

The Board of Directors recommends that residents of these affected units park their vehicle(s) out on North Central Park and to the west on Lexington South if they will need to use their car on the 16^th  after 7:00 AM and prior to the completion of the repairs.  No parking is allowed on West Broadway between North Central Park and Lexington South. DCAM says that they will likely start this work early in the morning of the 16^th but they cannot promise a start time.  In the case of a threat of rain, this work will be postponed and the Manors Blog will provide an update on when work will be rescheduled.

Stage 2: On Friday, Sept. 27, 2013 (weather permitting), DCAM will be on-site to clean and fill cracks in all of our roads and access drives with a hot rubberized tar.  No parking is allowed on any street or access drive that day, beginning at 7:00 AM and expiring after the work crew has passed by. Each roadway will be closed to traffic during the short period that the roadway will be blocked by the workers and their equipment.  Please avoid driving over the freshly-applied tar strips for the first half-hour or so to avoid any damage to your vehicle and/or the tar strips. In the case of a threat of rain, this work will be postponed and the Manors Blog will provide an update on when work will be rescheduled.

Stage 3: On Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013 (weather permitting), DCAM will be on-site to apply seal coat material to the private access drives in front of 6915-7355 North Central Park (Units 1-22), the Walter Ct. stub street and also in the roadway in front of 6958-6980 Lexington South (Units 166-167).   Parking and vehicular traffic will not be allowed on these affected roadways beginning at 7:00 AM Oct 3^rd and ending at 7:00 AM Oct. 4^th.  You must park your vehicle(s) out on North Central Park and to the west on Lexington South prior to 7:00 AM on Oct. 3^rd or risk the possibility that it will be trapped in your garage or driveway for most of the day and evening. No parking is allowed on West Broadway between North Central Park and Lexington South.  In the case of a threat of rain, this work will be postponed and the Manors Blog will provide an update on when work will be rescheduled.

This work is the final phase of the asphalt paving project and is being funded from the Special Assessment that was levied in 2012. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Sincerely,

The Board of Directors of the Manors at Central Park Condo Association

All roadways now open to traffic

Watling Ave. before and after Phase 2.

As of about 5:00 PM today, all roads and the access drive are now open to traffic.  Phases 1 and 2 of the paving project are now complete (refer to this post which describes the three phases of this project).

Those receiving their US mail at the mailboxes on Lexington West near North Central Park received their Friday and Saturday mail at about 3:30 PM today.

Regarding the completion of Phase 3, I will let everyone know as soon as I have a "tentative" date from the contractor about the crack filling and sealcoating of Lexington South near West Broadway and the access drive closest to West Broadway (these areas are in front of Units 16-22 and 166-167).  It may happen sometime next week but it requires dry weather.   We ran out of warm weather so it will not happen until sometime next spring.

Mike Grobbel
President - Board of Directors, Manors at Central Park Condo Association

Most roads are now open to traffic

All streets are now open to traffic except for Lexington West and the private access drive along North Central Park in front of Units 16-32.

The reason the contractor could not finish the job before dusk today is that the asphalt plant had a breakdown around noon-time that caused them to be unable to do any paving for  more than 1.5 hours.

The contractor will return tomorrow morning to finish the job.  They estimate that they should be finished around noon and we should be able to open the remaining roadways to traffic shortly thereafter.

The unfinished roadways will remain closed overnight so that  the contractors can gain immediate access in the morning.

If you need a ride to or from your car, please call me and I will come and get you in the golf cart. 

The Board thanks you for your cooperation today and for those on Lexington West and North Central Park, the Board asks for your understanding about the delay (which was the fault of their asphalt supplier, not the paving contractor).

Mike Grobbel
President - Board of Directors, Manors at Central Park Condo Association

Paving is a "GO" for Friday Nov. 9th

I just confirmed with our contractor that Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 is the firm date for our paving project.

Beginning at 1:00 PM today, Larry Cybulski and I will be placing a copy of this written notice on each front door in the Manors. Please read it carefully and save it for future reference. 

The golf cart will be delivered at around 11:00 AM on Thursday morning.  Therefore, if you wish to park your vehicle off-site Thursday afternoon/evening, you can call the listed number and request a ride back to your condo.  I will provide shuttle service until 11:00 PM Thursday evening and from 6:00 AM until 8:00 PM on Friday. 

The Board of Directors will re-open the streets and access drive to traffic as soon as the new pavement has cooled and the re-opening does not interfere with any remaining paving and clean-up.  The contractor assures us that all sections of newly-paved roadways will be able to be driven on by 7:00 PM Friday evening. However, the Board asks that you wait until 7:00 AM Saturday morning before parking any vehicles on the new asphalt . 

Please note that on Friday there will be no US Mail delivery to mail boxes in the affected paving areas.  Mail delivery will resume on Saturday at which time you will also receive your delayed mail.

In the unlikely event that a 911 response call must be made to a Manors condo on Friday, the contractor assures me that they will be able to route them around their paving trucks and equipment so they will not be delayed. 

Thank you for your cooperation as we complete this major project,

Mike Grobbel
President - Board of Directors, Manors at Central Park Condo Association

Paving Update - November 5th

Duane at Florence Cement has informed me that our new "tentative" date for the final paving is this coming Friday, Nov. 9th. 

He and I will confirm that date during a phone conversation on Wednesday afternoon.  Duane says that barring a breakdown at the asphalt plant, a machinery failure, or a change in the current weather forecast between now and the Wednesday afternoon call, he is confident that it will still be a "go" for Friday.  Assuming that our phone conversation confirms that it is still a "go" for Friday, the Board will then place a notice on every front door in the Manors announcing Friday as the firm paving date (and for those who are in my e-mail address book, I will also put out another e-mail blast and make a post here on the Manors Blog announcing Friday as the firm paving date) 

The only firm date for the final paving is the one that will be shown on the forthcoming notice that will be placed on every front door in the Manors.  That notice will also include parking and courtesy shuttle information.  Click here to read the contents of the forthcoming notice.

Paving Update - Nov. 1, 2012

Florence Cement is on-site today to complete the last of the repairs in preparation for the final paving.   Their scheduling people are reassessing their workload due to all of the recent wet weather that has caused delays to their work in progress.

Once this repair work is complete, I expect to receive a new tentative date for the final paving that will be later than this coming Monday. As soon as I have the new tentative date, I will post it here on the Manors Blog.

After enough days of good weather to wrap up their other asphalt projects that are ahead of us, they will be ready to finish our project and I will be given a firm date for the final paving (this firm date may or may not be the same as the new tentative date).  The Board will then immediately distribute a notice to each front door in the Manors that informs you of that date (and its "rain date") along with the parking details.  The notice will read like this:

Tentative date for final paving

Florence Cement Co. has informed the Board of Directors that they have identified Monday, Nov. 5, 2012 as their tentative date for the paving of the final layer of asphalt on our roadways. This tentative date could be moved earlier if they experience a non-weather related delay on a different paving project but it is more likely to be moved later because of rain delays caused this week by the effects of Hurricane Sandy.  Florence Cement has assured the Board that our final paving will be completed before the end of the 2012 asphalt paving season.

Curb repair work planned for Oct 1st

Florence Cement is going to have a crew here on Monday, Oct. 1st  to finish the curb and gutter repairs (weather permitting). 

UPDATE: the cracked concrete curbing was removed and the new concrete was poured on Oct. 1st;  the concrete forms were removed the following day.

 

Saw cutting work on curbs and bad pavement

Florence Cement will have a worker on-site tomorrow beginning at around 9:30 AM.  They will be saw cutting the broken curbs and deteriorated pavement that needs to be removed and replaced prior to final paving.  Please do not park on the street in the vicinity of the marked curbs and pavement.

Phase 1 of the paving project is set to begin

Florence Cement is our paving contractor and they were on-site today to place paint markings at the locations of all work that must be performed prior to the paving of the final layer of asphalt.  This Phase 1 work includes the removal and replacement of cracked concrete curbs, the removal and resetting of selected catch basin covers and cutting out damaged areas of the base layer of asphalt and replacing it with new asphalt.

They will be on-site again this coming Saturday, Sept. 22nd (weather permitting) to video tape the Phase 1 work locations and the existing pavement.

The Phase 1 work is tentatively planned to begin during the week of Sept. 24th (weather permitting).    This work will only involve localized traffic restrictions for short periods of time.  However, to allow the workers sufficient access the areas to be repaired, please do not park your vehicle in the street near or across from any of the paint markings until after the work is completed.

Once all of the Phase 1 work is completed, Florence Cement will enter our final asphalt layer paving project (Phase 2) into their schedule, which is always subject to change due to the weather.  They will give us a "heads up" and we will share the Phase 2 scheduling information as it becomes available.  However the actual date for Phase 2 paving will be announced 24 to 48 hours in advance, at which time the Board will place a notice on every door informing you of the paving date and parking requirements for that day. All of our Phase 2 paving will take place during a single day.  In case of rain, the Phase 2 paving will be delayed by one day.

Phase 3 involves crack filling and seal coating the short stretches of pavement on Lexington South and the access drive on North Central Park (near where the sales models had been) that received its final layer back in 2005.  The Phase 3 work can be performed independently of the other two phases.

If the weather cooperates, we should have Phases 1, 2 and 3 completed by the second or third week of October.

Your Special Assessment coupon book is in the mail

You should have received your Special Assessment coupon book in today's mail.  This is the Special Assessment that was approved at the election held on April 14, 2012 to pay for the paving of the final layer of asphalt paving on our roadways.

Your first payment is due on June 1, 2012 and a late fee is added if it is not received by the 10th.  You may make your payments in up to six separate installments, with the final payment being due on Nov. 1, 2012.   If you would prefer, you may also make your payments earlier by paying some or all of the installments in advance.  To do so, just include a single coupon with your check and indicate upon the coupon the check number and the total amount it is made out for.

The Board of Directors anticipates that the paving will be finished sometime between August 15th and November 15th of this year.  We will post more paving information on this blog as it becomes available.

Final Paving Special Assessment Election Results

The Special Assessment to complete the final paving was approved by 74.97% of the members in value, with 119 ballots cast in favor and 4 ballots opposed.  For the Special Assessment to be approved it had to receive approval from more than two-thirds (66.67%) of the members in value.

Below is the spreadsheet showing the number of YES and NO ballots cast and how the "percent value of YES ballots" was calculated (click on image to enlarge it).  A payment coupon booklet will be mailed to you describing the amount and due dates of each payment.  The first payment will probably be due June 1st, since it is unlikely that we can process the printing and mailing of the payment books in time for a May 1st due date.  More information will be posted here as soon as it becomes available.

Special Assessment Election Scheduled for April 14th

At their Feb. 22, 2012 meeting, the Board of Directors of the Manors at Central Park Condominium Association voted to conduct a second attempt to gain approval for a Special Assessment to finish the asphalt paving on our roadways.

Co-owners should have by now received an envelope in the mail that includes the Special Assessment meeting notice and a blank General Proxy form.

As explained in this meeting notice letter, the Board has made some changes in response to some of the constructive criticism offered following the failure of the Special Assessment election at our annual meeting in January.  One of those changes is to make it easier for all to participate in the election.

(54) of the (117) co-owners of completed units did not participate in the last Special Assessment election because they failed to attend and did not submit a completed General Proxy.

The Board expects that most, if not all, of the  (117) co-owners should be able to participate in this Special Assessment meeting and election, since it will be held on-site and on a Saturday morning.

Please discuss this meeting with all of your neighbors and encourage them to either attend in person or give your their General Proxy so that you can cast their vote for them.  The Board feels that it is vitally important that we get a true reading of the total membership's opinion on this matter.

For those who claimed back in January that our roadways looked fine to them, I offer this photographic evidence to the contrary.

Shelby Twp. Board Meeting of Feb. 7, 2012

An example of "Alligatoring" in
our base layer of asphalt.

The president and treasurer of the Manors Board of Directors addressed the Shelby Twp. Board of Trustees at their meeting of Feb. 7, 2012 on the issue of the final asphalt paving of the roadways at the Manors.

They spoke under the "Business From The Floor" agenda item shortly after 11:00 p.m., which was about four hours after the meeting started.   Video replays of the Feb. 7th Shelby Board meeting will be shown on Comcast channels 5 and 915 over the next week or so and it can also be viewed by going to the Shelby TV web site.

Since speakers under that agenda item are subject to a five minute time limit,  the Trustees were handed a letter with full details and the Manors Board president gave a five-minute oral synopsis of the letter and asked for answers to the questions that are also listed at the end of the letter.  None of those questions were answered by any of the Trustees, nor did they comment or ask any questions of the Manors Board president during his presentation.  However the Township Attorney did offer his opinion about what happened with the letter of credit.

The Manors Board treasurer then spoke extemporaneously to the Trustees and pointed out their lack of response to our prior communications and asked for the courtesy of a response to the letter we just presented to the Board of Trustees.   The Township Attorney responded that some sort of a response would be given within the next 30 days.

UPDATE, March 11, 2012: 30 days have come and gone without the promised response from the Township Attorney.  Also, we have not received any communications from members of the Board of Trustees, to whom we had addressed our letter.

Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on Jan. 18, 2012

Click here to read the unapproved minutes of the 2012 Annual Meeting.

2012 Annual Meeting Election Results

(Special Assessment Election Results - click to enlarge)

The Special Assessment for the asphalt paving project failed to receive approval.  It only received (93) "Yes" votes representing 58.75% of value, which is short of the 66.67% of value "Yes" votes needed to pass it.  It would have passed had it received another 13 "Yes" votes.

Control of the Association was transitioned to the co-owners at this meeting when Mike Grobbel (Unit 85), Larry Cybulski (Unit 69) and Bhartan Amin (Unit 33) were elected to the Board of Directors for one year terms.  They will meet within the next 10 days to organize and elect officers.

The Board of Directors wishes to thank the co-owners of the 66 Units who took the time and effort to participate in the 2012 Annual Meeting by either attending in person or by submitting their signed General Proxy.   However, those 66 Units represent only 56% of the 117 completed Units here in the Manors.  Several of the co-owners at the Annual Meeting expressed their frustration with having 51 neighbors who can't even take the time to fill out a General Proxy.  The new Board of Directors will have to address the need for increased co-owner participation in our future elections.

Final Paving Special Assessment Fact Sheet

The mailing you received today from Kramer-Triad announcing the 2012 Annual Meeting also included a one-page fact sheet about the proposed Final Paving Special Assessment that will be voted upon at that meeting.  I'm reproducing the contents of the fact sheet below so that it is also available on this blog.

At the 2012 Annual Meeting, the current Board of Directors will be asking members of the Manors at Central Park Condominium Association to approve a Special Assessment for the purposes of

a)      Repairing numerous sections of cracked concrete curbing

b)      Paving the final asphalt layer on the remainder of our streets and private access drives.

A Special Assessment requires the approval of more than 2/3rds of all "members in value" (as opposed to "members in number"), since it is levied on the basis of the percent of value assigned to each Unit.   Per the Amended Master Deed, owners of Units 1-14 have each been assigned 0.17422 percent of value and owners of Units 16-167 (including the Carpenters Pension Trust Fund, which owns 47 incomplete units) each have 0.64185 percent of value (owners of all Units each have a vote that is worth 1/166 = 0.60241 percent when voting by number). 

Shelby Township had obtained a letter of credit in 2004 from Sable Realty Ventures to be used in case the company failed to install the final layer of asphalt paving.  However, as previously explained, that letter of credit is no longer valid.   Attorneys for the Carpenters Pension Trust Fund maintain that they are not required to honor the legal agreement that Sable Realty Ventures made with the Township to provide the final paving at a later date. Therefore, the entire cost of the final paving will have to be paid by the owners of the complete and incomplete Units that comprise the Manors at Central Park Condominiums.

Pending the receipt of competitive bids, the Board estimates that the final paving project will cost about $83,700 and therefore, the Special Assessment levy will be about $145 ($83,700 x 0.0017422) for each of Units 1-14 and about $540 ($83,700 x 0.0064185) for each of Units 16-167. The Carpenters Pension Trust Fund owns (47) incomplete Units and they will also pay the Special Assessment amount for each of their Units. 

The current Board of Directors recommends a "yes" vote on the Special Assessment for the following reasons:

a)      The final paving is a capital improvement in excess of $5,000 and it is an addition to the common elements that must eventually be completed.  Therefore the Bylaws stipulate that it be funded via a Special Assessment instead of through the replacement reserve account or the annual budget.

b)      The exposed base layer of asphalt is already seven years old and was not designed to stand up to weather and traffic for that length of time; further delays could necessitate costly repairs that must be made before applying the final asphalt layer.

c)      The cost of asphalt paving has more than doubled since 2004; further delays will likely result in a higher cost to complete the final paving project.

If approved, the curb repairs and final layer of asphalt paving will be completed before the end of 2012.

I would personally like to add one more reason for approving the proposed Final Paving Special Assessment now rather than later and that can be found by reading this post.

If you have any questions about the proposed Special Assessment, please contact me using the phone number or e-mail address shown in the right sidebar.