Shelby Twp. "Leash Law"

From the Facebook page of the Shelby Twp. Police Department:

***From the Chief's Desk***
Now that the weather has broken, DC Coil would like to remind our residents about our "leash law". According to Shelby Twp. Municipal Code, animals are not permitted to run freely or be "at large" on any property, public or private, except your own.
We get recurring complaints from residents about people letting their dogs run free in the parks and neighborhoods. When in the parks or walking on any sidewalk or roadway, animals MUST be leashed.

First violation of this ordinance will result in a written warning. Second violation is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Let's look out for our friends and neighbors, and keep our furry family members safe as well!

Posted by Shelby Township Police Department on Thursday, April 30, 2015

As a reminder, the streets, access drives, sidewalks and landscaping within the Manors at Central Park are general common elements belonging to the Condominium Association.  As such they are private property and the Association does not allow anyone, including our co-owners, to let their pets run freely or be "at large" on our property.   Unattended pets - even if leashed -  are not permitted to be kept on the common elements, limited or general.

Minutes of the March 17th Board of Directors Meeting

The Board of Directors held a Special Meeting on March 17, 2015.

Click here to read the meeting minutes.

In the minutes it mentions that the Board of Directors has adopted a set of rules relating to the storage of flammable materials.  These new rules can be read in their entirety here.

UPDATE:
Copies of the rules were mailed to all co-owners on March 24, 2015 and they become effective April 5, 2015.

Trash and recycling regulations

A Watling Street resident's windblown trash,
Oct. 21, 2014.

Click here to read about the new trash and recycling regulations.

Basically, everything you set out to the curb for collection by Rizzo needs to be inside a container and it has to be covered with a lid.  Plastic bags containing trash or recyclables may not be set out on the ground.  They must be inside a closed container.

The only exception is a recycling tote bin.  If you use a tote bin, all recycling items must be enclosed inside a clear plastic bag, which is securely tied and then placed in the tote bin.

Clear plastic bags for the recycling items can be purchased at Home depot, Lowes and other similar stores.

Revisions to the Rules and Regulations

At their Aug. 15, 2014 meeting, the Board of Directors adopted revisions to the Association's rules and regulations, which were originally created and adopted in 2008.  A complete copy of these Rules and Regulations will be mailed to each co-owner within the next few weeks.  Enforcement of additions and revisions will begin on Nov. 1, 2014.

The major changes to the rules and regulations are in the following sections:

• Article 1 "Parking Regulations", where Paragraph 5 has been added to address “Snow Emergencies” and where Paragraph 7 has been revised to add the enforcement provision allowing for the towing of “unauthorized vehicles” without the owner’s consent. 
• Article II, Paragraph 2 has been revised to include new regulations requiring the use of covered trash and recycling containers.
• Article III: Paragraph 1 has been modified to address antennas that extend beyond the outer perimeter of the deck to which they are mounted;  Paragraph 4 has been added to address antennas that have been installed on the roof by co-owners. Roof-mounted antennas are expressly prohibited on Units 16 through 167.

Rizzo 96 gal. trash cart

If you need to purchase a trash and/or recycling container, Rizzo Services will sell and deliver to your door a "Shelby Twp." 96 gal. wheeled Trash cart with an attached, hinged lid. The cart dimensions are 28" w x 33" d x 45" h. (this is the same size as the green "Shelby Twp." Recycling carts here in the Manors). It can be purchased for $75 over the phone by calling Rizzo at (866) 772-8900; Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted.

"HuskyLite" 96 gal. trash cart

Sam's Club currently sells a "HuskyLite" 96 gallon trash cart for $69.62, plus tax, for a total cost of $73.80.  It's dimensions are practically identical to the Rizzo cart (both are made by the Rehrig Pacific Co.), but if you factor in the membership and delivery costs, the Rizzo trash cart is still a better deal.

Rizzo Services requires that all trash containers have a minimum 32 gallon capacity. If you prefer to purchase a trash container smaller than 96 gallons, keep in mind that it will be picked up and squeezed by the truck's mechanical arm while it is being emptied.   Therefore, a sturdier container will last longer.  Here is a sampling of what is available from Home Depot and other retailers (these cannot be used for recycling waste pickup):

• "Roughneck" 45 gal. Black Wheeled Trash Cart with hinged lid, 22.0" w x 26.4" d x 36.6" h - $24.97
• "Roughneck" 32 gal. Black Wheeled Trash Can with detached lid, 22.3" w x 25.5" d x 32.5" h - $19.97
• "Toter" 32 gal. Green Wheeled Trash Cart with hinged lid, 19.8" w x 24.3" d x 37.5" h - $59.98 (this is a smaller and more compact version of the Rizzo trash cart; it's also more sturdier than the "Roughneck" trash carts, which will deform when gripped by the Rizzo trash truck's mechanical arm and may not empty completely)

Toter 32 gal. trash cart

Click here to read the complete set of revised Rules and Regulations.

Snow removal operations

The 13 inches of snow we received over the past week and the extreme cold that followed has been a trying experience for everyone.

Even though it may not always have been apparent, the snow removal contractors operating here in the Manors and elsewhere in Central Park have been doing their best to keep the access drives, roads and entrances as clear as possible as we recover from this "snow emergency". 

Snow Removal

UPDATE: Trash pick-up will be delayed this week by one day due to the storm.  Set your trash and recyclables out on Tues night or very early on early Wed morning. 

Our snow removal contract specifies that snow removal from our streets, driveways, parking areas, porches, sidewalks, etc, shall commence within two hours of the time when the snowfall reaches a depth of 1.5 inches at our location.  The contract also states that for public safety reasons, priority must be given to opening and maintaining access to our site.   

The contract leaves the choice of de-icing and/or plowing our streets (which includes the access drives) to the discretion of the contractor. However it does state that when de-icing, the entrances and exits shall be double treated (salt is the specified de-icing material for our streets and either calcium chloride or potassium chloride must be used everywhere else).

Therefore, when we have a significant snowfall such as we are experiencing today, it follows that keeping the streets open is our contractor's top priority and may require repeated plowing, in which case the clearing of driveways and sidewalks have to be given secondary priority.

Depending on the severity of the storm, work on the driveways and sidewalks might not begin until the storm subsides. In the event the contractor is unable to to completely clean all of the specified areas in one day, the contract stipulates that follow-up service shall be performed the following morning no later than 12:00 Noon.

As an alternative to using snowblowers and/or snowshovels, our contract states that driveways shall be back-plowed so as to push snow out towards the street and that the snow closest to the garage doors shall be cleared manually so as to avoid plow damage to the doors.

Residents are expected to do their part to help the snow removal process by following the Association's  bylaws, rules and regulations.

Article VII, Section 1, paragraph (j) of our condominium bylaws addresses the parking and storage of vehicles and it states that residents shall park their vehicles in the garages that have been provided for that purpose.

Our parking rules and regulations state that  

Overnight parking is prohibited on all streets from November 1st through March 30th inclusive, unless a co-owner has received written approval from the Board of Directors.  The purpose of this regulation is to facilitate snow removal operations.  “Overnight” shall mean the period from Midnight until 6:00 AM. 

No written approvals have been requested or granted for overnight, on-street parking during the winter of 2013-2014. 

If a resident has more than two vehicles, they should be parked overnight in their driveway so that the street may be eventually cleared across its full width.  It's recommended that a third vehicle should be parked all the way to one side of the driveway to allow the contractor the option of back-plowing the other half of the driveway.  Otherwise, the contractor will manually clear the driveway areas surrounding the parked vehicle(s).  As soon as the street has been plowed across its full width, the vehicles may be moved from the driveway and parked on the street.

Your Board of Directors suggests that whenever you see or hear that local communities have issued a snow emergency, the neighborly thing to do is to park all of your vehicles in your garage and driveway until our streets have been cleared, regardless of the time of day.

Formation of Architectural Control Committee

March 28th Update: Due to the fact that there are no longer co-owners of three separate units willing to be appointed to the proposed Architectural Control Committee (ACC), the meeting planned for April 1st has been cancelled.

The Board will include in the next newsletter a call for volunteers willing to be appointed to the proposed ACC.  If we receive responses from at least three co-owners willing to serve, the Board will then reschedule the formation meeting. 

____________________________

At the 2013 Annual meeting in January, several association members suggested that the Board should create an Architectural Control Committee (ACC), which is allowed per Paragraph (b), Section 1, Article VII of the Condominium Bylaws:

"The Board of Directors may appoint an Architectural Control Committee and may delegate to it responsibility for establishing rules relating to the appearance of units and common areas, and the approval of the construction, maintenance and repair thereof."

After discussing the issue at their meeting last Friday, the Manors Board of Directors voted to approve the establishment of an ACC that will consist of three to five Association members who are in good standing and entitled to vote on Association business in accordance with Article II, Section 3 and Article V, Section 6 of the Condominium Bylaws.

Changes to our trash pick-up

Right-click on the image and
"open in a new tab/window"
to enlarge and read the letter.

A few days ago, every residential address in Shelby Twp. received this letter from the Township Supervisor regarding the fact that on July 1st, Rizzo Services will assume the responsibility of picking up all of the solid waste under the terms of Shelby Township's single waste hauler ordinance.

Per the terms of the single waste hauler ordinance, the selected provider is obligated to pick up solid waste from all single family residences and from those condominiums that consist of detached and duplex units.  However the ordinance does not require them to pick up yard waste from the detached and duplex condominiums since it is expected that the condominium association's landscape contractor handles all landscaping work and the disposal of the yard waste they generate.  That is why the solid waste hauler will not pick up bags of yard waste that Manors residents set out to the curb. 

Multi-unit residential complexes such as apartments and cluster type condominiums (such as Kensington) are not covered under this ordinance and therefore they must contract for their own solid waste hauling, as do all of the commercial and industrial businesses in the Township.

Because a unit in our condo association is not considered a "single family home", we will not be receiving the 95-gallon recycle cart mentioned in the Township's letter that went to all residences.  I am assuming that unless the Association is informed otherwise by Rizzo Services, there will be no changes to the types of containers we can use here at the Manors. Previously, each co-owner had the option to purchase (at their own expense) and use a blue 95-gallon trash cart, plus they were given a small blue bin to use for recycling items.  Our trash will also be picked up if it is placed at the curb in secured plastic trash bags or inside any other kind of covered trash container. 

I have been contacted by several Manors residents asking how they may apply for the senior discount and/or recycling incentives mentioned in the Township's letter.  The answer is that you cannot. You have not been an individual customer of the waste hauler and that does not change as of July 1st.  The Manors Condo Association holds a single account with the Township's single waste hauler and we pay the monthly fee for all 118 sold units directly to the waste hauler on your behalf using funds derived from your monthly Association dues ($60 per month for Units 1-14, $175 per month for all others).  The $1.93 per unit reduction in the monthly rate that begins when Rizzo takes over the contract means that your Association will have $1,366.44 less total expenditures for waste pick-up over the last half of 2012.

For additional information, visit http://www.shelbytwp.org/recycle - but keep in mind that a unit at the Manors is not a "single family home" under the Township's waste hauling ordinance and contract.

Remember - you are expected to do your part to keep the Manors looking clean and neat by making sure that your solid waste is placed securely at the curb!  That means that your trash must be placed at the curb inside either a COVERED container or within plastic bags that are tied shut.  The recycling items in your blue bin must also be covered so that they cannot be blown about by the wind  [click here for other important disposal information].  Your solid waste should be at the curb no later than 7 AM of pick-up day and no earlier than 6 PM the night before. Failure to follow these common-sense methods for placing your solid waste at the curb for pick-up can result in a violation and fine from the Board of Directors of the Manors at Central Park Condominium Association.

Nov. 2011 Newsletter

Message from your Board Member

2012 Annual Meeting

Our 2012 Annual Meeting is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday evening, Jan. 18, 2012 at the Shelby Twp. municipal building [this date has since been confirmed]. There will be two important elections held that evening. One will be to approve a final paving Special Assessment and another will be held to elect three co-owners to the Board of Directors.

During the meeting, the current Board of Directors will be asking Association members to approve a Special Assessment for the purpose of repairing cracked curbs and to pave the final asphalt layer on the remainder of our roads 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 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).

Pending the receipt of competitive bids, the current Board estimates that the final paving project will cost about $83,700 and that the Special Assessment levy will be about $145 for each of Units 1-14 and about $540 for each of Units 16-166. The Carpenters Pension Trust Fund owns (47) incomplete Units and they will also pay the Special Assessment amount for each of their Units.

The estimated Special Assessment levy amount is considerably higher than originally planned. That's because the Shelby Township Attorney informed me on Oct. 28, 2011 via this letter that the $29,600 Letter of Credit issued on Nov. 17, 2004 by the Greco Title Co. on behalf of "Sable Realty Ventures- Shelby I LP" and held by the Township to guarantee the final paving is not being honored by the title company that recently purchased the assets of the Greco Title Co.

The current Board of Directors recommends a "yes" vote on the Special Assessment. If approved, the curb repairs and final layer of asphalt paving will be completed before the end of 2012.

The 2012 Annual Meeting will also be the Transition Meeting at which time the Carpenters Pension Trust Fund will transfer control of the Board of Directors over to the co-owners. Therefore, we will be electing three co-owners to the Board at this meeting.

If nominated, I intend to run for another term on the Board of Directors. Please give some serious thought about who else you’d like to see nominated for election to the Board of Directors and discuss it with your neighbors. I know that we have many co-owners who are capable of serving on the Board and the more nominees we have, the stronger the new Board will be. If you have any questions about what is expected of a Board member, please contact me and I'll be more than happy to answer your questions.

In early December you will receive a mailing that will confirm the time and place of the 2012 Annual Meeting and provide full details about the two elections and the nomination process. A second mailing will arrive in January with the names of those who have been nominated thus far along with proxy forms for those who might not be able to attend the Annual Meeting in person. If you are not sure whether you can attend the Annual Meeting, please fill out and return the proxy prior to the meeting (your proxy will be returned at the door if you later decide to attend in person). It is important that we have enough voting members present in the room and via proxies so that we can properly conduct the Special Assessment and Board of Directors elections.

Parking Reminder

Overnight parking (Midnight to 6 AM) is not allowed on our streets and private access drives from November 1st through March 31st.

Community Area Rules and Regulations

Click here to read more information about the letter and enclosures you should have received in today's mail from Kramer-Triad.

What's wrong with this picture?

What's wrong with this picture? The trash was placed at the curb way too early!

The Rules and Regulations of the Manors at Central Park Condominium Association state that refuse and recyclables shall be placed at the curb no earlier than 6:00 PM of the evening before collection day. They also require the empty containers to be removed from the curb no later than 6:00 AM of the day following the collection day. Since our regular collection day is Tuesday, that means that trash and recyclables may go out to the curb after 6:00 PM on Monday evening and empty containers need to be stored away by 6:00 AM on Wednesday.

The Shelby Township waste services web page asks that you have your trash and recyclables at the curb by 7:00 AM on collection day.

Allied Waste has asked our duplex residents to place their trash and recyclables at the curb on the side of their driveway nearest the closest neighboring driveway so that their drivers can pick up from both addresses with only one stop. Click here to view a drawing that shows the preferred placement location.

Your cooperation is very much appreciated.

Considering a fence for Units 1-14?

Per the Addendum to the Manors at Central Park Condominium Bylaws, fences are only permitted for Units 1-14 and the Board of Directors has the right to standardize the architectural design of permitted fences.

The Board of Directors of the Manors at Central Park Condo Association has decided to adopt the same standardized fence design criteria as used by the Gardens at Central Park, the Meadows at Central Park and the Central Park Master Association.

The standardized architectural design criteria for permitted fences are as follows:

• Materials: extruded rectangular aluminum (additional ornamental components may be permitted upon request)
• Color: black
• Maximum Height: 48 inches

Owners of Manors Units 1 through 14, inclusive, may request permission from the Board to erect a fence in their rear yard by reviewing the information below and following the instructions on this web page.

The Board's approval will be granted strictly on the basis that the material, color and height of the proposed fence meets the Association's standardized requirements.

Co-owners of Units 1 through 14 who desire a fence remain responsible for

1. making certain that your proposed fence complies with the Shelby Township fence requirements and obtaining all necessary permits.
2. determining that your proposed fence does not encroach on or outside your property lines.
3. familiarizing yourself with the location and nature of all easements that run through your rear yard and obtaining approvals from the easement holder(s) before erecting any portion of the fence within an easement.

The Board particularly wants the co-owners of Units 1-14 to be aware that there are a number of easements that run across the rear of your property and that there is the potential for future problems should the fence be placed on an easement without securing approval from the easement holder. For example, the very rear of each lot contains a "20 foot wide construction, maintenance and operation easement" which grants Lombardo Homes and the Kensington Condo Association the right to use it for access to their property for new building construction and on-going building maintenance. That easement was granted because by design, the existing and proposed Kensington Condo cluster buildings are only about 5 feet away from the rear property lines of Manors Units 1-14.

In the absence of an approval from the easement holder(s), it is the co-owner who assumes all risks stemming from a decision to place their fence within the easement area(s); such risks include but are not limited to having the fence damaged or removed by the easement holder or being sued by them to have you remove it from the easement. Since the Board's granting of a fence approval is based only on whether it meets the specified architectural design criteria, there exists no liability on the part of the Manors at Central Park Condo Association should the easement holders decide to enforce their easement rights.

June 2010 Newsletter

Co-owners should have received their June 2010 newsletter in this past week's mail. Click here to read a scanned version of it:

• Front Page
• Back Page

Why don't they just park on the lawn?

It's even closer to the front door - and then maybe the rest of us could use our sidewalks for their intended purpose!

Seriously, now that parking is only permitted on one side of the street, there is no reason for anyone to park with their tires on the sidewalk. Courtesy violation notices have been routinely ignored, so from now on "sidewalk parkers" will receive a formal violation notice, with fines assessed for subsequent violations.


And what's up with all the parking on the empty lots? The Bylaws clearly state that co-owners have exclusive use of their garage and driveway for parking their vehicles. That provides four parking spaces per unit. The Bylaws further state that "each co-owner shall park his vehicle in the garage.... provided therefore" and that "at no time shall a parked vehicle be located on any sidewalk, landscaped area or empty lot". We have plenty of on-street parking available for the use of co-owners and their guests, so "field parkers" can also expect to receive a formal violation notice.

Stop and Speed Limit Signs

The Central Park Master Association Board of Directors has authorized the procurement and installation of "Stop" signs at selected intersections along the Central Park ring road as well as "Speed Limit 25" signs at the Van Dyke and 22 Mile Road entrances.

The signage project was approved at their Nov. 30, 2009 meeting and the signs were installed earlier today.


The "Stop" sign locations were selected on the basis of their proximity to school bus stop and crosswalk locations.

The "Speed Limit 25" signs were placed at the entrances to our community as a reminder that all residential streets have a 25 MPH speed limit.

Wildlife ?

On Saturday afternoon, April 18th, I spotted this animal near the well by the corner of Regent and Lexington North (click on the image to enlarge it). It appears to be a young red fox, but I'm no expert on identifying wildlife. Maybe it is someone's pet dog? It kind of resembles a Welsh Corgi, but this has a long tail and the legs are not a short as a Corgi. UPDATE: It turns out that it's a pet and that it's a Long-Haired Chihuahua.

As a reminder, please do not feed the real wildlife, since it serves to attract them as well as other species who cause damage and costs for the Association. Last year the Association had to spend precious budget dollars to "evict" multiple woodchucks who migrated from the fields to burrow under rear decks, and then to have another contractor fill in the holes they made. Feeding the ducks and Canadian geese results in a terrible mess on our sidewalks and lawns and "baiting" the deer causes them to want to browse on our foundation shrubs and arbor vitae while they are here. Deer damage was particularly heavy on the arbs near the well, to the point where the lowest five feet of each arb is now too thin to provide any visual screening of the well equipment.

Refuse Collection Reminder

A reminder to all Manors residents, Tuesday is our normally scheduled refuse collection day and your refuse and recyclables should be placed at the curb no later than 7:00 AM to insure that they will be picked up that day.

You may place your items at the curb beginning at 6:00 PM of the evening before collection day. Empty containers should be removed from the curb no later than 6:00 AM of the day following the collection day.

New Rules and Regulations

(click to enlarge comic strip)

All co-owners should have received a letter by now from Kramer-Triad with an enclosed copy of the new rules and regulations that were recently adopted by the Board of Directors. The cover letter and rules and regulations can also be viewed here.

The cover letter in the mailing also stated that copies of Articles VII and XII of the Association Bylaws were to have been enclosed for your reference but they were inadvertently omitted. The full Bylaws, including these Articles, were included in the "Documents" book that you received at your closing. Rather than incur the expense of an additional mass mailing, if you need a copy of these particular Articles, you can either request them from Kramer-Triad or view them on this web page.