Oct. 18th Open House at the Packard Proving Grounds

Our "neighbor", the Packard Proving Grounds Historic Site will be having their annual Open House on Sunday, October 18th, 1-5pm.

Skunks love grubs

Skunk on the prowl, Dec. 2014.

In addition to the visits we get from wild turkeys, possums, woodchucks and the occasional deer here at the Manors, we are also visited by skunks.  However, since they are nocturnal animals, we only occasionally see them out and about.

What we do see is the damage they inflict on our lawns each fall when they feast on the grubs that are beneath the sod.  The Association does pay for an annual application of grub killer, but many grubs still survive at the perimeter of the lawns near the sidewalk and driveways.

The Association's landscaper is attempting to repair the more heavily damaged areas by removing the damaged lawn, applying an insecticide to kill the remaining grubs and then installing new sod a few days later while we still have our lawn sprinkling system available.   Smaller damaged areas are being repaired by tamping the loose tufts of grass back into place and adding grass seed.  However, once the irrigation system is winterized, we will have to wait until spring to repair any more lawn damage.

Lawn damaged by a skunk feeding on grubs.

Damaged lawn after tamping.

Our wildlife control contractor does not recommend setting traps for skunks.  More often than not, the traps end up catching other types of wildlife instead of the skunks, unless the trap is placed adjacent to the skunk burrow.  Since we have not identified any skunk burrows on our premises, they are probably living in the fields to our north and west and venturing onto our property at night to fatten up for the coming winter.  Also, if a trap was placed on the lawns where they have been feeding, you could find an angry possum or skunk snarling or spraying at you in the morning!

The Board of Directors believes that grub control is the most appropriate solution to our skunk problem and we are working with our lawn fertilizing contractor to achieve better results in 2016.

Wild Turkeys

A "rafter" of wild turkeys were spotted yesterday on the west side of the Manors property. There were at least 13 of them, about half of them being young poults.

Road Closure Announcement

 

(click to enlarge)

Announcement from the Charter Township of Shelby:

Following the finalization of an independent structural engineer’s inspection of a bridge on Shelby Road just north of 22 Mile Road, the Macomb County Department of Roads decided to close the bridge Sept. 11 and facilitate a full fill of the span underneath the bridge with full reconstruction of a new roadway.

The bridge runs above an old railroad line that led into the former Ford Motor Co./Visteon plant near 23 Mile and Mound roads. After reaching an agreement with that property’s current owner, the MCDR finalized a plan to remove the railroad line and fill the area to facilitate the new road.

“Last week the Macomb County Department of Roads completed an independent engineering inspection of the bridge on Shelby Road over the abandoned railroad spur into the old Visteon complex north of 22 Mile Road,” MCDR Director Bob Hoepfner sad. “The inspection revealed significant deterioration, and it was determined that the structure must be closed to traffic.

“We have received permission from the owner of the old Visteon complex to remove the deck and fill the structure with earth and repave the roadway and hope to have this work completed in the next few months,” Hoepfner added. “Since this structure is located on a County Primary Road, the Macomb County Department of Roads will cover 100 percent of the project cost.”

Like all bridge replacement and reconstruction projects on primary roads in Macomb County, the Shelby Road bridge replacement falls under the MCDR policy in which the MCDR absorbs all construction costs associated with the project.

The closure on Shelby Road comes on the heels of the finalization of an agreement between the township and the MCDR to reconstruct roughly one mile of 22 Mile Road beginning 500 feet east of Shelby Road traveling west to Ryan Road.

The 22 mile Road project is independent of the Shelby Road bridge replacement, and, because 22 Mile Road is designated a local road, the costs associated with the reconstruction of the road and a box culvert over the Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal must be split between the county and Shelby Township.

Streetlight Outages

The following streetlights are out of order due to failed underground wiring:

1) East side of Lexington West, behind 6638 Lexington South
2) East side of Regent, across from 50011 Regent
3) Northwest corner of Watling and Lexington South
4) Southwest corner of Watling and Lexington North

Some of these failures are due to the underground wiring being cut by construction crews back in 2004-2010.  They were repaired with splices which over time became corroded by moisture, which then caused them to eventually short out. Other failures might be the result of more recent construction activity.

The underground electrical lines for the streetlights do not appear on the MISSDIG drawings, so the contractors are not responsible for the damage.  Therefore, it is up to the Association to repair and replace the failed underground wiring.  Since it is very difficult to find the location of the break, a new underground line must be installed between the streetlight and the electrical meter, which can be anywhere from 100 to 500 feet away. The Board of Directors will have new wiring installed for each streetlight once the risk of damage from new construction in the vicinity has subsided.

Storm Sewer Repairs

The heavy rains we had on August 11, 2014 (post with photos) caused two sinkholes to develop on our property.  The sinkholes resulted from breaks in the underground storm sewer pipe that had gone undetected until then.

What happened that day is that the retention basin filled up from the 5.1 inches of rain we received that day, causing the water to back up into the storm sewers and catch basins.  By 9:00 p.m. some streets were covered from curb to curb with standing water that had no place to go until the retention basin eventually drained down later that night.  In the meantime, the backed-up storm water escaped from the breaks in the two buried pipes and as the water receded, it sucked the surrounding sand into the pipe, causing a small sinkhole behind 49995-50011 Regent and a much larger sinkhole between 49992-50008 Watling.

The Association hired a contractor who managed to get the storm sewer pipe at the smaller sinkhole repaired later in the fall of 2014.  However they found that the pipe at the larger sinkhole was much deeper and after an initial attempt had to be abandoned, they brought in heavy equipment last week to make the repairs.

In both cases, it's believed that the breaks in the plastic storm sewer pipe were caused by construction debris that was dropped directly onto the pipe during the backfilling of the storm sewer trench in 2004.

Landscaping repairs at the smaller sinkhole have already been made and the Board of Directors intends to have the landscaping repaired at the Watling sinkhole sometime after Labor Day.

Below are photos of the Watling sinkhole repairs that were made on Aug. 13, 2015.

The excavator had to dig a hole about 7 ft. deep and 12 ft. wide to expose and repair the broken storm sewer pipe.

The worker's foot is next to the break in the storm sewer pipe.

The broken section was cut out and replaced with a new section of 12 in. diameter pipe.

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.

Groundwater Sampling

Every three months Ford Motor Company has a subcontractor come on-site to take groundwater samples from the two monitoring wells that are located behind 50119 Lexington West.  The next such sampling is scheduled for Monday, July 27, 2015 and their subcontractor has requested and received permission from the Board to enter the premises.

Their subcontractor, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA), has recently merged with GHD Services Inc. and their corporate name has been changed to GHD.

Therefore beginning with the July 27th groundwater samplings, the crew's trucks, hard hats, etc. will be marked "GHD" instead of "CRA". 

2015 Municipal Water Quality Report

Shelby Township issues a report every year regarding the safety and quality of our municipal drinking water.  The report is called "The Pipeline" and you can read the 2015 edition by clicking here.

Page 3 of the report discusses "Area Maintenance Meters" and suggests that all lawn watering take place between midnight and 5 am.  All of the municipal water used for lawn irrigation here at the Manors is supplied through "Area Maintenance Meters" and thus is not subject to any sanitary sewer charges.  Because of the large areas involved, we cannot confine all of our lawn irrigation to those recommended 5 hours, but be assured that when watering is required, our controllers are programmed to keep every water meter in use during those 5 hours.

Fireworks

Reminder - fireworks are not allowed on the limited or general common elements of the Manors at Central Park Condominium Association, which includes all of the land, sidewalks, driveways and streets.

The Association is a private, non-profit corporation that is registered with the State of Michigan.   The Association, through its Board of Directors, is responsible for, among other things, the management, maintenance, operation and administration of the common elements.

Article VII, Section 1, paragraph (c) of the Manors at Central Park Condominium Bylaws states that,

No unlawful activity shall be carried on in any unit or upon the limited or general common elements, nor shall any unreasonable noisy activity be carried on in any unit or on the common elements.  No member owning any residential unit shall do or permit anything to be done in his unit or on the common elements that will increase the insurance rate on the Condominium without the written approval of the Association.

The Michigan Fireworks Safety Act PA 256 of 2011, Section 28.462 - as well as Section 26-160 (c) of the Shelby Twp. Code of Ordinances -  state that fireworks may not be used on public property, school property or the private property of another person unless express permission is obtained to use the fireworks on that property.

Section 26-163 of the Shelby Twp. Code of Ordinances states that first-time violators shall be deemed responsible for a municipal civil infraction and subject to a fine of not less than $75.00 and not more than $500.00.

On-Line Requests for Service

With the recent transition to Casa Bella for our property management services, Manors co-owners can now submit a request for service on-line, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

If you have not yet registered for your free account, go to http://www.casabellamanagement.com/user_signup_association.php and provide the requested registration information.  Casa Bella will verify your information and activate your account.  You should then receive an e-mail from them confirming that it has been activated.  The Casa Bella activation process should not take more than one business day - usually it is activated within a couple of hours.

After your account has been activated, go to the Casa Bella home page at http://www.casabellamanagement.com/index.php and provide your Username and Password in the Login box on the right side of the page.

Once you are logged in, click on the "Service Requests" link on the left side of your home page.  It will open the Service Requests page (shown above), from which you can submit requests for Work Orders as well as Modification Requests, Violation Reports and Change of Address.  Click on the appropriate green magnifying glass icon and the proper form will open up.  Complete the form and submit it.  Your submitted service request is visible to you, Casa Bella employees and all of the Board members.  You can also check back at any time to follow its status.

The menu on the left side of your Casa Bella home page also provides additional links to other useful options and documents.  From there you can view our Master Deed, Bylaws, Rules & Regulations, meeting minutes and financial documents as well as verify your current balance. 

Co-owners still have the option of requesting service by calling Casa Bella at (248) 655-1500.

New ranch-style condominiums for sale

There are 47 available sites to choose from

New ranch style duplex condominiums are now being constructed and marketed here within the Manors by Woodlake-Landtec of Central Park LLC.  Their sales office is located at 49966 Lexington East.  Phone 586-739-1373.

For more information, visit their web site at manorscp.com