Central Park Master Association Annual Meeting

The 2016 Annual Membership Meeting of the Central Park Master Homeowners Association will be held on Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at the Shelby Township Municipal Building, 52700 Van Dyke.

Sign-in begins at 6:30 PM and the meeting itself will start at 7:00 PM.

Representatives of the Gardens and Meadows Homeowners Associations will be elected to the Board of the CP Master Homeowners Association at this meeting. You will receive a meeting notice in the mail with additional information.

2nd Amendment to Master Deed

Co-owners have received a notice from the Developer regarding an amendment to our Master Deed.

Click here to read about the amended sections.  The most significant impact of the amendments is the creation of multiple phases for our condominium project.  This document shows the location of the new phases. New construction within Phases 2 and up will generally begin in the same order as their phase number.

All currently occupied units will now be part of Phase 1, which includes Units 1-36, 39-40, 45-56, 61-94, 101-112, 123 and 137-167.  As a result of the phasing that is being created by this 2nd Amendment, all units in Phase 1 of our condominium project that are under consideration for a mortgage or refinancing will now meet the federal "Owner-Occupancy Requirements" for warrantable condominium financing.

UPDATE: The 2nd Amendment to our Master Deed went into effect when it was recorded on March 15, 2016. Click here to view the recorded document.

New Street Light Bulbs

Street lights with the new LED bulbs

New energy-saving bulbs were installed today in all of our street light fixtures.  These 30 watt LED bulbs replace the 150 watt high-pressure sodium bulbs (shown here) that have been used since our subdivision was built.

The cost of this conversion will be recouped by the energy savings within 2 years time. The LED bulbs also have a life expectancy that is about four times greater than the high-pressure sodium bulbs, which required the use of a separate ballast that also needed to be occasionally replaced.

The new LED lights emit a white light that has a Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 84, as opposed to the 22 CRI associated with the orange light emitted by the high-pressure sodium bulbs.  Bulbs with a higher CRI allow an object's colors to appear more natural to the eye. When compared to high-pressure sodium bulbs, the white light emitted by LED bulbs has been shown to double driver peripheral vision and increase driver brake reaction time by at least 25%.

The LED bulbs look similar to this one and are commonly called "corncobs". 

The following street lights remain 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

The street light on Lexington West will be re-wired as soon as the weather breaks.  As previously explained here, the other three will be re-wired after all the new construction is completed in that area, which will probably be the fall of 2017 at the earliest.

Did you lose your flag?

Are you missing a US Flag and flagpole that blew away after the recent high winds? If so, contact Ray Swiderski at 49949 Lexington East.

Got Lint?

When is the last time you cleaned the lint from the vent pipe that exhausts your clothes dryer to the outside of your condo?

It's not enough just to regularly clean the lint trap on your clothes dryer. A clean dryer vent can lower energy bills and also reduce the risk of fires.

Here are ten signs that your dryer's vent pipe is overdue for a cleaning.

Minutes of 2016 Annual Membership Meeting

The 2016 Annual Membership Meeting was held on the evening of Jan. 27, 2016.

Mike Grobbel, Larry Cybulski and Ray Swiderski were each elected to the Board of Directors for a one-year term.

Minutes of the meeting can be found here.

2016 Annual Membership Meeting

The 2016 Annual Membership Meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 7:00 PM. Registration will open at 6:30 P.M.

The meeting will be held in the Shelby Twp. Municipal Building Main Board Room, 52700 Van Dyke, Shelby Twp., MI 48316.

The purpose of this meeting is to elect three members to the Board of Directors for one-year terms was well as to review last year’s accomplishments and plans for the coming year.

You should have already received a notice of this meeting via US Mail, along with a blank Nominating Ballot and General Proxy form.  If not, please contact Casa Bella Property Management at 248-655-1500.

You may use the Nominating Ballot to nominate one or more candidates for the Board of Directors election.  You must obtain the nominee's signature prior to submitting the Ballot.

If you know that you will be unable to attend or even if you are not sure, please fill out the General Proxy form and give it to a trusted neighbor who will be attending the meeting.  By completing and returning your Proxy form, it counts towards the meeting's quorum requirement and you are empowering that person to vote on your behalf.  If it later turns out that you can attend the meeting, your General Proxy will be voided when you register at the door and you will be able to cast your own votes.

Certificate of Insurance

How to obtain a Certificate of Insurance

As of April 2015, the condo association has a new insurance agency and coverage is now provided through the Maris-Brown Agency.  Therefore, there are new procedures for requesting a certificate of insurance that you or your lending institution may use.
 

• E-mail:  send your request to certs@mbrinsurance.com and include your Unit number and street address, the banks name, fax and bank account numbers
• Telephone:  call them at 1-855-266-3646.

Minutes of the 11-2-2015 Board Meeting

MANORS AT CENTRAL PARK
CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION
Minutes of the
Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors
November 2, 2015, 1:00 PM

(UNAPPROVED)

1. Called to Order at 1:00 PM; Board members in attendance: Mike Grobbel, Larry Cybulski, Ray Swiderski; also in attendance: Mike O’Brien (Casa Bella).
2. The Meeting Agenda was approved with no changes.
3. The Board approved the minutes of the Special Meeting of March 17, 2015
4. New Business
1. 2016 Budget – the Board reviewed the proposed budget and adjusted selected amounts to provide additional funds for grounds repair & maintenance, tree/shrub maintenance, exterior wood repair and road maintenance.
2. The Board approved the adjusted budget for 2016:

                                                    i.     Monthly Association Fees remain same as 2015

                                                   ii.     Total Income of $318,840 based on 127 total units

                                                  iii.     Total Operating Expenses of $286,358

                                                  iv.     Total contributions to Replacement Reserve Account of $31,884  

3. The Board agreed to publish a  newsletter and discussed its content
4. The Board reviewed and approved a Welcoming Letter with slightly different version to be sent to new buyers of:

                                                    i.     Newly constructed condos (Units 35-157)

                                                   ii.     Existing condos (Units 15-167)

                                                  iii.     Existing site condos (Units 1-14)

5. Set date, time and place for 2016 Annual Membership Meeting

                                                    i.     Wed. Jan. 27, 2016

                                                   ii.     Sign-in begins at 6:30 p.m.; meeting begins at 7:00 p.m.

                                                  iii.     Board Room, Shelby Twp. Municipal Building

5. Old Business – the Board discussed:
1. Delinquencies
2. Rental units
6. Open Discussion – there were no items discussed
7. Set next Board of Directors Regular Meeting date, time and place; the Board agreed
1. to allow the president to call the next meeting
2. that a meeting will probably be needed to be held in early January 2016
8. The meeting was adjourned at 2:42 p.m.

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.