Meeting Recap

Abbottsford Semi-Annual Homeowners Meeting

November 12, 2024

Landscaping

Abbottsford Landscape Task Force comprised of Donna Kestner, Missy Voigt, and Ashley Cantrell worked in conjunction Landscape Architects, BFT, to produce the following three deliverables, each of which they unanimously approved: 

1. A Landscape Vision Statement for Abbottsford to guide landscape decisions now and in the future
2. An executable plan to upgrade our Front Entrance with a budget for plantings of less than $35K Front Entrance Design Plans
3. A Summary Five Year Plan for future significant landscaping projects.

The group was also assisted by Greg Bowers. 

The three deliverables were approved by the Board and our Landscape Chair, Greg Bowers, will provide communication regarding the onset date and timelines for the Front Entrance.

Julia Baker from BFT presented the Front Entrance Redesign Front Entrance Design Plans

The Landscape Committee was restructured to consist of five to seven members. The new Landscape Chair is Greg Bowers. Please continue to complete the online form Landscaping Request/Question Form with any landscaping questions or concerns. 

The Board has approved a contract with BFT to design a Five-Year Plan for Abbottsford’s future landscaping projects.

Assets

Brad Pendleton presented two alternative Ten Year Financial Projections which demonstrated the importance of increasing HOA dues annually to at least cover inflation. 

The proposed budget for 2025 was tabled to obtain precise quotes for the 2025 assets for Paving, Landscaping, and Property Management.

• Paving
  • Rhodes Engineering has proposed a Three Phase plan to pave, repair, and update Abbottsford’s roads and curbs. 
• Landscape Services Contract
  • The New Landscape Committee and the Board will both have input into the provisions of the RFP to ensure that it reflects the expectations of our residents. We will target firms which have experience with communities comparable to Abbottsford. 
• Site Management
  • The Board has decided that rather than attempting to replace Cody’s unusually broad skill set, Abbottsford would be better served by returning to our prior model of retaining a professional property management firm to handle many of the operations management and communications functions that have been Cody’s responsibility. We will target firms that have experience with communities comparable to Abbottsford. Please continue to submit any questions, concerns, or requests via online Requests & Questions

Engagement

The Engagement Report and Survey were distributed. There are several exciting Engagement activities within our community. Please take advantage of the opportunities to meet and engage with your fellow neighbors. The Engagement Report is located on the website . The Survey Report is located on the website 2024 Survey Results. 

Budget

A draft budget for 2025 was included in the materials distributed prior to the meeting. After a discussion a motion to table consideration of the draft budget pending the availability of firmer numbers regarding landscaping, paving, and a new management contract upon completion of RFP processes in each of those area, was made, seconded, and approved by a voice vote. 

A special meeting of the HOA will be called when the budget is ready for consideration. Additionally, the agenda for the special meeting will include the election of a new board member to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Ashley Cantrell, to serve until the Annual HOA meeting in May. 

General 

• Reserve Study
  •  The last Reserve Study was done in 2021. The Board commissioned a new study. Importantly, unlike our prior reserve studies, which based their conclusions on the national average useful lives for various assets, we’ve asked that this study use actual useful lives for our assets. The prior approach makes sense for a relatively new community, but for a 40+ year old community like Abbottsford, we will likely find that some of our assets are closer to the end of their useful lives than the national average. Our current reserves are higher than they’ve ever been, but they’re likely less than they should be given the age of some of our assets. Additionally, the paving work described above will hit our reserves hard over the next 3-5 years.
• Future Areas of Emphasis
  • There are remodeling projects going on in Abbottsford. There will be more. And, in the future, there may be buyers who want to tear down existing homes.  These issues are to be expected in a 40-year-old community.  We live in very close proximity to our neighbors and that complicates things. Our current governing documents don’t address these issues particularly well. The HOA has limited tools to enforce the rules that we do have. 40 years of changing demographics etc. has given rise to parking issues that are also not well addressed by our governing documents. These include more than two cars in one family (older kids etc.), residents using their garages for something other than parking, and parking vehicles associated with construction projects. The Board will review the governing documents and evaluate revisions, enforcement tools, etc. the HOA can and should have.

The meeting was not adjourned.