December 12, 2024

I hope that all of you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. I’ve enjoyed seeing Christmas decorations light up all over Abbottsford. It really is, as the song says, “the most wonderful time of the year”.

Since the semi-annual HOA meeting Board members and I have talked to a number of Abbottsford residents, regardless of whether they signed the petition or not, about their suggestions to move our community forward. The following is an overview of developments since the semi-annual meeting. My thanks to everyone who offered suggestions or volunteered to help.  

Landscaping

The Landscape Committee drafted, and the Board approved an RFP for 2025 landscape services for Abbottsford. It was sent to landscape service firms with experience in communities such as Abbottsford. Responses are due December 13. The Landscape Committee will recommend three finalists to the Board. The Board will make the final decision regarding the finalists. Notwithstanding the scheduling challenges inherent in the Holiday Season, we hope to select finalists before the end of the year and begin meeting with finalists before year end. I think I realistic goal is to complete the process and select a landscape service provider for 2025 by January 15.

Also… The Landscape Committee has done a great job moving forward with the Front Entrance project. In accordance with BFT’s plan, as recommended by the Committee and approve by the Board, several “challenged” trees will be removed and planting commence immediately thereafter. The Committee is preparing an email blast with more details about how everything is going to look. They’ve done a great job and I’m excited to see the project come to fruition.

Paving

Rhodes Engineering is finalizing the Bid Package and it should go out next week. They will conduct a pre-bid meeting and walk-through with prospective bidders in early January. They will also assist the Assets Committee and the Board in evaluating the bids and selecting the paving company for the job. The goal is to be ready to go as soon asphalt plants open in March.

Management

Cody will be on site and on the job until the end of the year. Our current contract with Floyd & Associates provides that they will at our request expand their services to cover the resident service functions that Cody has been providing. We will get information to you soon regarding how to contact them etc.

In the meantime the Board is preparing an RFP for management services in 2025. Floyd & Associates  and several other management firms with experience with communities like Abbottsford will be asked for proposals. Our goal is to complete the RFP process by January 31.

Budget 

The approval of the draft Budget for 2025 was tabled at last month’s meeting to enable the Board to get more definitive estimates for several significant expense categories.. principally those covered by the three RFP processes described above. This means that, technically, that meeting has never been adjourned. Our goal is to reconvene that meeting to consider the 2025 budget in the first two weeks of January. We will send a notice of the meeting as soon as  possible and no less than ten days  before the meeting. 

Vacant Board Seat

In addition to the re-convened meeting to approve the 2025 budget, we will also send a notice for a Special HOA meeting to elect a new director to fill the vacancy left by Ashley Cantrell’s resignation until the Annual HOA meeting next May. Former board member Nancy Lorenzi has agreed to be nominated to serve on the Board for that time.

So, as you can see, we’ve got a lot going on…. Please join me in thanking all of the volunteers who give their time to working to keep Abbottsford a great place to live.

And lastly…. I hope that all of you and your families have a wonderful Holiday Season, filled with family, friends, and joy all around.

Townes

A reminder to please be aware that the Middle Tennessee area is home to various predatory animals such as owls, hawks, foxes, coyotes, and others. For the safety of your small dogs and other outdoor pets, it is advised to supervise them while they are outside. While there have been no unfortunate incidents, we hope to continue prioritizing the safety of both pets and wildlife in our community.

Thanks

 The Landscape Committee is delighted to share once again the revised plan for our entrance as well as images of the plants that have been recommended by BFT, our landscape architects.  Their selections represent a variety of beautiful trees, shrubs, perennials and groundcovers that will provide color, texture, and interest throughout the year.  Images of the plants will be on the Abbottsford website, and we encourage you to take a look at what we have to look forward to as these new plants and trees mature.

This is the ideal time to plant, and we are pleased to report that work will begin on Monday, December 16th, starting with the removal of four declining sweet gum trees and three leaning/unhealthy pines at the entrance.  Tree removal and stump grinding will take place over three consecutive days, assuming the weather cooperates, and the installation of new trees and other plants will begin on Thursday, December 19th.  We anticipate that work will be completed by the end of the year.

We will be in touch with the community regularly as landscape work continues so that everyone is informed and knows what to expect.

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.

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.