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CAROLINA PRESERVE

Resident Information

Published by SCOTT GREEN on May 27, 2011

Please contact the front desk at Bradford Hall at (919) 467-7837 with questions regarding the Carolina Preserve community.

PENINSULA

What Peninsula at Amberly has to offer...

Published by SCOTT GREEN on May 27, 2011

The Peninsula is a wonderful part of Amberly!  We have beautiful homes with some of the best upgrades available on good sized lots with nice yards.  Our homes range in size - two and three car garages available as well as four to 6 plus bedrooms.  We really have a lot of versatility here!!  We are just a short walk away from the Amberly amenities - clubhouse, pool, greenway trails, etc. and there are plans for the Tobacco Trail entrance at the back of the Peninsula in the future.  We have wonderful neighbors around us and many of us are becoming great friends!  Our neighborhood is full of kids ranging from "currently in the belly" to teenage years.  You will often see kids riding their bikes and playing in the yards while parents gather to chit chat.  Everyone loves the Chatham County schools!!  We have a few neighborhood parties every year - Adult Wiffle Ball Tournament (with a keg on second base) and then a Memorial Day BBQ cook out with magic show/face painting and games for the kids to name just a few.  It is a range of people from all places (Canada, New York, California, Ohio, and more - even one naitve born in Cary!!) that have settled here.  Come visit the Peninsula and see why we enjoy being a community!

VILLAGE SQUARE

Amberly Master Property Owners Association Meeting

Published by SCOTT GREEN on May 27, 2011

This meeting was held to introduce the POA Board advisory group to the Managing Partner of the new developer for Amberly.

The new developer is Iota Amberly, LLC, which is owned by AmT CADC Venture, LLC (AmT CADC Venture is a partnership of the following:  FDIC, Oaktree Capital, Milestone Asset Resolution Company and Gibraltar Capital and Asset Management).  The asset manager for Amberly is Gibraltar Capital, who is represented by Steve Mansfield.

Steve advised that they are pursuing three primary paths at this time:

1. Clean-up of the community
2. Work with the Town of Cary on any outstanding issues including the issuance of building permits
3. Award lot purchase to new builders

Clean-up of the community will include mowing of developer owned lots in Village Square and Peninsula communities.  Steve hopes to begin to start paving of developed streets in Village Square Phases A, B, C, & D by September.  Installation of street lighting on McCrimmon Parkway is to be completed in the same general timeframe.

Gibraltar will meet with the Town reps to establish a punch list of items that require attention.

Packages will be sent to several interested national builders in the next few weeks to take offers for construction on lots.  They hope to have these returned in about one month.  The aim is to have builders pulling permits by October.

General Meeting:

Budget continues to be in good shape for this year.

The weather has delayed the repairs on the pool.  Without further delays the plans are to begin filling the pool on Thursday, May 26, and open it to residents on Friday, May 27th.

Jerry Richardson

VILLAGE SQUARE TOWNHOMES

Amberly Village Square Meeting Summary 3/20/2011

Published by SCOTT GREEN on May 27, 2011

Thank you, David Cogburn, for providing this Summary:

Amberly Village Square Meeting Summary 3/29/2011

Summary Comments:

There was considerable frustration expressed by most homeowners over issues ranging from maintenance, to use of Village Square Home Owners Association (HOA) funds, to board control.  Most concerns center around the inability of the current developer to fulfill its implicit or explicit obligations as both the board leader and development leader in our community.  Until a new developer assumes these roles, which we believe will occur in the near future, these concerns are not likely to ease meaningfully. 

Ownership:

AmTrust Bank of Cleveland, OH was the debt provider to Sandler at Amberly, a venture of L.M. Sandler & Sons of Virginia Beach, VA.  When AmTrust failed, the FDIC took over as receiver and assumed ownership of outstanding loans.  Last year, the FDIC sold 40% of the outstanding debt in Amberly to a consortium of lenders. 

It is expected that a new developer will take over next quarter.  The hope is that the successor to Sandler will have interests that are aligned with those of the homeowners.  We believe that a well-maintained and growing development with strong builders and stable HOA’s is likely to have better success from the developer’s point of view. 

There are currently 278 lots in Village Square.  82 are owned by the developer, 129 are owned by homeowners, and 67 are owned by builders.  There are approximately 130 additional lots available on land at the north end of Village Square that the developer has the right to annex into the development.  No lots have been sold to builders by the developer since AmTrust was taken over by the FDIC.

Board:

The developer has the current voting majority on the Village Square board with three votes to every one homeowner vote.  Therefore, the developer will retain its voting majority until the homeowners lots (which grant the homeowner one vote per lot) outweigh the developer’s lots (which entitles the developer to 3 votes for each lot owned).  This can and will change with the number of lots in the development (see annex comments above).  Transfer of board control takes place at the annual meeting and therefore may not change as quickly as lot ownership changes.

Budget:

The Village Square HOA contributes $63 per lot x 196 lots (owned by builders and homeowners) or $12,348 per month to the Amberly Master Home Owners Association.  Homeowners are currently meeting their obligation, but the majority of the builders are not.   Therefore there is a monthly shortfall that is currently being covered with cash reserves.  Those reserves will be exhausted this year, and the Village Square HOA will not be able to meet its obligation to the Master Association.  However, the Master HOA budget is approximately 1.2 million dollars annually, of which Village Square contributes less than $150,000.  It is unlikely that the Village Square shortfall will affect the financial stability of Amberly as a whole. 

The new developer must ultimately resolve this issue and may fund the shortfall directly or indirectly by paying the Master HOA directly.  While an increase in dues or a special assessment is possible, those options take more than a simple majority to pass the board and would require support by both the developer and some homeowners.  Legal action that could result in lot foreclosure for delinquent builders is also an option.  However since builder lots may be 100% financed and therefore already have a superior lien from the mortgagee, it is unlikely that legal action would result in the payment of outstanding obligations to the Village Square HOA until these lots are built by builders.

Building:

The town of Cary requires builders to secure a letter of credit prior to issuance of building permits.  This is financial insurance against builder default.   In the past, letters of credit were provided by the developer.  However, since Sandler is no longer able to provide that security, builders must secure the letters of credit on their own.  This can add thousands to the builders’ cost.  It is expected that the developer that replaces Sandler will step in to provide the required security and facilitate issuance of new building permits, but at least one builder (Rice) has been able to continue construction in the current environment.

Concern was expressed over potential design, construction, and covenant changes under a new developer.  While the developer, as controlling interest of the board, has some latitude in the design criteria used in the community, there has been legal precedent that precludes wholesale changes to the community plan.

Maintenance:

As the controlling interest on the board, the developer appoints board members to the HOA that make decisions on issues relating to maintenance that falls under the responsibility of the HOA.  As the developer, they have additional responsibilities that are theirs alone.  Maintenance responsibility varies with item and area:

• Street lights are repaired by Progress Energy.  Carol Parker at PPM will collect comments on light outages and forward them to Progress Energy.
• Dry and wet retention ponds (also called BMP’s – Best Management Practice), will be maintained by the Amberly Master POA, when completed, inspected, and formally accepted.  Until that time, they are the responsibility of the developer.  They will be maintained according to an Operations and Maintenance Manual on file with the Town of Cary.  The expense for BMP maintenance will be charged back to the sub-associations.
• Entrances to Amberly neighborhoods, as well as some private roadway areas, are maintained by Amberly Master POA.  Currently, Village Square as a whole does not have a landscape maintenance contract because common areas fall under the responsibility of the developer (see below).  Townhomes are an exception, and their landscaping is maintained under a separate contract.
• Common areas that have not been turned over (construction and landscape complete, inspection complete, & formally accepted) are the responsibility of the developer. 
• Streets and street signs are the responsibility of the town of Cary once final paving is complete.  However since most if not all of the Village Square access roads do not have final asphalt, maintenance is the responsibility of the developer.  Again, this is not likely to improve in the short term, but final work on the roads should be completed when the developer nears completion of the development.
• Alleys are the responsibility of the HOA once final asphalt is applied.  Until that time, they are the responsibility of the developer.
• Dumping in any part of the neighborhood is illegal.  The Cary police department should be notified if any suspicious activity is observed.  Please call the non-emergency number, 469-4012.
• The pool under the responsibility of the Amberly Master POA.  Cracking and surface delamination have required that the pool be drained and evaluated for repairs.  Due to the age of the pool, the HOA is making a case with the contractor that the defects are due to workmanship and should be covered under warranty.  The contractor has not accepted the claim.  The HOA has completed an engineering evaluation and is collecting documentation to support its claim as well as proposals for repair.  The ultimate decision to repair the pool falls to the developer and repairs should take approximately one month.  Funds are available in the capital reserves of the Master HOA to make repairs once the decision has been made to go forward.

Follow-up:

Carol Parker will provide updates on the developer change as soon as that information can be released.  These updates will be posted to the homeowners’ website.  In addition, Carol agreed to hold a follow up meeting when the new developer is in place to keep residents informed.  It was also recommended that homeowners and the new developer meet as soon as practical after the change in ownership to discuss mutual concerns.

WASHINGTON SQUARE, ARLINGTON PARK, LEXINGTON PARK

Next Scheduled Board Meeting

Published by JOHN TREECE on Feb 14, 2012

The Lexington Park, Arlington Park & Washington Square Board of Directors will meet on Monday, February 27, 2012 at the Residents' Club at 6:00pm.