Bentwood Farms - Mallard Pond Homeowners Association

SPRING 2003

Apr 01, 2003

A Letter to Bentwood Farms/ Mallard Pond Homeowners from Sheriff Dave Phalen
At the December 2, 2002 Homeowner?’s Association meeting, Sheriff Dave Phalen, invited by the Association Board of Trustees to address concerns of homeowners, touched on many subjects of interest that are covered in the following letter:

Dear Bentwood Farms/Mallard Pond Homeowners:

I recently had the privilege of attending one of your Homeowners Association meetings. Several of you voiced your concerns to me regarding the safety and security of your families and property. I would like to address these issues with each of you.

Most of the complaints were about the flow of traffic through your neighborhood. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour on all residential streets throughout your subdivision. Currently there are over 400 (421) families in your area and each has at least two cars. That equates to a lot of cars traveling daily through your neighborhood. My deputies have been instructed to vigilantly enforce the speed limit. A speeding ticket currently costs $85.00. This is your warning! There will be no others. I do not like to pass out tickets. However, I enjoy crash reports even less; particularly when it involves a young child who was innocently chasing a ball across the street, or a family out for a walk around the neighborhood. It could be your child or your family or neighbor. We all need to slow down and look out for our neighbors.
I would also like to advise each of you to make sure that your garage doors are shut and doors are locked each night before you go to bed (anytime that you are not present). Turn on some exterior lights as well. If possible, park your vehicles inside of your garage. If this is not possible, make sure that they are locked and all valuables (cell phones, laptops, purses, etc.) are removed and taken into the house. Please call my office to report suspicious activity. The toll free number is 1-800-808-5223. If you have an emergency, please call 911.

You elected me to be your Sheriff and it is an honor for me to serve you. But I also need your help. By following these tips, you may prevent yourself or your neighbor from being a victim of crime. Please do not hesitate to call me with your concerns. You can reach me at 740-687-6751.

Dave Phalen, Sheriff of Fairfield County


Dates to Remember:
Easter Egg Hunt ?– Saturday, April 5 from 12:30 to 1:30 to be held at the Common Area at the corner of Steeplechase Avenue and Winners Circle. Be sure to return the RSVP inserted in this issue?’s newsletter.
Annual Garage Sale ?– Friday, May 16, Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18 Starting at 9:00 am. There will be plenty of advertising in local newspapers and street signs at all three entrances. For increased visibility, put balloons on your mail box.. Watch for more details And, please, watch out for our children during this busy period.

Notes from the President
By Jim McGrath
It?’s been a pretty cold winter, as I?’m sure you?’ve noticed. The good news is that the pond was frozen and a lot of people got to go skating and enjoy the outdoors. The bad news is that we don?’t yet know what kind of damage has been done to trees in our common areas. If you live near common areas, or see damage once spring hits, please contact a Trustee.
We will be having some ongoing projects this year, including fixing and graveling the pond walk. We are also contemplating a play area on the common area lot on Thoroughbred Drive. Now that there is a bridge from that lot across the creek to the pond, we anticipate that more people will be enjoying the sites and sounds of the pond. Please use the trash cans to dispose of any trash that you might have or find. We will be adding one new trash can at the back side of the pond. We are also working in conjunction with Harmon Middle School to try to get a crosswalk at Steeplechase Avenue and Bentwood Farms Drive. This is coming in conjunction with an attempt to get a walkway from our subdivision to the backside of the school for the safety of our children walking to school. Bentwood Farms Drive has so much traffic, traveling at such high speeds, that we are all concerned about our children along that route. There have been reports of children almost being hit, so please encourage your child to stay on the sidewalk while en route and use extreme caution when crossing any street.
We have one Trustee position available, as Janel Peterson?’s family has been transferred. If anyone would like to help out, please contact a Trustee or come to the next Homeowner?’s Association meeting on Monday, March 3. If you have any questions about the vacant Trustee position or anything else going on in the subdivision, feel free to email me at JMVETT@aol.com. Enjoy the rest of the winter and, get ready for SPRING.


Anyone Interested in a Bentwood Farms/Mallard Pond Playgroup, Please Contact Melissa Wulliger at wulliger@zclaw.com or 860-0160 With the Name(s) and Age(s) of Your Children and the Days and Times That Work Best for You.


Social Committee News
By Andrea Turner
I hope everyone is staying warm this winter. Let?’s hope that the groundhog is right and spring is just around the corner. The annual Bentwood Farms/Mallard Pond Easter Egg Hunt will take place on Saturday, April 5. Please RSVP by March 22 in the RSVP mailbox by the common area on the corner of Steeplechase Avenue and Winners Circle. We hope to have the Easter Bunny again this year. If you are able to help, please let me know by marking the appropriate box on the RSVP form which is enclosed with this newsletter.
The other events planned for the year are the annual garage sale, Halloween party and Santa?’s visit to our community. More information will follow.


Architectural Control Committee
By Craig Turner
The Architectural Control Committee (ACC) would like to extend its thanks to all our neighbors that have adhered to the deed restrictions in regard to submitting written requests and plans for various projects, removing stored boats and vehicles, maintaining the exteriors of your homes, etc. during the past year. As the new building and project season approaches, we hope that this compliance continues.
As a reminder for all projects needing approval, the ACC requires a copy of your plot plan that shows where the proposed work is located on your property, a cover letter that gives a brief description of the work along with your name and address, copies of plans/prints if available and any product data that is applicable for the type of material and/or color that will be used.
The ACC?’s goal is to have a seven day turn around for the review of project submissions. A letter of approval or disapproval will be delivered to the resident as soon as the ACC members sign it. Please allow for this time when scheduling your project start date.
The ACC would like to thank you in advance for adhering to these requirements. If you have any questions about the deed restrictions or submissions, please feel free to contact me or any of the other ACC members.

Violet Township/Pickerington
Community Task Force Formed
Area Homeowner/Civic Association leaders were invited to participate in a community Task Force comprised of representatives from the Pickerington Local School District, Township and City government and the Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce at a special meeting on February 9 to study concerns about the growth and development of Violet Township and the City of Pickerington.
It is widely felt in the community at large that its resident?’s quality of life is being increasingly threatened by ?“unrestrained?” growth and development and that community involvement in the decisions regarding the kind of community we live in is urgently needed.
Over two dozen objectives resulted from the two hour ?“brainstorming?” meeting held at the Pickerington Junior High School. Three of those objectives were unanimously selected as ?“high priority.?” First: A definition of the type of community in which we want to live must be established. A mission statement must be adopted. Community NEEDS must be addressed. Property taxes must be studied, including where they should be capped. The tax base of the Pickerington Local School District is currently 18% commercial, including apartments. Less than 5% without apartments. Is a city like Dublin, with a commercial tax base of 33% more the ideal? Time frames need to be established. Second: We must define and identify the unused agricultural land in the township and city. How much is still available and how is it zoned? We also need to identify and preserve commercial lands and foster multi-story office buildings along the I-70 and Rt. 33 corridors. Third: Residential building must be restrained. A moratorium is needed for appropriate planning of growth. An in-depth traffic analysis must be performed including the addition of exits and entrances to I-70 and Rt.33 in the Pickerington area.
Make your concerns and priorities known. Call the Violet Township Trustees (575-5556) or write them at 12970 Rustic Drive NW. Watch for Township Trustee and other meeting notices and make the time to attend and participate. Be involved!



Point of View
By Chuck Zurhorst
Last spring, my wife and I were awoken during the early, dark hours of the morning by a call from our daughter who had been watching one of the late night TV shows and saw a National Weather Service bulletin for a Tornado Warning in Fairfield County and Pickerington, in particular. ?“Had we heard the ?‘warning sirens:?’ she asked.?”
As a matter of fact, we hadn?’t. And, neither had anyone else in Violet Township or Pickerington, for as I later learned, Violet Township and Pickerington didn?’t use the one siren they had, at the Lockville Road fire station, and didn?’t intend to. Nor did they intend to upgrade the antiquated warning system at any time in the future. ?“Not a priority,?” according to Violet Township Fire Chief Ken Taylor who told me: ?“Even though the U.S. Weather Service had verified a funnel cloud touch down in Violet Township and had issued a tornado warning for Fairfield County and Violet Township, he and the Pickerington Police Chief, at the time, did not consider it a priority or immediate threat because the one patrolman and a single sheriff?’s deputy on patrol in the city and township that night had not physically observed the funnel cloud.?” The tornado had actually touched down in nearby Canal Winchester and another in Baltimore. Close enough!
I was advised by Chief Taylor to buy a weather radio, which I already had but preferred not to keep on since it not only sounds weather warnings for central Ohio, but for every county in the state as well.
Kind of makes you wonder, what with living in the tornado prone Midwest and the threat of terrorism and all, what has become of our one, loan and rusty old warning siren.
Later last year I was drawn to a story in the November 13, 2002 Columbus Dispatch following the devastating tornados in northwestern Ohio that read: ?“Authorities across northwestern Ohio say emergency weather sirens likely saved countless lives from the storm that spawned tornadoes over a 100 mile path of destruction.?”
Alas, the loan siren has recently been updated to activate automatically. Now, if the Township would only install one at Harmon Middle School, closer to the densely populated northern area of the township!


Communications Committee, Etc.
By Sharon Lach
Once again, thanks go to the following neighbors for volunteering to walk or ride the various flyers and directories to your door or mailbox: Carla Searfloss, Billy Kelly, Lori Goddard, Terry Egan, Colette Goddard, Beverly Zurhorst and Stephania Wilson. Ongoing projects include updating the community map, babysitting list, phone directory and installing hooks on all the mailboxes. If you find an error in the directory when you receive it, please call Sharon so the master list can be updated.
GROUNDS: The first work party of the season is planned for the weekend of April 12th at the Common Area located at Steeplechase Avenue and Winners Circle. This is the first of several work parties to clean up debris along the creek and reduce the high grass and dead shrubbery in our common areas. The Association will provide a pizza lunch. More aggressive weed and bag worm control is planned for the spring. We continue to be very happy with our grounds care company.

WELCOME WAGON: If you have new neighbors or didn?’t receive a Welcome Folder when you moved in, please call Sharon Lach. It contains a welcome letter a welcome letter, directory, map, Violet Township sexual predator update and recent issues of the newsletter.


Directory
Trustees:
President ?– Jim McGrath,Email: JMVETT@aol.com
Vice President ?– Chuck Zurhorst, 864-6012
Treasurer ?– Curt Anderson, 861-1206
ACC ?– Craig Turner, 577-9311
Communications/Grounds/
Welcome Wagon ?– Sharon Lach, 861-0325
Special Projects ?– Wayne Whitehead, Email: wpje@excite.com
Committees:
Social Committee ?– Andrea Turner, 577-9311
Architectural Control Committee (ACC) ?–
Craig Turner, 577-9311
Mike Lyman, 751-9614
Chuck Zurhorst, 864-6012



Community Calendar
April 5, 2003 ?– Annual Easter Egg Hunt,
12:30 to 1:30
April 6, 2003 ?– Daylight Savings Time Begins
+ Set Your Clock AHEAD
+ Change Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector Batteries
+ Clean Out Dryer Vent & Hose

April 7, 2003 ?– Homeowner?’s Association
Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
April 12-13, 2003 ?– Common Area Clean-Up
May 5, 2003 ?– Homeowner?’s Association
Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
May 16, 17, 18 ?– Community Garage Sale(9am starts)
June 2, 2003 ?– Homeowner?’s Association
Meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Homeowner?’s Association Meetings are held
at the Violet Township Office?’s meeting room at 12970 Rustic Drive unless otherwise posted.