Hello,
I am a concerned parent in the neighborhood & I wanted to address the above mentioned subject.
Since moving into Dilworth Chase 1 1/2 yrs ago, I have noticed that speeding through the streets (especially on Garrison) is a major problem. This is extremely dangerous for pedestrians & children alike. In my previous neighborhood (off Rocky River Road), the same situation happened & a child was struck & killed by a speeding car which belonged to someone who did not even live in the neighborhood. I'm aware that this has come up before at Homeowner's meetings, but nothing has been done about it - the only answer given has been that it costs too much etc. I am also aware that it costs approx. $1800 - $2000 per speedbump to install.
After reading the monthly Expense/Balance reports posted on this website, it's my understanding that there should be approx. $3000 left over ''each'' month in the account, so I don't understand why this problem cannot be taken care of?... If you drive through the much nicer neighborhoods which surround Dilworth Chase you will find very nice wooden speed limit signs & speed humps. Perhaps Mr. Clyburn should answer this since he is the Treasurer?....
Unless I'm missing something, or reading the monthly expense report incorrectly, this does not make sense.
Thanks for your comments & have a good day.

By Concerned Parent

Speeding

Hello Concerned Parent,

I would like to take the oppurtunity to speak with you about your concerns. We are concerned as well with the speeding not just on your street, but the entire community. Let me take a moment to explain the balance sheet: We have 116 homes in the community. Assesments are $150.00 per year, if you mutiply that by 116, your total would be $17,400.00. We currently have Approximately $5,000.00 outstanding in deliquent dues. You have to also factor in the fact that we pay over $6,000.00 per year in management fees and $3600.00 in Landscaping fees (for the common areas), so already we are at $9600.00, that leaves around $7,800.00 to pay out other expenses in the community. I personally checked on the ''speed humps'' for the community, and because we do not have the 1000 vehicle per day requirement on Garrsion, it would cost us $1700.00 per hump. We would need at least 3 to 4 down that street because it is so long. Minimum 3 would cost us $5100.00, we do not have it in the budget to spend that kind of money with the rate of deliquency of HOA dues in our community. If we spent all of the reserves and run into the same issue with deliquency for 2007, we would not have enough operating capital. I have been in contact with CMPD, and they will begin to issue citations on random days of their choosing. We are well aware of this situation and want to assure you that we are trying to address this issue in the feasibly economic way. Please let me know personally should you have any other concerns, or wish to address this matter in further detail.

Tamiko L. Collins
President
Dilworth Chase

Follow-up

Hello Concerned Parent,

I wanted to follow up with you regarding your recent posting. I have been in touch with CMPD, and again expressed our concerns as a community with the speeding cars.

They understand our concerns, but simply cannot have someone out here all of the time to give tickets to the guilty drivers.

I have put together a flyer that we plan on walking around and passing out to each homeowner, but please realize that it is only good if the homeowner will abide by our request.

As far as the signs go, we have BIG plans on changing out all of the signs out here, it is a costly and time consuming project.

I want everyone to also be aware that we have had to spend funds on retaining the services of attorneys for the current situation that is going on out here.

As stated in my previous posting this has been costly, and could have been avoided. We want to use our funds to beautify our comnmunity, and drive our property values up as high as they can possibly be.

Tamiko L. Collins
President
Dilworth Chase

Reply

Hi Tamiko,
Thanks so much for your quick reply.
If I'm understanding you correctly, you are saying that there will ''never'' be enough money in the budget for speed humps?... If that's the case, then the dues need to be raised to $200 / yr; giving you an extra $5800 per year to work with, right?... I would not have a problem paying a little more in dues to pay for speed humps. The dues can always be dropped back to $150 the following year right?
Or, you can just buy 1 hump per year to get them, right?..
It seems to me that the dues are not high enough to do what needs to be done & if that's the case, what do we do when the roads need to be repaired?..Road repairs will happen in the future.
Thanks again & have a good day -