Stone Acres Watch

1. Board making a Capital Improvement(CIP)= Speed Bumps without a vote by the General Assembly (homeowners). Per By Laws listed on this website ''Board shall annually establish a capital improvement plan which shall include a budget FOR ALL CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE ONLY UPON MAJORITY VOTE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY...THE BOARD MAY NOT CHANGE OR ALTER THE CIP WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL OF A MAJORITY OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'' Per Pam Slagle the speed bumps cost ~$2,000 of our dues and was a capital improvement. It should have been voted on before the project was ever started, please let the Board know what you think about the speed bumps, how much they cost, the cost to remove them at the meeting.

Also should the Board be replaced by a Management group that is not biased by living in the neighborhood, has the skills, time and expertise lacking by a volunteer board?

I haven't seen a retraction by the board of the statement in 2nd quarter Pear-A-Graphs ''The Board thinks that the area between the sidewalk and the street belongs to the Association as whole and not the homeowner''. Its not true per Deed of Restrictions #1 and if it was then the Association would have to maintain the area and pay property tax on it where currently the homeowner does. A retraction needs to be made in the Pear-A-Graph of that statement.

How to make an amendment to the By Laws should be printed in every issue of Pear-A-Graphs so new home owners can be informed of the process instead of referring to the Parks & Weisberg phone number.

Who to contact about repair bills for damage done to automobiles by the speed bumps for residents going the posted speed limit, the Board or Parks & Weisberg?

Amending the By Laws so a landscape plan won't have to be filed everytime a homeowner wants to change ''plantings'' such as flowers so no more flowers will be removed by the Board from homeowners yards. In my opinion its vandalism and we should be protected from it as homeowners by our By Laws.

Just wanted to share this...

ITE has guidelines for speed HUMPS. Louisville Metro has a policy, but it won't pertain to this area, because the streets are not Metro owned. If you go to http://www.louisvilleky.gov website and put speed humps in the search you will see the policy. Just informational. Hopefully some research on what ITE (engineers) have studied will be used in the design for what is going in Bradford Grove.

ITE guidelines

From ''Guidelines for the Design and Application of Speed Humps'' noted above.
''Speed Humps vs. Speed Bumps:
A speed hump is differentiated from a speed bumps as shown in Figure 1. (not able to add) Speed humps normally have a MAXIMUM HEIGHT OF 3-4 INCHES AND WITH A TRAVEL LENGTH OF ABOUT 12 FEET. SPEED BUMPS, COMMONLY USED IN PARKING LOTS AND ON SOME PRIVATE ROADWAYS, ARE GENERALLY FROM 3-6INCHES IN HEIGHT WITH A LENGTH OF 1-3 FEET. (We had speed bumps installed, not speed humps) FROM AN OPERATIONAL STANDPOINT HUMPS AND BUMPS HAVE CRITICALLY DIFFERENT IMPACTS ON VECHILES. WITHIN TYPICAL RESIDENTAL SPEED RANGES, HUMPS CREATE A GENTLE VEHICL ROCKING MOTION THAT CAUSES SOME DRIVER DISCOMFORT AND RESULTS IN MOST VEHICLES SLOWING TO NEAR 15-20 MILES PER HOUR (our posted speed limit is 20MPH)AT HIGH SPEEDS, A HUMP ACTS AS A BUMP AND JOLTS THE VEHICLE SUSPENSION AND ITS OCCUPANTS OR CARGO.
A BUMP, ON THE OTHER HAND, CAUSES SIGNIFICANT DRIVER DISCOMFORT AT TYPICAL RESIDENTAL SPEEDS, AND GENERALLY RESULTS IN VEHICLES SLOWING TO 5MPH OR LESS AT THE BUMP. AT HIGH SPEEDS, BUMPS TEND TO HAVE LESS OVERALL VEHICLE IMPACT BECAUE OF NONRIGID SUSPENSIONS QUICKLY ABSORB THE IMPACT....Adequate signing and marking of each speed hump is essential to warn drivers of speed hump presence and guide their subsequent action. (No signs were put up with the installation of the speed bumps).
Chapter 2: Guidelines to Speed Hump Use. This chapter outlines the primary considerations and criteria for the use of nonuse of speed humps...
A TRAFFIC ENGINEERING STUDY, INCLUDING CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVE TRAFFIC CONTROL MEASURES, SHOULD PRECEDE ANY INSTALLATION....
SUPPORT FROM A DOCUMENTED MAJORITY OF AFFECTED RESIDENTS SHOULD BE OBTAINED BEFORE ANY INSTALLATION. (No questionare/poll went out prior to installation to my knowledge).

I'm not saying that speed humps wouldn't be effective but there are multiple issues to consider and be voted on by the entire General Assembly (homeowners) vs just the Board. First I think we should be able to drive the speed limit without risk of damage to our vehicles. Second we need to think about winter time and since we do not have a snow removal service if in snowy conditions can we get in or out of our neighborhood with the addition of speed humps since the neighborhood is mostly hilly terrain. Third so we want to slow down emergency vehicle response time with speed humps. And lastly who is liable for damage down to vehicles by either speeds bumps or humps, the Assocation? If so our dues we pay will go to paying repair bills vs other things such as paving, repairs or maintenance.

Speed Bumps Reply

It is rumored that the Board is going to try to use a majority vote of those in attendance tonite at the meeting.
That isn't right. This should be of majority of the entire neighborhood than of only the ones that show up.

By Phil Petredis