Tony,

Thanks for following up on this. Definitely not on the cheap side, especially considering we have 3 signs! This should give us some ballpark to begin discussions on a capital improvement project. I'm guessing we would need a special assessment of $50 to $100 from all homeowners to improve the entry ways.

If this is something we think we can do we probably need to identify some other landscape companies to draw up some ideas/plans. If not, we will need to replace some more wood on the signs next year. Regardless, of what we want to do with the signs we still should invest in some landscape services to freshen up the entryways.

It is my understanding that the entryway property belongs to the owners of the corner lots. If we do anything to the entryways, we will want to contact the owners. Also, if the neighborhood is going to invest in the entryways, we may want to look at some sort of right-of-way or lease that protects the interest of the association and property owners.

As you know, the "voluntary" due issue has been subject to much debate. The issue is that we are not a true "homeowners association," but a "civic association." This status limits our ability to enforce the collection of dues. That said, I did sit in one of the meeting of Dublin Associations for Stu a year or so ago. One of the speakers from Dublin mentioned there may be some things we can do. I can't recall if it was the city attorney, or someone from P&Z. Maybe these resources can help us with the right-of-way issues as well?

Regards,

Brad

Hello Brad,

I spoke to Pat Costello in Lowell Trace today and found out the following:

They used a company called Drake Landscaping out of Plain City and worked with a fellow named Scott Dyvetter (370.6208). Apparently the owner of the company lives on McKitrick (up by where they are building the Corazon spa) and has examples of the sorts of things they can do displayed on his own property. Lowell Trace was very pleased with the work Scott did and said the only drawback was that he is not very good at drawing out the finished product on paper ahead of time.

Apparently the development had been looking into the sign for a few years but had trouble reaching consensus within the community since they wanted to make everyone happy. Finally when Pat took over he and the officers decided to just work with Scott and get on with the project.

When all was said and done they ended up spending about $9,500 on the entrance way (the pondless water feature was ~$3,500 by itself so it would have been less without the running water).

They paid at the conclusion of the job and Pat suggested that we hold off from starting until all of the materials were ready since in their case there was a delay in getting the stone carved and what should have taken a week ended up taking a month since they had to wait for the stone.

To get started they spoke with Dave Marshall (Planning and Zoning for the City of Dublin) to see about the permits and to look into who owns the land the entrance ways rest on. They also worked with Ted Zahmpat to get the permits to add the electricity needed to run the waterfall. The Ward Representative is Tim Likliter (likely ours as well) and he helped them get things going. Originally the city wanted to charge them several hundreds of dollars for the permits but they came back and said they would just let the entrances go then and it would become an eyesore on the way into Muirfield. In the end the city charged $70 for the permit.

It also turns out that the land was never transferred to the association so they had to get the ownership issues taken care of as well.

Sheffield Meadows may have some issues in this regard as well since the land for the entranceways may never have been deeded to the association and may still be owned by the city or the original developer (someone needs to be paying taxes on this).

So, it would be nice to speak with whomever worked with the city to get the signs painted and find out if there was an issue over who owns the land the entranceways sit on. If we don't know then we need to speak with Dave Marshall about looking into the ownership issues and find out how much the permits would be to put new signs in.

One last comment from Pat, he was surprised that our due structure was voluntary (most in Dublin are not).

We should certainly talk more about this at our meeting in January.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks and Merry Christmas,

Tony

Hello Tony,

I'd be happy to help but my typing is alwful.

Give me a call anytime.

H733-3702

C439-8691

Hello Mr. Costello,

My name is Tony Trippe and I am the president of Sheffield Meadows' Neighborhood Association. One of our home owners noticed the lovely new sign and landscaping at the entrance of your development and asked me to send you a few questions he had. This person is on our beautification committee and since we are interested in adding new signs ourselves he thought you or one of your colleagues might be able to assist us.

I would appreciate it if you could help us with this process or pass this email along to another member of your association who was responsible for the work. I can be reached by email at tony@trippe.com or by phone 210.1034. I would also be happy to contact you at your convenience if that would be better for you.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

Best regards,

Tony Trippe