Explanation Letter
jcholzer@cavtel.net
June 26, 2008
#7667
Northgate Hall Community Assn., Inc.
Nottingham, MD 21236
Re: Pond No. 725
Members of the Northgate Hall Community Association:
For the past two years, your Board of Directors has been working with
the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource
Management (DEPRM) to see if the County can contract to have the work
performed to repair the community’s storm water management pond
and then assess each homeowner through their tax bill to recover those
costs like they do with water and sewer hookup. To date, we have not
received any response from the county.
Over nearly two years, we have retained the services of Dan O’Leary,
P.E. of NMP Engineering to do the required engineering study to assess
the work that needs to be performed to repair the SWM pond. To keep
the County updated, Dan then forwarded his plans to DEPRM. All the
required engineering plans and calculations have been completed and
submitted to the State for review and approval.
In March of this year, DEPRM wrote a letter to the President of Northgate
Hall Community Association requesting an update of the repair plan
for the SWM pond, including the award of the construction contract
and anticipated start date of the repairs. The County also said
that failure to comply with the requirement to repair the pond may
result in enforcement action under the County Code that could bring
with it a daily fine of up to $1,000 that would be in addition to the
costs of repair.
The Board of Directors and has done the math for the pond repair and
from an estimate from a reputable contractor of about $120,000, each
homeowner will need to pay a capital improvement assessment of nearly
$500 to pay for the repairs. Northgate Hall Community Association Board
of Directors has acted in good faith with not only the County, but
with the community during this very difficult time. But the membership
must make a decision. Failure to do anything could result in enforcement
action by the County and a significant daily fine. Once the Association
runs out of money, the fine would be passed on to the homeowners at
a rate of $4 per day.
Or, we can bite the bullet and move ahead on our own and hire a contractor
to show the county that we are doing our best under a very difficult
financial burden. Your Board of Directors wants to do the right thing
that is fair to all members, but the membership has to decide. We can
call for a Special Meeting to vote on a $500 Special Assessment. If
it passes, we can start collecting the assessment right away. If it
fails, we can tell the County we did the best we could but failed,
and the County can either begin fining us or hire a company to do the
work and then assess each household through an annual assessment. But,
it would also mean that none of us would be able to sell our homes
for the next 3-4 years.
Respectfully submitted,
