Minutes of the Lake Barcroft Association - Board of Directors
The meeting of the Lake Barcroft Association (LBA) was called to order at 7:31 PM by President Jim Kilbourne at 6425 Lakeview Drive, Falls Church, Virginia. Those present were LBA Directors Jim Kilbourne, Bill Lecos, Pat Payne, Betsy Washington, Shane Oleson, Andrew Casolini Dal Bo, Sarah Mattingly, Kevin Kampschroer, Todd West, Sara Franco and Rick Aldrich. Board members Anne Cullather and Frank Phillippi were not present. Board introductions took place and Jim welcomed new Board members.
The minutes of February 11, 2015 were approved as corrected.
The minutes of the LBA Annual Membership meeting of February 24, 2015 were reviewed by the Board.
DIRECTOR ELECTION RESULTS/ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Jim read the results from the election of Directors at the annual meeting. Incumbents Rick Aldrich and Anne Cullather were reelected. New members to the Board are Sarah Mattingly, Andrew Casolini Dal Bo, Sara Franco, Kevin Kampschroer and Todd West. The new Board then held elections for officers for LBA and LBF for 2015-2016:
A motion was made by Pat and seconded by Sarah Mattingly to nominate Jim Kilbourne as President. All voted in favor.
A motion was made by Andrew and seconded by Kevin nominating Bill Lecos as Vice President. All voted in favor.
A motion was made by Bill and seconded by Pat nominating Anne Cullather as Secretary. All voted in favor.
A motion was made by Shane and seconded by Bill nominating Todd West as Treasurer. All voted in favor.
Jim explained to the new Board members the difference between the Lake Barcroft Association and the Lake Barcroft Foundation which is the Foundation that administers scholarships through the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. The officers for LBA are the same officers for LBF. He added that there is an annual LBF meeting following the LBA Board meeting.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS: Jim announced the Chairs of LBA Committees for 2015-2016. They are:
Architectural Review: Rick Aldrich
Water Safety: Andrew Casolini Dal Bo
Committee Watch/ Security: Kevin Kampschroer
Environment: Betsy Washington
Finance and Audit: Todd West
Maintenance and Improvements: Frank Phillippi/George Waters (co-chairs)
Legal: Pat Payne
Membership: Sarah Mattingly
Communications & Publications: Shane Oleson
Special Events: Sara Franco
In addition to their chair positions, Andrew Casolini and Kevin Kampschroer will join the ARC as committee members.
Jim discussed the recent suggestion of forming an ad hoc committee, the Civic/External Affairs committee, involving community issues. Jim has asked Bill to head this committee. Sarah Mattingly has expressed interest in working on this committee as well.
OLD BUSINESS
CALENDAR REVIEW: Jim reviewed the Board calendar.
BROOKS PLACE DEVELOPMENT: Jim updated the Board on events since the February general membership meeting regarding the pending development of a 4-acre tract of land adjacent to the Malbrook Subdivision. LBA concerns involve increased traffic from the proposed 8-house development feeding onto Brooks Place and then along Crosswoods Drive and Dearborn, as well as potential sedimentation and run-off going into Holmes Run, just upstream of the lake. Because this is a by-right development, LBA’s options are limited. Regarding traffic concerns the proposed routing is the only method of access for new homeowners in that development. LBA’s greater concern rests with an adjoining 10-acre tract which could also be subject to a by-right redevelopment. We would want to advocate that access to this 10-acre tract be from Sleepy Hollow Road, not Brooks Place. As to runoff, pursuant to an understanding with WID, the county is requiring that any developer in the nearby area who is doing a development that could increase sedimentation into the lake first do a bathometric study of the lake bottom to provide a baseline for measuring increased sedimentation from runoff. Evergreene, the developer of the 4-acre tract, has already done such a study of the lake bottom adjacent to the Woman’s Club Garden. Although Jim was approached in February by several Malbrook Subdivision homeowners about joining a potential lawsuit to halt the 4-acre development, those homeowners have since obtained a new lawyer and appear to be going in a different direction.
Jim also reported that he had been in contact with Evergreene and asked them to remove all reference to Lake Barcroft from their website ad regarding the Brooks Place Development as Lake Barcroft not open to public access. They are agreed to do so and that reference has been removed.
SEVEN CORNERS REDEVELOPMENT UPDATE: Bill gave a brief report and update to the Board. At its final meeting on March 4, the Special Working Group reduced the number of multi-family units from 375 to 275 and the townhouses from 72 to 60. The vote to approve the Area C Plan, as modified, was unanimous. There remains some question whether the Plan as modified will provide sufficient economic incentive for the current landowners to go along with the redevelopment proposal. The combined plans for redevelopment of all three Seven Corners Planning Areas (A, B, and C) will now be presented to the Planning Commission for its consideration and thereafter to the Board of Supervisors for its consideration.
SIGN POLICY UPDATE: Rick discussed the policy regarding signs within the community. He discussed political signs and what the county requires regarding permits and wants to discuss further with Pat as legal chair.
ARC GUIDELINES UPDATE: Rick went through the summary of comments regarding proposed changes to the ARC guidelines. Discussion involved affected neighbors, fence height, docks and seawalls, landscaping, architectural compatibility, drainage issues and miscellaneous suggestions. Jim wants to have the ARC come up with specific recommendations and guidelines at their April meeting. The Board will make the final decision on the guidelines. The Board will address this at the May meeting or a special meeting to be voted on as Rick may not be at the Board meeting in May.
NEW BUSINESS
MCLEAN CITIZEN ASSOCIATION RESOLUTION: Sarah Mattingly reported on an MCA resolution adopted on March 4, 2015, that asks the Fairfax County School Board to modify the current elementary school staff formula so as to make classroom sizes more consistent throughout the county. This resolution was discussed by School Superintendant Garza at a listening session she held at Falls Church High School on March 10. The MCA proposal would have a detrimental impact on schools in other parts of the county that have a higher than average number of low income and immigrant students. It does not appear at the moment that the School Board will respond favorably to this resolution. The MCA unsuccessfully tried to push a similar resolution several years ago.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
IMPROVEMENTS: Nothing new to report at this time.
ARC: Rick updated the Board regarding the 2 ARC violators. He feels the Board needs to send a non compliance letter to the resident on Lakeview Drive. Rick wants to assess a penalty against them. Jim has agreed to work with Rick in preparing a letter. Andrew suggested including the WID in this process to assist in pressuring the county to do something about this.
A motion was made by Todd and seconded by Sarah Mattingly to send a letter to the homeowner. All voted in favor.
The second situation involves an elderly resident’s seawall reconstruction that was done without ARC or county approval. The resident is now working with the county and ARC is monitoring the matter closely.
WATER SAFETY: Pat will coordinate with Andrew regarding Water Safety Supervisor Kevin Hardy’s 2015 contract. Pat said Andrew would need to do an inspection of the equipment at the beaches prior to season opening and will work with him.
SPECIAL EVENTS: Sara Franco will get together with Diane Smalley. Sara asked about having some new events. Chris asked that she check with her as well for available dates when ready to schedule due to the heavy party schedule so that they can be locked in.
PUBLICATIONS: Shane mentioned recent Lakelink postings from politics to advertising, and the ensuing discussion about what kind of messages should be allowed on Lakelink. He is still looking for an editor and photographer. Website has now transitioned to a new consultant and development is moving forward. As the site will not be ready for an online fillable lifeguard application, the lifeguard form will be put up on the current site in PDF format.
Swift911 emergency system will be launched soon after some final testing. Communications will be sent out to the entire community. Andrew suggested writing up guidelines for how this system will be used and have the Board review them.
SECURITY: Bill will turn over his handbook to Kevin Kampschroer. Last year we had lower coverage due to fewer available police, even after we increased our pay scale to market rate. We explored outside security but didn’t move forward with that. Bill talked to Officer Murphy who is not expecting a decrease in coverage this summer season as there is a new crop of police officers and not as many competing opportunities for after-hours work for them as there was last summer.
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY: Betsy reported Earth Day is scheduled for April 26 at Beach 5 from 2-5. The Geese Peace program will start again this year at the end April/beginning of May using Kelso, the same dog as before, who is still going strong. We still have a credit with the kennel for a future trained dog.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Jim reported that electronic copies of LBA’s financial reports are distributed monthly from the accountant. He asked new committee members to review their respective budgets.
MEMBERSHIP: Chris reported that there were 5 membership transfers received in the month of February. Currently there are 58 lots unpaid for this year compared to 214 last month. Jim will be working on a letter that will be mailed to the delinquent non payers.
LEGAL: Jim reported that negotiations were concluded between WID and LBA, on the one hand, and the owners of 6200 Lakeview Drive, on the other hand, to provide reciprocal agreements that would (1) provide WID and LBA a land route across the 6200 lot to access the west end of the dam and (2) allow the 6200 lot owners continued use of a small portion of the land adjacent to the dam. Both easement agreements have now been signed and will be recorded.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:01 PM.
Respectfully submitted by,
Sara Franco, Acting Secretary