Recent large expenditures.
At the April 15 2023 board meeting it was decided that for any large expenditures the board would notify the property owners through the website. This is being done to keep the property owners informed of how their dues monies are spent. The threshold for notification was set at $1,000.
Over the past month we have had multiple large expenditures.
Gravel Project: This year we graveled all 44 miles of roads within Ashton Woods. While each year we gravel some of the roads, this year we graveled and repaired all of the roads in Ashton Woods. The total for this work was $158,393.10. This is the largest expenditure that the POA has. The Board has checked, and these cost come in below average for the area.
Mowing: Unlike many HOAs, the AW POA owns ~35 feet from the crown of the road on each side of the road. This leaves the POA owning property along the 44 miles of roads within the development. Multiple times a year we have to mow the entire area. In early June we did our first mowing of the year at a total of $12,390. Once again, these costs come in below the local average.
Paving repair: There was a large pot hole just outside of the Trough View Gate. We had the hole repaired and the area re-paved. The total for this work was $1,800
Owners Picnic: On May 20th we had our annual picnic. The total for the location and food was $2631.25.
The Board tries to save money and do the work ourselves when we can. Here’s a recent example: John Rice picked up 3.5 tons of river rock, and then he and a volunteer (thanks Norm!) spread the river rock around the Trough View Gate areas – saving Ashton Woods money on hiring someone else to do it. This was done due to the installation of the new gate, and the river rock needed to be replaced. The 3.5 tons was $193. This was the only cost to the budget.
As we look forward, we have at least one additional high cost item coming. The plan is to replace the West gate to complete the gate replacement project that was started in 2022.
Steven Williams
Ashton Wood POA Treasurer
3 Responses
Thanks for the report Steve,
1- The community does not own 35 feet from the crown on each side. The Community owns a 60 foot right-of-way . The boundary road crown moves according to the to difficulty of excavating the base . In some areas where rock outcrops occur, the road may be 15 feet to the crown and then 45 on the other side of the crown. The Metes and Boundaries surveyor stakes will identify our Community boundaries for each lots road frontage. Please do not remove these! I believe it is against the law and I have seen many owners doing this.
2- There is no new stone at Trough view gate and it looks terrible. Weeds growing up through the existing rocks, leaves, debris everywhere. The worst i have seen it in years!
Hello,
My name is John Rice and I’m a volunteer board member. I have had property in AW since 2010. I have spent a lot of time and energy over the years with many others doing the best to preserve AW’s beauty. I’m not looking to be recognized; I ‘m just responding to an inaccurate post. Norm Matusak and I hauled and put down four tons of river rock between the main gate and TV gate several weeks ago. The reason more rock was needed was because new gates needed a bigger footprint. This bigger footprint disturbed the rocks which require more rocks. Because we were fixing the large hole in front of the TV gate, we decided to wait and add rocks to the front of the gate area until the repair was complete. Norm and I plan to complete the project soon once our schedules align.
We are waiting on a quote to replace the West Gate with the hope of replacing it sooner than later. Because of this we have not done anything to the landscaping at the West Gate.
I noticed a complaint that the area around the gates looks horrible. I do apologize for not having more free time to commit to landscaping. I normally use the main gate as my normal travel. If I’m not in a hurry, while getting my mail I will pull a few weeds. Could you imagine what the gate areas would look like if people would use some of their energy to pull weeds instead of posting inaccuracies? My grandmother always said, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” So, as she would say, “get out there and pull some weeds.”
Thank you
Hi my name is Tim Schafer,
My wife and have volunteered at every spring clean up since 2014. 3 years ago the board decided not to have spring cleanup as a group because of Covid. So my wife and I volunteered as the sole volunteers and authorized by Paul Wangerin the former President. I have spent approximately 9 hours each spring and summer at Trough view gate just dedicated to cleaning. Not to mention the cleaning i did while supervising the Gate installation of Main and Trough View gate. Am I crying like a little baby girl for acknowledgement? No I even cleaned and prepared the Trough View gate area for you to place the rocks 2 years ago. You neglected to put down a Weed Block fabric, a basic knowledge requirement. I told my friends in the community that I would not clean up and remove/ kill weeds this year. Your ignorance to me is unacceptable.