The Official Website of Blairstone Forest located in Tallahassee, Florida.
Board Members – Llona Geiger, Virginia Sasser, Mike McCrae
6:30 P.M. Reception with Refreshments
7:31 P.M. Call to Order
Present:
Board Members: Llona Geiger, Mike McCrae, Virginia Sasser
Officers and Committee Chairs: Ben Clark (Treasurer), Margaret Stephens (Secretary), Tracie Priest (Grounds Chair)
Attorney: Patrick Frank
TPAM (Property Management Company) Representatives: Tom Rowand, Ray Holloway, John Arnold
Presenter, City of Tallahassee Urban Forester: Mindy Mohrman
Presenter, Bevis Realty: Jay Young
Association Members: Dawn Aguero, John Aguero, Mary Brand, Marilyn Cain, Ranelle Christle, Sue Dinges, Emerson Flowers, Charlotte Hicks, Jamie Kimbrel, Spencer Klein, Mario Lopez, Mary Marotta, Maritza Mattos, Hannah Naitove, Frank Roycraft, Sandi Smith, Fred Willes, Karen Willes, Bill Wintermute
Llona Geiger announced a change in the order of the agenda in that we will do presentations first.
Mindy Mohrman reported that the City of Tallahassee recently approved an Urban Forest Master Plan. Tallahassee has one of the densest tree canopies in the country and the purpose of the plan is to be more thoughtful in creating spaces for trees to thrive and maintaining a healthy urban forest. The complete plan is found here: http://talgov.com/tallytrees . Mindy mentioned the adopt-a-tree program where the city will plant free trees if within 100 feet of a public road. She was informed our neighborhood roads are private, so we don’t qualify. Llona mentioned that possibly at the entrance we could qualify for adopt-a-tree.
Jay Young, of Bevis Realty, shared the we are in a healthy market, mostly a seller’s market. Blairstone Forest is a unique neighborhood and 14 homes were sold in 2019. The cost was up > 2% and average days on the market was 41. 2019 was a great year. Overall, we have had 8 years of consistent market growth, similar to the 1990’s. Jay handed out some information on the market comparing Blairstone Forest to Tallahassee and general market activity in our neighborhood. This information has been uploaded here:
Market Activity Report (Home values and Market Activity in BFCA)
Neighborhood Report (Stats and Charts comparing BFCA to TLH to FL to USA)
He pointed out a chart in the Neighborhood Report which shows that our neighborhood is smart in that we have higher education levels than TLH, FL and USA. He also noted that most people move in the Spring and Summer so that is a good time of the year to sell. The term “distressed”, in the Market Activity Report, was explained as foreclosures and houses in need of repair.
New nominations were called from the floor. There were no floor nominations. A few ballots were collected. TPAM (our management company) representatives began the count with the help of the newest association member, Emerson Flowers. TPAM will report the results at the end of the meeting.
The relationship with TPAM has been rocky over the last year; however, there is a new leadership team at TPAM with a new CEO and staff members. The transition is going well.
General maintenance and repairs include:
Cleaning up the culvert
Damaged and/or hazardous trees downed and trimmed
Fences replaced
New bridge to replace little bridge
Pond path improvement. The Board decided not to start this project until after hurricane season.
Other Grounds Issues:
Flooding incident in February required immediate attention in that the water was almost up to a homeowner’s steps. This was caused by a blocked culvert and beavers. Culvert was cleared and we are still trying to trap the beavers.
We had a small alligator show up in our pond, that was eventually caught and relocated.
Neighborhood Health and Safety:
We have trespassers coming in and leaving dog poop and trash. We no longer have crime watch and really need a volunteer to resurrect Neighborhood Crime Watch.
Speeding has been front and center. Signs were added and more awareness has helped.
Legal:
Llona wanted to thank our lawyer, Patrick Frank for all his work with processing liens, eviction and fines. He has been busy.
Click here for December 2019 Treasurer’s Report
Ben noted a $1600 bill in October and $3600 bill in December for tree removal in common areas. Other expenditures are fairly normal. “Other Maintenance” has a surplus around 20K primarily due to island and pond path improvements that haven’t been completed.
No report was submitted
Click here for Fern’s submitted ACC Report
No report was submitted.
Llona opened the floor member discussion.
Charlotte Hicks asked why the pond improvement project stopped. Llona responded that one of the residents stopped it. Fred Willes said he asked the workers if they had a building permit and asked if that was why the workers stopped. One of the TPAM representatives stated that he has stopped the work after the work crew, AAA Landscaping, reported being repeatedly harassed by homeowners and felt threatened. He said they may get Leon County Sheriff’s Office to come out to monitor. Llona said the issue is in TPAM’s hands and when the permitting issues are resolved, TPAM will move forward with the project.
Hannah Naitove asked that more lighting be provided, LED streetlamps to make walking safer for pedestrians and car drivers at night. She pointed out that the intersection of Brookside Blvd. and Silverwood Dr. is especially dangerous. She also asked it the Association could encourage persons doing home renovations to not leave piles of debris out for the bi-weekly (blue week) City pickup. Using a dumpster would make the neighborhood look nicer. The Board said the lights are maintained by the City of Tallahassee and requests will have to be directed to the city.
Marilyn Cain asked about the status of the house next to Ben Clark. It appears empty and the dogs are gone.
Mario Lopez reported that a part of the privacy fence along Orange Ave was down. The Board and TPAM said they knew about it, but then it was determined that the Orange Ave fence is a different fence. It was noted that this may not be ours to fix, but the city’s responsibility.
Hanna Naitove asked about the status of the Nextdoor posts regarding gardens being excessively trimmed. Llona said they have had numerous issues with the lawn care company and are looking to make changes with the vendor.
Karen Willes asked it is necessary to have the lawn service blow the leaves off the roads, taking 30 min. every other week to do so. She pointed out that more leaves fall in the road immediately after the blowers are finished. Llona replied that it made the roads safer because cars and pedestrians could better see the edges of the pavement.
Llona thanked everyone for coming and continuing to help identify problems and find solutions.
TPAM reported that votes were counted and verified, and that Tracie Priest was elected the new board member. All ballots are in the custody of TPAM for safe keeping.
Annual Meeting was adjourned at 9:21 pm.