Highland Park [part two]

This picture show the rear of Highland Park ( the camera is pointing northwest). The builder is installing a fence that runs north and south along the back of the property. This is a welcome addition, and should deter trespassers who have been cutting through onto Kenthill Townhomes property.

Highland Park [part one]

Highland Park, a condominium complex located near the northwest corner of the Kenthill Townhomes property plat, is nearing completion. [The driveway entrance for this new condominium complex is near the Dairy Queen on 104th Avenue].

Hedge trimmed

The hedge which lies east and west along the northern border of Kenthill Townhomes was trimmed (photo show the section behind Building K).

Dry rot repairs

In order to address dry rot (where the roof line meets the vertical wood siding on the building), wood siding repairs were accomplished at Buildings A, B, J, L, Q, and R.

June 9, 2008 windstorm

The tree near Building D and Building E was blown down during the windstorm.

Shared roadways maintenance

Every few years work is done on certain areas of the Easthill Apartments/Kenthill Townhomes shared property plat. This year, this work will be performed again. Small repairs to certain areas of the driveways will occur. Also, the trees which border 106 Ave SE will be trimmed. Maintenance of these items is considered a shared expense under the Joint Access and Easement Agreement of 1976 signed by both Kenthill Townhomes and Easthill Apts. Although contractors are being contacted, the exact dates for the accomplishment of these projects are unknown at this time.

Memorial Day

For May, the Kenthill Townhomes monthly homeowners meeting falls on May 26th. May 26 is Memorial Day. The homeowners meeting has been changed to Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 7:00PM.

2008 Rough Draft

As stated in previous posts below, during any given year, the homeowners who are present at the Annual Meeting approve the Annual Meeting minutes for the previous year's Annual Meeting. Therefore, the 2008 Annual Meeting minutes will not be approved and mailed out until March of 2009, and only then after the homeowners in attendance at the 2009 Annual Meeting approve them. However, below is an unapproved rough draft of those minutes, based on prepared speech notes by the President:

KENTHILL TOWNHOMES ANNUAL MEETING 03/24/08
Present:Thomas Flynn, Marie Kinney, Nancy LeMay
[The Kenthill Townhomes Annual Meeting uses the Agenda included in the letter mailed to all homeowners announcing the date and time of the Annual Meeting].
The 2008 Kenthill Townhomes Annual Meeting was called to order by the President. A quorum of 25% was eventually achieved after late arriving proxies were obtained. The President gave the Treasurers Report (as the Treasurer was absent). The Association had a very tough year due to the large amount of delinquencies. Using the November 2007 minutes, these were stated to be over $21,000. This does not include the nearly $24,000 cost of attorney fees to pursue homeowners who did not pay their homeowners dues. The process was reviewed again, which includes liens, foreclosures, and eventually the Sheriffs’ Sale, as well as current Washington State law which, after the property goes thru the court system, allow a homeowner to stay in the Unit one year after the Unit is foreclosed on. The President gave the President’s Report. The long term projects of Kenthill Townhomes were reviewed. Kenthill Townhomes received a painting job in 2002 (it was of poor quality). Another painting project will need to be scheduled in the future, but sooner than within a 15 year time span (well before 2017). The window replacement project has also been put on hold indefinitely. Beginning in 2003, we have been replacing roofs, two roofs each year. All scheduling of these projects are now under review. Over the past several years, we have found increasing amounts of serious dryrot on all of our buildings. As the Budget has allowed, repairs have occurred at Buildings K, N, P, A, & R. Serious dryrot has been discovered when the installation of the roofs has occurred, resulting in numerous full sheets of the underlying plywood needing replacement. Severe dryrot has been discovered on the vertical sides above the roofs, resulting in substantial water intrusion. Serious dryrot has been discovered at areas surrounding windows, resulting in at least one entire window system needing replacement. The concrete area to the west of the Cabana, many sections of the concrete area surrounding the swimming pool, the interior lining of the swimming pool (has not been replaced for about 10 years), and the wooden fence which surrounds the swimming pool are all in poor condition. According to the Joint Access and Easement Agreements signed in 1976, Easthill Apartments and Kenthill Townhomes share operating expenses for recreational facilities (with Kenthill paying 40%). A Special Assessment to cover upcoming expenses for possible repairs to these areas is under consideration. Ongoing parking issues throughout the complex were discussed. Two homeowners resigned from the Board. One homeowner present at the meeting was elected to be on the Board.
Homeowner’s discussion:
A homeowners discussion time occurred which included a question and answer time covering the above topics. It was stated that a six page handout regarding the swimming pool issues was distributed (and mailed to off-site owners) to all 82 homeowners in 2006 (and that additional copies are again currently available on the doorstep of Unit J-4).
Meeting Adjourned: At 8:30PM. The next HOA meeting is scheduled for 04/28/08 at 7:00PM.

Wood siding dry rot repairs

Work to repair the dry rot which has been discovered at many of our buildings has commenced again in 2008, beginning with Buildings A and B.

2008 Annual Meeting handout

This was handed out to all homeowners who were present at the 2008 Annual Meeting:

March 24, 2008

Kenthill Townhomes Homeowners,

Kenthill Townhomes has had many difficulties and has faced several challenges this year. The Board of Directors has been very busy addressing these various issues. Below is an abbreviated list of projects and ongoing projects accomplished in 2007. [Further details concerning these projects may be obtained by viewing the webblog at http://kenthillwebblog.blogspot.com].

1. Worked with certified public accountant to assist in the completion of the required 2006 audit.
2. Continuing to work with our neighbors on all sides to regarding various issues including trespasser and fence problems.
3. Repairs hazardous sidewalks.
4. Continued wood siding repairs to various areas on our buildings that are affected by dry rot.
5. Inspected and approved requests from homeowners for the maintenance (including replacements) of a number of windows, entry doors and screens, in accordance with our new homeowner approved governing documents.
6. Continued to work with arborist to trim trees at our property complex including those which present a hazard during windstorms. These efforts included correspondence with neighboring complexes.
7. Worked with the City of Kent regarding hazardous walkway conditions along 256th St SE. [Note: This roadway is scheduled for major repair/replacement beginning in 2008].
8. In 2006, worked with plumbing contractors to address a record number of significant (and costly) plumbing problems; these included major water leaks discovered at Buildings E, I, J, and L. In 2007, this work continued and included repairs done at Buildings A and B.
9. Continued repairs to outside water faucet hose bibs.
10. Cleaned gutters and downspouts on all 15 buildings, applying moss control on roofs as needed.
11. Worked to address the ongoing issues surrounding delinquencies and foreclosures.
12. Installed new street address signs on those buildings where they had become missing.
13. Painted the concrete curbing which surrounds certain parking islands at various places throughout the complex.
14. Installed new building letter signs on those buildings where they had become missing.
15. Purchased and distributed new, improved Parking Tags for all owners and their tenants.
16. Installed new bark near landscaped areas throughout the complex.
17. Worked with contractors to install new gutters and downspouts on all buildings that have had new roofs installed since the Roofing Project began in 2003. [New gutters and downspouts will be completed at the conclusion of each remaining roof installation from this point forward].
18. New roofs installed on Building N and Building P.
19. New gutters and downspouts installed on Building N and Building P.
20. Major dry rot repairs completed at Building N and Building P.

2008 Annual Meeting

The 2008 Kenthill Townhomes Annual Meeting will be held at 7:00PM in the Cabana on March 24, 2008. Homeowners are urged to sign proxies [that will be sent out soon] if they are unable to attend. Homeowners are strongly urged to review the Kenthill Townhomes Homeowners Meeting Minutes dated 11/26/07 & 11/29/07 prior to the meeting. Homeowners may wish to re-read the December Newsletter (additional copies may be found on the doorstep of Unit J-4).

No meeting

As usual, there will be no homeowners meeting in December, due to the holidays.

Rate increase

On November 1, 2007, Kenthill Townhomes owners received a letter from the Board regarding the increase in homeowners dues for 2008. In that letter was the following sentence: "The Board has spent the past several months carefully reviewing our financial position. We know that administrative costs are expected to increase 4%, that total utilities are expected to increase 9.56% (excluding a PSE increase; uncertain at this writing)..."
The following news article is an update of that sentence, just published on December 3, 2007:

"Infrastructure investments, higher costs prompt Puget Sound Energy to request general rate increase for late 2008"
BELLEVUE, Wash. -- (December3, 2007) -- Puget Sound Energy [utility subsidiary of Puget Energy (NYSE: PSD)] today filed a request to increase electric and natural gas rates in late 2008. This request would allow the utility to recover large investments made in energy infrastructure in 2006 and 2007, which will continue to be needed to serve the growing region, as well as costs related to higher operating and power-supply expenses.
If approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC), the general rate case filing would raise PSE’s average electric and natural gas rates by 9.5 percent and 5.31 percent, respectively, effective Nov. 1, 2008.

Possible cost savings

Additional information regarding the difficulties with separating from Easthill Apartments especially with respect to the swimming pool may be found by viewing the posts on this webblog dated, Sunday, July 10, 2005 (a total of three separate posts entitled, "Investigating cost savings [Part one, two and three].

Dry rot discoveries

Significant dry rot continues to be discovered at our buildings. The most recent finded have been at Building N and Building P. This may be viewed by looking at the south sides of the units of each building especially where the wood siding meets the roof line. Repairs will be necessary to prevent water intrusion.

Long Term Budget

The following letter was sent to all 82 homeowners on September 7, 2006:
Date September 7, 2006
To: Kenthill Townhomes Owners
From: The Board of Directors
Nancy LeMay, Property Manager
Re: Kenthill Townhomes Current and Long-Term Budget Planning
Enclosed please find the Executive Summary (with Table) from Association Reserves of Washington, LLC
Dear Kenthill Townhomes Homeowners:
Kenthill Townhomes was built in the mid-1970’s [The joint access and easement agreement was signed in 1973]. Our buildings therefore are over 30 years old. They are starting to show their age in many ways. It has been difficult to predict and budget how much funds to set aside for the various problems and projects that our condominium complex faces. Each year not only have we had to do maintenance, but we have had to do large repairs to some part of our property.
As you may know, the yearly budget is composed of two parts. The first part is the "Operating Account", in which funds are placed to address monthly billings, utilities, etc., as well as maintenance issues such as lights, landscaping, etc. The second part is the "Replacement Reserves" Account. Everyone's value of their unit has risen over the past several years. It is reasonable to "reinvest" a portion of that increase in value back into the buildings which contain everyone’s individual unit. We do not need to try to make Kenthill Townhomes into a luxury condominium complex. On the other hand we cannot continue to allow the buildings that we each own in common continue to deteriorate. We must maintain them at reasonable level. To do otherwise, in time, when the day arrived for each one of us to sell our unit, we would not nearly obtain the price we might otherwise have received.
In order to better address the long term problems and projects that require our attention, the Board of Directors commissioned a Reserve Study to be done for Kenthill Townhomes. The study is only a guideline, but hopefully it will be of great value. This study will help the current Board as well as future Boards in prioritizing these projects over the years to come. Acquiring a Reserve Study has been long overdue, and also brings us into compliance with generally accepted principles of condominium management, as mentioned in every one of the yearly audits performed by the current and former CPAs which have handled Kenthill Townhomes.
Statistics show that inflation has been approximately 3% for many years. However, that number encompasses the broad market, covering everything from clothes and food to higher cost products. The services we require for condominium upkeep reflect a much narrower characteristic of this information. In fact, the figure is typically closer to 5%, especially when the rising cost of utilities are considered, and most notably as contractors add fuel surcharges to the costs of their estimates.
And so we face two challenges simultaneously, one, rising costs as documented in the media and others sources, and two, the need to address the larger, long-term projects that a condominium complex the age of Kenthill Townhomes is. Homeowners are respectfully encouraged to reflect on these things when planning for their own yearly budgets in the years to come, as we begin to deal with these current and future challenges together as a community.
Sincerely,
The Kenthill Board of Directors

Building letters

Building letter signs on certain buildings throughout the complex have become missing over the years. These have been replaced with new ones.

Tree injures Kent woman

From the Seattle Times, October 19, 2007:

"1 killed, 1 hurt in windstorm"
Tens of thousands of people also lost power for a time in the storm, which toppled trees and blew debris onto roadways, cars and houses. In Kent, a woman was seriously injured when a 60-foot-tall cottonwood tree snapped in half just after 2 p.m., falling on her as she stood beside her car in a parking lot at Kent Station, a shopping complex near the Regional Justice Center. "There were trees everywhere," said Teresa Martin, the manager of a nearby Bath & Body Works store. "We tried to keep her awake, but she wasn't talking." The woman was also taken to Harborview, said Cpt. Kyle Ohashi of the Kent Fire Department. He was unable to say how badly she was hurt or which part of her body was struck by the falling tree.

Roofs being installed

New roofs are being installed at Building N and Building P.

Average homeowners dues

A recent survey conducted in south King County stated that the average monthly homeowners assessment was $310 per month.