April 2022
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE
BROOKRIDGE CONDOMINIUM AND HOMEOWNER’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS
https://sites.google.com/site/brookridgehoa/Home
A meeting of the Brookridge Condominium Board of Directors was held on April 12, 2022 at Paul Spindel’s house. Present at the meeting were: Paul Spindel, President; Monica Teuscher, Vice President; Leslie Molinoff, Secretary (by phone); Paul Roberts Treasurer and Ann Gittelman, Board Member at Large - all of whom are Directors constituting a quorum. Also present was Tom Pallman, Property Manager, and, for the first portion of the meeting, Andi & John Stix, owners of Unit #52 and Derek Meade, owner of Unit #50. Paul Spindel acted as Chair of the meeting and Leslie Molinoff took the minutes.
CALL TO ORDER AT 5:36 PM.
Minutes of the Board Meeting held on February 222022 were approved and have been posted.
A discussion ensued regarding some remedial or replacement work that may be required to fortify the retaining wall behind the Stix and Meade units. 3 approaches were presented by the Board. No consensus was reached. The Stix’ may be introducing a 4th option for Board consideration
TREASURER’S REPORT: Cash balances as of 3/31/2022:
NCB Operating Account - $50,521
NCB Reserve Account - $139,579
Signature Bank MM Account (1893) - $274,768
Signature Bank CD Account (8283) - $381,525 (Note: CD matures May 2022)
Total cash - $846,393
As of March 31, 2022, the financials show a projected year end surplus of approximately $15,000.
EXTERIOR UNT PAINTING PROJECT UPDATE:
As advised earlier this week, we have added two more options to our color choices. Monica’s (#43) garage door and the surrounding frame have been updated to show 3 similar but softer/warmer colors:
The garage door is Iron Gate, which is a combination of gray and taupe.
The wood on the top left half is Tyler Gray.
The wood on the top right half is Brick House Tan.
Please review Monica and Leslie’s homes and either respond to this email or to Ann Gittelman directly your choice from the following 3 options by this weekend:
1. Unit 43 - Left Side: Iron Gate, Tyler Gray
2. Unit 43 - Right Side: Iron Gate, Brick House Tan
3. Unit 45 - Mink Brown garage door, CertaPro Gray for the house
Weather permitting, CertaPro will begin power washing and preparing the homes for painting on Monday, April 18th. Before they begin the repair work, they will advise each homeowner if the cost of work is within the $1200 allowance or if more work is needed. The Project Manager will also review their proposals for those units that require more than $1200 in repairs.
All that is required of each homeowner is to close their windows and make sure that their outside water faucets are turned on for the power washing. CertaPro will move all deck furniture and other items as needed. If they need your assistance, they will either speak with you directly or come through me depending on the specific instance.
As always, if you have any questions, please contact Ann Gittelman, anngitt@optonline.net
COMMON ARREARS REPORT:
Landscaping: Removal of the dead willow in back of units 25 and 27 to be done by Bartlett Tree Co has been approved as has 8 treatments for trees and shrub and some plantings around the rocks outside the fence on right side of the pool.
Everything is growing beautifully especially the tree by the pool entrance
Vitti will be bringing organic soil to the vegetable garden and wood chips for the paths in between the raised planters
Speed Bumps and Roads: Speed bumps will be installed ASAP. Vitti's crew will repair any Belgian block damage caused by winter plowing. The major pot hole at the entrance will be repaired as soon as possible.
Pool: The Pool will open early in May. We want everyone in our community to feel safe when they are at the pool so we will continue to have a sign in sheet and require COVID vaccinations and updated boosters. Further, we will continue the limit of 6 attendees per unit at a time in order to retain some degree of social distancing and allow all residents to enjoy the pool. If for any reason you require an exception to that rule, please contact a board member for consideration. Detail pool rules will be distributed before the pool opens.
Tennis/Pickle Court Update: As the weather improves, we anticipate more interest in the court and want to make it accessible for everyone so we will continue to limit signups to one hour per household. Sign up for court time using the clip board at the court gate if you want to reserve time.
CONVERSION TO CONDO AND TAX GRIEVANCE: The following is the relevant text of 2 emails from our attorney, Bill Sulzer, with a little explanatory commentary in “Bold” from the Board:
Bill: Now that the Landing litigation is resolved, there is no excuse for the City of NR’s delay.
Board: (The Landing case in Dobbs Ferry was a similar case to ours, except that they had 100% participation in the conversion and we did not. Two owners are not a part of our conversion, which has complicated our case. NR was waiting to see the outcome in The Landing case before they would make a decision on our tax grievance. The Landing case wound up being settled with a very favorable result for that community. They received a reduction in property taxes going forward plus two years of retroactivity on taxes already paid….this does not mean we would necessarily get the same result)
Bill: I am still waiting for the NR City Attorney to get back to me. He told me that he plans to respond this month. I will contact you immediately upon his reply.
If any owners wish to challenge their individual assessments on their own, they certainly have the right to do so. They just need to understand that any reduction they achieve by stipulation at the grievance level or Court decision, will preclude them from participating in the litigation filed by the Board of Managers. There is only one assessment and there cannot be conflicting court orders or stipulations involving the assessment for the same lot.
For condominium properties, the City is required to value the property as if it is a rental apartment building and must use an income approach to valuation. However, given that the City has refused thus far to acknowledge the condominium status on the assessment roll, any owners seeking relief on their own would need to base their claim on comparable sales, which typically indicate much higher assessed values than the rental approach to value used for condominiums.
I understand Brookridge’s frustration with all of this. Respectfully, the Board needs to be cognizant of the fact that the 3 year delay between the filing of the condominium declaration and request for a no action letter (in 2018) and the submission and acceptance of the offering plan (in 2021) was not the fault of the City. During this 3 year period we had no leverage to compel a resolution since it was likely that motion practice would have led to an unsuccessful outcome and dismissal of your case. The difference between the 2 matters is that The Landing was issued a no action letter after a brief initial delay whereas Brookridge did not receive a similar letter and the offering plan took an unreasonable amount of time to complete.
Moreover, the same alleged technical defects related to the preparation of the condominium declaration that existed in the Landing case still exist in this matter. Because the Landing case was settled, the Court did not render a decision on the merits related to that issue. Thus, in our view a negotiated settlement, provided that the terms are favorable, is the best outcome.
POTENTIAL PROJECTS FOR 2022 AND 2023 :
1. Pool Deck Surround Repairs and Replacement of Broken Umbrellas/Lounges, as Needed
2. New Mail Boxes
3. New Street Lights
The next Board meeting will be held on May10th at 5:30 PM at Leslie Molinoff’’s house.
The annual meeting has been scheduled for June 30th at 7:30 PM at Bonnie Briar Country Club
There being no further business before the Board, upon motion made and duly seconded, the meeting was adjourned at 6:54 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Leslie Molinoff, Secretary