FAQ

Updated February 2023

What is the Cedar Acres Association?

The Cedar Acres Association, Inc. is the homeowners' association (HOA) for the Cedar Acres community of townhomes and single-family homes in Columbia, Maryland. Note that Cedar Acres is an "outparcel" of Columbia and therefore its grounds are not managed by the Columbia Association.

What is the purpose of the Cedar Acres Association?

The Cedar Acres Association exists to manage and maintain the commonly owned areas of the Cedar Acres community, clean the Cedar Acres roads and sidewalks in the townhome area, and generally ensure a consistently good appearance in our neighborhoods.

Who runs the Cedar Acres Association?

The homeowners of Cedar Acres are the members of the Cedar Acres Association. The homeowners elect a board of directors to the Cedar Acres Association. The board of directors consists of a president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary and member at large, who are all Cedar Acres homeowners themselves. Each member serves for a three-year term and can be re-elected. The HOA also includes various committees for architectural, grounds, finance, neighborhood watch and other areas of importance to the community.

Cedar Acres employs a management company, D. H. Bader, to handle administration and help deal with community issues.

All board members, committee chairs, and committee members are unpaid volunteers. They are homeowners who want to serve the community.

What can the association do for you as a homeowner? What can't it do?

The homeowners' association can help you solve some of the problems associated with owning your home and living in a neighborhood, but not all of them. Though the homeowners' association is available to help in any way that is appropriate, there are some problems that you will have to solve individually. We recommend that you use common sense and maturity, especially in dealing with issues involving your neighbors.

Do I need to get approval for any changes to my home?

Generally, any changes to the exterior appearance of your house, or remodeling, or additions, require the prior approval of the Cedar Acres Architectural Committee. The Declaration of Covenants in your green binder provides some guidelines and restrictions. A fuller, more detailed presentation is given in the Summary in the front of the green binder. Click here for a link to the Architectural Change Request Form that you will need to submit.

Can you remind me how to make HOA assessment payments?
Payments can be made online by going to https://portal.dhbader.com. There is no cost to pay by e-check through the website; however, please note there is a transaction fee charged by the bank if you choose to make an online payment with a credit card.

If you send your payment by mail, the address to use is: First Ridge Community Association P.O. Box 467 Emerson, NJ 07630.

Homeowners who use online banking through their own bank account should make sure that the address where their payment is being sent is updated accordingly to reflect the correct addresss: P.O. Box 467 Emerson, NJ 07630.

Who owns and maintains the roads in the community?

Cedar Acres owns some of the roads in the townhome area; the rest are the property of Howard County. See this map for more details. While all residents pay assessment fees to maintain the common areas (yard maintenance/tree removal/etc.), the townhome owners pay higher assessment fees to cover the costs of snow and ice removal on the Cedar Acres roads and sidewalks, which is not done in the single-family-home area.

How is ice and snow removal handled in our community?

Howard County plows the streets owned by the county. See Howard County’s live snow removal map here. Cedar Acres uses a contractor to plow the streets not owned by the county. These are the two Cedar Acres-owned cul-de-sacs off the main part of Cedar Wood Drive (see map). The contractor also treats all our townhouse sidewalks. It is the homeowner’s responsibility to clear house pathways of ice and snow.

Please keep in mind that the contractor will generally wait until snow or ice accumulation has stopped before treating the sidewalks and roads. Also be mindful of the fact that the contractor has multiple clients and will get here as soon as their schedule allows.

If you live in a single-family home, use your snow blower, shovel, ice scraper, and ice melt, as appropriate. If you live in the townhomes, your sidewalks should be cleared in a reasonable amount of time, given the amount of accumulation. In the absence of ice, the contractor will not come out if there is less than 2’’ of snow.

What can the Cedar Acres board do to prevent tree damage to my home?

The Cedar Acres HOA relies greatly on homeowner reports to identify and address potential issues with trees in the community’s common areas. If you notice a tree on common ground that appears in danger of causing damage to your property, please reach out to the board using the contact information on this website, and the grounds committee volunteers will respond and address the situation as appropriate. The board and grounds committee are always alert to possible tree issues in our community through their own observations and after significant events such as storms. They will often call upon a tree service for evaluation for issues of which they are aware. But homeowner input is essential to minimize the possibility of damage to property from trees. Please note that regular maintenance on all the trees in common areas is not possible and impractical, as it would be cost-prohibitive in the Cedar Acres HOA budget, which is funded by homeowner assessments fees. Even if regular maintenance were performed, trees that appear healthy will sometimes unfortunately fall without warning. In the event that a tree from the common area causes damage to your home, it becomes the homeowners’ responsibility to report the damage to their home insurance provider and call upon them for assistance.

Who is responsible for maintaining the original privacy fences in the community?

The responsibility for upkeep and maintenance of original privacy fences is shared equally between the homeowners sharing the privacy fences.

How do I replace my mailbox lock or key?

Contact the post office or talk to your mail carrier, who can get you started on the process for obtaining a replacement. The U.S. Postal Service typically charges a small fee for replacement keys and locks.

How can I help?

The board enthusiastically welcomes new volunteers to serve on committees and run for board positions. To get involved, interested individuals are encouraged to attend the HOA meetings or get in touch with the HOA using the contact information on this site.

Last but not least, the board and committees rely on the eyes and ears of the entire Cedar Acres community to identify and report budding issues before they become serious problems. Please alert the board using the contact information on this website. From time to time, the board and committees may put out a call for other homeowners in the community to help with special projects and join committees when there is an increase in areas for which we greatly need other homeowners’ assistance.

How can I keep up-to-date on important community news and information?

We encourage you to attend the Cedar Acres Association’s board meetings and annual meeting (schedule is here). We are always seeking new board members and volunteers. We welcome your talents and skills for making the community as good as can be.

In addition, you can sign up for the Nextdoor social network. Nextdoor enables Cedar Acres residents to communicate with each other in real time, similar to Facebook. It’s not an official Cedar Acres website, but community members have found it a useful way to exchange information.