Annual Meetings

November 2023 Annual Meeting

Treasurer's Report

Good evening and welcome to the Cherrywood HOA Annual Meeting for 2023. I shall begin by giving the Treasure’s Report.

The first order of business this evening is the status of the Reserve Fund Account. As of October 31st, we have $1,461,729 in our reserves. $200,000 of those funds are committed to two, 13-week CDs that were due to mature in December, but the Board agreed to push the maturity date to March 2024. We increased the monthly assessment to $540 per month as of July first.

Next up are major scheduled reserve study projects. The reserve fund project schedule shows that Siding/Trim and Building Repairs plus Painting are scheduled for 2023-2024. According to the Reserve Study the budgeted cost for the repairs plus painting is $663,000. The Board will have to consider whether to proceed with that work, or first complete the necessary balcony repairs. This brings us to the next item: The SB326 or Balcony Repair Project.

At this point we do not now know what the total cost will be for the Balcony Repair Project. I asked Bill Ricotti, the senior accountant with our property management company, about financing the repairs and he presented three choices:

First, we could increase the amount of regular assessments in the next fiscal year. We are already paying $540 per month for assessments. Some associations have a monthly assessment up to one thousand dollars. If we were to increase the fees dramatically, they would never go down.

Second, we could propose a special assessment (as we have done before). We could possibly consider using a portion of our reserves to cover the cost, but we must continue to maintain adequate reserves to pay the monthly bills. It might be best to have a stand-alone special assessment to cover the project costs.

Third, we could apply for a loan from a specialty HOA bank. I sat in on an ECHO presentation about SB326 financing and it could take at least six months to get all the necessary paperwork and financing lined up before the loan is approved. Individual loans (such as for a special assessment) might work better than a blanket loan for our entire HOA.

But first we need to know what this is going to cost.

Next is the state of our finances: The financial audit that was done at the end of the last fiscal year showed that our project management company is doing an excellent job managing our finances. We have been mostly on target with the projected budget from last year and this year to date.

President's Message

I would like to express my appreciation first for everyone who has put in their valuable time and efforts to do the hard work behind the scenes that keeps our Cherrywood community operating smoothly. First up is your Board of Directors Isabella Chianyi Ang, Tina Andreini, James Lee, and Habib Karaki. Then we have our volunteers Connie Stanley, the editor of our monthly newsletter, and Perry DiBenedetto who handles our Community Parking and Security. Last but not least, Dan Pisano our Community Management Services Property Manager. This is your team that has been getting the job done during the last year and we owe them our sincere thanks for a job well done. If you are new to our community we welcome you and hope that you will make yourself known to your neighbors.

And now the year in review:

In January we selected CMA Consulting to do the SB326 balcony inspections.

Chimney duct inspections were done in February. We were expecting the dryer ducts to be cleaned, but we basically got a safety inspection. Next time we’ll make sure that is done correctly. Also, CMA did visual inspections of all balconies.

CMA conducted destructive testing of eight balconies in April.

In May the annual budget was presented, and the Board approved a 3% increase of the monthly assessment to $540. That increase went into effect on July 1st.

Throughout the spring and summer Connie did her best to issue cautions to the community to slow down while driving. Here we are almost into winter and some people still are not bothering to slow down.

In August CMA issued their SB326 report which they also sent to the City of Sunnyvale. They issued a warning to limit use of the balconies.

In September an emergency rule was issued per the City of Sunnyvale’s request prohibiting use of front and rear balconies. At this point the Board decided that we needed another Engineering firm to take another look at our balconies using a much larger sample. As of September 1st, the landscaping contract with Medallion was cancelled and we are now using Jensen.

In October, Orkin performed indoor and subterranean termite treatments in our community. If you haven’t had your home treated yet, you only have until December 31st to have this done, with a valid one-year warranty. Also in October, our insurance agent James O’Connor provided pizza for a Cherrywood community picnic.

Also in October, we hired Cassidy Rajkovich of Brook Construction Management to be our balcony project manager. She and Silicon Valley Builders Group performed a visual inspection of all balconies in November. Fifty percent of the balconies will undergo destructive testing in the near future. We want to get a better representation of the true extent of repairs necessary and present the data to the City. The Board believes that the City was heavy handed when issuing the balcony restriction in September. Nicholas Bumb will provide structural plans as required by the City of Sunnyvale. Silicon Valley Builders Group will make the balcony repairs. A timeline has not yet been established for destructive testing or repairs.

In November the gutters were cleaned, and it was announced the jacuzzi had been repaired. And here we are together now in our Annual Meeting.

That concludes the major events from this year.

We have met the requirement to test our balconies per SB326 before January 1, 2025. There is no timeline for the repairs, but we do need to be mindful about having the balcony access restriction lifted so that people can feel free to sell their homes.

October 2023

This year's Annual Meeting is scheduled for two (2) days after the regular Board meeting on Thursday, November 16 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held both in person (in the clubhouse) and via Zoom (a link will be provided).

The ballots to elect Board member will be mailed to all units by Friday, October 13, and must be returned no later  than November 16.