December 2010
MEMORANDUM
TO: William
H. Yeager
Thurmon
L. Deloney
Lisa
Chick
Anthony
Hill
FROM: Tom
Davis
DATE:
December 23,
2010
RE: JCE/Burgundy
Woods Update of Land Development Schedule
The driving of
H-Piles at Burgundy Woods has been underway for approximately 30 days.
The pile driving
contractor has experienced much harder driving conditions than anticipated
which is a result in significant delays in completion of this work.
To date
approximately 50% of the piles required for the lower wall have been installed
to full depth. Due to the hard driving conditions approximately another 30 days
will be required to complete this wall.
At that time, the
pile driving for the upper wall will be initiated. The upper wall piles are
shorter in length and spaced further apart. We anticipate that the wall piles
in the upper wall can be installed during the month of January and are now
projected completion date for all of the pile driving operations the first week
of February 2011.
At that time we will
seek final certification and inspection by Fairfax County and anticipate
initiating the Phase 1B clearing operation approximately the middle of February
2011. Prior to that date, the site will again be flagged for clearing and I
will schedule a walk with all interested parties of the proposed limits of
clearing prior to additional clearing onsite.
Please let me know
if you have any questions regarding our current schedule.
cc: Scott
Robinson
Richard
Hill
Joyce
Steve
Drew
Shontz
Brian
Howard
November 2010 FROM: Tom Davis DATE: November 1, 2010 RE: JCE/Burgundy Woods The Phase 1A clearing of the JCE/Burgundy Woods site is nearly complete. Phase 1A siltation control devices have been installed and only minor grading remains in preparation for the installation of the H-Piles. This clearing and Phase 1A erosion controls must be inspected and approved by Fairfax County prior to moving on to the next phase. I would expect to have these inspections complete by October 30, 2010 and would hope to initiate the move in by Coastal Pile Driving during the week of November 1, 2010. The complete pile driving operation is expected to take between 45-60 days and hope to have it complete by the first of the year. An updated schedule for the inital phases of the Burgundy Woods development is attached. Please let me know if you have any questions relating to this schedule or our current status. 3 Nov 10 UPDATE: Due to some minor construction delays the pile driving operation schedule has been pushed back. We now expect pile driving equipment to move in on Friday, Nov 5. First steel deliveries will be Mon or Tues, Nov 8-9. Pile driving will start Tues or Wed, Nov 9-10. September 2010 Short-notice meeting with Developer Saturday, Sept 18th: Please share with residents (Sandye Blalock) Nic Pologeorgis and I met with Tom Davis, engineer for Courtland Homes the developer, along with Burgundy Woods subdivision HOA and affected people. The old civil war era home is in shambles not being maintained, its been vandalized a lot again as well. Side note: Large cracking a few months ago that sounded like a large tree snapping – it happened on the other side of the hill from us. Lighting blew up a large tree. I recall going outside the next day and searching to see if it was on our side. FYI for anyone else who heard the loud boom. Updated timeline:
Oct – Dec 2010: Large steel I-beam pilings/walls will be pounded into the ground mostly on the other side of the old civil war house in order to shore up the steep slope. Expect vibrations. Seismic video filming as already taken place by the company that must do seismographs and document this step to ensure its kept within allowable vibration limits and to aid in documenting cracks and damage to surrounding homes that existed prior to this phase vs afterwards. Suggest all homeowners, especially those on the ridgeline with Burgundy, inspect your homes and take photos asap. This will cause vibration to us, just like the Woodrow Wilson project pile driving did, only this is closer and will be done during the day as required by Fairfax County law for construction hours which start at 7 am. Hrs of pile driving are more restrictive than regular construction (haven’t got those, will need to find from county). January 2011: Tree clearing, building street and cul-de-sac, etc phases affecting Governors Grove residents, will being in January 2011. Tree clearing will take 1-2 weeks in January if weather allows it. Building street, utilities, and model home expected to be done Jan-August 2011. Other homes’ construction will depend on how fast the builder sells them. Exchanged contact info with Burgundy Woods HOA president in case we needed to coordinate on any issues that crop up. November 2009 On Friday, 23 Oct 09, Tom Davis of JCE Development called me to let me know that the Burgundy Woods development was going forward, and construction would begin in November. He followed up with a letter, which can be seen here. He offered to meet with us to answer any questions. This will be a topic on the 5 Nov Board Meeting. Thurmon Deloney, Board President March 2009 All,
On Wednesday, 25 Mar, I sent the e-mail below to Mr. Tom Davis,
Courtland Homes (CH). We still have a minor problem with vendors distributing flyers throughout the community. Those advertisements are not allowed in Governors Grove. Residents can submit a complaint on the Fairfax County Consumer Affairs website, www.fairfaxcounty.gov/consumer/complaints.htm. We want to augment the Neighborhood Watch program by initiating a passive Nieghborhood Watch involving all residents. This does not involve the scheduled random patrols of the ongoing active system, but simply requires residents to watch out for their neighbors and report instances of vandalism, suspicious characters and events to the Board, Neighborhood Watch participants or the Fairfax County non-emergency resources. Non-emergency calls are taken at 703-691-2131. Also, incident reports can be made online at https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/crs/.
Lamp Fixture Painting Project for Bezer Homes Following the approval of the Governor’s Grove Homeowners Board, several owners began repainting the weathered external light fixtures. The original color was not firmly known and the subcontractor was no longer available. The only constant was the fading was universal throughout the GG complex. Several homeowners took the Board’s recommendation for a glossy black replacement, using the Krylon spray paint available at local hardware stores. Lamp and wall fixtures for an entire townhouse wing were partially disassembled, painted, and reassembled over the course of several afternoons. The photos below show the before, in process and after stages.
Our thanks go to all of the participants in this community improvement effort. We encourage all Bezer homeowners to get together with their neighbors to complete this project by August 30, 2007. Alternatively, you can have a contractor do the work. We have a proposal from Capitol Painting, and the fillable PDF form is below. If you have any questions on specific advice, contact Thurmon Deloney, 5718 Governors Pond Cir.
Jan 2011 - Board Member Harvey Johnson found a water pump online (Davey BT20-30, freshwatersystems.com) for about $540, and had a local plumber (Dwyer) install it. I followed suit with the same system and local plumber. We both are pleased with the overall result, although there were some minor problems initially (including repairing previously unknown leaks in plumbing, most notably the toilets.)
Sep 2008 - Board VP Thurmon Deloney and Leroy Jones in the June 07 board meeting again brought up the issue of low water pressure in the community. Atlas Plumbing, the original subcontractor, had been contacted to provide a copy of the original plans for review to determine if pressure restrictors were installed, but their representative, an insurance adjustor, principally wanted to sell every unit owner a pressure booster. His alternative suggestion was to re-dig the trench, including the concrete and asphalt along the path, and replace the water lines. American Plumbing Inc. was contacted at the suggestion of Randy Lyons to see if they could visually inspect the water lines. Dan Parris, an API owner, came out to Thurmon Deloney’s unit to verify the problems, but noted that only 5” sewer lines could be visually inspected; the industry doesn’t yet have the technology for ½” water lines. He did offer to replace the water lines without the massive re-digging of the ditch, by following the current lines and digging underground. The cost estimate is $3000 for one unit, and $2500/unit for multiple units. This estimate is below the $3500 - $5000 estimates from other contractors, such as JP Flood and Atlas. Jan 2009 - Board President Thurmon Deloney started to replace his unit's external water line with American Plumbing, but the contractor made a fortunate decision to recheck the county's supplied pressure reading. Instead of the previously reported 70 psi, the contractor measured 44 psi at the county meter, and 42 psi in the home. The home pressure reading did not change under load (flowing water in the home.) Before Christmas, Sandye Blalock had the county measure her pressure dynamically and statically as well. The county initially reported 70 psi at the nearby fire plug, but 52 psi statically in her home, falling to 42 psi with the water flowing. Russell Sawyers, the Fairfax County Water official we've contacted, offered that the original 70 psi readings were either in error or reflected the readings from the lower elevation meters along Franconia Rd. Dec 2009 - Board President Thurmon Deloney sent the following letter to Fairfax County Water, with copies to the Fairfax County Fire Dept. and Lee District Supervisor's Office:
The officials responded in a timely manner, with the following e-mail being the latest exchange from the Fairfax Fire Dept:
This series of tests, while reassuring on the safety front, actually supports our latest theory that the low pressure is a problem principally for units at the higher elevation. Jan 2010 - Fairfax County Water Authority General Manager Charles Murray mailed a reply on 9 Dec 2009 about our low water pressure. In that letter, he stated that Governors Grove was “adequately served” given the County’s minimum pressure of 20 psi was exceeded, the Fire Departments tests and analysis proved we were above their minimum requirements, and that other communities were higher on the needs priority list. However, Mr. Murray left a voice message suggesting possible alternatives. Board President Thurmon Deloney followed up with a call on 11 Dec, and Mr. Murray explained some details missing from the letter. Like many communities, Fairfax County supplies water according to high and low pressure zones defined by local topography. The Dewberry development, and the upper half of Governors Grove, fall within the high pressure zone, while the lower half nearest Franconia Dr. are in the low pressure zone. In concert with the new construction, it is possible to tie the upper half of Governors Grove to the high pressure zone, isolating the lower half with cutoff valves to maintain their low-pressure zone supply. As this is a new concept with possible policy implications county-wide, Mr. Murray has to get approval from the full County Board, and to also couch it in terms that will not open them up to criticism from other residents. In any event, the construction cost would have to be born by the Governors Grove Association. In a follow-up phone call on 13 Jan 2010, Mr. Murray had better information after having his engineers do a more detailed analysis. The total cost estimate is $90,700, which comes to roughly $575 per household for all 157 units. If the roughly half of the community who currently suffer low pressure went with the alternative solution of individually installing pressure boosters at $2500 per installation, that would total roughly $190,000. No commitments have been made, and this will require a community vote. (Parenthetically, Mr. Murray mentioned that had the Governors Grove developer submitted the existing plans during his tenure, they would not have been allowed to simply connect everything to the single low-pressure zone, but would have been required to isolate the development between the two zones as now proposed.) Homeowners are still ignoring signs and are regularly their personal vehicles in spaces reserved for Visitors only. The situation is complicated by the fact that there is an unequal distribution of parking spaces throughout our community. In response to a question regarding resident and visitor parking stickers, Armstrong Management informed the Board that another community’s solution to this problem was to issue temporary (bi-monthly) paper hang tags per residence. Other options are still being discussed. The board appreciates any suggestions from residents of managing this ongoing parking issue.
Dear Neighbors: Lamppost light bulbs need replacing regularly. Working lampposts are an important part of neighborhood security as well as the charming aesthetics of our neighborhood. Approximately one-third of our neighborhood homes have lampposts that are not lit. If yours is out, please repair it immediately. If your bulb blows out often, try these tips:
If your light fixture is broken and no longer works, notify the Landscape & Architectural Review Committee (LARC) to discuss your replacement options. Please be advised we are in the process of researching replacements options. Should you have any questions or require additional information contact Sandye Blalock at 2_Sandye@cox.net or Sharon Voss-Northrop at geoengchic2@yahoo.com. Thank you in advance for taking the time to replace your burnt out light bulb in a timely manner. Sincerely, Sandye Blalock
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Items of Interest (Beazer Home Lamps, Carr Home Lamps, Mold and Concrete, Parking Regulations Approved, LARC Guidelines Updated, Burgundy Woods, Solicitations, Neighborhood Watch, Lamp Painting, Water Pressure, Parking, Lamppost Light Bulb)
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