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Your Board met Sunday, July 20th, for its regularly scheduled meeting and modified the order of its Agenda so that a discussion of the visitor’s drowning last Wednesday could be had with the residents who attended the meeting. Based on that hour long discussion the Board asked its President to summarize its position on the drowning for the community, for our website and for the local newspaper’s publication.
The rest of the meeting, which ended just before noon, first took up recommendations from our Treasurer regarding our finances and, based on that, we formally voted to propose to the membership a Special Budget Assessment of $100 per homeowner so that we would not run a large deficit this fiscal year. That will be voted on this coming Sunday.
We then took up the recommendations of the Septic Committee that the Board should impose $500 fines on 16 homeowners who had not produced documentation that their septic had been pumped as per our rules. Most of these tanks had not been pumped since the year 2000.
We followed that with the recommendations of the Wall and Fence Committee and decided to table that discussion until after the Amendment to the Declaration has had a chance to be signed by the required number of homeowners. The Amendment will be available at the Membership meeting on Sunday. After that approval the Wall & Fence rules will be rewritten accordingly and the enforcement actions undertaken.
We had a significant discussion of access control issues of code issuance and usage as well as of technical problems with the usability of the gate computer software and modes of communication. Further research will be done before our next meeting. We followed this with the Board asking its President to seek a usage zoning variance to bring the LWA garage area into zoning rule compliance. He was also asked to investigate, with our 1st VP, issues concerning the use of the community house and parking area within the Danbury Zoning ordinances.
And finally we discussed our plan to ensure we achieved a quorum for our Membership Meeting required votes for new Board members as well as for the Special Assessment. Board members will be on the streets and their telephones to make sure we have the required number of members represented.
Submitted by: Bruce M Clark, President
The Board of the Lake Waubeeka Association met yesterday and had a very complete discussion, with a number of residents contributing, of issues surrounding the tragic drowning death of Ifechukwu Odenigbo, a 14 year old visitor to our community. As many of you know there was a very moving and very well attended, memorial service Saturday night at Paul Street beach for that young man to honor his life, share our grief and to express our gratitude to the heroic residents of LWA who struggled to find and save him.
The Board has been listening, and continues to listen carefully to the Community about the drowning.. We are outraged by the anonymous slurs and inaccurate accusations from readers that were published on the News-Times website. We are heartened by the many Danbury residents who have, using their own names, rejected that racist and ethnic hatred. We condemn both the ideas and the unfounded motivation for making them. We thank the News-Times for its belated removal of m ost of them from its website.
The Board voted yesterday to form a special committee to review both the history and facts about our approach to water safety. That committee will present its recommendations to us sometime in the fall.
The Board has accepted the offer by a resident’s relative, a very skilled water safety professional, to conduct a water safety seminar for residents in early August. Even though this is the only drowning in the history of Lake Waubeeka, we feel we must use this tragedy to better our community.
Sunday’s Membership Meeting will provide a much needed opportunity to discuss these events.
From the Board of Directors LWA
Bruce M. Clark President
As a reminder to all community members, the 2008 Annual Membership Meeting will be held on:
Sunday, July 27th at 10AM.
It is everyone's interest to attend! Important topics concerning the community will be discussed. We were unable to establish a quorum at the May 18th Budget meeting. If you can not attend, please back sure that you return your proxy to a member of the community in good standing or a board member
Additional proxies can be had here!
Please join your community members for a memorial service with clergy and singing.
Adults and children are welcome!
Memorial Service at 9:00 p.m. July 19th
Paul Street Beach
We will have a representative from Healing Hearts here to talk with those in need of healing.
This is intended for adults only!
Healing Hearts talk at 10:30 a.m. Mon. July 21st
Paul Street Beach
The original Declaration of LAKE TORMID INC. was filed or recorded on the Danbury Land Records on or about July 24, 1951. The deeds of all lots refer to this Declaration and its covenants are enforceable by law by both the Board as well as by individual lot owners. The Board has determined that two of the covenants or restrictions contained in this Declaration are inappropriate 57 years later as the character of LWA has evolved and is proposing that they be changed as specified below. The Board's logic is outlined below for each covenant and starts with a reiteration of the existing covenant (in bold), continues with a statement of the Board's reasoning and ends with the proposed new covenant (in bold).
1. Section D reads: "No fence, wall or other enclosure shall be erected, altered or placed or permitted to remain on any lot nearer to any front lot line or side street line than the minimum building setback line (25' or 10') and no fence, wall or any other enclosure shall be over three and one-half feet in height or be so constructed as to be dangerous".
This covenant effectively requires the removal of all walls, fences, impervious hedges and pine tree groups, berms and other visually limiting enclosures that are not up against the side of a dwelling on every lot in the LWA.
We believe instead that these enclosures should be allowed to be anywhere on a homeowner's property as long as they are less than 3 1/2 feet high. The Board proposes that the present wording should be deleted and the following be substituted in lieu thereof:
"D. No fence, wall or other enclosure over three and one-half feet in height shall be erected, altered or permitted to remain on the front or sides of any lot."
If this amendment is endorsed by 132 homeowners the Board will rewrite our Residences Rule to deal with retaining walls, safety walls and legally required enclosures as well as backyard fences which are not presently limited except for height.
2. Section E reads: "No business or trade whatsoever, or boarding house shall be carried on or be permitted to be carried on upon any lot".
This covenant was written when the community was a part time, week end and vacation location and before Danbury even had a Zoning Code.
LWA is currently a very diverse and approaching 80% year round residential community with many homes containing residents who do some degree of commerce in them. In addition, Danbury presently has a zoning code which allows only a specified list of home occupations to be quietly pursued in homes.
We believe that as long as homeowners abide by what the Board believes are comprehensive zoning rules that LWA is fully protected from abuses which would change the residential character of our community.
The Board proposes that the present Section E should be deleted and the following be substituted in lieu thereof:
"E. One home occupation is permitted on each lot, if and for so long as authorized by a valid Danbury zoning permit, and as further limited by these provisions.
- 1. All home occupations, as defined herein, shall: (1) be clearly secondary to the use of the lot for dwelling purposes; (2) not change the external residential character of the dwelling in any visible manner; (3) not create objectionable noise, odor, vibrations, waste, or unsightly conditions noticeable off the premises; (4) not create interference with radio and television reception in the vicinity, nor create a health or safety hazard; (5) only use equipment which is customarily incidental to residential occupancy; (6) be engaged in only by the immediate members of the family residing on the lot; (7) except for the display of fruits and vegetables grown on the lot, not be visible from the street; (8) limit retail sales to only articles made, raised, or grown on the lot; and, (9) not exceed twenty-five per cent (25%) of the dwelling floor area above the basement.
- 2. Permitted home occupations shall include dressmaking, millinery, preparation of food products, watch repair, television and radio repair, accountant, architect, artist, dentist, designer, engineer, lawyer, musician, physician, surgeon, teacher, real estate and insurance agent, or similar occupation or person qualified through professional training to perform services of a professional nature, but not a beauty parlor or barber shop."
Again, if the 132 lot owners agree to this amendment by signing the amendment document, the Board will review our Residences Rule and make whatever additional changes (for example traffic, parking, access needs) might prove necessary to support our residential character.
Bruce Clark, President
The LWA Board, after a thorough review of the rules printed in the Lake Waubeeka Rules and By-Laws booklet and a review of the restrictive covenants in the Lake Tormid Declaration, has voted to clarify and update those rules. As promised, the Board is posting the current community rules on this website for all to read and, if they want, print out for their personal use. The extra words at the end of the first paragraph indicate that the Rules posted on this website are the official rules of the community. If, in the future, the Board votes to amend these rules there will be a news item placed on this website as well as in the Waubeekan to notify residents of the change.
The major changes are in allowed Residential uses on page 3, Septic system exceptions on page 4, Refuse clarity on page 5, Access Control on page 7 and Enforcement fines. All changes are highlighted in bold. There are other wording changes (also bolded) which have been done to clarify, but not change, a rule.
Questions about these changes will be answered at the Budget Meeting on May 18th. Assuming that the amendment to the Lake Tormid gathers enough signatures to be valid, the Board will then revisit Residences rules 1 & 4 to improve clarity and enforcement procedures. Obviously, any questions in advance of the Budget or other meetings will be fielded by me or by one of the other Board members who is involved.
Bruce Clark, President
The Board has voted to propose the following amendment to the Lake Tormid Declaration which underlies the land deed of every Lake Waubeeka Association homeowner. The amendment deals with fence restrictions and the business uses allowed on lots. Homeowners should compare the proposed covenants with those in the existing deed (at the back of the LWA booklet) and come to the Budget Meeting on May 18th with questions that the Board will answer.
The proposed amendment can be gotten here.
The actual amendment document will be at the sign in desk so homeowners who agree with the proposal can identify themselves and sign it at any time. 132 homeowners must sign this single document for the amendment to become legal and binding. Board members will, subsequent to the meeting, meet with non-signing individual homeowners until the 132 signatures are gotten.
At the last two meetings the Board has elected new Board members to all of the Officer Positions. The reasons for these changes are that our President, Herb Krate and our Treasurer, Marion Frankel each indicated their desire to resign their positions.
Herb has worked tirelessly for many years to promote the best interests of Lake Waubeeka and will continue to do so as our 1st Vice President. The value of his vast knowledge will thereby be retained, to all our benefit.
Marion has worked diligently as our Treasurer for the last 14 months. We owe her many thanks. Marion also decided to resign from the Board.
The Board elected Bruce Clark, the previous 1st VP, to be the President of our Association and Bill Heese to be the 2nd Vice President. In addition David Fishman was elected Treasurer and Alan Maya was elected to the Corresponding and Recording Secretary’s positions. Both of these residents have been on the Board for several years.
The Board reluctantly accepted the resignation of George Benitez who has been responsible for our Access Control system. We owe him many thanks for a smooth running system as well as his contributions in designing it. Bill Heese will take on his responsibilities.
Because The Board had two open Board positions after Marion and George resigned we decided to invite Nancy Gilbert, a previous Board member, and Paul Schultz to fill out those open Board member terms. Nancy has been involved in Forestry committee efforts and Paul will be contributing to our Rules review and rewriting process. We welcome their experience and interest in serving.
We are fortunate that the current Board is a strong and broadly experienced group. Make sure you attend and participate in the May 18th Budget Meeting where all of your Board will be available to answer your questions.
Bruce Clark, President
The Board of Directors of The Lake Waubeeka Associations has voted to propose that covenants D and E be deleted and replaced with the following new covenants:
D. No fence, wall or other enclosure over three and one-half feet in height shall be erected, altered or permitted to remain on any lot.
E. The following home occupation rules shall apply to every lot:
- a. One home occupation is permitted per dwelling unit.
- b. All home occupations, as defined herein, shall: (1) be clearly secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes; (2) not change the external residential character of the dwelling in any visible manner; (3) not create objectionable noise, odor, vibrations, waste, or unsightly conditions noticeable off the premises; (4) not create interference with radio and television reception in the vicinity, nor create a health or safety hazard; (5) only use equipment which is customarily incidental to residential occupancy; (6) be engaged in only by the immediate members of the family residing on the premises; (7) except for the display of fruits and vegetables grown on the premises, not be visible from the street; (8) limit retail sales to only articles made, raised, or grown on the premises; and, (9) not exceed twenty-five per cent (25%) of the dwelling floor area above the basement.
- c. Permitted home occupations shall include dressmaking, millinery, preparation of food products, watch repair, television and radio repair, accountant, architect, artist, dentist, designer, engineer, lawyer, musician, physician, surgeon, teacher, real estate and insurance agent, or similar occupation or person qualified through professional training to perform services of a professional nature.
- d. A Danbury zoning permit shall be required for each home occupation.
A formal amendment document to effect these changes in the deed must be signed by a majority of the owners of the lots in The Lake Waubeeka Association. That amendment will be available at the 2008 Budget Meeting on May 18th.
The Board has voted to make the following changes to our rules concerning the applications for and use of passes, clickers and codes to raise the gates. These changes will be implemented over the next few months and are being done to simplify administration and to improve our ability to deter unauthorized access.
The first change is to make all residents, homeowners as well as renters, subject to the same rights and obligations. There will be only one application form for all. Renters heretofore will themselves apply directly for access and will be able to get passes, clickers and codes just like homeowners. They will be required to establish their right to access with a copy of their lease. Their access will be limited to the length of their lease.
The second change will be to eliminate the option of punch in codes for real estate brokers and offer either wave passes and/or their names on the guest gate dialer. This is being done because their handing out of punch in codes has gotten out of control. This will be done slowly to ensure that any disruptions are the ones we plan.
The third change will be a complete review of the need and appropriateness of all punch in codes and the development of a program to assure that each code has a name and telephone number associated with it. It may be that we will have to cancel a code to get that information but we are working out a way to minimize any inconvenience. The details of that program will be announced before it begins.
Submitted by the Access Control Committee
The Board would like to remind all residents that the City of Danbury requires a building permit for the construction of any boat house, shed or other structure.
Additionally, any electrical service on any portion of Association property will require an electrical permit as well.
If you have any question regarding this please see the letter sent to the Home Owners Association or call the City planning & Zoning department at 203-797-4525.
Forest Stewardship Meeting Report
Attending Committee members:
Jeff Sacks (Chairman), Alan Maya, Bill Heese, Bill Dempsey, Nancy Gilbert, Paul Schultz
Absent Committee members:
Gail Adams, Bob Masi, Sandra Ritter, Bruce Clark, Vivian Pierson
Non-Voting attendees:
Glen McKeogh, Herb Krate, Mary Sacks
New Business:
In order to develop a Forest Stewardship/Management Plan, as recommended in the Yale Study (Lake Waubeeka Draft Mangement Plan, dated December 18, 2003), and in conjunction with our application to the Forest Legacy Program, we have contacted Mr. Doug Ramey, A State of Connecticut Certified Forest Practitioner. Our goal is to hire Mr Ramey as a consultant in developing and maintaining a comprehensive and realistic plan that will insure the health of Lake Waubeeka’s woodlands for generations to come. Mr. Raney has worked/consulted on a variety of projects in our region (see attachment). Mr Ramey was recommended by Mr. Larry Rouseau of the State DEP.
At our first meeting, it was decided that:
- The Committee will have 11 voting members
- Votes will be based on simple majority of voting members
- The Committee will present recommendations to the Board of Directors concerning all aspects of our woodlands
- The Committee will always welcome members of the community to work with us, to sit in on our meetings, to discuss any aspects of our ongoing work
- We will keep the community informed of our work through a blog on the web site, and monthly articles in the Waubeekan
We will meet on Sunday, March 2, 2008, at 9:00 am in the Board Room, with Mr. Doug Ramey as our guest. Doug has read the Yale study, and there is much work to be done to get our Management Plan underway.
Since this was such a hot issue last summer, the Board wanted to make sure that all residents knew the following:
At the January 20th Board meeting, The Board of Directors voted on a motion to remove the proposal of selling the unbuilt lots north of the synagogue from the agenda of the Lake Waubeeka Asociation business. The motion passed unanimously citing the progress being made on the Forest Legacy program.
The Board would like to remind all residents that the City of Danbury requires a building permit for the construction of any boat house, shed or other structure.
Additionally, any electrical service on any portion of Association property will require an electrical permit as well.
If you have any question regarding this please see the letter sent to the Home Owners Association or call the City planning & Zoning department at 203-797-4525.
The Board decided at its January 6th meeting to ask homeowners for a community vote to change the Fence Restriction contained in the Lake Tormid deed which underlies all land deeds in the Lake Waubeeka Association.
The proposed wording for covenant D in that deed will be the following:
“D. No fence, wall or other enclosure over three and one-half feet in height shall be erected, altered or permitted to remain on any lot.”
After a majority of homeowners vote (perhaps at the Budget Meeting in May) to adopt this covenant change, the Board will rewrite the community Rule on fences in the Residences section (page 1-4 in the printed booklet) to clarify how fences and walls will be measured and deal with retaining walls and other practical details for implementing and enforcing covenant D.
The Board is presently undertaking a thorough review of all of the printed community rules and their enforcement. Homeowners are encouraged to review the existing Rules in the front of the Lake Waubeeka booklet and to provide their thoughts on them to the Board either in writing or in person. The rules on fences and septic systems have already been addressed.
The future schedule for these Board reviews is as follows:
January 20- Business in the home rules (Lake Tormid Deed Covenants A and E and Rule Residences 1 page 1-4))
February 17- Security/Access Control Rules (page 1-7, 8)
March 16- Clean up of all other rules, wording changes, fines, etc (spec Governance, Refuse and Enforcement)
April 20- Review of the Status of Rule Enforcement (all rules)
The next Waubeekan will be printed and mailed to homeowners in late February. We are attempting to include in that mailing residents who are renters and have found that our mailing information for renters is both incomplete and out of date. We are asking for help in that effort so that community information is available to all residents. Please help by emailing the name and Lake Waubeeka addresses of current renters that you know of to Bruce Clark at campbruce@comcast.net as soon as possible.
As you know Lake Waubeeka rules require septic pumping every two years with you, the homeowner, having the responsibility to document compliance.
The community voted these rules to keep our lake and environs safe and healthy. Additionally, a serviced septic adds value to your home; any prospective buyer will inspect your system before any purchase. It is clearly cheaper to pump (~$250) than to replace (~$20-30,000).
The Board of Directors voted unanimously to assess the following fines for non-compliance:
1. Five hundred dollars ($500) if pumping and documentation are not done by July 1, 2008
2. An additional one thousand dollar ($1000) fine will be levied if pumping and documentation are not received by January 1, 2009
We hope that there will be no need to impose fines. Please pump and document as soon as possible.
The Water Tank Renewal Project was completed on December 19th. During the course of the project, 1500 individual ’pits’ were found to have eaten approximately 30% of the way through the tank. In addition, more than 250 feet of the tank’s seams were also re-welded. This damage, given the age of our tank was not surprising.
A few homeowners experienced minor water service disruptions initially, but none were reported after the change over. The overall project took longer than originally anticipated, and additional costs were incurred for the additional work. Even so, the project was completed at close to the original budget estimate.
The Water Tank renewal project started October 31 by emptying the water tank and connecting the pumps directly to the water distribution system. After the tank was emptied, cleaned out and the interior sandblasted we detected major corrosion of the walls and seams that needed to be restored. Two welders then spent about three days filling in 1500 corrosion pits which had eaten 30% of the way into the tank wall. In addition they reconstituted 250 feet of the seams by welding.
We subsequently were advised that this amount of corrosion on a 37 year old tank given our hard water was not surprising and could not be seen without sandblasting. The tank had been cleaned previously but never inspected in depth as was done this time.
The work after welding involved priming and finally painting the tank’s interior. Paint curing using a very high BTU heater followed. Tank disinfecting and the final water quality tests were done before the tank went back into service late in November. The project took much longer than we expected but the well pumps performed perfectly.
Submitted by Bruce Clark
The Board has officially notified 12 homeowners of probable violations of deed and Lake Waubeeka violations of fence and wall rules. Nearly all of them were because of unapproved constructions on community property. 12 additional violations of these rules will be notified shortly. All these homeowners have been asked to respond with letters and/or appearances at future Board meetings.
As was explained in the early October Waubeekan the Board believes that the wall and fence deed restriction needs to be rewritten with community input and then submitted to the homeowners for acceptance by a better than 50% vote. When the suggested wording of a proposed deed change is completed by the Board it will be posted on this website and published in the Waubeekan for comment.
All homeowners are encouraged to review their By Law booklet (in the back) for the Lake Tormid deed restrictions.
Sincerely,
Fence Committee
Lake Waubeeka Association
When you purchased your house, the real estate agent, friend, or former owner who introduced you to Lake Waubeeka probably told you most of the advantages of your purchase.
We want to provide you with more information about our community.
You are now a part owner of a 56-acre lake, over 550 acres of open property surrounding our homes, and an excellent artesian well water system.
You have many rights and privileges accorded to all dues-paying members— as well as the responsibilities that are part of being a community member.
The linked pages contain much helpful information. Please read them carefully and save this kit for future reference.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us. If you'd like to sit down and chat with a Board member or other long-time member, we'd be most happy to arrange it.
Again, welcome and enjoy your new home, and your community!
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors
Lake Waubeeka Association |
