Preserve at Astor Farms Official HOA Community Site

The Preserve at Astor Farms Homeowners Association Notice from the President, Board of Directors

Our Annual HOA Meeting, will be held on May 17th, 2010 at the Sylvan Lake Park Community Room, 845 Lake Markham Road, Sanford, at 7PM. The primary business of that meeting is the election of the Board of Directors for the coming year, 2010 – 2011.

The Board meets monthly to conduct official business in an open format. Decisions are made on selection of vendors, enforcement of HOA rules and regulations, maintenance activities, long term planning, approval of expenditures, and any other matters related to our HOA. Throughout the month Board members work with our committees, perform volunteer activities, communicate with our neighbors, and otherwise act as goodwill ambassadors for the HOA.

Candidate Information Sheets for those homeowners who have indicated a willingness to serve on the Board. Nominations were mailed out to all homeowners. Others may be made from the floor at the meeting, if you missed the deadline to have your Candidate Form included in this mailing.

To vote you have to either be present at the meeting or give your signed proxy to another homeowner who will use that proxy to vote on your behalf. We strongly encourage all homeowners to attend their Annual Meeting.

A spring Community Garage Sale will be held Saturday, May 15th. We will advertise the sale in the Orlando Sentinel and hang our large sign out on the fence by Orange Blvd for the week prior to Saturday.

AMVETS will be in the community between 3:30 – 4:30 and will ride through the community. If you have anything to donate, make sure it is sitting at the bottom of your driveway by 3:30 and clearly marked for AMVETS.

• Contract was approved to hire a landscaping company to perform basic monthly lawn maintenance on 7 abandoned homes that have become eyesores.

• Contract was approved to have a security firm patrol our community twice a week for 4 weeks to issue parking warnings to owners who park their vehicles overnight on the street in violation of covenant rules. Patrols will vary but will focus on the 2 – 4 AM time period. Lists will be maintained to identify habitual offenders.

• Plans for the Annual Homeowners meeting on May 17^th were discussed. The primary focus of that meeting is the annual election of 5 Board members for the coming year. Anyone interested in running for the Board is encouraged to submit a resume or background summary to House of Management (attn: Suzi Pelot) so it can be included in the May mailing announcing the meeting.

• ARC committee announced the addition of 2 new committee members. Colors suggested by ColorWheel for the year 2010 were approved for use by the ARC Committee.

• Requests for a Spring Community Gararge Sale were acknowledged and the Board agreed to look at this possibility, despite not having an active Social Committee Chairperson.

• Treasurer reported continued success at collecting past due monies owed the HOA without incurring large legal bills. Housing situation appears to be picking up. We have had 5 homes sold YTD, 11 more under contract and 8 others actively for sale in our development.

Highlights from the Board of Directors Meeting,
March 15th 2010

1. Reviewed the new landscaping at the entranceway that was installed last week. Everyone seems to agree it looks great. Additional mulch for the area was ordered
2. There was a minor accident at the Round About that knocked about 10 feet of bricks off the wall and damaged the irrigation. Plans were approved to have all damage fixed.
3. New pavers in front of the school bus stop are set to be installed Wednesday the 17th
4. Treasurer reported we are doing significantly better this year with the ratio of money spent on legal fees to the money received thru the collection process.
5. There are 7 homes under contract to new buyers that should generate almost $9000 in past dues collections.
6. Considerable time was spent discussing the fining process and monitoring and making decisions on moving forward against long time offenders of HOA violations
7. Board announced they are negotiating with a security firm to monitor cars that are repeatedly parked in the street overnight in violation of HOA rules and regulations that would start with notices, progress to fines and ultimately having cars towed away. There are serious safety issues at stake here.
8. Board announced they are negotiating with a landscape service to provide minimal mowing and edging to 8 homes deemed abandoned. By spending a little money on these homes, the Board is hoping to keep everyone’s property values from being dragged down by unsightly properties in the neighborhood. Every attempt will be made to recoup our costs here from the owners.
9. Board did receive one volunteer to work with the ARC committee but still needs one more.
10. Board is still looking for volunteers for the Social Committee, including a chairperson. Without a Social Committee to organize it, the annual Easter Egg Hunt will not be held this year.
11. Three homeowners participated in the Hearing Process for HOA violations and had decisions made on their individual cases.

There are vacancies on both the Architectural Review Committee and the Social Committee.

The ARC committee reviews and approves all petitions from homeowners for additions, changes, and modifications to their homes and yards that require such approval under the HOA Rules and Regulations. This is an extremely important committee to ensure that everyone maintains the standards of our community, which is designed to protect all of our property values.

The Social Committee is responsible for coordinating such beneficial activities as the community wide Garage Sale, the Easter Egg Hunt, the Halloween Parade, the Santa Sleigh ride and any other social activity they deem would be worthwhile and approved by the Board.

We need community involvement at all levels to make sure we have a strong vibrant community. If you are interested in joining either of these committees, please fill out the information in the Leave a Reply link and you will be contacted by the appropriate Committee Chairman or Board Member.

The next Board of Directors Meeting is set for Monday, March 15^th at 7:00 in the community room at Lake Sylvan Park.

All Homeowners are welcome to attend.

Highlights of the Board of Directors Meeting of Feb 24^th, 2010

1. Adopted a new approach to make sure the lawns of abandoned and vacated homes are mowed on a regular basis.
2. Allocated funds to install new security lighting near the entrance gate to ensure there is enough lights for cars to be clearly visible on the security cameras after dark. Requested price quotations to install security lighting by the school bus stop as the first pick up times are in the dark.
3. Allocated funds to replace the strip of grass in front of he school bus pick up area with pavers. We have had a recurring problem with parents driving over this strip and tearing it up as they pick up or drop off their children, so the Board saw this as a permanent solution.
4. Allocated funds to install new landscaping on both sides of the main entrance off Orange Blvd., which includes trimming about 20 crepe myrtle trees for the first time in about 4 years.
5. Allocated funds to remove the worst 10 infected fir trees near the entrance pond. All trees are infected to some degree. The grounds committee was asked to develop a 3 year program to eventually replace all the infected fir trees with more attractive trees.
6. A program to repaint and refurbish all homeowner mailboxes was tabled.
7. The Board was asked to have the large flat grassy area at the end of Hawks Hammock Way evaluated for excessive fire ants, and resolve the issue if needed.
8. The fining committee was asked to submit a plan to the Board to have our streets monitored  nightly to ensure compliance with the no parking in street overnight rules of the Association.
9. Request for volunteers to serve on the ARC and Social Committees was made.
10. Plans were discussed to organize the annual Homeowners Meeting in May.

You might have noticed the entrance gate sticking in a semi-closed/semi opened position a few times over the last few months. The Gate Repair service was dispatched each time and tried different approaches to fix it. Finally, the decision was made to replace the entire gear box and that fix seems to have permanently solved the problem.

The Board is also experimenting with having the exit gate automatically stay open from 7 to 9AM and the entrance gate automatically stay open from 3:30 to 6PM, Mon – Fri. These are high traffic times for the gates and if you’ve ever watched them during these time periods, they are constantly opening and closing. In addition to saving wear and tear on the moving parts of the gate, having them stay open during these time periods leads to an easier traffic flow for our commuters. The gates will remain closed at all other times, maintaining our security level.

Dear Astor Farms Home Owners,

Due to a communication error the HOA meeting that was scheduled for Monday, February 15th has been moved to Wednesday February 24th, 2010. As usual there will be a sign at the community entrance announcing the date of the meeting at least 48 hours prior to it.

We apologize for any confusion and look forward to seeing everyone at the meeting!

The recent weather has been very hard on our Queen and Robellini Palms. Typical cost to have these trimmed is $35 – $50 each. As a service to our Homeowners, the Board has negotiated a deal with our landscape service to trim these for $25 each (for example, 3 palms would be $75).

If you would like our service to trim your palms, simply call House of Management at 407 852-5300 and tell them to add you to the Astor Farms Palm Trimming list and how many palms you want trimmed. Our service will do the trimming about the 2nd week of March, depending on weather, workload, etc. You will then be billed directly by Ultimate Image Landcare.

By working together, you get a great price, and our community stays beautiful.