Capital Improvements Update

Many of you have been wondering…what’s happened to the amenity center project?  The stone fencing along 3406 and around the sub-community entrances is what has happened.  There have been a number of sections that have been repaired or replaced, but there are still ongoing maintenance issues that have left us wondering if it is worth continuing to try to repair.  The good news is we have finally found an engineering firm that is working with us to make that determination and more than one “expert” has looked at the walls and thinks we should repair rather than replace.
We have approximately 2900 feet of stone fencing within the neighborhood and along 3406 plus about 120+ stone columns.  To replace all the stone fence and columns would cost between $70 and $100 per linear foot.  That would more than wipeout any budget we had for the amenity center, so we really needed a long-term answer to the fence question before we proceeded on the amenity center.
Every engineering firm we talked to recommended tearing it down and building a new fence without even looking at it due to the perceived liability.  We were finally able to find an engineering firm with a professional engineer (PE) that will inspect and map the current state of the fence and design PE certified repair or replacement designs.  Tom Pitt from Pitt Building Company also looked at the fence and agreed the fence should be repaired rather than replaced and has agreed to do the work. 

To provide the PE with the necessary information, we are having six soil surveys performed along 3406 down to a depth of 15 feet to ensure the new footings are appropriate for the soil conditions.  So you might see a boring truck out along 3406 performing some work in the next couple of weeks.  They shouldn’t be at any one spot for more than about 30 minutes.

The fence inspections will be targeting a number of potential problems such as large gaps between columns and wall sections or between wall sections, leaning columns or wall sections, and visible cracks or loose stones.  They will also be looking for any signs of drainage issues or impingement to the fence from trees or shrubs that may be putting pressure on the wall or heaving the soil around the wall. 

The soil surveys and fence inspections should be complete by late January or early February.  Once we can prioritize the repair areas, we are probably looking at a late March to mid-April timeframe for repairs depending on the weather.  We will also look at using the engineering firm to perform the inspections again at some frequency, probably every other year, to monitor the need for any further repairs.

With a better idea of what the fence repairs will be on an ongoing basis, we are now proceeding with the other projects that have been requested.  We are contracting with Faulk Architects here in Round Rock to work on neighborhood communication boards, mailbox covers, and the amenity center.  Using a single firm will allow us to ensure the designs are consistent, and since Faulk Architects is also a construction management firm, it will greatly lessen the workload on the committee and possible delays or miscommunication trying to coordinate multiple parties.  They are also very familiar with the city planning and permitting process.

There are many of you that have voiced opinions about what should be included in the design of the amenity center.  One positive side-effect of the delay is that more funds are now available for the project without needing any dues increase or the association going into debt to include additional features.  As we go through the next few months, we will begin to narrow down design options and present them to the community for comment and feedback before finalizing a design.

On a final note, we are always looking for more volunteers to help with the workload.  There have been a number of other great capital project ideas such as extending the greenbelt trails, updating or painting the bridges over the creeks such as on Plantation or Henley, or even adding a second tennis court.  For the most part, we just need volunteers with a passion that can get cost estimates and present them to the board.