President
Audio may be found at: www.scshca.com/podcast264
Below is a synopsis of this episode.
Hello residents,
Here is a synopsis of the podcast.
Indoor Pool: Currently the Indoor is still closed. State and County Orders are specific that Indoor pools must remain closed at this time.
Gym and other Indoor Activities: Currently indoor activities are closed except for the library. Some residents have asked about opening the gym for people that have been vaccinated. Currently the State and County Order does not allow for this exception. We are all waiting and hoping such guidelines will change soon. For now the Board has no choice but to keep these activities closed according to the State Orders.
Library: The library did open for use on February 1 from 9 am to 4 pm daily. Closed on Sunday. daily. It is limited to one person at a time or people from the same household. If someone is waiting time is limited to 15 minutes. This is for residents only so guests are not allowed. Reservations are not required to use the library. The library is a specific exception in the State Order and may open.
Election Rules: Candidates can email residents and the HOA is required by State Law to give Candidates an email list of all residents unless a resident opted out of such a list. If you do not want to receive such messages just tell the candidate to stop sending the messages.
COVID Questions and Information: I have been asked about why other activities may not open and how does the Board decide on what can open and when. What is the risk if we open activities anyway?
First part of the answer is the Board is trying to proceed carefully to protect the health and lives of all residents, while still opening activities safely.
The Board has an obligation and responsibility under the Governing Documents to follow the Law. The Board cannot arbitrarily disregard the Governing Documents of the HOA without facing potential liability issues. Therefore, the Board has stated we are trying to follow the State and County Orders while allowing as many activities to open as possible, in accordance with the applicable State and County orders. Gatherings of no more than 3 households are currently allowed outdoors. Currently the State and County Orders do not allow for gatherings or visitors indoors, this is all part of the State Order from last March. So, the outdoor 3 household rule is an exception in the State Order from last March. The Board has made clear each resident is to be responsible for following the State Order on their property. The Board has also made clear, since last June, that the HOA is not looking for violations of the State Order on private property.
Where the implementation gets a little tricky is the legal consequences if we do something different. The Board receives the question ‘if we are not looking for violations on private property why don’t we just say it is OK to have gatherings in a private home’? The answer is because the HOA may not implement something illegal without being in violation of its own Governing Documents. Therefore, we have said the homeowner is responsible for following the State Law. We might not be looking for violations but that does not mean we are giving permission for residents to violate the State Law. Some residents have written to me to get permission for a party in their home, the answer is currently no, and until the State changes the Order, gatherings in a home are not allowed. We will investigate any complaint of noise or disruption because those are current rules for the HOA and have nothing to do with the State Orders.
The legal liability is quite huge for implementing the State Order incorrectly. If the HOA gave permission for having a party indoors in violation of the State Order, and then someone got sick and/or died, the HOA could potentially be held responsible for that person getting sick or dying. Such a claim is not covered by our insurance policy because virus related claims are excluded from insurance policies. If the HOA gave permission for a party or gathering inside a home, and a claim was filed, the residents would be responsible personally for all attorney fees and damages. This could easily mean a special assessment where each homeowner would write a check personally for the claim. This is something the Board is protecting very carefully to ensure the residents are not financially responsible for such a claim. It is unknown how much a potential claim could be, but legal fees and damages could be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So, as we begin the opening process the Board is carefully evaluating the HOA’s ability to follow the State and County Orders in reopening its facilities so that residents are not liable for any lawsuits resulting from the HOA not following State guidelines.
Crack Repair: The HOA Board has hired an independent civil engineering company to write the specifications and inspect the work that is being done for crack repairs. This work is part of a master plan by the engineering company to help ensure the asphalt is maintained correctly with the least long term cost.
Crack repair work is going on in phase 1 and 2. Residents have asked why they can still see the crack repair when it is done. These repairs will be visible when done unless we repaint the entire street and that is not scheduled to be done at this time. Painting of the street, called seal coating is not scheduled for another 1-3 years. We still want to do crack repairs now to protect the existing asphalt from premature failure because of water and/or blow sand getting into the crack. Asphalt is the most expensive item in the entire community, so the more we do to protect it from premature failure the less future costs we will have to pay.
Let me describe the work that is being done.
Phase I & II Crack Sealing – Project Report
The onsite engineering inspector is very pleased with the crack sealing IPS (the contractor) has completed. IPS is supposed to seal cracks ¼” or wider. Nothing is done to cracks smaller than 1/4 “. They have completed most of this work and actually a significant number of cracks less than 1/4” wide were also done. The reason we specify 1/4” or wider is that when a crack is less than 1/4” the crack seal material will not go into the crack very well due to the thickness and viscosity of the material. Crack seal material can and will settle in some of the wider cracks especially when they are closer to 1/2” wide or wider. Keep in mind the cracks are generally as deep as the pavement is thick. When sealing cracks that are closer to 1/2” wide the material will most likely settle. These cracks are sealed even though the material is not to the street surface. There are draw backs to making the contractor go back and apply more material in these circumstances. The result will be the material is likely to flow down the crack to the concrete gutter pan and pool on the concrete. Especially in the desert climate when temperatures are triple digits in the summer. The inspector does not recommend having the contractor do this. The crack does not have to have material to the level of the street to have been sealed correctly.
IPS was very diligent in their sealing process. They had two crews sealing cracks. Both crews consisted of two separate crack seal trucks working in tandem as they worked on a road. It is likely residents will find isolated cracks or portions of cracks at or near 1/4” wide that were not sealed. They do not measure every crack so some cracks just under at 1/4” might not be done. This is acceptable given the specifications.
The Contractor that is doing the parking lot, a different contractor, was watching the crack seal work being done and told us IPS is doing a great job and they even videoed the work for their own benefit.
We do not seal coat after this crack repair process unless seal coating is necessary and justified. You can apply too much seal coating which can cause a failure of the seal coating process. If you apply too much seal coating to the street, the seal coating will not bond to the asphalt and will cause cracking of the seal coat layers, eventually causing debonding. This cannot be repaired. If a street gets too much seal coating causing excessive hairline cracks looking like broken glass, all you can do is let it wear for as long as possible and then you need to put down new asphalt, awfully expensive. Some other HOA’s will seal coat too often because the street is no longer black, but grey, and many will think that it means they need more seal coating. This is not always true and needs to be inspected. One of the reasons the HOA has decided for an independent engineering report is so we do not rely on a contractor’s report which might be motivated by getting the work rather than what is best.
It is very possible the seal coating can look old and worn but it is still doing the job and should not be coated again until it is needed. Yes, streets will look grey but that does not mean we need to seal coat the streets. So, when we are done with the crack sealing work, we will not be seal coating the entire street which will mean all the crack sealing work will show.
Phase III Asphalt Cracks Report
Phase III streets are scheduled for crack seal and surface seal coat in 2024. After evaluating the cracks in Phase III there are intermittent cracks 1/4” wide and isolated cracks or portions of cracks near 1/2” wide. Most of the cracks are not wide enough for crack seal at this time. Based on the existing condition of the cracks in Phase III the engineer recommends waiting until January 2022 to perform crack sealing of select cracks that meet specifications. The current cracks in phase 3 are related to asphalt material shrinkage and thermal changes. They are not structural. Waiting so seal the larger cracks in phase 3 will not accelerate structural damage to the streets.
I wish you all a safe and healthy weekend and I will be back as soon as we have more information or if you have more questions, so let me know.
Take care, thank you, and see you soon.
Kim Fuller
President