Victor Gardens Social Events Committee Sign-Up

We are looking for volunteers to help plan a few events for our neighborhood this year.    As many of you may have heard, Pratt Homes and Rottlund (David Bernard) Homes have generously donated a total of $500 for our neighborhood events this year.  This is great news as the events budget was cut completely from this year's Master Association budget due to the financial issues our neighborhood was having.  We are very appreciative of this donation and would like to put it to good use and plan a few events for all neighbors who wish to attend.  

If you are interested in being on this committee, please meet at Arbre Park on Wednesday, June 11th at 7P.  We are hoping that we can get representation from each sub-association on our committee so we can plan activities that interest the entire neighborhood.  At this meeting we'll discuss which events we'd like to plan for the year as well as elect a Chairperson of the Social Committee.  If you aren't able to make this meeting but are interested in being on the committee, please email me at eventsbyjulie@earthlink.net and let me know.  

If it's raining or weather is crummy, we'll meet inside at the Activity Center.

Feel free to bring wine, an appetizer, a dessert or just yourself!  

Thanks--I look forward to June 11th!

Julie Bixby

SFV Simplified Change/Repair Application

Single Family Village homeowners wishing to make repairs to their homes' exteriors must follow the ARC review process described in the Covenants. For storm-related damage, your Board has streamlined this process into a one-page questionnaire. The Simplified Change/Repair Application form will be hand delivered to each of the homes in the next few days.  Downloadable copies of the Simplified form are also available by clicking this link.  

Forms must be completed and returned to Josh Berger before work begins.   Simplified Change/Repair Applications will receive top priority for review.  In most cases, homeowners not making any stylistic, color, or qualitative changes to their exteriors will find the process easy and fast.  If homeowners wish to make changes outside the scope of the Simplified Application, then the standard Architectural Change Application form will be needed.  Those applications will also be reviewed as quickly as possible.   Email Josh Berger for more information.

SFV Board Letter to Residents (Repairs & ARC)

Dear Single Family Village Homeowners,

We are all saddened by the loss of life and injuries caused by Sunday’s tornado.  Damage to our Hugo neighbor’s homes of was catastrophic.  Efforts are already underway for our residents to help in various ways.  Donation and volunteer information can be found on the City of Hugo’s official website:  http://ci.hugo.mn.us

Most of our homes were also damaged during Sunday’s storm, including broken windows, screens, and siding.  Less visible is the hail and wind damage to many of our roofs in the neighborhood.

The unfortunate reality of an influx of contractors has already begun.  A few reputable contractors have been consulting with residents, assessing the damage.  To avoid the predatory contractors, your Single Family Village Board recommends that residents ask neighbors for recommendations of reputable contractors. A list including of few neighbor-recommended contractors has already been posted and on our resident website.  You are encouraged to contribute to the list by adding your signed comments to the post.  Click here for contractor recommendations link.

Please remember, to retain the character and value of Victor Gardens the Architectural Review process must be followed regarding any exterior changes to Single Family Village homes.  There are covenants, rules, and guidelines to abide by.  Specifically, there are standards in roofing materials and installation methods that must be considered by assessors and estimating contractors.  Understanding the delicate nature of the situation, your Board is working to streamline this ARC approval process.  More information will be announced later today.

Last night the Single Family Village Board formed a SFV ARC Committee and confirmed Josh Berger, as the subcommittee’s Chairperson.  Josh has experience with the ARC process as a homeowner, and as our Association’s elected liaison to the Master ARC.  The SFV Board is still accepting applications for ARC member volunteers.  Please contact one of your Board Members if you’d like to serve in this way.

Thank you,

Victor Gardens Single Family Village Board of Directors

Michael Warner, President,  John Roehrich, Vice President,  Dan Sjoquist, Treasurer,  Mark Vlker, Secretary

How you can help

Disaster relief information from the City of Hugo is changing rapidly as more donations come in and volunteers have signed up.  The most recently updated official information is always available on the City of Hugo's website.   Specific donations requested by the City, volunteer requests, status updates and more are available at the City's website.

Recommend an Exterior Contractor

A number of Single Family Village residents have asked to share their recommendations for exterior contractors to repair storm damage.  A recommendation of a neighbor who has had a positive experience is a great start in working with a reputable contractor.  For this reason, we welcome any of your comments regarding any work that you have had performed on your house in the past.  This should include the name of the contractor and and their contact information.  In this instance, it is important that the person recommending the contractor not remain anonymous.  Please sign your name to your posted comments.  In this specific instance, any anonymous or ambiguously authored posts will be deleted.

Please remember this is an opportunity to recommend a company you've been happy with in the past, and a way for you to help your neighbors weed through the multitude of offers they're likely receiving.

Please also understand that most of these repairs will need to be cleared by the Single Family Village Architectural Review Committee.  Your Board is working on ways to simplify this into a very easy process for residents.  More info to follow.

Here's a link to the Better Business Bureau.

Here's a link to the City of Hugo website.  It has tips on choosing a contractor:

An article on this subject recently appeared in the Pioneer Press: Just ask the folks at Hugo City Hall: Unscrupulous contractors are out there.  View Full Story

Neighbors Helping Neighbors (Donation Party)

Families of Victor Gardens, 

 

All of you are aware of the devastation which occurred to the homes of our neighbors to the north. Many of the families are temporally  living at the Country Inn Hotel in White Bear Lake. I cannot imagine how terribly disrupting this would be.  I keep thinking of how hard living in a hotel must be on the children. 

 

I am going to have a donation party  this Thursday evening @ 7 pm. If anyone is interested in donating, homemade baked goods, popcorn, movies, books, disposable cameras, games, phone cards or anything you can think of that would make a stay more comfortable and entertaining for the families living at the Country Inn. Please come on over and help us make care packages. I will have the garage set up with tables or if you just want to drop a donation off that's fine too.

We're also looking for baskets, buckets, fun boxes to transport the donations in.

                   

Thank you, 

Hope to see you Thursday evening, come to the garage.

Erin Yoshida  

14256 Cosette Lane North  

651-653-1438

Storm Damage Info for Townhomes Residents

This message to townhomes residents: 

Please be aware of the fact that we have initiated an insurance claim, as a result of the storm from Sunday, May 25, 2008, to the association's master insurance company, American Family Insurance. As of today, we are waiting for an insurance claims adjuster to be assigned and schedule an on-site inspection to identify all of the exterior damage. The damage covered under the association's Master Insurance Policy could include the following items on your building: Siding, gutters, fascia, roofs, decks and railing, windows & glass, garage doors, doors, air conditioners, etc. If you have sustained any damage to your personal property as a result of the storm, you will need to contact your HO6 insurance company. During times of storm damage, a number of contractors will be coming through to do repairs, etc., DO NOT HIRE anyone on your own that comes to your door saying they can do the repairs. Be aware that if you allow this to happen, you will be paying for any work done by this contractor. We will be required to terminate any work and have them removed from the association grounds. This work must be done by the association's contractor under the terms of your legal documents for the association. As you know, we did hire our preferred contractor to come in on Sunday evening and Monday to try and board up windows, etc. to minimize any further damage as a result of exposure to rain, etc. Until the insurance claims adjustor is able to do an inspection and prepare his report, we cannot begin any of the work or replacement. We do ask that homeowners be patient as we work through the insurance claim process. As more information is available, we will place this on the association's website. If you have any questions that we were not able to address, please contact the management company.

SFV Board Special Workshop Meeting

Tonight at 8pm the SFV Board will hold a one-issue special workshop meeting to address the Architectural Review process in the Single Family Village.  The Board will finalize its streamlining of the ARC application process as a result of Sunday's storm.  Residents interested in serving on the SFV ARC committee are urged to attend this special meeting.  Location: Neighborhood Activity Center.  Secondary location Blue Heron Grill. 8pm

Pool Opens Tomorrow!

The Victor Gardens Pool will be opened tomorrow,  Saturday May 23. This according to Gina Lampe, our Community Manager with Community Development, Inc. 

Other than the obvious safety rules, sometimes overlooked rules should be highlighted: 

1.  No Glass!  Please leave your bottles at home.  If broken glass is discovered in the pool area, the entire pool may need to be drained, cleaned, and refilled. 

2.  Swim Diapers!  This should be self explanatory.  Pool contamination requires closing, draining, cleaning, and re-filling. It’s a process that’s expensive for the Association, and closes the pool for many days. It’s also completely avoidable.  Please put swim diapers on kids that need them.

Math Quiz:   Question:  What do 65 families in the Single Family Village plus all of our Victor Gardens Townhomes neighbors equal?  Answer:  A crowded pool.  Don’t feel like a summer “Grinch” when someone you don’t know tells you the old line, “I forgot my pool key at home.  Please open the door for me?”   In addition to overcrowding, allowing non-residents into Victor Gardens’ pool unfortunately presents a legal liability issue for all homeowners in the Master Association  

Click here for the complete set of rules for the Activity Center and Pool.

SFV Homeowners Needed to form Architecture Committee

POA Scherer/CPDC recently transitioned limited control of Architecture Review Committee (ARC)  responsibilities to the Single Family Village Board of Directors.  The SFV Board now has the authority to review, approve, recommend changes, or deny "Change Applications" to existing homes and landscapes in the Single Family Village.  POA Scherer/CPDC remains in control of the "new construction" and "new landscaping" ARC process in the SFV and other areas of Victor Gardens.  

The SFV Board would like to pass the approval process to a specialized sub-committee of the SFV Association.  Interested residents should contact SFV Board Members Michael Warner, John Roehrich, Dan Sjoquist, or Mark Vlker as soon as possible.  Applicants will be reviewed by the SFV Board and an ARC subcommittee will likely be formed of three residents.  The Board hopes to form the subcommittee at its next scheduled Board meeting, July 14, 2008.

The SFV Board has already reviewed one Change Application for new gutter installation, and is in the process of reviewing another.  Homeowners are reminded, for the benefit of everyone in the Single Family Village Homeowner’s Association, your plans must be submitted and considered by the Architectural Review Committee.  Projects such as paint color changes, retaining walls, fencing, lighting, major landscape changes etc. must be approved before work begins.  Clarification of the policy can be found in the book of rules & covenants.  Victor Gardens’ Community Manager, Gina Lampe (763) 225-6438, can help neighbors navigate the approval process, and can share copies of the required application forms. 

Grounds Commitee Meeting Results

We had a great informational 1st meeting for our official Victor Gardens Community Association Grounds Committee on the evening of Wednesday, May 21st. I'm writing this entry as our newly elected Chairperson for the committee. My primary responsibilities will be communication between our residents, the Grounds Committee and the Master Association Board of Directors. To that end, I'd like to post a couple of updates on topics I know many residents are interested in. These subjects and a few others will be part of our official report provided to the Master Association Board at our next meeting on June 2nd.

Landscape Maintenance Contract - After meeting with Early Bird Lawnscapes and doing a walk through of the entire Victor Gardens development, we've created a map that identifies the areas we want to see maintained as well as the level to which they should be kept. This map can be found on this site in the Maps area. We'll continue to update it as we learn more. The key areas of the map for landscape purposes are the Yellow, Blue and Light Grey areas.

The Yellow areas are common grounds that the Master Association is responsible for. They include areas like Jardin Fountain, Poets Green and all of the transition areas that get you from one part of the development to another. These ares require the full services of Early Bird including, Turf mowing, maintenance & irrigation, plus Shrub area trimming & weeding. Basically, everything we've come to expect in landscape maintenance.

The Blue areas are now officially Hugo City parks and will be partially maintained by the city. By partially maintained, I mean that they will be mowed and the structures & trees will be maintained, but the grass and shrub beds will not receive any weeding or fertilization like we've become accustomed to. In these areas, we have requested Early Bird to bid on supplementing the City's services. The Master Association Board will then discuss approving this supplemental bid.

The Light Grey areas are places that we are not technically responsible for, but we expect will have little to no maintenance done to them over the course of the summer. Specifically, these areas are the grass areas on the City Trails through our neighborhoods as well as the Boulevards in front of empty lots. We have asked for a 2nd supplemental bid for these areas to be mowed monthly. The Master Association Board will again discuss this bid.

Common Area "Grass Roots" Planting - As a way to cut costs and still maintain the look of common areas like Victor Square Park & Jardin Fountain, we have created a "Common Areas Sub-Committee" made up of teams that will plan and implement efforts to install annual and perennial plantings in these areas. At this point, these efforts are volunteer in their materials and labor costs. We are looking into creating a small budget to reimburse for materials costs this year, but nothing can be expected at this time. As for the former land office area, this land is currently in dispute and would require so much work, we have tabled any efforts in that area for now.

If you are interested in helping our planting teams with your money or time, please contact me and I will put you in touch with them. I can be contacted at baileyhome@lightblast.net.

Retail Shop & Residential Areas Shared Landscaping - We are investigating the ownership of the various retail shops to the north and south of Frenchman Rd. in an effort to propose sharing landscaping & holiday lighting costs with them. Early indications are that each free-standing building in the retail development appears to have separate ownership. This process is in its early stages. More updates will follow.

Thanks to all who have volunteered for the Grounds Committee. We look forward to maintaining the high quality appearance in Victor Gardens while being fiscally responsible with our limited resources.

Grounds Committee to Meet May 21

An important first meeting of Victor Gardens' Grounds Committee will begin Wednesday, May 21 at VG's Neighborhood Activity Center, 7:00PM.  We will update everyone about the City's new Parks responsibilities, the level of service and cooperation we can expect from our landscape vendors and the retail businesses along Frenchman Road.  Committee members will choose a coordinating Chairperson, discuss priorities, and break up into the smaller groups according to everyone's interest.

The Grounds Committee is always open to new volunteers.  Please email Mike Bailey, baileyhome@lightblast.net to sign up.