Hi Ann & Ron. I have some questions about your proposal, and am wondering if
there might be a simpler solution.
I wanted to suggest that sometime tomorrow (Sunday) or during the week we might
have an informal, brief, outdoor get-together for anyone who also had
questions. If you set a time, we could meet near the affected area so you could
show us the suggested modifications.
What I understand from your email and diagram is that there are two separate
but related issues:
First, you would like to have a standby generator installed outside, near your
unit. But the best place to put it is too close to the property line between
your property and that of the HOA common property. Your proposal is to have the
property line moved. But wouldn’t it be simpler if the HOA would grant you
permission to have it built there, perhaps if needed as a formal, legal
easement? I know I support your desire to get a standby generator, and would
have no problem with it being close to HOA common property, as long as the
legal concerns can be resolved.
Second, the retaining wall at the end of your property is crumbling and needs
to be replaced (as have other retaining walls in our development over the
years). But the wall is partially on your property, and partially on HOA common
property. I think we could reach an agreement on how to split that cost, as you
note. I know I would have no issue with a special assessment of $300 per unit
to cover the HOA contribution of $3000 as you suggest, or if we could reach an
agreement for you to cover the full cost by saving you from other costs in your
proposal.
I think a brief meeting to discuss these points would be worthwhile. We would
need to take a subsequent vote of the HOA unit owners to take any of the
actions under discussion.
Personally, I’d also like to ask you about the standby generator (how much it
costs, details on installation and operation, etc.), as that is something I’ve
thought about over the years. We didn’t have any outages for over three years,
and then we had seven (mostly brief) outages last year!
On Mar 17, 2023, at 5:19 PM, anncfreeman <anncfreeman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hey y’all,
As you all are well aware, we’ve had a number of power outages in the past
couple years. In our previous email, we said that we hope to stay in our
little community for as long as possible. We’re not getting any younger as
they say, and have decided to get a standby generator installed so we feel
more secure.
We had a generator installer evaluate our gas and electric lines for hooking
up the generator. He checked with Chapel Hill and Orange County about meeting
the necessary rules and codes. He told us that we could not place the
generator along the side of our unit because it would be too close to the
property line. Placing the generator there was preferable according to the
installer because it would be close to gas and electric lines under our unit.
It would also lower the generator noise for everyone by bouncing the sound
waves off of our unit toward the street. To confirm the location of our
property line we hired a surveyor to mark it. The survey confirmed what the
generator installer was told.
The survey also revealed that the original developers had built a retaining
wall extending from the front of our unit around to the side of it, and it is
partially on our property and partially on the HOA common property. The
retaining wall was made with railroad ties, and it is now crumbling and in
danger of falling down. So it needs to be torn down and replaced with a more
permanent wall. We got an estimate to do that and it came in at about $8000.
Based on materials and the work required we estimate that our portion of that
would be about $5000 and the HOA’s part would be about $3000.
Rather than go through a process of determining how to split the cost to
replace the retaining wall between us, we were thinking that the best all
around solution might be to do a trade: we pay for replacing the entire wall
if the HOA would agree to move our property line enough to include the wall,
plus the required five foot building “setback.” (For anyone who does not
know, in our area any structure cannot be built closer than five feet from an
adjoining property line.) If the property line was changed it would allow us
to have enough space between our unit and the street for the generator to be
installed.
Changing the property line will require some costs for county real estate
registration fees, and a survey to draw new boundaries. We are offering to
pay far all of those costs. We don’t know if hiring an attorney to handle the
conveyance of property will be necessary, but we would pay for it if needed.
We have attached a drawing showing the retaining wall, the current property
line and the proposed property line. We took measurements and used them to dra
<cid:0685E621-950B-491C-806C-2C4B474E59F0.pdf>
w the drawing as accurately as possible, but it is not a surveyor’s drawing
so there may be some small inaccuracies.
Please let us know as soon as possible, but hopefully before April 1 (two
weeks) if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Or, if you are okay
with our proposal, let us know that. Thankyou so much everyone for your time
and thought regarding this project.
Warmly,
Ann and Ron
Ronald Zumstein Ann Freeman
101 Arbutus Place
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919-272-8008 (Ron)
919-260-6047 (Ann)
anncfreeman@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:anncfreeman@xxxxxxxxx>
