Kings Park West Community Association is Reactivating

From the Kings Park West Community Association Organizing Committee

      As an outgrowth of disclosures published in the October and December issues of The Herald, some three dozen homeowners from among the 580 property owners belonging to the KPW Community Association have banded together to reactivate the association to its intended purpose—to serve and protect its members. As stressed in The Herald, this association is not the same as the completely voluntary KPW Civic Association.

      When the 580 homes were built, the homeowners association was set up by Richmarr Construction under provisions of the Code of Virginia, Title 55, to own and administer common land areas not taken over by Fairfax County for parklands.

Please note: Although the Civic Association took the initiative to make affected homeowners aware of the situation, the responsibility for the reactivation resides with the reorganization committee described below. Affected residents should address concerns or questions in writing and mail them to the post office box cited below. Please do not contact the Civic Association about this matter.

      What’s the problem? As noted in The Herald, the common area land owners—all 580 of them—may be liable for damages in the event of some tragedy involving the common lands. There is no board of directors, no protective corporate veil, no insurance; the homeowners would be left hanging.

      What happened? Sometime after the formation of the association in the early 1970s, it seems to have fallen apart or been abandoned. Its incorporation was not renewed with the Commonwealth of Virginia and dues stopped getting collected. This left a treasury of about $15,000, still intact but with no more money coming in or going out. There is no liability insurance and no one officially looking after the common lands.

      What’s the Fix? Based on KPW Civic Association’s pledge to help resolve this matter, former Civic Association president Dave Waterman and his successor Bruce Wallachy arranged meetings with county and other civic experts to explain to affected homeowners how to resolve this issue. Basically what has to happen is a step-by-step reinvigoration of the Community Association—a process which will involve establishing a board of directors, re-establishing a corporation, purchasing liability insurance, hiring a management firm (like other homeowner associations do), and resume collection of minimum dues to pay the freight.

      At a January 20^th meeting at Robinson Secondary some three dozen homeowners volunteered to work the problem, and in a subsequent meeting at Robinson they organized into these five subcommittees:

Compliance—to review and rewrite existing bylaws, covenants, conditions and restrictions and work with the County to provide a legal review.

Financial—to investigate types and costs of insurance companies, management companies, maintenance activities and expected annual costs.

Administration—to do mailings, maintain minutes, track and report progress and schedules, maintain contact for all volunteers.

Homeowner association liaison—to work with other HOAs in this area and “copy their notes.”

Membership—to establish a database of all members of the KPW Community Association, coordinate outreach via The Herald, flyers and individual contact.

These subcommittees have been meeting independently and will meet together periodically.

      Is my home affected? Your home does not have to border the common lands for you to be affected. The affected properties are as follows:

4840 to 4846 Allenby Rd; 10147 to 10196 Bessmer Lane; 10203 to 10354 Commonwealth Blvd; 10104 to 10219 Dundalk St.; 4817 to 4845 Gainsborough Drive; 5122 to 5278 Pumphrey Dr.; all of the home properties on Ashcroft Ct.; Ashcroft Way; Catterick Ct.; Collingham Drive; Commonwealth Ct.; Farndon Ct.; Finchley Ct.; Harrowby Ct.; Heversham Ct.; Kaywood Ct.; Mornington Ct.; Nantucket Ct.; Nottinghill Lane; Pimlico Ct.; Pumphrey Ct.; Ridge Ct.; Spring Rock Ct.; Tapestry Dr.; Tapestry Ct., Tooley Ct..

      What must affected owners do? Details are forthcoming. Soon, each home will receive a letter explaining what needs to be done, which will eventually include voting on actions necessary to get the organization up and running. What you must not do is ignore this situation and treat it as a non-issue.

      Meantime, the Membership subcommittee has rented a post office box. The address is:

KPW Community Association Organizing Committee

P.O. Box 2324

Fairfax, VA 22031-2324.

      To repeat, this story is about the KPW Community Association (a homeowners association established and legally recorded with the county for 580 home prop-erties located in Kings Park West), NOT the KPW Civic Association (which owners and renters voluntarily join).