Central Park HOA hopes to add amenities

For a few weeks in September, Central Park resident Lee Duis had a “For Sale” sign planted in his front yard.

But after a visit from Homeowners Association board member David Sidnam, Duis decided against selling his house, and ran for the HOA board instead.

He was elected in November and named board president. Now he and the new HOA board — comprised of Sidnam (vice president) and Duis, existing members Tom Vogan and Dave Sharp, and newcomers Ellie Wenzke, Charlie Schlesinger and Steve Lubrino — hope to further improve the community, which has had a resident-only HOA board for just a year and a half. 

Four of the seven board members are new.

“It’s a whole new dynamic,” Duis said.

Outgoing HOA board member Harry Benas said stress from working on the community’s turnover has been high, prompting three of four incumbents, including himself, not to run for reelection last month. The prior board focused on issues related to the community’s turnover, such as modernizing facilities by converting streetlights to LED and installing aerators in the ponds, for example.

“When you first take over from the builder, there is a tremendous amount of work to do,” Benas said. “The old board was looking to make sure everything was working as it is supposed to be. We had a lot of builder-grade stuff we’ve been replacing.”

“The community is starting to get more active and involved,” he said, adding some of the new board members had been working to put out holiday decorations. “The community is starting to work together on projects.”

New board members hope to add amenities, yet keep costs low and to create quality control standards for items like landscaping.

“Working on the HOA board is hard work," Lubrino said. "As a new board, we’re excited to bring a fresh perspective and to move forward.”

Duis, a local entrepreneur with two children, Elise, 8, and Lex, 6, hopes his business experience will benefit the community.

For starters, he plans to simplify Central Park’s committee structure. He said “dozens” of committees and subcommittees exist, and few have direct interaction with the HOA board, which makes the decisions on landscaping and other related budgetary issues. The board now will appoint individual board members as liaisons to carefully created committees, to ensure board involvement and improve communication between it and committee members.

For example, the separate landscape, ponds, parks and recreation and facilities committees will be replaced with one new “Facilities, Ponds and Landscape” committee. 

“The reality is we are one HOA,” Duis said. “We are one community and we need to approach the community like that.”

The HOA already hosts community-wide events, including movie nights, a holiday party and a happy hour one Friday each month. Sidnam and Duis worked together to have playground swings — including an American with Disabilities Act compliant swing — added to the existing park features.

They hope to further improve amenities by possibly adding a community pool and a community center. Sidnam said the park’s existing pavilion structure could be closed off and converted to an air-conditioned space.

Such new features will help make Central Park more competitive with newer, amenity-centric developments, such as Indigo, Bridgewater and Esplanade.

Duis said he may ask Central Park’s developer, Neal Communities, to assist in bringing such amenities to the 826-home community, which opened in 2010, during the economic downturn, and offered homes starting around $127,000.

Sidnam said even with amenity improvements, the Central Park board is committed to keeping HOA fees at existing costs or lower. They currently range from about $150 to more than $300 per month, depending on lot size and maintenance levels. Two years ago, homeowners saw a 30% increase in fees. In 2015, the bulk of residents saw about a 5% increase, but some sections in the community saw rates rise by about 20%, Sidnam said.

Monthly HOA fees now are a searchable feature on websites like zillow.com, so keeping HOA dues down will be important for retaining and attracting new homeowners.

“We are competing, if you will, for new buyers,” Duis said. 

He and Sidnam also hope the board’s ability to keep HOA costs under control will be an encouragement to neighboring communities still under development. Residents typically see HOA dues rise, as developers who subsidized such costs transition out and turn over neighborhoods to homeowners. Central Park is largely through that stage.

“We have the opportunity to set the pace,” Sidnam said.

Resident Anthony Casto said he likes the changes he sees coming.

“As one of many younger families in the area with children, it’s refreshing that there is an energized group of people willing to step up, listen, be budget-minded and also open to more amenities,” he said. “People enjoy having things to do in their community and want people to be open to ideas, change and even a little fun.”