A Note from President Dan Freehling
Dear Camden Neighbors:
At our Annual Meeting last November, I announced that I would step down as the service group president before my second term ends in December 2025. I am writing today to bring you up to date with respect to the process for finding my successor. I plan to step down on or before August 1, 2024.
I am very pleased to report that five of our Camden neighbors have graciously agreed to serve on a Nominations Committee for the purpose of identifying and recommending a new president of our service group. The members of the committee are as follows:
The Nominations Committee’s process is generally as follows:
- The committee will agree on a process and undertake a search.
- Once the committee identifies a strong candidate, it will recommend a successor to the service group board.
- Upon receipt of the committee’s recommendation, the board will vote on that recommendation. (I will not participate in the vote.)
- Assuming the vote by the board is favorable, the selected individual will be required to sign confidentiality and ethics agreements, as has been done by all board members.
- The approved nominee will become President Designate and will shadow me for a period of time, including sitting in on board meetings.
The members of the Nominations Committee are a very able and dedicated group of our neighbors. I ask that all Camden residents be supportive and helpful to the committee as they undertake their duties.
Please let a member of the Nominations Committee know if you are interested in serving as service group president or if you know a resident of the Camdens who you believe would be a strong candidate. The committee has a particularly important role in front of them. Let’s all help ensure their success.
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Curb Extensions (Bulb-outs) |
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Have you ever wondered why the intersections in Camden Park are narrower than the street itself? The answer is that Camden Park was originally conceived to be a walkable neighborhood. One way of making a neighborhood walkable is by adding curb extensions (known as bulb-outs) at the intersections. Bulb-outs have the following advantages for both pedestrian and motorist:
- Increased pedestrian visibility at intersections through improved sight lines
- Decreased pedestrian exposure to vehicles by shortening the crossing distance
- Reduced vehicle turning speeds by physically and visually narrowing the roadway
- Increased pedestrian waiting space
- Reduced illegal parking at corners
- Facilitated ability to provide curb ramps at each corner
For bulb-outs to be effective, residents of Camden Park, their guests, and working tradesmen need to be aware of how to properly park adjacent to them. To safely park in a space adjacent to a bulb-out, the vehicle must be completely clear of the diagonal area at the end of the bulb-out. The vehicle should be parallel to the straight portion of the parking area. A vehicle that is parked in the diagonal area is actually parked in the travel lane and thereby blocks the view of vehicles approaching the intersection, particularly those vehicles entering the street from a row.
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Be a Considerate Neighbor When
Parking in Camden
On-street parking in Camden Park is very limited. Please think of your neighbors when parking in front of your home. Residents should view their garages as their primary parking locations, leaving on-street parking for visitors and workers in your home whenever possible. Of course, there are times when you need to temporarily park in front of your home, but doing so all day every day should be avoided when possible.
Please be a good neighbor and use your garage!
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Please make sure that you, your guests, and those working at your home know the rules for bulb-out parking. |
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Note: Content and diagram adapted from: https://www.sfbetterstreets.org/find-project-types/pedestrian-safety-and-traffic-calming/traffic-calming-overview/curb-extensions/
Fred Morris
Streets, Utilities & Facilities
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Architectural Committee Update
Although our chair is brand new, our committee is experienced, and we are off to a good start! January through March was a slow season for home improvements (which is helpful for a new chair!). We have approved door and shutter painting (the latter in Tricorn Black or Emerald Black, as required by our covenants), two new roofs, and one chimney rebuild. All applicants have worked within our service group’s guidelines, which makes our job easy. We appreciate the cooperative spirit of our neighbors in Camden Park. All of us want to maintain the beautiful setting that we enjoy here. As spring is with us, we will probably be busier, but we will try to keep abreast of your requests in a timely manner.
Bill Johnson
Architectural Covenants
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The Treasurer's View
One way that Camden Park is special is that it owns not only the neighborhood parks and accompanying seating areas but most of the streets (yes, the actual pavement), as well as the streetlights, sidewalks, and so on in the Camden Park surrounds. These are the so-called real or capital assets of the Camden Park HOA.
The downside of this ownership is that like all physical constructions, the Camden Park structures and streets are subject to the adverse effects of weather, usage, and time. Simply put, and as most homeowners know well, things wear out, and when things depreciate enough, they must be repaired or replaced.
Since we know our neighborhood’s real assets are going to eventually wear out, the Camden Park HOA Board put in place a capital reserve account to meet repair and replacement expenses as they arise. A key goal of the HOA Board is to make sure that contributions to this reserve are large enough to cover expected costs to replace streets and other structures as they reach the ends of their useful lives. Capital reserves must also be held against the possibility of unexpected damage from storms or other causes.
The board’s assessment of future replacement and repair capital spending is based on a 2021/22 study of Camden Park streets and other real assets by Giles Flythe Engineers, Inc. (GFE) of Raleigh. The GFE study showed that street replacement/repair will constitute the service group’s single-largest expected reserve expense during the rest of this decade. This was not surprising because repaving is expensive and the streets around our neighborhood, installed mostly during 1990–2000, are nearing the ends of their useful lives at roughly the same time.
Based on the GFE study, with the exception of East and West Camden Park Streets (which are state owned), most streets in East and West Camden will need to be repaved in the next five years. Beginning in 2026 and running through 2029, privately owned Camden Park streets will be resurfaced at a total GFE-projected cost of about $540,000, a projection that assumes 3% annual increases in cost of materials.
In addition to street replacement, the HOA Board foresees the need for replacement and repair spending for sidewalks, common area upkeep, and other items. In 2024 capital spending on non-street items is budgeted at $53,000. A reasonable guess is that spending will have to remain at that level in future years.
Unplanned capital expenditures can also arise. For example, after the current fiscal year began, the board earmarked an additional $65,000 to cover additional repairs on Camden Park sidewalks.
Given projected capital outlays, our reserve should be adequate to cover expected capital outlays through 2029. Equally important is that ongoing investments in our reserve should provide a sufficient cushion against both expected and unexpected expenses going into the 2030s.
John Boschen
Secretary-Treasurer
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Camden Green
When R.B. and Jenny Fitch set out to develop an English-style small Southern village, their vision was of a walkable, esthetically beautiful, and neighborly community. Green lawns are an important aspect of that aesthetic. English landscapes have tremendous diversity, from intimate cottage gardens to expansive, landscaped estate parks. A common trait is a well-manicured, lush lawn. For landscapes with a series of bountiful, blooming gardens, what is known as the English Great Lawn serves as the “lungs of the garden.” In smaller gardens a lush strip of lawn helps define and frame the planted landscape.
So, how are we in the Camden Park service group doing to fulfill that vision and borrow from the British when it comes to our common area lawns? How especially are we navigating an expanding ethos of sustainability with the urge to have a lush lawn? How do we grow grass under the shade of beautiful street trees? How do we keep a cool-season grass like our turf-type tall fescue green while other nearby communities (Briar Chapel and Chatham Park) are meeting the challenges of a warming climate with warm-season lawns. If the unseen world of soil life helps determine the health of our grass and plants, how do we compensate for the challenging soil of the Camden Park neighborhood?
Neither the Camden Park Landscape Committee nor our principal landscape management contractor, Bland Landscaping, have all the answers, but I highlight in this article some of the progress we are making. Note that our common areas do not include Camden Park—affectionately known as “Jenny’s Park”—in the center of our neighborhood, which is not owned by our service group.
Larry Newlin
Landscaping
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Brightspeed Fiber-Optics Installation
Brightspeed, the successor to CenturyLink, has been placed on a temporary pause by the FHA (with Camden Park's approval, as our service group has responsibility for work occurring on our private roads and in our common areas). We are waiting for Brightspeed to provide information about its authority to undertake the installation of fiber-optic cable and to get some sort of installation schedule from them. The FHA has also halted door-to-door sales on behalf of Brightspeed, as this is not permitted in any Village location. More to follow once we get further information from Brightspeed.
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Important Camden Park Links |
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Located on FHA website. No log in or password required
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