Silver Lake Community Association

"Silver Lake - A Community Treasure Since 1786"

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2018 SLCA Annual Meeting and Important Updates

The Silver Lake Community Association will be holding its Annual Meeting on Saturday, June 2 at 10am. We will hold the meeting again at the pavilion at Lewisberry Borough Park. Mark your calendars. Please remember that only members in good standing – meaning maintenance fees up to date through 3/31/2018 – are eligible to vote on any matters before the Association.

We will be discussing:

  1. The status of DEP’s response to our annual inspection report. DEP is pressing for a permanent earthen dam rehabilitation plan and timeline, and important decisions need to be made.
  2. The status of SLCA’s search for a new engineering firm, replacing our prior relationship due to the sudden death of our lead engineer.
  3. Our financial status, including the results of collections activities.
  4. Outreach efforts for support from our elected officials.
  5. Near and longer term plans for the rehabilitation of both our Earthen Dam and the Bennetts Run diversion dam.

The 2018 SLCA Annual Meeting is your opportunity to hear directly for your board, and to help us all be part of the solution to saving beautiful Silver Lake for future generation.

Stay tuned, we will be scheduling a work party in the near future to keep up with vegetation control and animal burrows in our earthen dam, and other maintenance work. Last year we were delighted to see some new participants, and hope to see more in 2018.

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2017 Engineer’s Dam Inspection

Silver Lake Community Association Annual Dam Inspection

The Silver Lake Community Association (SLCA) is required by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to have an engineer inspect our dam and spillway annually and submit a written report to the DEP by year end.

The SLCA Board of Directors in 2017 engaged a new engineer to perform the inspection, as our prior engineer from ARM Group passed away unexpectedly this spring. This was a time consuming endeavor, as we are anxious to move forward with dam rehabilitation projects. We searched for and engaged an engineer with demonstrated experience both in dams such as ours and rehabilitation project management that meets DEP standards.

We are delighted to report that the inspections are complete and the report has been submitted timely to the DEP.

The 2017 SLCA dam inspection noted that the conditions of our dam and spillway remain consistent with prior inspections. We will be required to do more maintenance, as we always are, in the areas of animal burrows, vegetation control, and minor caulking and cement repairs on the spillway. This is all good news.

The SLCA Board thanks all members who turned out with us in 2017 for dam and common area maintenance projects, and we look forward to robust community support in 2018.

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September 2017 Work Party

The SLCA Board would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the SLCA community who came out on a cool September morning to assist in vegetation control and to obliterate animal burrows in and around our earthen dam.

We are well prepared by our annual engineering inspection thanks to all of your hard work.

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2017 Annual Meeting and Fall Draw Down

Annual Meeting: The Annual Meeting was held Saturday, June 3rd at 10:00AM. It was at the Lewisberry Borough Pavilion. The address is 308 Market Street in Lewisberry. We discussed our financials, Bennetts Run project, DEP and the Earthen Dam and collections. We voted on the Board members and they remain the same. Two weeks after the Annual meeting the board voted on the officers. They remain the same as well.

Draw Down: We will be drawing the Lake down this year for your shoreline maintenance projects. Our Facebook page has a list of contractors if you need help with your maintenance. Draw down will start the day after Labor Day. We will keep it down as long as possible. Keep in mind when the leaves start falling and if we get a lot of rain it is very hard to keep the water level down so get your projects completed as soon as possible. If you have any kayaks, paddle boats or canoes please get them out of the lake. If you see any debris in the area in front of your property, please clean it up. Please let Brad Ellenberger (President) know if you are planning to do any work. You can call 554-1948 or 938-8366. You can also send an email to silverlakecommunityassociation@gmail.com

Work Party: Saturday, September 30th. We will be working on weed whacking the Earthen dam and the recommended repairs to the spillway. More info to follow. Please plan on helping out! Call 938-8366 or 554-1948 or email us to let us know you are coming!

Bennett’s Run diversion dam project:  As you were told before our engineer passed away. We have been working with ARM to try to continue with the project but are not satisfied with their work. We will be looking for a new Engineer to complete the project.

Fall Party: Sean Concannon will once again host our Fall party! It will be October 21st at 4:00 PM.

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SLCA Spring 2017 Update

The SLCA Board of Directors is please to present members and the community with this SLCA Spring 2017 Update.

SLCA 2017 Annual Meeting

It is time for our Annual Meeting! Saturday, June 3rd at 10:00AM. It will be held at the Lewisberry Borough Pavilion. The address is 308 Market Street in Lewisberry. We will be discussing our financials, Bennetts Run project, DEP and the Earthen Dam and collections. We will also be voting on Board members. Please plan on attending.

PA DEP Annual Inspection

The SLCA’s engineer from ARM Group performed the DEP mandated annual inspection of our dam and spillway in November 2016. The report back is encouraging, as we are holding our own and no new major issues were discovered. A special THANK YOU to all residents who helped last year on the work parties that were instrumental in this effort. As always, there were some new maintenance items recommended. We are particularly challenged with animal burrows that jeopardize the integrity of our earthen dam, and must remain vigilant in remediation when found.

If you see it, report it please to a board member! Your cell phone is your friend, take pictures of the car tags of the offenders!

Bennett’s Run Diversion Dam Project

We received a bid from our engineer, ARM, to do all engineering and permitting with DEP for the project. The quote received is for $6700. We have accepted the proposal. Our plan was to have the project completed in the spring/summer of 2017. Unfortunately, we received a call from ARM this spring informing us that our engineer, John Masland, had passed away suddenly. The ARM Group is currently getting John’s accounts in order and assigned to other employees. When they do they will contact us and we will proceed with our plans. For now the project is on hold and may not be completed this year.

No Dumping!

It has been brought to our attention that people are still dumping garbage and yard waste along West Street behind the Earthen Dam. Dumping is not allowed anywhere on Silver Lake Community Association property! If you see someone dumping please feel free to get their license plate number and report them to one of the Board members immediately. All the property associated with the Earthen Dam is monitored by DEP and The York Conservation Group. We do not want to be fined for unlawful dumping. If any of you have any free time, the area where the dumping is occurring needs to be cleaned up. Any volunteer work is greatly appreciated. Please let’s keep our Lake and the surrounding area beautiful.

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Silver Lake PA Private Dam Financial Assurance Program and Updates

The SLCA would like to provide you updates on several matters that impact our members.

Silver Lake PA Private Dam Financial Assurance ProgramHouse Bill 1712 An Act establishing the Private Dam Financial Assurance Program and the Private Dam Financial Assurance Fund which showed much support and promise earlier in the 2016 legislative session was referred back to the Appropriations Committee and then re-reported as committed back to the House on October 25, 2016. The bill was not brought up for a vote before the legislature adjourned. We urge all residents to reach out to Representative Sheryl M. Delozier, our Lower Allen Twp state representative and Senator Mike Regan and urge them to throw their support behind this bill.

DEP Annual Inspection: The SLCA’s engineer performed the DEP mandated annual inspection of our dam and spillway in November. The report back is encouraging, as we are holding our own and no new major issues were discovered. A special THANK YOU  to all residents who helped this year on the work parties that were instrumental in this effort. As always there were some new maintenance items recommended. We are particularly challenged with animal burrows that jeopardize the integrity of our earthen dam, and must remain vigilant in remediation when found.

Bennett’s Run diversion dam project: We received a bid from our engineer, ARM, to do all engineering and permitting with DEP for the project. The quote received is for $6200. However, the board is going back to ARM as the scope of the project had some inconsistencies v. what was requested. We remain on track to go to bid this winter on the project, and to award and have the project completed in the spring/summer 2017.

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SLCA Diversion Dam Update

SLCA Volunteer OpportunityThe SLCA Board heard the feedback at our annual meeting that members would like to hear updates more frequently than once a year.

Bennett’s Run Diversion Dam

We discussed the Bennett’s Run diversion dam at the annual meeting. Our engineer and the DEP both conveyed a sense of urgency about addressing a permanent fix to the existing diversion dam. DEP told us to either fix it or remove it.

The Bennett’s Run diversion dam is important to the health of our lake. It is an important water source, keeping water running through our lake most of the year. Years when the diversion dam was in poor repair were marked by higher water temperatures and the “green slime” that drifted on the surface of the lake due to stagnating water. For most of the last decade we have been “fixing” the crumbling concrete diversion dam with sandbags and pond liner!

The board communicated to members at the annual meeting that we were addressing this diversion dam repair prior to the earthen dam repair. We based this decision on two major factors:

  1. The importance the diversion dam has to the overall health of the lake; and
  2. The diversion dam repair process would be a good trial run for the board on working with DEP on engineering, permitting, and oversight of a dam repair.

We contracted for a survey of the SLCA property and rights of way to the diversion dam. Additionally we had the surveyor perform elevation measurements at the same time to facilitate the engineering of the final dam repair.

Upon receipt of the survey, the SLCA’s engineer advised that he would begin the design and permitting process, and realistically we are looking at the spring/summer of 2017 for the dam repair.

Silver Lake Asset Maintenance

The SLCA owns 2 dams and a spillway which we are responsible to maintain. We are also responsible to police the feeder streams and periodically remove fallen trees, dumped tires and other garbage, and animal dams.

We have had VERY lightly attended work parties for the last several years. A SLCA work party is intended to have the community participate in unskilled maintenance such as mowing, weed wacking, and cleaning feeder streams. Regretfully, the members who show up are primarily board members and a handful of regulars – these do not have widespread community support. The volunteers have not only been able to keep up with routine maintenance to our engineer’s and DEP’s satisfaction, they have also performed animal burrow remediation as called for in our 2015 Annual Inspection.

The board will be looking into hiring professional maintenance services in the coming year. While this expense will delay the inevitable repair of our earthen dam and prolong the DEP ordered moratorium on silt removal, your board is not getting any younger and we cannot keep doing this alone.

Our last work party of 2016 will be Saturday October 15th. Watch Facebook for details.

SLCA Fall Social

We will host our annual SLCA Fall Community Social on Saturday October 22 at 3 PM at the end of Cardinal Lane near the cove. This event is “covered dish” and BYOB. Board members will take care of disposable products. We have really enjoyed these the last few years!

 

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Silver Lake Community Association Newsletter (June 2016)

Annual Meeting-2016

The Annual meeting was held on June 4th at the Borough pavilion. There were 32 people in attendance. We had a great meeting. Thank you to all that attended!

Bennetts Run

The DEP has told us we must repair it or remove it. We will be repairing it. We need the diversion dam to supply our lake with water. We will first get it surveyed. Then our engineer will prepare the blueprints for the repair and place his seal on it. Next step will be getting the permits and finally doing the repair work. This is a big project and it will help us gain knowledge before proceeding with the repair of the Earthen Dam.

Collection of Maintenance Fees

The Board presented a proposal to the members for pursuing legal action to collect maintenance fees from the nonpaying members. The proposal was voted on and passed.

July 4th

We will be celebrating July 4th on Monday, July 4th. We will be selling flares. $5.00 a piece or 3 for $10.00. We will also be selling 50/50 tickets. They are $5.00 a piece or 5 for $20.00. Someone from your Street will come on Monday to sell you these items. Following is the schedule of events.

Paddle Boat Balloon chase: 4 PM at the Roberge cottage-793 Silver Lake Rd. Scotty donates the prize money. The amount she donates is the age of her late husband Ron. He would have been 86 years old this year. He at one time was the President of the Association. He is missed by all of us.

Canoe race: 5 PM at the Sean Concannon’s-840 Cardinal Lane

Carp Catching Contest: 6 PM at the Webb Cottage-803 West Street. There will be 3 cash prizes for the most Carp caught. The prize money was donated by Deb Bressler. You must take them to the Webb’s by 6 PM.

 

Please make sure you are following the Fish and Boat Commission’s rules and regulations. Life jackets are a must for all children on the water.

 If you are not up to date on your maintenance fees be advised you can’t collect any prizes or prize money.

SLCA NEWSLETTER-June2016

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Legislation Will Make Collections of Fees from Delinquent SLCA Members Easier

PA Legislation will make collections of assessments and fees from delinquent association members less costly for the SLCA. We will be discussing collections plans at the annual meeting, Saturday June 4, 2016 at Borough Park.

The SLCA is watching legislation this session that may make it less expensive for the Association to collect maintenance fees from property owners who are in arrears. This is a matter of fairness to the property owners who are contributing to the upkeep of the lake, its dams and spillway.

Today HB 1340 passed the house 48-0 and moves to the Senate. Of particular interest are amendments to the Pennsylvania Uniform Planned Community Act (UPCA) to include

“…homeowner associations rely on unit owner assessments to pay for various obligations imposed on them by their governing documents and the Acts. In most cases, these obligations entail not only maintenance and repair of unit components such as roofs and siding, but also infrastructure components, including roads, storm water management and utility systems. Continued payment of assessments as well as the ability to collect them, is therefore, vital to these communities.

To assure continuous funding, the above-noted sections of the Acts impose upon each unit a “lien for assessments”. This statutory lien serves as an effective mechanism to promote the payment of assessments and as appropriate security in the event of a serious delinquency. However, most often, associations seek to recover unpaid assessments by obtaining a personal judgment against the delinquent unit owner(s) rather than foreclosing on the statutory lien as a bank or other financial institution would foreclose on a mortgage. Such a collection procedure is much less expensive than a foreclosure action and enables the homeowner to retain ownership of his or her home.

Last year, the United States Court of Appeals held that a personal judgment obtained by a community association does not preserve the statutory lien. This means that unless associations file lien foreclosure actions within three years of a delinquency, the lien for assessments is extinguished. As a result, associations will be required to resort to much more drastic, aggressive, and expensive foreclosure proceedings to assure continued financial viability. In turn, collections of unpaid assessments will become substantially more expensive and time-consuming, with the increased costs being passed on to homeowners.

The proposed amendments to Section 3315(d) of the UCA and Section 5315(e) of the UPCA will solve the serious problem caused by the decision and enable associations and their members to resolve assessment delinquencies without putting ownership of homes at risk through foreclosure proceedings intended to protect the association’s lien position. Such amendments comport with decades of practice in the community association arena and are consistent with the best interests of our community associations and their members.”

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/…/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm…