1/30/2022
Dear Members of BHVA,
The Board is thrilled to share with you that these last 6 months have been exceptionally productive at BHVA.
- The Facilities Building is complete and fully occupied. BHVA’s lease in the Cooks facility was abruptly cancelled last year and our team successfully met very time sensitive deadlines to design, permit, contract, and build this new facility. It’s looking great! Landscaping to follow when things thaw…
- TK, our elevator contractor, is wrapping up final touches to the elevator repair – the hand off to BHVA is mid-February. BHVA went through a great deal of hurdles for a couple of years bypassing Fields’s continuous hostility to our contractors, kicking them off our property on multiple occasions, and their stopping BHVA from all access across Shore Drive, which has been available to BHVA for over 50 years. Now the elevator is done!
Fields’s potential use of the Parking Structure to disrupt this community remains a risk. [see Parking Structure section below]
- Kenrick has returned as our managers starting this January 15. They have been doing a marvelous job for BHVA. We have a professional team properly representing this community on-site. Welcome and thank you to the Kenrick Team - Corrine Odo and Cassandra Wallace! And thank you to all our resident members for your continued patience and cooperation as the transition continues to unfold.
- Won the Summary Judgment in the Fields lawsuit (9/10/21)
- Then won the Appeal of Judge Odorisi’s Preliminary Injunction Order (12/23/21)
- Legal arrears are paid and a healthy reserve for both legal and maintenance restored. The special assessment collected in November was applied in part to these arrears in 2021. Your two remaining payments to be collected in February and May will be applied to the 2022 budget.
- Litigation expenses have been substantially reduced. Our lawyers, Duane Morris, discontinued billing in August 2021. They performed a stellar job for BHVA from their early representation when we had urgent deadlines with no insurance coverage (we negotiated the coverage with their help) through the transition to Erie’s selected lawyers Rupp Baase, who will take us through the mediation and trial if necessary. Rupp Baase is fully covered on all current litigation matters by Erie Insurance. New or additional matters will be covered by the legal reserve.
Furthermore, the time sensitive maintenance and repair projects identified in our 2018 Reserve Study are being engineered and scheduled in earnest, including the pedestrian bridge to the elevator, the vehicular bridge that carries Cliffside Drive over a tributary to the lake, select roads throughout the community, beach maintenance and more. Additionally, The Facilities Committee will soon announce details of an exciting maintenance plan for the Community Center public space, at which time we will seek community input. The Board approved budget puts BHVA on sound footing to begin the maintenance program listed above. We do not expect all the work to be fully completed in 2022.
The Mediation is February 15th
The Fields sued BHVA to obtain “open and unfettered access” through BHVA property for their commercial enterprise. Had they prevailed, BHVA would have had no ability to control and manage public access through its own private property. Success in the Summary Judgment and then the Preliminary Injunction Order upon its appeal have brought the Fields access and non-villager slip rental issue to a conclusion. As ordered by Judge Odorisi’s Court and affirmed by the Appellate Division of the 4th Department, BHVA has the right to control access through its property, including access to the docks.
So why the Mediation?
Because there are a few crucial issues still on the table and it makes sense to conclude a litigation that has already resolved the issues concerning its most significant claims. The potential challenge to the mediation is that it appears that the Fields will likely continue to argue for significant access and for non-villager slip rentals. Fields reiterated on January 6th through its attorney an ask of 50 non-villager slips. If they insist the mediation be about non-villager slips and not about the remaining portion of the litigation, then the mediation will likely not be productive.
BHVA Access
The Fields continue to prevent our waterfront access through Shore Drive where we have a Right-of-Way. Shore Drive, which leads onto the southern edge of the BHVA - A planned development, has been BHVA’s land access for over 50 years. BHVA and its Members have enjoyed access without issue until recently (after the transfer of the BHVA docks and parking assets from the Cooks to the Fields). Erie Insurance has extended their coverage to BHVA on this issue to pursue if not resolved in mediation. Limiting BHVA’s rightful access will not be an effective tool in negotiating its way out of a prevailing court decision as outlined above. We must be patient with vehicular waterfront access and upgrades until the matter is resolved through this litigation.
Fields Parking Structure
BHVA has very recently obtained Fields’s engineering report prepared by Bison Engineering & Enterprises, PLLC dated October 15, 2021 but actually inspected on July 15, 2021. NYS has a requirement for inspection of parking structures every 3 years. We do not know the actual submission date.
The 39-page engineering report provides various discussion, opinions and recommendations of a structure in urgent need of significant repair. We are in the process of having the report and its facts reviewed and verified by our engineer, as it leads to many questions.
Board of Directors
We will be saying goodbye to a committed Board member. Joe Giacobbe will be stepping down from the Board and as Chair of the Environmental Committee as of the first of February. He has served as Chair of the Waterfront Committee and served for six months as a Board appointee prior to being elected. He has served this Board and Community well and we want to offer him a farewell from his Board service with much gratitude. Joe will continue to serve as a member of the Environmental Committee.
Thank you Joe!
We would like to welcome Ginny Lalka on to the Board. Ginny is the Andrew’s Way HOA President and a long-time active member of this Community. As an appointee, she will serve on the Board the remainder of this year until the Annual Meeting in August. She has also been appointed as the new Chair of the Environmental Committee (“EC”) and will continue to be supported by the existing EC. The EC will have two departments – residential and commercial, headed up by Ginny Lalka and Don Rimai, respectively.
The Board will consider officer positions in March to provide experience to new officers that they may lead the Board the following year. Selecting officers on the day of the Annual Meeting can have unhealthy ramifications. When new members are elected at the Annual Meeting, the new Board will again confirm or adjust the decisions made this winter.
Stay healthy, safe and warm!
Your Board of Directors
