JULY 2023

This is the Amelia Park Neighborhood Association newsletter, published monthly and sent to all residents who have provided their email address to the Association.

If you don't want to receive this or other APNA meeting and social event notices, please click the unsubscribe link at the end of this message, and your email address will be removed from the mailing list.

If someone else in your home would like to be added to the mailing list, or you'd like to change your email address, please contact us at:



AmeliaParkNews@gmail.com

Amelia Park News will take a break in August to coincide with the Board Meeting break.

We'll be back in September.

BOARD MEETING

July 10, 2023

HOA Board of Directors Meeting Items:

• Police Department officers reported the recent installation of 4-way stop signs at the intersection of Park Avenue and Perimeter Park Road & S. 15th Street. The officers encouraged homeowners to contact the police department regarding traffic concerns.
• Reviewed/approved the May 1, 2023 minutes.
• Reviewed/approved the association’s financials as of 5/31/23 and provided the Board with Reserve Expenditures as of the end of May 1, 2023.
• Reviewed the Property Manager’s Report, including Trim All items such as replace deteriorating Azaleas in area #46, relocating of Azaleas in area #47 to area # 35, trimming of shrub in area #39, removal of dead fronds in palmetto plants in area #21 and #22, irrigation repair in area #5. 
• Reviewed proposed additions to ARB Guidelines:
• Townhomes Stucco Colors – Board moved to approve the stucco colors guidelines for townhomes as presented. You can review it HERE.
• Foundation and Step Colors – Tabled until the color options provided are further reviewed and the Board provides the ARB committee clarification of expected guidelines for foundation and step colors options.
• Approved the nomination of Bill Mckenna to the Operations, Maintenance and Waterways (OMW) Committee.
• Joel Embry presented proposal for beautification enhancements in common area located across Lot C-4. You can review it HERE.

Note: Joel Embry has volunteered to cover the cost of enhancement installation. The Board concurred to review proposal thoroughly and consider the cost of maintenance.

• Reviewed/approved a bid by Trim All for $2,745 to trim palm trees throughout the community.
• Reviewed/tabled bids to install oak trees in area #49.
• Homeowner discussion - Several residents discussed the following topics:
• Proposed Rules and Regulations – Jill advised homeowners the Board recognized there have been several adopted and re-adopted Rules and Regulations throughout the years and concurred to table adoption of Rules and Regulations until further review. 
• Recent mulching extended to many residents’ porches along NorthPark and some garden areas.
• Irrigation concerns in area #49 (Lakeside)

Future Board agendas and meeting materials/reports will be posted on the Amelia Park website (www.ameliapark.net) in advance of the Board meeting.

Once approved, the complete minutes from previous meetings can be viewed HERE in the Board folder on the Resident Documents page on our community website.

NEW ARCHITECTURAL REGULATION

At the July 20, 2023, meeting of the Board of Directors, a color palette was approved for the stucco body color of specific Amelia Park townhomes. This palette only applies to the stucco portion of the townhouse.

The Architectural Review Board will be developing additional color palette recommendations for the concrete steps, foundation walls, trim, shutters and doors for the townhouse sections of Amelia Park.

Click HERE to review the approved townhouse stucco color palette.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

The Architectural Review Board (ARB) is seeking nominations for resident

volunteers as well as nominees to serve as its next Chairperson. The ARB charter is:

• To review and grant or deny requests for approval of new construction or “substantial” alterations/additions/modifications of existing structures.
• To review and grant or deny requests for approval of modifications or “minor” alterations/additions/modifications of existing structures and exterior landscapes.

The ARB meets every month (usually on the last Thursday @ 9 AM) via Zoom

Video Conference Call.

If you are interested in serving on the ARB, please send your name, resident

address, email address, and phone number--along with a short bio on your

relevant background and experience--to:

Jill@firstcoastam.com

ARB resident volunteers will be appointed to serve for staggered terms effective

January 2024.

TGIF

August 4

5:30-7:00PM

Pavilion

Join your neighbors and friends in the Pavilion in Town Square for an informal end-of-week gathering.

Bring your own bottle and an appetizer to share!

Open to all residents and renters.

Remember to bring a camp chair if you need one.

MUSIC WALK

Saturday, October 15

Thanks to all who have responded to our call for musicians for the fourth annual Amelia Park Music Walk on the afternoon of October 15, 2023. 

This is shaping up to be a very memorable event for our community, as a dozen musicians or groups have signed up already!

If you are still thinking about participating, hosting a group on your porch, or would like more information, please contact:



Paul DiRito 

diritopj@gmail.com

(404) 984-3487

POTLUCK PICNIC IN THE PARK

July 4

Despite the heat and humidity, about seventy intrepid Amelia Parkers turned out to celebrate Independence Day together and share a scrumptious potluck picnic.

It was too hot for lots of Amelia Park pets, but a few brave canine contestants in the Pooch Parade posed for us.

Visiting yougsters came up with some inventive prize categories, such as:

• Best Outfit
• Best Doggy Smile
• Best Tail Wagger

and a bunch of others. But with only three contestants, they didn't get to award prizes for all categories.

Owners and dogs chose their prizes from a selection of balls and tug toys.

DOG OWNERS - SAVE THE DATE!

We will be having a Fall/Halloween Pooch Parade at the TGIF on Friday, October 6, which should be a lot cooler for your pets!

Prizes awarded for all categories!

​Although their house on Gardenia Street was completed in 2004, Pat and Rick Glassbrenner were still working overseas and could not move into Amelia Park until 2007. 

After years of living in major cities abroad, they chose Amelia Island for retirement because it was “so relaxing and different” from the other options they investigated on a drive up the East Coast.

Even in retirement, Pat doesn’t sit still though. She volunteers at Cats Angels, Inc SPCA, which primarily offers affordable spay and neuter services and a Trap Neuter Return (TNR) program for feral Nassau County cats.

Pictured: Pat Glassbrenner standing at the Cats Angels Thrift Store counter

Pictured: a few residents at the shelter when we visited

Although it is not an intake shelter like the Nassau Humane Society facility by the airport, Cats Angels will admit animals with medical issues, feral moms and kittens (the moms are “fixed” and the kittens adopted out), or animals from overcrowded high-kill shelters. In some cases, Cats Angels has become a “forever home” for older cats. A few reside permanently in their own space with access to outdoor runs.

Pictured: Pat next to the outside runs

Pat never owned cats as a child, but she became a “cat lady” when a semi-feral pure white cat adopted her and her husband in Pittsburgh and then a little black cat adopted them in Michigan. Their cats traveled overseas with them and their two daughters from Tokyo to Prague, Bangkok, and Jakarta with Rick’s job for Pepsi, International. The cats also had passports, which allowed them to enter the US between stints in Prague and Bangkok!

Pat wasn’t idle abroad, either… After so much personal experience at moving from place to place, Pat set up a relocation service with a British friend in Prague and again in Bangkok to assist others going through the same process.

Pictured: Resident kittens

Gary

Ladybug and Leafbug

Maddie

When the Glassbrenners finally came back to the US, they had three storage units stuffed to the brim from all the moves. Pat started to clear them and took along a donation of towels to Cats Angels. A volunteer invited her to come to a meeting that evening, and the rest is history! She started volunteering her time cleaning and then as the newsletter editor. Today, she is the Administration Coordinator, working mostly in the office on record keeping, answering emails and the phone, and scheduling the spay/neuter services.

Calling all Amelia Park residents...

Would you be prepared to share your garden/pool area with your neighbors as part of a "Secret Garden/Splash Tour" some time in the fall?

We are still in the early planning stage, but we'd like to start work on the list of tour stops.

If you are interested in volunteering your outdoor space for this event, please send your name, address, and phone number to:

AmeliaParkNews@gmail.com

Part Two: THE HAWK

The red-tailed hawk is mother nature’s squirrel trap. She can live up to twenty years examining life from a higher perspective watching, with eyesight five times better than humans, and waiting for squirrels, rabbits, rats, snakes, and even other birds to prey on. Her rusty brown tail is evident at the first sign of maturity.

In courtship, she soars in circles with a male with their wings spanning four feet wide. Their cries are shrill and raspy, like a steam whistle. Kree-eee-ar! They dance one thousand feet high at forty miles per hour. The male approaches her, touches her briefly, then dives dramatically, and rises up again, repeatedly at speeds nearing one hundred miles per hour. He catches a small pesky crow in his yellow and black talons, pierces its heart with his back hallux kill talon, and passes it to her. She takes it to a perch, a branch on one of the many oak trees that flourish in the Amelia Park neighborhood.

The male spirals down to join her. She watches him land. He nears her. She looks away and makes her way to another branch. He follows. She preens him. He does the same then climbs on top of her. They mate and join as partners for life.

They eat the crow and build a nest together on that very same tree, high above the ground that circles the lake on Lake Park Drive. They gather sticks, bark, and leafy green branches for a nest large enough for the two of them and their young which can be as few as one and as many as five.

She lays two eggs and because she continues to hunt, she and her mate take turns sitting on the eggs during the thirty-day incubation. The newborns are white and she stays with them most of the time during the first few weeks. The male brings most of the food. She tears it into small pieces and feeds her young with her beak. After about four weeks, she’ll drop food in the nest so the young can feed themselves. The fledglings will leave the nest at about six weeks but will remain close to their parents for several more weeks before they’re ready for flight.

MORNING GLORY MUFFINS

Recipe by PJ HAMEL

King Arthur Baking Company

This recipe, a throwback to the '60s, brings together all kinds of fruits and vegetables in an earthy whole-grain muffin that, despite the description, tastes very good indeed. Moist and just sweet enough, Morning Glory Muffins are a great "go to the beach" treat, as they don’t need butter or jam.

PREP 15 mins

BAKE 25 to 28 mins

TOTAL 40 mins

YIELD 12 muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup raisins

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups carrots, peeled and grated

1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, and grated (or leave the peel on; your choice)

1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup sunflower seeds or 1/3 cup (43g) wheat germ, optional

3 large eggs

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup orange juice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers.
2. In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak while you assemble the rest of the recipe.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt.
4. Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, nuts, and sunflower seeds or wheat germ.
5. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and orange juice.
6. Add to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened.
7. Drain the raisins and stir them in.
8. Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan (they'll be full almost to the top; that's OK).
9. Bake the muffins for 25 to 28 minutes, until they're nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the inner muffins comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes in their pan on a rack, then turn out of pans to finish cooling. Wrap any leftovers airtight, and store at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.