Well, fall has come . . . and gone . . . and come again . . . and . . . ! According to forecasts, our variable weather may well continue for some time as we move toward the Winter Solstice and shortest day of the year in a month. Although cold weather is expected soon, the meteorologists warn snow lovers not to get their hopes too high this winter, but if we do have a significant snowfall, please be careful driving and walking in Lakeport (and elsewhere). Also, remember that owners are asked to clear snow from the sidewalk in front of their homes and to dispose of leaves and debris from their back and front yards and driveways using compostable paper bags collected on Thursdays (not on common property, including the streets).
Let us know what you think of this Fall issue of Ripples. If would like to submit an item for our Winter issue, please email me at ssapp@miami.edu.
Switching now to my role as Lakeport’s Board President, I want to direct your attention to several items elsewhere in this issue. The Treasurer’s Report contains important information about our 2025 cluster budget (which includes a small increase in the quarterly assessment) and a link to our updated Reserve Study. If you didn’t attend Lakeport’s Annual Meeting on October 1, you may wish to view the PowerPoint deck available online. At that meeting we elected two new Board members, Jerry Beiter (now Standards Committee Chair) and Andy Nagley (Secretary). We welcome them to the Board and express our gratitude to the late Rich Rosenberg and to Jeannette Malin-Berdel for their past service in those roles.
Finally, I want to repeat several requests:
Soon you should be receiving the 2025 Lakeport Cluster Association budget and coupons for your quarterly HOA assessment. Below is some information about both and some additional information you might be interested in.
2025 Lakeport Budget: The budget has been finalized and approved by the Board. Our 2025 projected expenses have increased by over $5,000, with most of that coming from annual contracts as inflation continues to cause prices to go up. We are also ensuring that our Repair and Replacement (R & R) Reserves are at the level recommended by the Reserve Study, which we had updated this year (more information below). To cover the increase in expenses, some of the more discretionary expenses took a hit and HOA dues are being increased.
2025 HOA Quarterly Assessment: To cover the increase in expenses, your quarterly HOA assessment will be increased by $10 a quarter (only 2.9%, after no increase in 2024). We recommend you sign up for direct debit to prevent missing a payment, which ends up costing you a late fee and the community gets hit by management costs (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U_9xgrDVzZlOBoUG04XT2vlxmWa99C6q/view).
2023 Audit Finalized: The 2023 audit was completed by an independent company over the summer and no issues were identified.
2025 Reserve Study: Over the summer we contracted with Miller Dodson to update the Lakeport Reserve Study, which is required by law to be conducted every five years. We use the Reserve Study to inform the Board on how much money we need to contribute to our R & R account each year to ensure we are covered for future capital component expenses like paving the cluster’s streets and replacing the dock (our two biggest expenses). The projected costs for items that need to be replaced in the future have increased due to inflation. The Lakeport Reserve Study can be found on the Lakeport Cluster website under “Documents”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ovgk3OOSCwG5VsNZGGns7buBV3CUWaFz/view?pli=1.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Board at board@lakeportcluster.org.
By Robin Kolko and Marcy Foster, Co-Chairs
The Lakeport community celebrated a spooktacular Halloween with a parade by the dock, bringing neighbors together for a fun-filled event. The parade and neighborhood get-togethers featured creative costumes and cheerful participants of all ages, and the photos below show it.
The I Love Lakeport fall dock party was another community event where families enjoyed delicious food and getting to know our neighbors.
Mary and Stephen Sapp will host a Holiday TGIF at 1919 Lakeport Way on December 13.
A big thank you to everyone who participated and volunteered to make these events a success! As we look forward to more community gatherings, we seek a new Social Committee Chairperson to help organize events. It’s not a heavy lift and a great way to meet more of your neighbors. If you’re passionate about bringing our neighborhood together, please consider volunteering for this important role. Interested candidates can reach out to Stephen Sapp at ssapp@miami.edu.
By Mary Sapp, Chair
Then, the day before Thanksgiving, Complete installed a path with stone steppers to the right of the pollinator garden and replaced the strip of grass below the roses with mulch to provide a more finished and unified look by the dock.
Complete also removed forsythia next to the turn-around on Lakespray and replaced it with nine wax myrtles and six rhododendrons. Both are evergreen, the rhododendrons have pink flowers, and the berries on wax myrtles are used to scent bayberry candles. Nine of the forsythia were transplanted by volunteers next to the fence to the west of the Lakeport entrance where they will receive more sun than in their original location.
In addition, Complete just planted 11 iteas beside the RA path to the pool.
Meadows Farms planted a 12-foot American hornbeam, per RA’s requirement to plant a replacement for a live black locust that was removed earlier in the year.
In addition, Meadows Farms sent an inspector to look at plants that died or are struggling as a result of our recent drought. Next spring, they will replace a sweet bay magnolia tree, a holly tree, and four shrubs at no cost (because they were bought less than a year ago), and they will also give us credit for eight other shrubs (bought more than a year ago) if we pay the labor as well as credit for a tree that we will not replace but use to help pay for the labor on other replacement plants.
In addition, volunteers have been watering plants installed this fall and earlier in the year.
See the article on Volunteers for the names of our volunteers, whose contributions reduce the cost of landscape services.
19 Shrubs, 6 grasses, and 52 perennials for the Pollinator Garden:
We have a few projects in mind for the next year; most of these can be handled by volunteers. Please let us know if you are interested in helping with any of the following projects:
As for projects needing professional assistance, we are reviewing a proposal to install five new disconnect boxes (replace fuses with breakers).
Finally, we plan to continue to treat our common lawn area by the lake with goose repellant, which so far has been quite effective. We expect the new pollinator garden to aid the goose problem, as the foliage will help obstruct their view of the lake. We will continue to monitor (and clean up). Thanks to all those who help to clean up the droppings; please feel free to lend a hand (there are brooms behind 1939 and 1925 Lakeport Way).
Want to join some of your neighbors and talk about a good book? Lakeport has an informal book club that is always open to new members. We meet monthly on the third Monday from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., rotating among members’ homes.
So what has the Lakeport Book Club been reading recently?
Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman
The Island of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak
If these books look interesting and you want to join the book club or have questions, contact Barbara Khan at bskhan@att.net.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Contact the board via email: Board@lakeportcluster.org
What Residents and Board Can Expect
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Architectural Standards Committee - Jerry Beiter
Landscape Committee – Mary Sapp
Maintenance Committee – Jonathan Hammer
Neighborhood Watch Committee – Chuck Foster
Social Committee – Robin Kolko and Marcy Foster
OTHER VOLUNTEERS
Webmaster and Listserv Administrator – Tom Barnett
Editor for Ripples, community newsletter – Stephen Sapp
Book Club Coordinator – Barbara Khan
Fill doggie-bag stations – Kevin Burke and Steven Browning
Keep community dock clean – Jonathan Hammer
SELECT COMMUNITY SERVICES
Portfolio Manager: Alexandra "Ali" Long
Email: along@scs-management.com
Direct: (703) 230-8725
Fax: (703) 266-2804
PO Box 221350
Chantilly, VA 20153
Hours: Monday-Thursday 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.mm, Friday 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Website: https://app.townsq.io/login
RESTON ASSOCIATION
Danielle Myers
Covenants Advisor
phone: (703) 435-6559
By Chuck Foster, Chair
This situation reminds us of the importance of deterrence through a variety of means. The website lakeportcluster.org has a tab labeled “Neighborhood Watch.” On that page, you will find a link to an article with the title “Profile of a Burglar.” In that article you will find the technical definition of burglary and two studies that discuss the mindsets and methods of burglars, as provided by inmates.
Burglars seek to avoid confrontation and wish to exit a residence quietly and quickly. There are things you can do to make your home an unattractive target. Below is a summary of tactics:
By Kevin Burke
But the decision to add solar panels to an existing house is a complicated one. It is especially complex when the homes, like Lakeport’s, are over 30 years old and considerable effort has been devoted to preserving the tree canopy that shades the community’s homes from the sun. However, four Lakeport homeowners have made the leap to solar. Their experiences have been mostly positive.
Installation of solar panels is not inexpensive, but solar panels reduce and possibly even eliminate the homeowner’s monthly electric bill. In addition, the power company provides a payback (called the SREC for Solar and Renewable Energy Certificate) to the homeowner for the electricity each home feeds to the power grid. Moreover, the federal government provides a tax credit of thirty percent of the cost of the installation of most solar panels. Fairfax County also builds in a discount of the home’s real estate assessment for tax purposes.
A longer-term economic benefit is an increase in the market value of the house. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that this increase is about four percent on average nationally. This may boost the cost of home insurance, but most installers provide warranties of up to 25 years on solar equipment, along with maintenance and workmanship warranties. These may reduce or eliminate insurance claims. Finally, the financing options that some vendors offer could spread out payments with low interest rates.
The use of solar will reduce the house’s carbon footprint, though not necessarily the power company’s. Although electric utilities have committed to using more solar and renewable energy sources, they still rely on coal, oil, and natural gas to generate much of the electricity. Yet it is true that residential solar systems decrease the need for large electric-generating facilities that the power companies would otherwise build to meet growing power demands.
There are some drawbacks to residential solar power to consider. Obviously, solar panels can generate power only in daylight. Cloudy days, nighttime hours, and tree shading mean that each solar house must either store electricity in a battery array or depend on the electric company to supply electricity when sufficient sunlight is unavailable. The former alternative of a battery array is expensive (as much as $8,000 per battery) and generally does not store enough electricity to power everything in the home. The latter alternative of depending on the power company means that solar energy systems do not eliminate the demand on the power company for infrastructure and non-solar power sources.
Indeed, some argue that individual solar-generated power provides a disincentive for power companies to reduce their use of fossil fuels. Because residential solar does not diminish infrastructure and resource requirements, the power company’s fixed costs are not reduced. Solar and wind farms, hydroelectric and nuclear power plants, and other non-fossil fuel based power sources do not always provide the reliability and economics that consumers require.
Nonetheless, residential solar does assist the power company in meeting peak power needs. Given the massive search for electricity going to power-hungry data centers and other facilities related to the expanding use of artificial intelligence, it will be quite a while before power companies do not need reductions in the demand for electricity in the residential sector.
After understanding your home’s exposure to the sun, consider the cost of installation, which varies for each house. According to EnergySage, the average solar panel cost in Virginia is $2.89 per watt. If a five-kilowatt system is installed, it will cost between $12,264 and $16,592, with an average of $14,428. This is a state-wide estimate; the cost in Lakeport is higher. The payback in reduced energy bills takes anywhere from five to twenty years, depending on individual usage. However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that if the homeowner’s average electric bill is less than $117 per month, the total installation cost probably will not be completely recoverable.
If your house is suitable for solar and you have chosen an installer, determine the best payment option: cash? short-term financing? bank financing? Be sure to have secured all proper permits, including those of the County, Reston Association, and Lakeport Cluster. The vendor will complete the necessary permits or will inform the customer how to do so. Dominion Energy needs to know of the installation.
Lakeport residents have been pleased with the solarization of their homes. They report their solar systems are producing sixty to eighty percent of the electricity they use on average annually. In some months (usually spring and summer), they produce more electricity than they can use and receive payments of as much as $250 in the summer quarter and up to $750 a year. One resident estimated that the household electric bill fell from about $2,300 a year to $900. The only drawback for these residents was the initial cost—as much as $40,000 before the thirty percent federal tax credit.
The four installations were done by different vendors: a general contractor, the Dominion Energy subsidiary, and local specialty installers. All included extensive warranties on their materials and workmanship. Solar panels generally need minimal maintenance and they are monitored electronically by the vendor. In one case a Lakeport home had squirrel damage to wiring that the vendor identified and repaired (this resident strongly recommends including “critter care” protection with any solar panels). In another case, a vendor notified a Lakeport resident that some panel connections were not functioning; the vendor repaired them in short order. In all four cases, the homeowners have apps that allow them to review usage and payment data in real time.
The Lakeport residents described installation as taking several months. After each contract was signed, the vendors initiated the paperwork with the County and the utility company. Securing approval of the Reston Association and the Cluster was the responsibility of the residents. With completion of the paperwork, which took up to four months, installation was scheduled, usually within a month or two, and took a single day to accomplish. Subsequently, the County inspected the work, which might add another few days or two months to the process, depending on the inspector’s availability. Finally, Dominion Energy turned on the system. One resident advised anyone looking to install a solar system to count on about six months and to time the process to be completed in the spring to maximize the utility payments for the excess electricity because the winter months typically provide the lowest payments.
Additional Resources:
Virginia Renewable Energy Certificates: https://www.scc.virginia.gov/pages/RECs
Fairfax County Tax Abatement: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/taxes/relief/real-estate-solar-equipment
If you are planning to make any changes to the exterior of your home (even in an emergency situation), you MUST consult the Lakeport Design Standards and comply with them. Be aware that you also may have to seek approval from Reston Association’s Design Review Board.
If you think you have a valid reason to deviate from the standards, you must consult with the Lakeport Board BEFORE you begin any repairs/modifications. The Board has noted several cases where non-conforming work was done without consulting either the standards or the Board. At least one owner did expensive “re-work”—don’t let that happen to you!
Note also that owners and residents should not trim trees on common property without consulting the Board, and you are not allowed to remove or add trees on common property or to add, remove, or modify other plants in common areas without the permission of the Landscape Committee.
Improve Lighting in Lakeport: Even though it still stays light late and becomes light early, please leave your outdoor lights on at night. A well-lit community is one of the most basic measures we can take to ensure the safety of our residents and the security of our property. This is of course voluntary, but doing this one small thing is a gracious contribution to the overall safety and attractiveness of our community.
Snow and ice removal: The Lakeport Handbook states that “Residents are asked to remove snow from the sidewalks in front of their homes for safety reasons.” We also encourage everyone to help their neighbors whenever possible. And please remember to be cautious while walking (or driving) on snow/ice.
Important: As you think about maintenance and possible changes to the exterior of your home, be sure to check Lakeport Standards, and if a relevant Lakeport standard doesn’t exist, you need to follow the appropriate Reston Association (RA) Guideline. Links to Lakeport and RA architectural requirements, the DRB application, discussion of RA’s counterintuitive party-wall rules, and resources for landscaping and replacement trees (required by RA if you remove a tree) are all available in Section A at https://www.lakeportcluster.org/p/documents.html.Maintenance Resources: Be sure to review the Preventive Maintenance Checklist in this issue for smaller maintenance projects that could save you major expenses and headaches in the future. And remember that RA has arranged with Sherwin-Williams for a discount of 30% to 40% off paints and stains (exterior and interior) and 15% off paint supplies at Sherwin-Williams store #3385, located at 495A Elden Street in Herndon (703-471-1484). If you want to take advantage of the discount, the code is 2214-8496-7. Washington Consumer Checkbook is a publication available online (www.checkbook.org) that offers a huge user-friendly database of reviews of many types of local service providers, along with high-quality advice about how to approach selecting and working with them.
You Must Replace Any Tree You Remove: If you plan to remove a live tree on your property, you need approval from Reston Association. Furthermore, if you will remove or have recently removed a tree (dead or alive), RA requires that you replace it with another tree, preferably a native. RA has several resources for finding a replacement tree. See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a1epMYHN4gx8EB7l_K68ewk8bZnXnh1-/view
Party Walls: Although sometimes counterintuitive, the RA Deeds make the repair of any architectural element that falls on the property line between two houses (e.g., wall, trim, fence) a joint responsibility. If you aren’t sure whose responsibility it is to pay for the repair or replacement of a shared wall or trim, please see https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxSpjzCTaI6Jd0xnbEZEcEhLT3NiWjRKODNlZDBtTWdRdTBJ/view for information relating to party walls.
Lock your cars: If you park your car outside, be sure to lock it and do not leave valuables visible, especially at night. Also remind guests to do the same.
Geese: We continue to experience problems with goose poop on our dock. We are paying Complete Landscaping to apply FlightControl, which appears to be effective in deterring (but not harming) the geese that eat the grass next to the dock. Please do not feed the geese (not only does this attract them, it’s not healthy for them), but do feel free to shoo them off the dock (just be sure not to harm them or allow them to attack you—we just want to make their time on our dock unpleasant enough that they will choose to hang out somewhere else!). It would be appreciated if you could help sweep the dock (there are brooms behind 1939 and 1925 Lakeport Way that you are encouraged to use).
Update Your Contact Information: Please go to the Lakeport Directory https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cDbDkFYfbO2WSPv6lcy2iZpeFgepMEjc/view PW=lakespray) and check the contact information listed there for you. If a correction is needed, either 1) send an email to webmaster@lakeportcluster.org and copy along@scs-management.com or 2) fill out the form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFILfWGBoWIgWlBPSQmIKj4kIX0kPA7XsRjnsaOsNXuvVSkw/viewform. If your home has renters, please ask them to fill out the form to be listed in the directory. Remember also that if you need to contact a neighbor or just remember someone’s name you have forgotten, you can always check this directory.
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