Reminders

Maintenance of the Exterior of Your Home: As you think about maintenance and possible changes to the exterior of your home in anticipation of Lakeport’s upcoming home-exterior inspections, be sure to check Lakeport Standards, and if a relevant Lakeport standard doesn’t exist, you will need to follow the relevant RA Guideline. Links to Lakeport and RA architectural requirements, the DRB application, discussion of RA’s counter-intuitive 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 edition of Ripples for advice about 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.

You Must Replace Any Tree You Remove: If you plan to remove a live tree on your property, you need approval from Reston Association (RA). Furthermore, if you will remove or 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

and https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f4ch21s6x062qsc/AABzwoLgm7q7-HL-WcrWbmCOa/Native%20and%20Invasive%20Species?dl=0&preview=Trees+in+Reston.pdf&subfolder_nav_tracking=1.    

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. 

Report Suspicious Activity: If you see suspicious activity, don’t confront anybody but instead call the Fairfax County Police non-emergency number, 703-691-2131 (use this number also to report vandalism or any other crime that has already occurred). The police request that even if you just have a “gut feeling” something is wrong, you notify them with as many details as possible. It is helpful if you can also take photos unobtrusively. Police will be dispatched (or you may be able to provide a report over the phone). Also notify Lakeport’s Neighborhood Watch coordinator James Pan at jpamco@gmail.com. Please pay special attention to suspicious activity or sounds near the Lakeport dock, in the woods, or at night.

Improve Lighting in Lakeport: Even though it is staying light later and becoming light earlier, 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. 

Drive Slowly: With the warmer weather, neighborhood children are outside even more now, playing on sidewalks and in the streets. Please remember to drive slowly and keep your eyes out for children (and other pedestrians), who are not always thinking first and foremost about their own safety.

Vistitors: If you have visitors whose car will be parked in common space for more than one night, put a note on the dashboard with your name and address and the dates they will be parked in Lakeport so their car is not towed.

Help Keep Our Community Clean and Beautiful: Please contribute to the appearance of our community by picking up trash anywhere you see it while you are out walking and enjoying nature in Lakeport (and elsewhere).

Geese: e continue to experience problems with goose poop on our dock. Please don’t 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!). And see the Maintenance Committee article in this issue for another very concrete contribution you can make to deal with our goose problem.

Composting. If you are tired of smelly garbage cans and want to reduce the amount of garbage you send to the dump, consider signing up for the compost pickup service offered by Veteran Compost DC–From Combat to Compost, which will turn your food scraps into high-quality compost. The company provides a bin, which has a sealing mechanism that is effective at trapping odors inside. The bin is picked up and replaced once a week with a clean one (currently on Fridays). The group rate for residents of Lakeport is $25 per month. For more information, see https://veterancompostindc.com/ or email Fritz C. Gottschalk (US Army, retired) at Fritz@veterancompost.com. 

Never Again Be Late Paying Your Quarterly Assessment:

 If you’ve been contacted by the Board for not paying your assessment as the end of the month nears (or even if you haven’t), please consider paying your quarterly assessments by direct debit through your bank instead of mailing a check or paying on TownSq (which incurs an extra fee). Doing so means that you never have to worry about incurring late fees because you forgot to make the payment (currently $25 plus the charge from SCS for sending the letter). Alternatively, you can pay the entire assessment at the beginning of the year ($1400 for 2023, no increase from last year). Either approach means the Board doesn’t have to spend time contacting you or pay SCS for mailing quarterly statements to owners who have not set up direct debit or prepaid. A third option for avoiding late fees (but you’ll still get a quarterly statement) is to use your bank’s electronic bill-pay option to set up recurring checks. For information about any of these three options and for mailing checks, go to https://www.lakeportcluster.org/p/hoa-fee-payments-lakeport-cluster-hoa.html. 

Update Your Contact Information: Please go to the Lakeport Directory https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lQmLFN8lmLdfoXajXB-j2ad5whVDsmO9/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.