News Announcements

FIRST NOTICE of the 2022 Annual Meeting & Additional Announcements

Posted on Jul 15th, 2022

Greetings Allegheny Springs Homeowners –

I am writing to provide you with the first notice of the Annual Meeting of the Members of the Allegheny Springs Condominium Association which will be held on Friday, August 5th, 2022 at 5:00pm. More information with instructions on how to participate will be forthcoming.

At the annual meeting, there will be two election classes for Directors of the Board as allowed by the Association’s governing documents; two (2) residential seats and two (2) commercial seats. We invite any interested owners to submit your intent to run for the Board of Directors no later than Friday, July 22nd at 5:00pm EST. We also encourage any owner who runs for the election to submit a one-page biography outlining your background and interest in serving on the Board.

Current directors and their term limits are as follows:

Commercial

Stephanie Dilley, representing Snowshoe Mountain, Inc. – 1 year *

Lauren Rowland, representing the Big V Property Group – 1 year *

Residential

Jeff Matheny – 1 year*

Sharon Thompson – 1 year*

Seth Glinski - 2 years

Adam Kubicki – 3 years

Voras Haynes – 3 years

* indicates board member seat up for election at the annual meeting

Additionally, your Board of Directors recently reviewed and adopted the proposed 2022/2023 budget. This budget must now be ratified by the ownership and will be an agenda item at the annual meeting. A proxy form for your vote for ratification of the budget will be sent out with the annual meeting agenda and election ballot. The average residential increase in dues is 5.6% and average commercial increase is 9.5%. Most changes are related to adjustments in various line items to bring expenses closer to actual figures from the prior year, with the most notable increases being reflected in the propane expense lines.

Additional Announcements

PET POLL: In April, a communication was circulated to the ownership via email asking for your input regarding the allowance of pets at Allegheny Springs. Currently, the condo declaration prohibits pets in the building. [10.15 Animals. No animals of any kind shall be raised, bred or kept on the Property or within any Unit.] The Bylaws of the Association require approval of 67% of all votes allocated to the Units in order to amend the Declaration and the Board wanted to determine if there was enough votes in favor of the change before pursing the exercise of accomplishing an amendment. At the conclusion of the poll, the results were 59% in favor, 41% against allowing pets in the building. This is the second time this poll has been administered in the past 4 years. The Board felt that the results from the poll were not strong enough to support amending the governing documents to allow pets. Please note that this does not relate to the allowance of service animals in the building.
ASSISTANCE ANIMAL POLICY: Furthermore, the Board has met and discussed the increased presence of service animals and emotional support animals in the building. We have found that often times when assistance animals are witnessed in the building, there is confusion related to the provision in the governing documents which prohibits animals and what is permitted under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). In an effort to outline proper guidelines for the health, safety, and welfare of all owners and guests with relation to assistance animals being present in the building, the Board and management team felt it prudent to establish a policy to support the accommodation of assistance animals in accordance with federal and state laws. CLICK HERE for a copy of the Association’s Assistance Animal Policy. Please note that this policy outlines the parameters of what constitutes an assistance animal and all assistance animals present in the building must meet the definitions and follow the guidelines contained within. Management and staff will continue to enforce Article 10.15 with relation to animals present in the building that do not qualify as assistance animals.
CONTRACTOR POLICY: The Board has also adopted a Vendors and Contractors Policy. This policy was born out of the necessity for official guidelines for vendors and contractors performing work within the building in an effort to protect the building, common areas, adjoining units, and the enjoyment of time spent at Allegheny Springs for all owners and guests. This policy also applies to any owners performing their own renovation work. The policy outlines various requirements such as insurance coverage, licensure requirements, allowable work hours, garbage and debris disposal, and other basic guidelines. Owners should provide a copy of this policy to their contractors at the time of engagement. It is incumbent upon unit owners to ensure that their contractors remain compliant with the policy throughout the duration of their work at the property.

Finally, I would like to remind all owners of the Amenity Fee Policy that was implemented in conjunction with the 2020 budget. The purpose of this fee is to offset HOA expenses related to additional wear and tear on the common elements from rental guests. Income from this fee is reflected as a revenue line in the Association’s budget and offsets the impact of expenses to your monthly HOA assessments. The Amenity Fee policy requires that the fee is paid to the HOA by all homeowners (or though extension of their rental agents) based on the number of rented room nights in their respective unit(s). Please note that Snowshoe and Casago collect amenity fees and remit those fees to the HOA on behalf of the unit owners who participate in their rental programs. Homeowners who self-manage their rental units through online booking platforms such as VRBO or Airbnb (or any other rental management platform) are required to remit amenity fees on a monthly basis as outlined in the policy. Failure to remit applicable Amenity Fees to the Association is a violation of HOA policy.

If you have any questions about any of the aforementioned information, please feel free to contact me at meredith@mountainlife.net or 850-797-9058. I look forward to seeing you in August.