2007 News

12/30/07-  Resident Survey
10/31/07- Lower MUD Rate	11/15/07-  Crime Watch
10/13/07- Trail & WFD open house	9/10/07-  Sports Bar
9/9/07-  Greenhouse Extension	8/6/07-  Sports Bar
7/26/07-BR Update	6/26/07-BR Update
6/1/07-BR Update	5/23/07-BR Update
4/15/07-BR Update	4/7/07-BR Update

2006 News Items	2005 News Items	2004 News Items
2003 News Items	2002 News Items	2001 News Items
	2000 News Items

The ratings and comments will give the Association's Board of Directors a good bit to discuss in the coming year, and new & confirmed ideas about what's important and what we can do to make this community a better one. We have already drafted a letter to Congressman McCaul regarding some of the failures in our mail delivery, and will likely announce changes in our pool management company in the weeks to come.

But, I think the main message of the survey is that we a community of residents that value each other & take a sense of pride in the way that we maintain our private & communal property. There are shortcomings, to be sure, and a clear sense that the developments around us are a concern. I was heartened by the overwhelming sense of ownership in a set of common values, and a sense of joy in our neighbors and friends that live within our midst. As we move into the new year, renew your sense of pride in our neighborhood and work to defend the common values that make us a community. We do have something special.

The Board of Directors Barkers Ridge HOA
Judith McGlaughlin
Victor Treat
Margaret Moore
Morris Bennett
Larry Laurie

P.S. And please, be safe on New Year's Eve & New Year's Day, and think about your poor neighbors who have to wake up to their 4 a.m. alarms on January 2!

Criminal Activity in Barkers Ridge
While we normally communicate neighborhood watch issues directly with your block captains, there was an increase in the number of burglaries in the month of September. More recently, we have reports of suspicious activity, including an Internet Service Provider asking to enter a home to check for “signal leaks” and, last night, door-to-door solicitations by a number of individuals representing “cleaning supplies”. One resident did call the constables, but the van and its inhabitants had left the neighborhood by the time the constables arrived.

As we enter the holiday season, we can’t emphasize the following points enough:

• Your best defense against criminal activity is just being aware it can happen. Protect yourself by doing the simple things: keep your garage door closed, the doors of your vehicle locked and parked in your driveway, not on the street.
• Solicitors cannot be arrested – there is no crime – but you can call the constables to encourage the solicitors to move to another area. Solicitors don’t usually like to have conflicts with our law enforcement personnel, and will generally leave.
• Don’t wait for someone else to call – you do it! (281-463-6666).
• Please don’t let anyone into your house until his identify is verified. Call the constables if you’re not sure what to do.
• Please don’t let your children answer the door when you are not home.
  Contact your block captain for a Vacation Watch form, which allows your house to be monitored while you are away on Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday.
• If you received vehicle decals from your block captain, please place them on the rear window (driver’s side), to show that your car or truck belongs in this community.

For those of you on Canyon River Lane and Autumn Bridge Lane, we did have an incident where the constables were following up on a warrant to apprehend an individual. This individual attempted to elude the officers and a pursuit followed. Thanks to some excellent work by the constables, this individual was arrested. I have no details on the nature of the warrant.


Substandard Siding on Some Homes in Barkers Ridge
Through the investigative work by one of our residents, we have learned that some of the original builders in Barkers Ridge used substandard siding in the construction of new homes. If you believe that your home may be one of those affected, below is a link from Georgia Pacific, the manufacturer of the siding products.
http://www.gp.com/build/pageviewer.aspx?repository=bp&elementid=7532

From www.sidingsolutions.com/pages/classtat.htm, the following background information is provided:

Georgia Pacific (GP) Hard Board Siding had two products: Jarrett and Catawba siding involved in a class action lawsuit. This involved Jarrett siding that was manufactured at the Jarratt, Va, plant between 1979 and 1987 only. Georgia Pacific stopped making siding at that plant in 1987 because it did not meet expectations. The Catawba Siding was a better product but was lumped into the class action because it too is a hardboard siding. According to Georgia Pacific Representatives this siding did not have the defects found in Jarrett siding. It is still being manufactured at the Catawba plant.

To participate in this class action you would have had to opt-in by August 18, 1998. Many of you were probably unaware of this. However you still maybe able to file a warranty claim by calling 1-800-284-5347. Opting into the class action has closed now. The deadline for filing a claim pursuant to the nationwide GP Catawba and Jarret hardboard siding class action settlement was January 2000. To find out if a property had been opted in for a future claim call 1-404-652-8371.

For those who have defective siding covered by GP, you will need to know the brand and style of siding used. This can be obtained by removing the siding from your home if you are replacing that siding, or contacting the builder who may keep records. Katie Schlett from Crest Management has been able to reach a representative of Plantation Homes, and such records are kept. She has not been able to obtain the same cooperation from the other builders. If you suspect that your siding is defective, please contact Plantation Homes directly (713-952-6767, ask for Jackie). You may be eligible for a 15% rebate on replacement siding from Georgia Pacific.

This discovery also puts into perspective issues regarding maintenance. If your siding is defective, painting it may not be addressing the underlying issues, and replacement may need to be considered.
 

Neighbors & fellow residents,

We’re hoping that you are enjoying the beautiful fall weather. With the bright sunlight, low humidity & clear air, the Barkers Ridge community looks especially beautiful and well-maintained. My thanks to you all for the care that you show your neighbors and community.

Thanks also to the block captains who distributed the newsletter & updated telephone directories. They should be getting you new Barkers Ridge vehicle stickers to identify your car as “belonging” in the ‘hood. These guys are super assets to our community: in last Thursday’s Houston Chronicle (Katy section), there was an article about Cinco Ranch beginning to build the network & program that we have enjoyed for these many years. Don’t forget to recognize & thank your block captain for standing up for your section.

If you did not receive a newsletter, you can download one from www.barkersridge.org, thanks to Steve Crane’s continued & tireless updates to this site. Here’s a couple of news items to fill in in the aftermath of the newsletter’s release ~


MUD Rate Lower for 2008
MUD President Larry Biediger announced the decline, but the official notice did not appear in the Chronicle until last week. I’ve attached a copy of this notice, and reiterate Larry’s message that “Last year, the 2006 tax base was $208.7 million. As a result, the district’s financial advisor, RBC Dain Rauscher, proposed to the district’s board a reduction of 2 cents in the 2007 tax rate, which the board unanimously approved. Therefore, the MUD board is happy to report that for the 6th year in a row, our MUD taxes have been reduced. The tax rate for 2007 will be 73 cents per $100 assessed value.” Click HERE for the public statement.


MCHS Craft Show
Pam Crenwelge & Celia Christie asked me to report that the MCHS Martinette Drill Team will hold its “Christmas on the Creek” craft show on Saturday, December 1. If there are potential crafters that would like to have a booth at the fair, contact Pam at 281-398-8930 for an application.


U.S. Postal Service
A number of sections in Barkers Ridge noted that there was a noticeable absence of mail service in the two days following Columbus Day. One of our residents contacted Congressman McCaul’s office, and they will act in our behalf if there are continued problems. Call Matt at 281-398-1247 in Mr. McCaul’s office if you have significant disruptions or failures in your mail service. We’ve also included questions in our resident survey to attempt to provide Mr. McCaul’s office with a performance assessment from a community level.

10/13/07 Update

I wanted to thank our block captains for distributing the Fall 2007 newsletter as well as the new telephone directory. If you have not received yours, it may be because your block captain hasn’t had a chance to get them out, or your block is captain-less. Let me know, and I will make sure you get both documents.

For the news that we missed in our newsletter, see below:

Trail Update
The County has started the extension of the trail on the west side of the detention pond by installing light poles. TxDOT, who built the trail and was to turn this over to the County when the trail lights were turned on, has had some trouble getting Centerpoint Energy to the site. The County has stepped in to help TxDOT, and is sending County personnel to meet with Centerpoint. The transfer of the trail from the State to the County is expected to be made at the end of the month.

Westlake Volunteer Fire Department – Open House on October 13
The WVFD will hold an open house on Saturday, October 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Open House will feature a life-flight helicopter, grease fire demonstration, automobile extrication demonstration, fire prevention handouts, blood pressure checks, a fire truck moonwalk, and prizes for the kids.

New Constable Assigned
Deputy Val Wilkerson has been assigned as our contract deputy, replacing Deputy Schultea. She will begin patrolling the neighborhood on Saturday, October 13. If you’d like to meet the new deputy, please let me know.

Resident Surveys
We are eager for you to let us know what you think of the services provided by the HOA through your Annual Dues – the good, the bad, and the in-between. Your block captains have agreed to be the point of collection so that you don’t have to worry with faxing, scanning & the like (if you do wish to fax, Crest’s fax number is below). This is really an important initiative for us: we hope you will complete & add extra comments as you deem appropriate.

Judith McGlaughlin
President | Barkers Ridge HOA
c/o Crest Management Company | 17171 Park Row, Suite 310 | Houston, Texas 77084
Office 281-579-0761
Fax: 281-579-7062

Below is an update on the planned sports bar. Mr. Philip has reconsidered, based on input he received from the four surrounding HOA's as well as Landmark Apartments at Barkers Ridge.

We are of course very encouraged by Mr. Philip's desire to work with our community. I will be happy to forward any correspondence regarding your reaction to him.

Judith McGlaughlin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Abraham Philip
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 5:07 PM
Subject: Re: Sports Bar at Barkers Village stip center.

Judith,

My company has been negotiating with the prospective Sports Bar operator. We paid a lump sum money and canceled his plan start the sports bar. He removed the sign for sports bar and the space is ready for leasing to any prospective tenant.

Please let the community know that we are not leasing for any sports bar. We respect the concerns of the community and greatly appreciate your continued patronage to Barkers Village Strip mall.

As you have once suggested, you can avoid any alcoholic related business in this neighborhood, if you are able to have a educational institution close to the intersection (Barker Cypress @ Morton Rd.)
Regards.

Abraham Philip

Welcome to September & the start of the new school year. After a quiet (and rainy) summer, we have a few updates for our Barkers Ridge residents:

Greenhouse Road Update

At last (and most likely with the help of the new campus for Texas Children's Hospital), the County has negotiated the extension of Greenhouse Road from Saums to Interstate 10. Engineering plans will be finalized in the next few months, and the project will go out for bid in the first quarter of 2008. Perhaps not soon enough for those of you struggling to get to I-10 from Barkers Cypress Road, but there is hope. We understand that Park Row will be extended from Barker Cypress to the new Greenhouse Road, but this project is not as far along in its planning/development.

Fall 2007 Ridge Runner

We are planning our fall issue of the Barkers Ridge newsletter, for publication later this month. If you have any items that you would like to include in the newsletter (including Personal Advertisements, which are free), then please contact me or Gayle Cook (gaylebobcook@hotmail.com). We will also update the directory (vacation plans in June prevented me from getting the new directory to the printer with the summer newsletter). If you would like to validate your listing, let me know & I'll send you the current information. In addition, the distribution of both a newsletter and a directory is a logistics challenge, so we will be looking for volunteers -- including kids requiring community service hours.

Golf Tournament

We understand that Century 21 is holding a charity golf tournament on October 25. Local real estate agents Maria and John Pugh have offered to sponsor two players from Barkers Ridge, and ask you to contact them if you have an interest in playing (maria@besttexashome.com, john@besttexashome.com). There is also a $1,000.00 Scholarship given to one deserving graduating Senior for each High School in the KISD, with the remainder of the funds are distributed to needy families during the Holidays.

Block Captains

We have a limited number of block captain positions open in Barkers Ridge, positions that we will be trying to fill in the next few weeks. Because I know there are not enough positions for all who would like to serve, I will be contacting selected residents in the open blocks to recruit them directly, based upon the interest in the community that they have demonstrated to me. Please consider the invitation an honor to join more than 40 other residents who keep the information flowing through the neighborhood to support our constable services. Thanks to all of you, as well as to our welcoming committee -- including Robin Inzer, Debbie Hinson, and Vanessa Renaud -- who convey the warmth & openness of our community to our new residents.

Take care to all, & have a great new school year!

Judith McGlaughlin
Barkers Ridge HOA

Sports Bar Being Considered for 2919 Barker Cypress Road
 (Southwest corner of Morton Road & Barker Cypress Road)

We have just learned that a sports bar is being considered for the strip shopping center at Morton Road & Barker Cypress Road. If you have concerns about this, please contact the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to record your opposition. The TABC will take into account local support or opposition. However, we have also learned that the applicant is meeting with TABC this week, so your calls have to be made today. Here is the information on this agency; there is a local office in Houston at 713-426-7900.

http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/LicCom/Protest.htm


Apartments at Morton Road & Barker Cypress Not Planned

We have also learned that the land at the northwest corner of Morton Road & Barker Cypress Road has not been sold, and that the initial information from the Addicks MUD was incorrect. However, we have confirmed that there will be an apartment development at Groeshke (the road leading to MCHS) and Barker Cypress. The developer has built & still owns several properties at 290 and Jones Road area, including The Trails at Corinthian Creek and The Trails at Eldridge Parkway.

While many of you have expressed concerns about the new developments, it is critical to begin a dialogue with all stakeholders in our community so that we can maintain and even improve current standards of development along Barker Cypress. Our dialogue with Landmark was very fruitful, and this company was instrumental in helping us gain the information required to contact the new developers.

Judith McGlaughlin
President, Barkers Ridge HOA

Block Party - July 28

Obviously, we are concerned about the weather on Saturday evening, but the plans are to charge forward with the block party at 6p. The meat is out of the freezer & thawing, and there’s just no going back now. We also checked with the band & the clown, and there is no opportunity for a rain date. So, continue to plan on coming to the event on Saturday night. We’ve been rained out twice this year (Easter & 4th of July); with any luck (and lots of hope) we’ll have clear weather on Saturday, if not a bit steamy.

Again, bring your lawn chairs & something to drink. Thanks go to the Pugh’s (who were the ones that put up the flags for every home in Barkers Ridge on the 4th of July, who will be donating lots of bottled water, and to Sysco Corporation, who donated the hot dogs & meat. Block organizers & residents extraordinaire are Debbie Hinson & Luke Scott (who will start cooking at 5a on Saturday), Eddie & Silvia LaMar, Candy Herzing, and a number of other folks (whose identities will be revealed in future correspondence) who have made donations to this event.

All we need now, is you!


Apartment Update

The HOA presidents from Barkers Ridge, Estates of Cullen Park, Oak Ridge, & Silvermill met with the property manager & executive vice-president of Landmark Management Company – and have excellent information to report, which we will outline in the next newsletter. However, some of the highlights in my mind were 1) the quality of the units that we toured, 2) the high criteria used in approving an applicant (including the requirement for an applicant income three times the monthly rent to quality, and rents go to $1,350/month for a three bedroom unit), 3) strong prior experience by the apartment manager (who managed Bent Tree Apartments on Park Row for five years), 4) the a priori decision to include the vacant land on either side of the apartments in its landscaping maintenance agreements, and 5) a desire to work with our community on common issues.

We have learned from the Addicks MUD that another apartment project is planned for the northwest corner of Morton Road & Barker Cypress. I have a call into the Addicks MUD engineer to identify the developer, and plan to meet with his representatives on these same issues – as well as “fence line” issues with Deeds Road residents.


Pool Update

As we have described in past communications, we have made some changes at the pool to address some behavioral problems caused by some of the middle-school age guests. Please let me know if these problems have been resolved. We will definitely be taking up the issue of some of the current pool rules before the next season, and will discuss these issues in the newsletter.
 

National Night Out – August 7

National Night Out is Tuesday, August 7. Our preference is to empower our block captains to hold small block parties to make sure we all know each other, and we have asked Officer Schultea to stop by the parties and introduce himself. For those of you who have come to know Officer Schultea, you have already recognized what an asset he is to our community.

The block captains who will participate will have a flyer soon to let you know about his/her plans. If you want to host a party for your block, but you are not sure if you have a block captain, just send me an email & we’ll work out the details.


Blood Drive - Westlake Volunteer Fire Department

The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center will be conduciting a blood drive on August 11 (Saturday) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Westlake Volunteer Fire Department station on Saums. For more information, contact our good friend Kevin Sitzes at 281-492-0560. The goal is for only 25 donors, which I believe Barkers Ridge by itself can double! I'll see you there!
 

This is a reminder that the 4th of July Bicycle Parade is coming up soon.  Kids of all ages are invited to participate, and there will be a contest for the best-decorated bicycle.  Pedestrians and foot-powered wagons are also welcome.  The only exclusion are motor cycles, which can pose a risk to other participants.   

The parade will start at the Barkers Ridge recreation area for a flag ceremony.  We will then form up at the parking facility adjacent to Barkers Forest Lane, then proceed north on Barkers Forest Lane, west on Appletree Hill Lane, south on Eagle Ridge Way, and then east of Buffalo River Way. After the parade, we’ll have a dedication and appreciate ceremony of the Westlake Fire Department.  There will be sno-cones on hand, as well as a clown to entertain the kids. 

Be sure to join the parade. And, for our patrons on the parade route, we welcome your participation and encouragement of the riders from your front row seats and driveways. Please join us in the festivities. And, if you can move any cars from the street to your driveway for the parade, we’d be most appreciative.

Please join us!

2nd Annual Block Party

Later in July, we will host our second annual block party, a flyer of which is attached. The planning team has a second meeting scheduled for July 8 at 4 p.m. at Debbie Hinson's house - be sure to contact debbiehinson@sbcglobal.net if you can help out.  I know a number of you have indicated you wanted to help out this year, so please get in touch with Debbie. This super group will need every bit of help they can get, and it's not too late to be involved.

If you have access to some donatable items through your work (HEB, Kroger, & the like), please let me know if you can help out in this area as well.

This is a really great way to keep our community's special qualities so special. If you can't volunteer, be sure to bring you & and your family for the festivities.  The team is working to make sure that the block party has entertainment for young & old alike.

Party date is July 28, starting at 6 p.m.  The As-Is Band will start playing at 6:30 p.m.