Snow removal along North, West, East and South Central Park Avenues

The 13 inches of snow we received over the past week and the extreme cold that followed has been a trying experience for everyone.

Even though it may not always have been apparent, the Central Park Master Association's snow removal contractor has been doing his best to keep the Central Park ring roads and entrances as clear as possible as we recover from this "snow emergency". 

During the storm, the roadways were plowed three times and then salted. However, the extreme cold that followed rendered the salt applications ineffective and the salted snow formed an ice pack that was welded to the frozen pavement.  The occasional sunshine during the daytime would warm the ice pack and turn the top layer into slush, which he would then plow away, only to reveal another layer of ice pack that would need to be salted and plowed away once it turned into slush.  After repeated cycles of salting and plowing, as of Friday afternoon January 10th he was finally able to get down to bare pavement in most stretches of the roadway.

As bad as the weather was, the Central Park snow contractor also had to contend with many cars that were parked in the streets in violation of Shelby Township's declared "snow emergency".   Also, he reports that many, many residents were observed blowing and pushing the snow from their driveways out into the street, which is illegal in the State of Michigan.  The additional snow is a safety hazard for motorists and an added burden to our contractor. 

Keeping our streets open is a top priority for the health and safety of all our residents. Emergency vehicles and school buses must be able to safely navigate our streets.

Please do your part to help our community recover as quickly as possible from severe weather conditions. Please put the snow from your driveway onto the lawn areas on either side of the driveways and during a declared "snow emergency", please park your vehicles in your driveway and/or garage.   

Please note that the Central Park parking regulations (listed here) give the Central Park Master Association the authority to have any vehicles towed away at the owner's expense if they are left parked on North, South, East and West Central Park during a declared "snow emergency".

Dec 18th Lombardo meeting

At last evening's meeting, Greg Windingland of Lombardo Homes, Inc. gave a presentation using the information shown on the slides contained in this PDF file.

It is Lombardo's intent to proceed with getting the necessary approvals to develop the "Combined" subdivision layout proposal shown on Page 11 of the PDF.   The new subdivision would be called "Lancaster at Central Park" and it would have approximately 117 lots with nominal dimensions of 60 by 120 feet.  Lancaster would have its own homeowners association and would become the fifth sub-association belonging to the Central Park Master Association.

The "Combined" proposal has numerous advantages over the "Stand-alone" proposal shown on Page 10 of the PDF, however it requires an expansion of the previously defined bounds of the Central Park Planned Unit Development.  Therefore, Lombardo Homes must seek approvals from the boards of the five current associations in Central Park, Grand/Sakwa (the original developer of the Central Park Planned Unit Development) and the Shelby Township Planning Commission.

The discussion following his presentation focused on the following issues:

(A) Types of homes planned to be built - same or similar to those offered at their Lake Arrowhead subdivision near 22 Mile Rd. and Card Rd.; full basement, 2 car attached garage, full brick on all four sides of first level.

(B) Start of Construction - construction of units 1-4 and 16-25 could begin in the second quarter of 2014 since they are the same lots that were previously approved by the Township in 2011 for the original 53 unit Lancaster subdivision. That approval has since expired but Lombardo can get re-approved for these lots without having to wait for the remaining approvals.

(C) Impact on school enrollment and attendance boundaries - Utica Community Schools has an Enrollment Distribution Advisory Committee (EDAC) consisting of parent volunteers which, under the direction of the Director of Pupil Services, receives newly-approved subdivision plats from the Township and analyzes the future impact on enrollments in the elementary and secondary schools. If necessary to avoid overcrowding, the EDAC could recommend that the new subdivision be assigned to different schools than the adjacent subdivisions.  These recommendations would be presented to the School Board and if approved, they would go into effect before the first home is sold in the new subdivision.  In this situation, since the EDAC has already looked at the enrollment impact of the previously-approved 53 unit Lancaster subdivision, they would only be addressing the increase from 53 to about 117 homes.

(D)  New entrance on Van Dyke - will this be a Lancaster Association or CP Master Association commons area?; will it have streetlighting and a decorative wall(s) similar to the entrance at North Central Park?; will the wall contain any signage?; will construction traffic be limited to using this entrance?; can the eastern-most end of the roadway be boulevarded?  It was agreed that these issues will be discussed and worked out in Jan. 2014 between Lombardo and CP Master Association Board members.

Meeting Notice

Meeting Notice

Date: Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Shelby Twp. Municipal Building “Board Room”, 52700 Van Dyke

Subject: Lombardo Homes Inc. proposal for a new subdivision within Central Park

All Central Park residents are invited to come and hear Greg Windingland (VP – Lombardo Homes, Inc.), who will make a presentation and answer your questions about their plans to:

• Add an approx. 13 acre parcel (“B” on the map below) to the Central Park Planned Unit Development. Parcel “B” is the location of the old baseball fields and is immediately east of parcel “A” (the previously approved “Lancaster” sub which is still an overgrown lot with underground utilities and piles of sand)
• Develop parcels “B” and “A” as a single family residential subdivision, which would have its own, new homeowners association that would also become part of the Central Park Master Association. 

Mr. Windingland will show alternative street layouts for the proposed new subdivision, which will have an exit onto Van Dyke just north of the Shelbydale Medical building.  Lombardo Homes is providing this information as a “heads up” to our residents prior to finalizing their proposal and taking it to the Shelby Twp. Planning Commission for approval sometime in early 2014.  While the Township approval process will include a public hearing, the Dec. 18th meeting is your chance to join your association board members in learning about Lombardo’s proposal in an informal setting with the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback while their proposal is still in its early stages.

Signed,

Central Park Master Association Board of Directors

Mike Oakie (Manors)

Harry Blanke (Kensington)

Brian Pesola (Gardens)

Mike Malone (Meadows)

Groundwater Contamination Update

Work has begun on the construction of a Permeable Reactive Barrier (PRB) that is located on the former Visteon plant property and which when completed, will neutralize the TCE contaminants in the groundwater before it leaves the property and flows beneath the adjacent residential area.  More information and photos can be found by clicking on these links:

Permeable Reactive Barrier Work Plan

Permeable Reactive Barrier construction progress

Trenching Equipment arrives

Construction started on new skilled nursing facility

Photo of the construction site taken on Nov. 14, 2013 (click to enlarge)

Construction recently began on Ciena Healthcare's "Regency of Shelby Township" skilled nursing facility, which is on the north side of 22 Mile Rd. just east of the entrance road into Central Park.  Upon completion, the 74,000 square foot facility will contain 116 beds and will offer skilled nursing to long-term patients as well as those needing short-term rehabilitation following surgery.

Ford Field in Shelby Township Found Safe

From the Shelby-Utica Patch:

Ford Field in Shelby Township Found Safe

There are no signs of chemicals from the former Ford-Visteon plant at the Ford Field complex in Shelby Township. (click here to read the entire article)

Board of Directors Election Results

At the 2013 Annual Membership Meeting on April 10, 2013, two new members were elected to the Central Park Master Association's Board of Directors:

• Harry Blancke was elected to a two-year term as the representative of the Kensington Condominium Association, replacing Ted McCoy who declined to run for a third term.
• Mike Oakie was elected to a two-year term as the representative of the Manors Condominium Association, replacing Mike Grobbel who declined to run for a third term.

The new Board held their first meeting on April 29, 2013 and elected their officers for the upcoming year:

• President: Mike Oakie
• Vice-president: Mike Malone
• Secretary: Harry Blancke
• Treasurer: Brian Pesola

Click here to view their contact information along with a map showing the locations of the Kensington, Manors, Meadows and Gardens as well as the Community Areas maintained by the Central Park Master Association.