Annual Review of Books and Accounting

On January 21, 2025, the HFCA Treasurer, Judy Deng, and the HFCA Assistant Treasurer, Tad Weed, performed an annual review of the 2024 HFCA books and accounting practices via Microsoft Teams.

The review included detailed analysis of the accounting practices, financial statement with all income and expenses, receipts/invoices, deposits, and banking statements to include checking and money market accounts. This review is done under the authority and oversight of the HFCA board and in lieu of an audit by CPA firm which would cost the community $4,000-$6,000 a year.

All records and statements are in good order with no concerns. The use of MS Teams along with electronic banking provided increased transparency and efficiency for accounting transactions. Common practice includes every invoice being scrutinized for accuracy, then double reviewed prior to payment being authorized.

2024 Financial Statement Summary

Total Income: $60,586
Total Expense: $60,528
Net: $58

One deposit of $13,473, budgeted and year-end surplus, in the combination of Capital Reserve Fund (money market) and Certification Deposits brought the Capital Reserve Fund balance to $90,845. The Capital Reserve Fund provides resources for repair/replacement of capital items and serves to protect HF residents from additional financial assessments if emergency repairs/replacements are needed that exceed operating funds.

In summary, the 2024 HFCA fiscal year reflected accurate accounting and sound business practices. Therefore, we, the undersigned, offer this annual report with no concerns of the bookkeeping practices, documents and statements for the 2024 fiscal year.

- Judy Deng, Treasurer
- Tad Weed, Asst. Treasurer

Architectural Control Committee Update

- Justin Mensen, ACC Chair

The ACC Approval Process webpage, which contains the application form for ACC Approval of projects that require approval, is located here: https://hickoryfarms.org/acc-approval-process

The governing documents state the ACC has 30 days to review projects, but we are usually much faster than that.
The following projects have been approved since the 2024 annual meeting in October:

• 4278 Country Squire – Install solar panels
• 4371 Harvester Farm – Replace front door and paint shutters
• 10113 Cotton Farm – Storage shed
• 4279 Country Squire – 2 applications to install fence
• 10110 Round Top – Driveway addition & rear living area addition
• 4357 Farm House – Fence, windows, and front porch addition
• 4322 Still Meadow – Roof replacement
• 10025 Wheatfield – Install fence

Overall, the community is generally well kept with most of the architectural issues being minor and simply reflecting normal wear and maintenance cycles for homes that are half a century old. But annual walkthroughs and sending a reasonable number of notifications over the last 2 years seem to have had a positive effect on the appearance and upkeep of the properties in the community with a very small number of exceptions.

Additionally, please review the Property Inspection Checklist and the Hickory Farms ACC procedures located here if you are curious about the walkthrough process: https://hickoryfarms.org/acc-operating-procedures

In September of 2024 during a walkthrough of the community the following issues were noted:

Over half of the houses were noted as having stained or damaged chimneys. If your chimney doesn’t have clean bricks, intact and clean mortar, and a top cover with screen you may want to investigate having a professional service come inspect, clean, and perform any preventive maintenance that may be necessary.

Roughly one third of houses were noted as having stains, mildew, or discoloration of the siding. In many cases this could be addressed by having the house power washed. The Maintenance resources on the Hickory Farms website (https://hickoryfarms.org/home-maintenance) recommend pressure washing the siding every 3-5 years. Notably north facing surfaces tended to have more issues as they get very little direct sunlight.

Roughly one third of the houses were noted as having shutters that were faded or discolored, missing, damaged, or mismatched. A product that has worked well for several neighbors to address this issue is Rust-Oleum, Wipe New Multi-Surface Formula ReCOLOR.

About one fifth of the houses were noted as having roof issues. Typically, these consisted of streaking, staining, and/or warping shingles that may indicate they may need to be replaced to prevent leaks and water damage. Additionally, in very shady parts of the community algae growth was noted as well. There are companies that offer Soft Wash services for roofs to address some of these cosmetic issues without damaging your roof.

About 2 dozen houses were noted as having issues with trees/shrubs most commonly being overgrown with the worst cases being plants that were blocking sidewalks or driveways preventing the use of carports and garages in some cases. There were also houses with noted issues for flowerbeds.

Several carports were noted as having a cluttered, unsightly appearance, or otherwise being used for purposes other than storing vehicles.

Several houses were noted as having issues with windows/trim and/or issues with Louvers/Grills (attic vents).

About 10 percent of houses were noted as having sanitary containers forward of the house in clear violation of the rules and regulations, which state:
Garbage shall be set out only on trash collection days, or the evening prior to scheduled pickup, and shall be removed from street-side on the collection day. This is to maintain an attractive appearance and to avoid attracting rats and raccoons. Sanitary containers shall otherwise not be forward of the house.

Several houses were also noted as having fences that were not approved by the Architectural Control Committee and that don’t comply with the rules and regulations, which can be reviewed here: https://hickoryfarms.org/rules-and-regulations

As a result of this inspection and follow-on discussions among the Architectural Control Committee, 20 property homeowners were notified via letters from the Architectural Control Committee of the need to address issues that negatively impact the appearance of the overall community. Even for those homeowners who were not notified at this time, all the noted issues were recorded to be compared against future inspections. The goal of doing this is to balance giving homeowners a reasonable amount of time to address minor issues against the need to prevent houses from becoming blighted due to not doing proper preventive maintenance and repair work when necessary. Following the 20 letters being delivered, 10 houses resolved the issues to comply with the community standards. An additional 5 have resolved the issues, but the ACC will provide follow-up, so the owners are aware of minor lingering concerns. However, 5 have taken no or insufficient action to address the violations noted for their individual properties, and the ACC will likely have to hold hearings in accordance with the procedures in the governing documents before referring the matter to the Hickory Farms Board who may elect to fine the property owners for continued violations.

Hickory Farms 50th Anniversary Logo Contest

Hickory Farms is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year! We want to recognize this important milestone with an anniversary logo. The celebration planning committee is hosting a logo design contest open to everyone living in the Hickory Farms neighborhood. The contest runs until May 31, 2025, the winner will be selected by the committee and announced in June. The winning logo will be featured on souveniers at the anniversary celebration in September and the winner will receive a $25 gift card.

Design Criteria

Create an orginal logo and tagline that hightlighs Hickory Farms' 50th Anniversary

Deadline

Submissions must be received by May 31st, 2025, at 11:59pm (Late submissions will not be accepted)

Submission

Email the electronic file with your name and contact information to social@hickoryfarms.org For non-electronic formats email for coordination of hard-copy submissions

Eligibility

All Hickory Farms residents, no age limit

Reach out to social@hickoryfarms.org with any questions.

Help Wanted!

- Allie & Steve, Your Neighborhood Watch Coordinators

Join Our Neighborhood Watch / Teens Can Earn Service Hours!

Our Neighborhood Watch has been up and running again for over a year, and we're thrilled that a few families have already joined! But we're looking for more families like yours to help our community.

A Simple Commitment: Just one night per shift, easy to fit into your family's schedule.

Family-Friendly Fun: Whether walking together, taking the dog out, or doing a quick drive, there's a way for everyone to get involved.

New! Teens can earn service hours!: High school students can join thier parent(s) to earn service hour credit!

Join us and take an active role in keeping our neighborhood safe and close-knit!

Contact for more information:
neighborhoodwatch@hickoryfarms.org

Interested in a Community Yard Sale in May?

We’re looking at holding a Community Yard Sale again this year. If we do, Pete Scala will run it, assisted by Jessica DuBois, and we plan to hold it on a Saturday in late May (or early June?), from 8 am to noon. Currently looking at May 17th (from 2018 to 2023 that has been a good weather weekend – last year not so much).

Let Pete know if you want to participate in a Yard Sale. Call or email Pete Scala [(703) 764- 0730 (landline), (703) 909-6341 (text) or scalapr@verizon.net]. Also, if there are problems with doing it on May 17th, let Pete know that, too.

As in past years, HFCA does the advertising, posts signs, and distributes maps showing yard sale locations (but not names). Because we usually have many families participating, we always get a much better customer turnout than single family or 2 or 3 family yard sales.

The way it works is: that Saturday morning you put out your items for sale in your front yard, and shoppers use the map we provide to go to participating houses.

Rabbit Run Remediation Update

- Bob Cosgriff, HFCA Rabbit Run Remediation Project Coordinator

Since the last update in December, 2024, contractors have been busy in the Rabbit Run Resource Protection Area (RPA) surveying and taking soil samples to assist in the design phase of the project. If you should walk through the RPA from Cotton Farm Road to the north path, you will see lots of orange tape hanging off trees and marking tributary watercourses, a sure sign of progress!

The new project officer, Paul Reynolds, has not yet contacted me about a community meeting to discuss the status of the project with the neighborhood. It is probably still a bit early in the process for that. I would expect that perhaps the late spring or early summer will be when Paul might have enough preliminary planning and design information to share with us. Meanwhile, while the field work is being conducted onsite, Paul and his team are working on obtaining necessary construction easements on any properties in Hickory Farms or adjacent to the creek from the Burke Station Road side that will require them. This is typically a time-consuming process as it also involves the County Attorney’s office. Permitting (county, state, and federal) is also another lengthy process that needs to be completed before any construction can begin. So it will be awhile before any actual construction begins—probably not before the end of this year if not sometime in 2026.

So please stay tuned. As soon as there is more concrete information to share, it will be disseminated to the community.

Community Event Announcements!