Category: News

Road Improvements and Maintenance

Hi Neighbors,
It has been a while since our last update and the road committee would like to give everyone an update on the road.

First, we hope this update finds you and your families well and safe during these unprecedented times. If you find yourself in need, please reach out and we will support you!

Since our last update we made some significant grading and drainage improvements to the road. Most notably, was the addition of several truckloads of large stone to support the road and slow the water erosion. This work has held up very well only requiring some touching up just this last weekend. A big thank you to BJ Brixius for having his crew perform the work and provide such excellent results for the neighborhood!

This last weekend we also tried out a new contractor to perform some touch up work and dig out a clogged culvert in front of the Johnson’s house. We are hoping to have a more diverse base of contractors to call upon so we can ensure rapid responses and quality results, at economical prices.

As we get into the summer months we plan on continuing to add material to the road when we can get it for a discount. We were not able to put new millings down along the entire length of the road last summer, so will focus on areas that were skipped then.

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Budget Update

Thank you to all the neighbors that have contributed to the road fund this year, your contributions help ensure we can have a safe, well-maintained road.

Overall we are in rough shape financially. If there were to be a bad washout or other major problem we would not be able to address it with the limited funds on hand. We also can’t commit to any long term major improvements with the limited balance. The good news is there are still many neighbors who have not sent in their dues yet, so if we receive those payments then we will be in a much safer position.

We understand that some families may have been economically impacted by the government imposed restrictions we are currently under, so if you can only spare a portion of the dues at this time, that is still greatly appreciated and helps us keep the road great! If you have sent a check in recently and don’t see your name on the list, we will update it soon. It has just been delayed due to the lock down situation.

If you have any questions or comments about the operations of the road committee, please do not hesitate to reach out and we will be happy to address them!
We can be reached directly here.

2020 Summary as of 5/13/2020:

Expenses to date: $7,800.01
Income to date: $11,400 + $1,300 in pending deposits
Road Fund Balance: $10,157.39
Total Dues Paying Neighbors: 25
Total Neighbors that paid 2019 but not 2020 yet: 13

If you have not yet sent in your 2020 dues ($550), please send them ASAP to:Goose Creek Farms Road Committee
PO Box 604
Leesburg, VA 20176

Below you can find an updated 2020 accounting and list of contributing neighbors.

Ledger:

12/16/19	2 Residents Road dues for 2020		$1,100.00	$6,727.40
12/17/2019	Board Insurance	$370.00		$6,357.40
12/30/2019	3 Residents Road dues for 2020		$1,650.00	$8,007.40
1/2/2020	7 Residents Road dues for 2020		$3,850.00	$11,857.40
1/7/2020	Stamps & Envelopes for 2020 dues	$37.50		$11,819.90
1/13/2020	AW Smith, Repair Potholes	$1,040.00		$10,779.90
1/31/2020	4 Residents Road Dues for 2020		$1,850.00	$12,629.90
2/27/2020	BJ Brixius – Stone for HIll	$752.51		$11,877.39
2/27/2020	Village Lanscapes & Irrigation, Inc. – 4 days Road Repair/Grading	$4,050.00		$7,827.39
2/27/2020	The Cincinnati Insurance Companies – 2 qtr payment	$345.00		$7,482.39
2/29/2020	3 Residents Road Dues for 2020		$1,600.00	$9,082.39
3/10/2020	2 Residents Road Dues for 2020		$1,350.00	$10,432.39
5/12/2020	Bike Money Porter – Road Repair/Culvert Clean Out	$1,575.00		$8,857.39
5/13/2020	3 Residents Road Dues for 2020 (Pending Deposit)		$1,300.00	$10,157.39

Dues Paying Neighbors:

John Reynolds

David & Marilyn (Missy) Pickett

Fred & Nancy Hinke

Robert Joseph (BJ) Brixius

Mike & Trisha Victor

Scott Butler & Lisa Stehman

Brad & Kathy Brown

Jim & Pam Conway

Kerry Koritko & Ingrid Gudnadottir

Laurel & Gus Muller

Marc & Abby Seeley

Harley & Adrienne Green

John & Tina Isom

Jim & Monica Lambert

James & Faith Cha

Henry Becker

Mary Alice Crawford

Cory & Deb Weaver

Deb Matthews & Che Larson

Sara & Chris Cook

George & Hazel Coupar

Allison Chin

Jonathan & Ashley Sawyer

Tim & Patricia Adams

Ava & Neil Abramowitz

Hi Neighbors,
It seems there has been some confusion and complaints made regarding the condition of the road and apparent “inaction” to fix it.
Please allow us to remind everyone of what was communicated in past newsletters and inform you of the latest plans. 

First I’d like to say I’m sorry if I as part of the road committee have not clearly communicated our plans or how to reach out to us when you have concerns. I thought we wrote in the September road newsletter that we were in a holding pattern for the remainder of 2019 due to lack of funds for the road, and that work/repairs would continue once we received 2020 dues (https://goosecreekfarms.xyz/how-do-you-like-the-new-road/). I also thought that we asked for input such as ideas and suggestions with an email address/link to contact us in the last newsletter (https://goosecreekfarms.xyz/december-2019-newsletter/) where we reminded everyone to send in their 2020 dues so that we could commence repairs and work on the road, yet to until this evening had received ZERO feedback or comments.

As soon as Cory checked the PO box and received the first trickle of 2020 dues he let us know and we contacted our road contractor over the weekend to get on his schedule to fix the road, he has told us he will be back in town on Jan 6th, so we should hear more then. We could not make fixes to the road any sooner without putting ourselves in extreme risk of running completely out of funds, as we clearly communicated in prior newsletters. No one on the committee wants the road to not be fixed or enjoys driving over pot holes, but we also cannot spend money we don’t have! Also to specifically address comments regarding paying “more for less”, yes we have to all pay more for less because labor and material costs more. So to make forward improvement progress it costs even more. If we kept hobbling along as we did in the past, we would already be out of money as we have clearly communicated and shared in every newsletter with the full accounting of our income and expenses. 

If any of you have ideas on ways we can more efficiently keep the road repaired or would like to volunteer your time to make improvements to the road please let the committee know directly via our email and we would be more than happy to coordinate with you. If any of you would like to try and find another road contractor to make repairs we are in no way locked into AW other than it took us months to cultivate a relationship with him and he is one of the few contractors willing to show up to work here for a reasonable fee. I’d be happy to coordinate with you if you find someone else and want to facilitate them making repairs. If you want to get a quote from someone we can act very quickly to vote and approve the job and disburse payment. Thank you to Scott Butler who volunteered to get some additional quotes for repairing the road, we look forward to seeing those!

All of us on the committee are doing the best we can with the resources the neighborhood gives us and balancing it with our own personal lives. If that is not sufficient in anyone’s opinion then I am sure any of us would be more than happy to exchange positions and let someone else take over. Yet every time we have called for volunteers, to take over positions we hear nothing. While the road is in very bad condition now, parts of it that we made major improvements to (the hill to the mirror) are actually in great shape considering how long it has been and how much rain we have received. We were unable to get the machinery needed to do the full road grading that we discussed at the in-person meeting this summer, and couldn’t afford it with the funds we had even if we could in 2019, so we did the best we could with the material and resources we had. We did get that dirt packer/roller and it has made the hill much better for much longer than in years past, especially given the increased traffic on the road due to more frequent deliveries and additional residents in the neighborhood.

As your friend and neighbor, I do want to say that I do not think it is constructive or helps the neighborhood to have these public dramatic exchanges when it is as simple as a text, call, or email to anyone on the road committee and you will have direct access to the very latest information and be empowered to take appropriate action. Especially those of you who have lived in the neighborhood for more than a few years, you know exactly how the road committee operates and our limited funds and how difficult finding contractors that will come out can be.

So please do not hesitate to reach out directly to us next time at the first sign of a concern and we will be happy to do everything in our power to empower you to make the improvements you desire.

Sincerely,
Harley Green
President of the all volunteer Goose Creek Farms Road Committee

Road Dues Due January 2020

Hi Neighbors,
In order to budget and plan accurately for 2020, we asked early in 2019 that dues for 2020 and going forward be given at the beginning of the year. Please let this be your friendly reminder that 2020 dues of $550 per household should now be sent in!

Please send your payments to:
Goose Creek Farms Road Committee
PO Box 604
Leesburg, VA 20176

Plan for 2020

As we discussed at the last road meeting, we plan on using the increased dues to continue maintaining and improving the condition of the road with the goal of being able to provide professional plowing services and eventually support maintenance of the spurs. We did a lot of major work in 2019 and have more to do in 2020 to maintain what we did and build up the sections we were not able to improve in 2019.

If you have ideas or suggestions for 2020, please let us know. We would be happy to hear your input and see how we can all work together to keep our road in excellent condition!

Snow Plowing in 2020

We would really like to provide professional plowing service on the road in 2020 as in 2019 the road was severely damaged by some neighbors plowing. While everyone appreciates the volunteering spirit of the neighborhood, if the road is plowed improperly, the damage to the road can cost far more to repair than the cost of professional plowing service. Please realize that the plowing can only be provided if we receive the increased dues ASAP. Our primary road contractor has offered to provide plowing services for $200/trip with the option to sand for $800.

Current Financial Status Update

In 2019 we received $14,600 in dues contributions. The good news is that is an increase in contributions of $6,200 over 2018! Well done everyone! The bad news is all the work on the road and rising costs of labor, material, and machine rental caused our spending in 2019 to increase from $14,295 in 2018 to $21,760. This operating deficit cannot be sustained and that is a major reason why we all voted and decided on raising the dues to $550 for 2020. Below you can find the 2019 ledger and final listing of contributing neighbors.

Thank you all for supporting the volunteers on the road committee and making 2019 one of the best years for road improvements and neighborhood contributions! We all look forward to continuing to serve the neighborhood in 2020!

–Goose Creek Farms Road Committee
Harley Green, Ashley Sawyer, Mallory Horton, and Cory Weaver
Contact Page

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2019 Ledger

1/30/2019    17 Residents Road dues      $5,950.00  $18,737.41
 2/8/2019    AW Smith Grade, potholes, ditches & sand    $2,515.00      $16,222.41
 2/12/2019    1 Residents Road dues       $350.00    $16,572.41
 2/25/2019    6 Residents Road dues       $2,700.00  $19,272.41
 3/7/2019    AW Smith Grade, potholes, ditches & gravel  $5,826.00      $13,446.41
 3/13/2019    1 Residents Road dues       $350.00    $13,796.41
 3/21/2019    1 Residents Road dues       $350.00    $14,146.41
 4/5/2019    4 Residents Road Dues       $2,000.00  $16,146.41
 4/7/2019    3 Residents Road Dues       $1,050.00  $17,196.41
 6/4/2019    1 Residents Road dues for 2018      $300.00    $17,496.41
 6/4/2019    AW Smith-Regrade road, potholes/ditches $685.00        $16,811.41
 6/12/19    PO Box Annual Fee   $122.00        $16,689.41
 7/11    1 Residents Road dues for 2019      $350.00    $17,039.41
 8/5    1 Residents dues for 2018 & 2019 + $150 for Seeley's       $850.00    $17,889.41
 8/28    Harley (Keith Raymond) 16 loads millimgs    $1,600.00      $16,289.41
 9/5/2019    Keith Raymond 13 loads millimgs $1,300.00      $14,989.41
     VOID            
 9/12/19    AW Smith, Roll & Grade Millings $9,366.01      $5,623.40
 10/23/19    1 Residents dues        $350.00    $5,973.40
 10/28/19    GCF Insurance   $346.00        $5,627.40

2019 Dues Contributing Neighbors

 John Reynolds
 David & Marilyn (Missy) Pickett
 Fred & Nancy Hinke
 John (Chris) West
 Ned & Lisa Wentworth
 Ayampillay (Jey) Jeyanathan
 Ron & Theresa Bohn
 Robert Joseph (BJ) & Jen Brixius
 Mike & Trisha Victor
 Scott Butler & Lisa Stehman
 Brad & Kathy Brown
 Lou & Amy Casciano
 Ed & Jessica Dick
 Jim & Pam Conway
 Dave & Mallory Horton
 Kerry Koritko & Ingrid Gudnadottir
 Laurel & Gus Muller
 Marc & Abby Seeley
 Harley & Adrienne Green
 John & Tina Isom
 Jim & Monica Lambert
 Mike & Jeanne Roush
 James & Faith Cha
 Henry & Kathleen Becker
 Mary Alice Crawford
 Cory & Deb Weaver
 Amy Reynolds
 Deb Matthews & Che Larson
 Sara & Chris Cook
 William McCormick & Sandy Banaszak
 David & Sarah Virts
 David & Janice Judd
 George & Hazel Coupar
 Allison Chin
 Jonathan & Ashley Sawyer
 Tim & Patricia Adams
 Ava & Neil Abramowitz
 Sarah & Tom Shaw, Stacy Orrison

Dear Neighbors,

The road committee would like to share an update on what has been happening with Goose Creek Lane and the financial status of the road fund.

As you know, the current condition of the road was very poor before last week’s fix-up. We have been trying our best to efficiently utilize the limited funds we have to make them last through the year, but we are already close to being out of 2019 dues. We are working with the contractor to setup a long term repair and maintenance plan to get the road in a condition that will not degrade so quickly and would like to discuss this plan with you during a neighborhood road meeting on Sunday, April 7th at 5pm (more details at end of newsletter).

You may have noticed the large potholes and mud that developed in the section of road past the mirror as you drive out prior to the last fix-up. This was caused in large part to poor plowing by a neighbor that plowed snow into the side of the road where we had built the culverts, rather than off to the North side. This caused the snow to melt and drain to the middle of the road and not be able to flow out. Similar road damage occurred in front of the Johnson’s barn where plowing pushed debris into the culvert along the North side of the road, causing rain and snow melt to flow out onto the road, worsening potholes through that section. We would like to ask those that do volunteer their equipment and time, to be conscious of the drainage impacts of your plowing. The last set of road repairs we had last week cost over $5,800!

As mentioned earlier, we are working with our contractor to put together a long term road repair and maintenance plan. This plan will address the continual degradation of the road and put in place major upgrades to prevent the rapid deterioration we have seen in recent years. Part of the proposal also includes a regular snow clearing contract so that the road will not be damaged by neighbors plowing and accidentally creating additional problems. We plan on discussing this plan at the next meeting, which should also be attended by our primary road contractor if he is available. We would like to point out that this plan should bring the road up to a much higher standard and allow us to maintain it at that standard so we do not have to go for weeks and months with the road in nearly impassible conditions.

However, this proposed plan is not cheap. The initial upgrades to bring it up to a higher standard are estimated to be between $10k and $13k, with annual maintenance of $10k. Obviously, we will not be able to execute this plan without additional funds. Quite honestly, as you will see at the end of this letter, we may not even be able to maintain the road for the rest of the year without additional funds. To that end, we would like to hold a neighborhood road meeting to allow for your input on how we maintain the road into the future. Please plan on attending this important meeting:

Road Meeting – Sunday April 7th, 5:00 PM
21100 Grey Fox Lane
Dial -in: Contact us for phone number

During the meeting we will discuss in detail the proposed maintenance and improvement plan and its costs, current financial state of the road fund, road fund improvement plans, and opportunities for helping with the road.

Neighborhood Business Listing

Several neighbors have asked about compiling a list of business and services that our neighbors provide. To help facilitate this we would like to offer any neighbor that is current on road dues the opportunity to have their business/services listed on the website. That way if you need a service you can hopefully find it provided by one of your neighbors. If you would like your business/service listed, please send us an email with your business/service name, a few sentences about what service is provided, website link, and logo image. Then next time we send out a newsletter we will provide a summary of the local businesses as well as a link to our website where they are all listed.

Road Dues

As you are aware the annual GCF road dues for 2019 are now due and were increased, as was discussed and voted on last year, to $350 annually – the first increase in many years. Please consider this your notice and send your $350 dues payments for 2019 as soon as possible to:

Goose Creek Farms Road Committee
PO Box 604
Leesburg, VA 20176

*If you have not yet paid 2018, please send that payment ($300) in as well!

As of the writing of this letter, 26 households out of 45 in the neighborhood have contributed to the road fund in 2019. Thank you to the following 26 families:

• Adams, Tim & Patricia
• Bohn, Ron & Theresa
• Brown, Brad & Kathy
• Cha, James & Faith
• Chin, Allison
• Cook, Sara & Chris
• Coupar, George & Hazel
• Crawford, Mary Alice
• Dick, Edward & Jessica
• Green, Harley & Adrienne
• Hinke, Fred & Nancy
• Horton, Dave & Mallory
• Jeyanathan, Jey
• Isom, John & Christine (Tina)
• Judd, David & Janice
• Koritko, Kerry & Gudnadottir, Ingrid
• Lambert, Jim & Monica
• Larson, Chey & Matthews, Deb
• McCormick, William & Sandra
• Pickett, Dave & Missy
• Roush, Mike & Jeanne
• Sanders, William & Julie
• Sawyer, Jonathan & Ashley
• Victor, Michael Trisha
• Virt, David & Sarah
• Weaver, Cory & Debra

If you do not see your neighbor on the list, we encourage you to please chat with them about the importance of maintaining the road. Encourage them to help contribute so we can keep the road in good condition.

If it is difficult to budget a one-time dues payment, you can always send monthly installments. Any contribution helps and will allow our neighborhood to have a road that is passable.

Another comment that we have heard is that some individuals feel that if they use their personal equipment to plow snow on the road or do other occasional work that they then are absolved from the responsibility of contributing to the road fund. While it is nice when neighbors volunteer their equipment, the road dues are frankly a minimum contribution to a shared community resource. If one chooses to volunteer their equipment outside of coordination with the road committee then that is just being a good neighbor, but does not actually help with the financial requirements of maintaining the road. If you feel something on the road needs to be done that is not happening, please do not just use your own equipment to “fix it” and then feel like the neighborhood is indebted to you so that you do not contribute to the road fund. We have seen too many times that these “fixes” end up causing more damage and financial burden to the road fund. So we ask you to please coordinate with the committee and we can find an optimal way to get the work done, be it some combination of neighbor volunteerism or with paid contractors.

Road Fund

To recap 2018, we spent $13,995 and received $8,400 in contributions; resulting in a net loss of $5,595 and an ending balance of $12,787.

The good news for 2019, is that many of you that did not get your contributions into the fund in 2018, made up for it already this year. To date we have received $9,700 in contributions from the families listed above, well done! The bad news is that in the first three months of 2019 we have had to spend over $8,300 for plowing, sanding, and major road damage repair. That will leave us with just over $1k of contributions to cover ¾ of the year unless we go further into our reserves.

Between now and the scheduled neighborhood road meeting, please think about what might happen to our neighborhood if we do not, as a community, take steps to improve the quality of Goose Creek Lane. If we run out of money and can’t make repairs, services like UPS/FedEx/Amazon/USPS may stop delivering up the road. Friends and family from town may not want to come visit. Cost of maintaining our vehicles due to damage from the road will increase. Property values will decrease or not sell at all.

We are going to do everything we can with the funds available to keep the road in passable condition, but the reality is we may very well run out of money in 2019 if we continue to have the rainy weather like 2018. We look forward to discussing the road plans with you and hope to see each of you at the next meeting!

Best regards,
Harley, Ashley, Mallory, and Cory
GCF Road Committee 2019

Hi Neighbors,
We are having our contractor do major road repairs today. Please try to minimize trips taken to avoid interfering with the work.

We are hopeful that this year we can get more neighbor participation in contributing to the road dues so that we can make more long-term road stability improvements.

A big thank you to everyone who has already mailed your 2019 road dues! We have not yet had a chance to compile the list of current neighbors, but will share that in future newsletters.

As a reminder:
Please send your $350 dues payments for 2019 as soon as possible so we can continue maintaining the road!
Goose Creek Farms Road Committee
PO Box 604
Leesburg, VA 20176

Dear Neighbors,

Here is a summary on the status of the Road Committee as we closed out 2018 and updates for what we plan in 2019.

2018

In 2018 it rained. It rained more. It still kept raining. As a result, we the road suffered. It had washouts, potholes, and mud spots. We did the best we could to keep up with road repairs and even made significant progress fixing underlying issues with washouts in the steep hill section. One of the major projects we worked on was fixing the water drainage and flow issues from the top of the hill down to Lime Kiln. This involved digging a deeper culvert along the side of the road, adding large rocks (riprap) in steep sections of the culverts to slow water flow and protect the road from washing out, fixing persistent potholes, and adding gravel.

Another major effort the road committee had to take on in 2018 was trimming brush back along the road. This is a significant problem for the road and we really appreciate the neighbors who were responsible and cleared back the brush on their own property. However, there were still several property owners who neglected the brush along their property and we had to spend a significant amount of time finding contractors who could do the work at a reasonable cost. Please, take the time this year and keep the brush on your property cut back so that your neighbors can safely drive through and our work crews who maintain the road can do their job.

In 2018 we found a new contractor who also maintains the roads at camp highroad and has been able to provide a lot of great services for us at much less cost than we have had to pay in the past.  For example, we had quotes to trim the brush along the section of road between the hill and the mirror from other contractors that were going to charge nearly as much as AW charged to clear the brush, plus do major road repairs. If you need someone to perform work on your driveway or spur we would recommend calling AW Smith (703-930-9750). Unlike other contractors, he works out in our area often so it is not burdensome for him to come out this way and he has a great understanding of what it takes to maintain and repair gravel roads.

2018 Finances

This is a dark spot for 2018 in our neighborhood. Due to increased labor and material costs along with all the required work on the road due to the rain, we spent nearly $6,000 more in 2018 than we brought in from dues. Obviously we can’t continue to maintain this trend. So as we discussed in newsletters last year and as a result of the dues poll we conducted, we must raise the dues in 2019 from $300 to $350 / year.

2019

The plan in 2019 is to continue to maintain the road as best we can, but we will have to be a lot more restrained with how frequently we make repairs in order to make up for the budget deficit last year.  Even before the deficit last year, the finances of the Road Committee were not where we would like them to be in order to be prepared for handling major road washouts or other costly emergency repairs.

We would also like to thank the neighbors that have volunteered their time and equipment to help with maintaining the road and plowing snow. One request we have for those that do volunteer their time and equipment is to please reach out to us when you plan on working so that we can all coordinate our efforts. Last year, we had situations where members of the Road Committee had taken time off work to meet with contractors and get estimates for work to then have to call and cancel or modify work plans because a neighbor had come along and done some partial road repairs. So please, if you think something urgently needs to happen on the road and are considering taking care of it yourself, please just check-in so that all of our volunteer time and efforts are used efficiently.

Road Dues

As you are aware the annual GCF road dues for 2019 are now due and will be increased, as was discussed and voted on last year, to $350 annually – the first increase in many years. Please consider this your bill notice and send your $350 dues payments for 2019 as soon as possible to:
Goose Creek Farms Road Committee
PO Box 604
Leesburg, VA 20176

*If you have not yet paid 2018, please send that payment ($300) in as well!

We are fortunate to have a community of individuals who work together to ensure the betterment of GCF without having an HOA involved, but that does require the diligence and contribution of all community members.  That being said, there were a large number of residences that failed to contribute their 2018 road dues, which resulted in nearly $6,000 of expenditures in excess of what was contributed in 2018. 

As you are aware, in 2018 we experienced significantly more rain than in prior years, thus there was more need for road repairs.  As a result, it is particularly important that all members of our community participate in the upkeep of our road and the annual contribution of road dues.  Regardless of where you live on GCL, all residents utilize the “hill” to enter and leave the community, which is historically the most costly part of the road to maintain.  Please take this into consideration when deciding whether to contribute road dues to the community. 

In the coming weeks we will be reaching out to each of the delinquent members of the community to determine why dues were not paid in 2018 and to begin the collection process for 2019.  In the meantime, please advise of any questions or concerns by contacting the road committee.

Best regards,

Harley, Ashley, Mallory, and Cory
GCF Road Committee 2019