Newsletter

Reserve Study and Dues 

Early this year we engaged a firm to complete a reserve study.  Not only was this was part of our planning activities but was further necessitated by Maryland House Bill 107 (HB107). HB107 required an audit of property and reserves to establish a baseline for reserve funding to be completed by October of 2023.  A reserve study is conducted by physically accessing the property, assessing remaining useful life of core common area components, and assigns a value and approximate timeline for repair or replacement.

Initial findings in the reserve study identified our decks, framing, and the 1^st and 2^nd floor exterior wood walkways are reaching the end of useful life.  We subsequently engaged an engineer to provide an estimate of remaining end of useful life and ensure we had no significant safety concerns that should be addressed more immediately. The engineer did not find any items of immediate concern in his scope of evaluation, however; as expected, the decks are reaching end of life.  While we wait on the final report from the engineer, it is clear that we need to begin the funding process immediately of what will be a significant project at Jockey Beach Club.

Our reserve study estimates the replacement costs for all 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd floor decks to be in the range of $1.3M to $1.7M.  Based on preliminary discussions with the engineer, we expect the work can be started in 5 years.  This will necessitate an increase of dues from the current $1800 per year to $3600 per year.  Due to the increase amount and just coming off the holidays we intend to ramp up this year to $2700 and divide payments from the traditional TWO invoices to THREE, each $900 per invoice.  In 2025 we will return to 2 Invoices at the new rate of $1800 per invoice.

Please note, a lot more work is ahead to get to a more finite project cost, the initial project estimates can go up or down based on a number of factors.  Our next step, after receipt of the engineer’s final report, will be to get updated engineering designs and blueprints for all 3 buildings.  Once we have blueprints, we can issue a Request for Information (RFI) to prospective construction companies to get initial cost estimates, getting us closer to a realistic price and timing of the project. 

In preparation for the formal bid we will provide unit owners with the various options for consideration.  This will include the various options from treated lumber to composite materials, each unit owner will be given an opportunity to select their preference, the choice of the majority will account for our path forward. The final design and material selection will put to bid, closer to the project date, and final selection will be made, contracts put in place, oversight etc.…  The bottom line is there is great deal of work to do, and we will continue to provide progress and estimated timelines via our website and email communications.

The current version of the Reserve Study can be found HERE