Over the last several weeks there has been a lot of comments made on the “Brookwater Residents” Facebook site concerning issues with street trees, landscape maintenance of verges, gardens & parks (who is responsible), expenditure of levy funds etc. Please note the following points from the Brookwater Home Owners Club (BHOC) Committee:-
THE BHOC COMMITTEE
The BHOC Committee is governed by the Body Corporate and Community Management Act in the performance of its duties. The BHOC Committee & Sub Committees are a group of volunteers nominated and appointed by residents of the Brookwater Community. Members donate their time and energy for the betterment and enhancement of the community. Monthly meetings are held by all committees and members are active dealing with issues throughout the month to report back to these meetings. In some instances, members are dealing with ongoing issues on a daily/weekly basis. Residents are actively encouraged to become involved within the community and nominate for positions at the relevant nomination times for your relevant Subsidiary, BHOC and Sub-Committees. Currently there are a number of long-term committee members who continue to volunteer their time due to the lack of residents prepared to nominate for positions. Residents are welcome to attend monthly BHOC Committee meetings by notifying the Body Corporate Manager via the contact details on www.brookwaterhomeownersclub.com.au web page.
THE BROOKWATER HOMEOWNERS CLUB WEB PAGE
(www.brookwaterhomeownersclub.com.au)
The BHOC web page has useful information for residents including Committee Members names, By-Laws, Building & Landscape Regulations, Minutes of meetings including all financial details, etc. Minutes of meetings are password protected for privacy reasons and the password can be obtained by residents requesting it through the Contact Us section of the web page. Any requests for information or residents concerns can be directed to this section of the web page and a response to the enquirer will be forwarded in due course.
PARKS, GARDENS & STREETSCAPING MAINTENANCE
All parks, gardens and streetscaping assets on public land are owned by Ipswich City Council, however, under lease arrangements (that are detailed further on) are maintained by the BHOC. BHOC maintenance activity within designated parks is only carried out on the soft assets e.g. grass cutting, minor pruning, rubbish pick up etc. All hard assets e.g. park equipment, shelters, barbeque repair etc. are the responsibility of ICC. There are some small lots of BHOC land, golf windows etc. that are owned by the BHOC and are totally under the jurisdiction of the BHOC e.g. parkland at Mahogany Rise. The BHOC can elect to install additional facilities for parks and gardens to benefit the community in consultation with Ipswich City Council (ICC). It is a method of giving quality control back to the homeowners and contributes to a culture of community pride. It should be noted that the quantity/quality of gardens, grassed/landscaped areas within Brookwater exceed the minimum requirements of a development of this size within ICC.
As part of the initial community title scheme set up in Brookwater, Springfield Land Corporation negotiated a lease from Ipswich City Council (60 year lease) for the maintenance of Local Council owned verges, footpaths, parks, and entry statements (except the District Park located at Scoparia Dr which is totally maintained by Ipswich City Council and is under the jurisdiction of Ipswich City Council). The lease was arranged and negotiated by the developer for the BHOC to contribute funding and coordinate the ongoing maintenance of landscaped areas throughout the community in lieu of handing the asset back to Council for maintenance. In the Brookwater Scheme, the Developer maintains a newly developed area for 18 months then hands it over the BHOC for the ongoing maintenance as per the original lease. A joint inspection is carried out at the end of the developer maintenance period with the BHOC Committee members prior to handover. During the handover process of assets, there can be a difference of opinion in what has been delivered and the ongoing maintenance issues that will follow. This then requires negotiation between the BHOC and the developer to reach an outcome that is acceptable and at times compromises have to be made.
Levy contributions from each residential lot in Brookwater ensures funds are available to complete the ongoing maintenance/refurbishment issues within Brookwater and so that the quality look, feel and value of the estate are maintained for the future. The standard of maintenance within Brookwater exceeds what would be provided if ICC had this responsibility.
The BHOC has a landscape maintenance contractor, Skyline Landscape Maintenance Services who undertakes all of the aesthetic maintenance within the Brookwater Estate, this includes land owned by the BHOC, verges, footpaths, parks (includes regular barbeque cleaning and rubbish removal), entry statements etc. Expenditure relating to all maintenance/refurbishment activities can be viewed within the monthly BHOC Committee Minutes on the BHOC web page www.brookwaterhomeownersclub.com.au.
NOTE : . Under the Brookwater Scheme the local authority is still responsible for the maintenance of roads, sewer, stormwater systems, streetlights and water are excluded from the BHOC maintenance obligations. These assets are handed back to the local authority and government institutions for maintenance after 12 months of the developer’s defect period.
BHOC FUNDED COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVES
By having a community title scheme in place and the developer funding the upfront cost of the installation of infrastructure, the community has had the ability to take control and deliver some of their own initiatives. This has been resulted in positive initiatives been driven by the community to benefit the community. Some of the key community led initiatives under the BHOC Club have included the following:
- Ongoing embellishment/refurbishment of gardens and street scaping. Areas which were developed early in the project are now being re-landscaped/refurbished with new plants and mulch. A refurbishment program is undertaken yearly and is identified and approved during budget approvals;
- Appointment of a community Maintenance Supervisor. The BHOC agreed to appoint a Maintenance Supervisor to oversee the landscape maintenance work for the community and coordinate new work on behalf of the BHOC including landscape upgrades, vacant lot slashing and general common area repair work. Any requests to the Maintenance Supervisor are required to be undertaken through the relevant Subsidiary Chairperson;
- Installation of security cameras throughout the estate. This was a community led program whereby the BHOC have installed 6 cameras throughout the estate which provides camera footage if requested to the local police station. The BHOC was responsible for the supply, installation and is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the security cameras;
- Installation of shade sail over sandpit in Botanic Cres Park. This was jointly funded by the BHOC and the Divisional Councilor Cr David Morrison;
- Establish of slashing maintenance program for vacant lots in Brookwater, ensures that the community is maintained to a high standard. The cost of slashing the lot is billed back to the homeowner of the lot in their quarterly levies.