Almost 3 years and one month after Hurricane Sandy, we are proud to report that the Harborview Clubhouse has been greenlighted by The City of Norwalk, The State of Connecticut and has met all FEMA regulations. The building is now open.

The Lift: in 1 minute. from Jenny Butler on Vimeo.

Good Neighbors of Harborview,

Its official. The Clubhouse, has left the ground, and is ever-so-slowly in the process of being lifted.

May she rise with ease and her rebuild be swift.

Cheers.

-j.b

p.s. There is an unattended tripod set up in the triangle recording the occastion.

Hello Distinguished Residents of Harborview,

I wanted to give you an update on upcoming events surrounding our Clubhouse: we anticipate the Clubhouse lift to occur next week. As you are probably aware, due to observing previous local lifts, there will be a flutter of activity around the Clubhouse space just before the lift takes place. Let me do my best to let you know what you can expect in the upcoming week/weeks:

1. Dirt will be excavated around the CH and temporarily stored at the Bridge Lot.

2. Cribbing and steel will be arriving and being set in place.

3. The building will be lifted. (The building will initially be lifted higher than it will finally rest, this will afford space for the foundation to be constructed underneath it.)

4. The foundation will be constructed under the lifted building.

5. Once the foundation is built, the structure will be lowered back onto the new foundation and the previously excavated dirt located at the bridge lot will be put back in place at the CH.

Because we need to temporarily store steel and relocate the dirt that surrounds the CH at the Bridgelot, you can expect movers of these items to be following a set path between the CH and the Bridge Lot.  This path is: Harborview AVE —-> Neptune Avenue and back again. This was arranged to allow parents / children some predictability around where the majority of the back and forth activity will take place.  Families can plan accordingly.

The Foundation will take approximately 2.5 months to contstruct. After the foundation is built and dirt returned, we will move into Phase II: the construction of the building itself.

Thank you so much for your patience on this. At the end of this process we will have a community building that is usable year-round; something we’ve only previously imagined. As the exact date of the lift comes into focus, I’ll be sure to let everyone know.  May the Clubhouse rise with ease, and may her re-build be swift. Cheers.

Jenny

Hello Residents of Harborview,

I wanted to you give you a quick update on clubhouse unfoldings:

The time is drawing near and construction will soon commence on the Clubhouse.  As you’ve probably noticed, fencing around the Clubhouse has almost been fully put in place defining the construction zone and though we don’t know the exact date of the upcoming lift, we’re planning on it taking place in the next weeks. As a result of the construction site being cordoned off,  the path we’ve normally used to access the beach and docks had been closed off as well. You can access the beach and docks via the temporary path on the South side of the property. We kindly ask that you refrain from using our adjacent neighbors yards to access the beach.

Secondly, in an effort to save the community as much money as possible,  we’re using portions of the bridge lot for storage of excavating equipment, lifting equipment, and steel during the construction of the foundation (approx 2-3 months). The clubhouse needs quite a bit of steel to lift it due to its size. You will notice that the bridge lot also has temporary fencing around it denoting the areas used for storage of the needed equipment. Residents can similarly access the rear of the lot and its benches via a path that is located on the side of the property closest to the Gould’s residence (aka: the Northeast side of the property).

This Saturday at 10:45 am, I was hoping a few people might be willing to help move packed boxes of kitchen items and other items down from the attic area to the center of the CH floor. We need to clear the attic in preparation of the pending construction. We’ll have some coffee and donuts for the quick work-party, and with enough hands I like to think we can get the job done in an hour.

On a more personal note, I was so gently reminded of why I live here: I received a little knock on my door last Friday afternoon and Ms. Lucy Grillo was standing there. She handed me an envelope and shared with me that in lieu of receiving birthday gifts for her birthday that took place the day before, she asked that her friends and family donate to our clubhouse. This was most unexpected. And donate they did. Thank you, Lucy, for reminding me this vast project takes a village.

Lastly, I realize this upcoming construction is happening at the height of our summer season, and I know its not ideal. I wanted to thank you all for your patience though this.  If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you again for your patience,

jenny

Neighbors of Harborview,

I wanted to touch base and bring you up to speed on the Clubhouse. Looking back, its taken 9 months to get to where we are today: you may remember back on May 3 when we held a community meeting where we presented the possible forms the Clubhouse space could take? Let me review where we’ve been:

May 3rd –Aug 27th: We were doing many aspects of research to provide, as best we could the closest costs associated with each of the 5 options for the future of the Clubhouse space. This involved getting our soil tested and analyzed, a structural engineer to assess our soil borings, then worked with the Structural Engineer to get a detailed description of the needed VE foundation, getting contractors to give us as-close-to-possible estimate of the cost of a foundation in a V-E zone, etc).

Aug. 27th: We held Community Meeting / Q+A / exchange around the options of the clubhouse.

Sept. 3rd: We held additional Community Meeting / Q+A / exchange around the options of the clubhouse

Sept. 12th: Community gathered and voted to raise the Clubhouse.

Sept. 20th: Mike McClung and I had a preliminary meeting with P+Z to get an idea of our parameters so we can report information and answer questions the community may have around the subject on Sept. 24th.

Sept. 24th: Community Meeting to take in residents’ thoughts and ideas about the Clubhouse design. Needing to find a starting place we met with the community first to get an idea about what the ideas and concerns were. We also answered questions on the subject of specific Planning and Zoning parameters surrounding the clubhouse. We communicated, at the time, what we believed would be the overall timing of the project, and why we felt it was important to design a structure that was “as-of-right” meaning, no need for a variance. (P&Z had made it clear to us that seeking a variance would require many months with no certainty of a favorable outcome.)
Since that time, the plans have developed in response to the community input that we received, the guidance of our professionals, and the feedback we have received from numerous meetings with the Planning and Zoning office.

Our last communication, Nov. 29^th, communicated our surprise that the Zoning Commission had asked to review our project as a CAM application. (Coastal Area Management). This would require months, and normally would not be necessary for a home in our neighborhood, but due to the “clubhouse” zoning of the building, it was required. Happily, after a lengthy review meeting with city zoning official Mike Wrinn, it was agreed that a full CAM review was unnecessary, the plans did not require a variance, and that we could proceed with a letter application to raise the building, and add the new steps, elevator, and deck that we need.

Thus, its with excitement, that I wanted to let you know that it looks like we will have zoning approval in hand momentarily, and we should be able to submit for a building permit by the end of the month.

You’ll note, the current plans are very similar to the first concept drawings that were discussed before the voting to raise the building. As we described in the Sept. 24 meeting: a zoning criteria that we were required to meet was balancing the size of the building, its deck, and its entrance stairs with the amount property that we are allowed to cover. In order to provide a suitable amount of exterior deck space for social gatherings, high tide Fridays, etc., as well as incorporating the coverage of the new front steps, we were required to reduce some of the building footprint elsewhere. Thus, the south “addition” to the building was reduced by 6′ in order to accomplish this, but only after the area of the deck was reduced until we felt that further reduction would harm its ability to support our needs. We felt this was the right approach because the south addition needed total reconstruction anyway, as it was the most heavily damaged from Sandy, and this section also needed to house the new elevator. Additionally, reducing building volume here helped, at least a little, with some of the concerns that immediate neighbors voiced about the increased mass of the elevated building.

 Here are the next steps…

1. We have a deposit in to Wolfe to raise the building, actual raising date is TBD ( date is determined by Wolfe’s schedule and with those that will be constructing the foundation.)
2. We can apply for building permits at the end of the month.
3. Bidding: we will be taking competitive bids on the various phases of the construction plan. For the many of you who have been kind enough to send me names of trusted builders, general contractors, foundation builders, etc., trust that I have kept all contacts and have kept them abreast of our process and will be getting quotes from them. At this juncture, our building phases look to include: 1) Raising/lowering , 2) Construction of foundation and securing building to new foundation, 3) Weather tight building (windows, siding, insulation, roofing, etc.), 4) Entranceway and decking (may be in separate phases to allow payment steps), 5) Elevator, 6) HVAC, electrical and plumbing, 7) Interior fit and finish (again, this may be broken down into phases to allow for community work or timing of payments, and finally, 8) landscaping…. The actual phasing will be determined with the help of community expertise and input from contractors as we get bids.
4. In the next couple of weeks we will begin the fundraising campaign and provide a community update on the SBA loan and financial management process.

I realize how much the CH plays a part in our life here: we have weddings we want to plan, reunions we’d love to organize, graduation parties we’d love to arrange…. I thank you for your time and patience with this project thus far. As we take this to bidding, a time-line for construction will begin to fall into focus. After the bidding process, we can report what information we receive in terms of a realistic time line for the remaining course of this project.

Thank you for your patience again. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Jenny

Hello Residents of the Great Neighborhood of Harborview,

Though I am waiting on a few more pieces of information to come in so we can send out a comprehensive message to the community regarding the timeline of the Clubhouse renovation, sadly, we have learned in the last weeks , that our clubhouse not only has to go through the city’s regular Planning and Zoning stages to get building approval, but we have to go though an additional zoning process with the city. This additional process is with the Norwalk Zoning Commission.

A little background on the Norwalk Zoning Commission: They are responsible for:

Acting upon applications for motor vehicle licenses
Preparing, adopting, and amending the Building Zone Regulations and the Building Zone Map so as to control and direct the use and development of property
Regulating the use of land within the city
Reviewing special permits, site plans, and coastal site plan applications

The Harborview Clubhouse falls into the last category: ‘Reviewing coastal site plan applications’. Because the Clubhouse is zoned as a ‘Clubhouse’ (as opposed to a ‘Single Familiy Residence’ as the rest of us in Harborview are) the Zoning Commission deemed it would also need to to be involved with our project. This week, in meeting with a member of the Zoning Commission, I learned the earliest we can possibly get on their docket for review is January, with a possible hearing following in February. Obviously, I report this with a heavy heart, because as of this point in time, I’m estimating their involvement pushes back our ground breaking until March. I wanted to alert you that I am exploring the finer points of going through this process, but wanted to give everyone the heads up.

We are currently pulling together information for the community so we can offer, as realistic as possible, a time-map of the Clubhouse project from now until completion. Additionally, we’ll have a current status of drawings of clubhouse itself. I know its important to keep everyone in the loop. Please know I am here and happy to elaborate if you have any additional questions.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend All,

Jenny

First of all, thank you to every homeowner who voted online, by proxy or in person! There were approximately 30 people who attended the Special Meeting last night. Before the Special Meeting started, about 65 homeowners had voted online, to which proxy, in-person votes and last-minute online votes were added, so that by end of the vote during the Meeting, there was a final voting tally of 87 of 104 eligible voters, 84% participation.  Votes on the Clubhouse options: 1. Demolish CH, convert area to communal park     2          2% 2. Demolish CH, build raised dance pavilion     2          2% 3. Repair existing CH in place     8          9% 4. Raise existing CH and repair storm damages     65        75% 5. Demolish CH, build new CH meeting coastal regs     10        12% Voting numbers for Option 4 exceed the standard the Board was seeking, a majority of votes over 50%. The Board will immediately pursue bids for raising the CH and all other aspects of implementing Option 4 concurrently, to the most efficient degree possible. As design plans progress, the Board will seek community input, and the community will be offered a say in design decisions. No commitments to major individual design elements will be made until there is fair assurance that the integrity of the presented design as a whole is possible. Votes on the Bylaws amendments: 1. Article II: Section 2 to allow Internet voting through the HV website: Yes: 86   99% No:     1     1% 2. Article IV: new Section allowing the Board to borrow and use assets and/or dues as collateral for any loan, and to pay back loan via dues: Yes:  80    92% No:      6     7% Abstentions:    1     1% Note: The new Section 9 reads in full, per the Notice to the Special Meeting of 9/5/2013: “No loans shall be obtained on behalf of the Association and no evidences of indebtedness shall be issued in its name unless authorized by a resolution of the Board of Directors and approved by a vote of the community. The Board may authorize the pledge and assignment of any common assets, regular or special assessments, and the lien rights of the Association as security for the repayment of such loans.” Per discussion from attendees at the Special Meeting, the Board will investigate an amendment to this new amendment, prior to the Annual voting Meeting in October, to require a higher level/% of community approval for any additional debt obligations, than the simple majority currently required by the Bylaws.