2005 Annual Assessment/Membership Fee
Due to the $1,000.00 Membership Fee being approved by an overwhelming majority of 76% of the Association, we are happy to announce that the 2005 Annual Assessment will be reduced to $77.00 per household. Thank you to everyone who voted. Billing statements for 2005 will be mailed from the Management Office on or about February 15, 2005, due on April 1, 2005.

Snow Removal
During the snow season, please remember that you are responsible for shoveling the sidewalks on the area surrounding your home. All roads in our Community, except for Glendale Rd, Westover Rd (Phase IVb), are dedicated roads, and as such, are plowed by the Township. Phase IVb roads are not dedicated, and as such, are plowed by the developer.

Holiday Decorating Contest
Once again, our Community looked beautiful during the holiday season!! We are happy to announce the winners of this year’s contest:

And the grand prize winner is – 500 BRIGHTON ROAD

Congratulations to all of our winners!

On a related subject, while we have all enjoyed seeing all of the holiday decorations throughout our Community, decorations should be taken inside by January 15th each year.

Special Meeting
As we reported in our last newsletter, a petition was submitted to the Association by The Village at Cranberry Estates demanding that a Special Meeting be held to vote on removing The Village at Cranberry Estates lots from the Cranberry Estates documents. This Special Meeting was held on Friday, January 21, 2005 at the Perkiomen Valley Middle School East. The result of the Special Meeting was that the vote to remove the Village lots did not pass.

In order to amend the documents, the affirmative vote of 2/3 of the community (414 votes) is required. For the special meeting, less than 200 ballots were submitted. Of those, many were technically invalid because they were not properly filled out, proxies were incomplete, and other reasons. The bottom line, though, is that there were not enough votes to pass the proposed amendment.

The official vote on the proposal to remove The Village at Cranberry Estates lots from the Cranberry Estates documents was 11 in favor, 88 against.

We thank everyone who participated in the meeting and who submitted ballots. Hopefully, this issue is now behind us and we can move forward as one community.

Home Maintenance – The Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions of Cranberry Estates, Article XI, Use and Additional Restrictions, Section 11.A. Use Restrictions, (v) states:

"EACH DWELLING OR UNIT SHALL BE MAINTAINED BY THE OWNER OR OCCUPANT IN A SAFE, CLEAN AND SANITARY MANNER AND CONDITION, IN GOOD ORDER AND REPAIR..."

As many of you know, we contract Danella Realty & Management to do inspections of our Community. The goal in doing this is to keep our Community beautiful as well as safe. This also helps maintain our property values.

There are three maintenance items that are frequently showing up on our inspection reports: missing/or loose siding, severe painting chipping and a large number of homes with mold on the siding. To date, maintenance reminders have gone out to owners regarding these issues. In a few, severe cases further action has been taken.

MISSING AND LOOSE SIDING

is a big concern. When siding blows off of one home, not only does it affect the look of that home, it can also create liability issues, as it can damage other homes, autos and residents. Additionally, when siding is missing, there are exposed materials that may sustain damage due to the weather.

CHIPPED PAINT
while not causing liability issues, does take away from our property values. Please inspect the outside of your home, especially the trim.

MOLD
is a serious problem throughout our Community. Luckily, it is easily removed by power washing the affected areas. Small areas can be treated with a bleach solution. Not only does this maintenance issue affect our property values, but there could be health concerns involved as well.

Effective May 1, 2005, the Management Company has been authorized to send official violation notices to owners whose homes consistently have these maintenance issues. Furthermore, the Association does have the ability to fine for non-compliance, and in severe cases, there are also provisions for sending contractors to make the repairs and charge the homeowners for these repairs. We are confident that our Community is made up of responsible homeowners, who once they receive notice will take care of these issues immediately, without further action being necessary.

TOY LAND
several owners have complained to the Management Company regarding the toys left outside, sometimes for days at a time, throughout our Community. Everyone wants all members of our Community to enjoy living at Cranberry Estates. After your children have enjoyed playing outside, please remember that all toys should be brought inside, or into your backyard, so that their fun does not take away from your neighbors' enjoyment of the beautiful Community that we live in.

TRASH CANS
Trash cans should not be brought to the curb earlier that 7:00 PM the night before your scheduled trash pick up. Trash cans should be brought in no later than 7:00 PM on the night of the trash pick up, preferably kept within your garage or back yard, out of sight. We are aware that, due to everyone’s busy schedules these days, occasionally you may not be able to adhere to this schedule, however, if we all make an effort in this area, it will create a more aesthetically pleasing environment.

Community Watch
In an effort to help make our Community a safe and healthy place to live, we have found the following websites which may be of interest to some of our owners:

http://www.be-safe.org
http://www.mcgruff.com
http://www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us/SearchCounty.aspx
http://www.homesafetycouncil.org/safety_guide/safetyguide.aspx

2004 Assessments
While most of the owners in our Community paid the first annual assessment in a timely manner last year, there were a few people who the Association had to take further collection steps on. Below is an outline of what some owners had to pay, in addition to the $125.00 assessment:

• Accounts not paid by 4/10/04 – Late fee $15.00
• Accounts turned over to our attorney for collections:
• First letter from attorney - $100.00
• Court filing preparations from attorney - $200.00
• Court fees – $70.00-$86.00
• Court appearance attorney fees - $300.00

As you can see, owners who did not pay the original $125.00, depending upon which of the above procedures were utilized, ended up paying between $140.00 to $826.00. It is our hope that this will not be necessary this year and that no owners will be charged any additional fees. We would like to make all owners aware that the Court did not find that any owners were exempt from paying the Annual Assessment.

Meeting Schedule
The 2005 Annual Meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday, October 3, 2005. In addition, Board Meetings are scheduled for April 12, June 14, September 13 and November 14, 2005. Owners with concerns that need to be addressed with the Board in person, and can not wait until the Annual Meeting will be able to attend a portion of one of these scheduled meetings. Due to time and space limitations, owners who would like to attend a meeting must call, fax, mail or e-mail their request to the Management Office at least 10 days prior to the meeting, in order to be added to the agenda.

Contacting the Association
If you are contacting the Board via the Association's web site, please keep in mind that the e-mail response you receive will be from a Danellarealty.com e-mail address. All e-mails to the web site go directly to the Management Office, not to the individual Board members. You may also contact the Association through Danella Realty & Management Company via phone (610-834-6200), fax (610-834-6204) or mail (P.O. Box 1017, Blue Bell, PA 19422).

House Numbers
It is important that all homes have their house numbers displayed. In the event of an emergency, an ambulance or fire truck may be delayed in their response time because they are not able to locate the correct home.

Pet Policy
Please remember to clean up after your pets. Also, please make every effort to keep your pets within your own property lines. Anytime your pet is off of your property, it should be on a leash, which is held by its owner. Management has received many phone calls and e-mails from owners who are frustrated by having the constant company of their neighbors' dogs and cats in their yards. Not only are these Association rules, but there are also Township ordinances regarding both cleaning up after your pets, as well as keeping them on leashes.

Preferred Trash Removal Company
Last year we contacted several trash removal companies, asking them to provide a discounted rate from our single family homes. After reviewing all of the offers, we felt that the best offer was from Waste Management, at $12.50 per month. Approximately 1/3 of the single homes switched to Waste Management during 2004. If you did not switch last year, but have decided that you would be interested now, the 2005 rate for new contracts will be $13.25 per month. If you are interested in this offer, please contact Danella Realty & Management for a copy of the Waste Management contract.

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