The Gull's Call - Oct/Nov/Dec 2024

AssociationNews Bay Colony by Amanda Meng, Association Manager G REETINGS, BAY COLONY! WE’RE EXCITED TO bring you the latest news and updates from our community. The changing leaves aren’t just a beautiful backdrop for this season—they’re a reminder of the warmth and camaraderie that define our neighborhood. Happy Fall, everyone! PROJECT UPDATES Bay Colony is pleased to announce that the Private Sewer Lateral (PSL) Project has been taken over by the city. Homeowners are still responsible for their own private sewer laterals up to the sidewalk, but the city will ensure the mains and lower laterals are running smoothly. A full siding and dry rot assessment was just completed in our community. Thank you for your patience and coopera tion as this necessary inspection ensures the health of our structures. COMING IN 2025 The Bay Colony roofing project will be starting up in the summer of 2025. To volunteer to help facilitate this proj ect please contact your association manager to express your interest. VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES Bay Colony needs your help. There are currently no active committees for architecture, landscaping or maintenance. Would you like to see changes in your neighborhood? Are you the type of person who gets things done? Join the Bay Colony volunteer team. Please submit an email to Man agement at BYC@harborbay.org if this sounds like some thing you may be interested in. Bay Colony meets every third Thursday of every month at 6:00 p.m. Autumn meeting dates are scheduled Octo ber 17th, November 21th, and December 19th this year. These meeting dates are subject to change. Check the cal endar at harborbay.org/calendar for meeting dates, times, agendas and other information related to the meetings. Monthly Board of Directors meetings are still available in hybrid format, meaning that homeowners have the option of attending meetings in-person at the community center, 3195 Mecartney Road or attending meetings remotely via RingCentral. We encourage all homeowners to attend our

Bay Colony monthly Board of Directors meetings to stay up-to-date on current events. Bay Isle Pointe by Jon Hamilton H OMES IN BIP ARE NOW 40 YEARS OLD. SOME of the homes were sold with large, noisy air conditioning units. Many produce noise levels of 73 dB, which is loud enough to make having a conversation next to one very difficult. Available now are inverter units capable of operating at a variable speed. Their top noise level is 55 dB, which makes it possible to stand next to it and carry on a casual conversation, and their footprint is less than half of the older units. This low noise level is the limit published in the Bay Isle Pointe architectural guidelines for new installations. Further, the old noisy units would operate in an on/off mode only which meant that when they would turn on there would be a large electrical power draw and a lot of noise. The new inverter units gently run at a low quiet speed once having achieved the desired temperature. The other thing that is great about the new units is that they can operate both to cool and heat the home. So, best to call the new units "heat pumps". These are very common in Asia and Europe where the climate is hot, electric power is expensive, and you live a lot closer to your neighbor. There is a big push to electrify one's home these days and with a large two story home it would work out well to install a quiet 55 dB heat pump to service the first floor and a second to service the upstairs. The existing registers can be used with some minor changes to the ducting. Add in a heat pump driven water heater, an induction stove top, as well as an electric car and you can be free of fossil fuels altogether. How about some solar panels while you're at it and you could be producing the same quantity of energy you are using. This fall, a minor revision to the 2025 Bay Isle Pointe architectural guidelines will be sent to homeowners for review and comment. Be sure to have a look and send in your comments. Meanwhile, remember that exterior changes to homes in the Bay Isle Pointe HOA require an architectural application to be submitted and approved before the work is started. The application is available online at: harborbay.org/archapp.

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The Gull’s Call