WATERS EDGE FLASH 

April 2025

News & Updates

Community Upkeep:

• The Annual April Meeting is upon us!

  • At Oakland Manor on April 24th at 6:30 pm

  • We need as many residents to attend as possible, or send in a proxy. Proxy forms will be distributed soon. Make your voice heard in Water’s Edge.  

• Landscaping Update:  The Board has been hard at work since last year coming up with a long term landscaping “template” that will guide updating/renovating the aging common areas that have grown tired looking and overgrown. We contracted Sun Nurseries to come up with designs for various sizes of the ‘islands’ (what we call the various juts of land that separate chunks of the parking lot) and we’ve decided to roll out with 1 ‘island’ on the Even side near 5692, 1 ‘island’ on the Odd side in front of 5621, and the island inside the traffic circle. Chapel Valley Landscaping will be contracted to do the removal of current material and installation of the new plantings.  Any trees that are currently there will remain unless they are dying/dead. 

  • Be mindful that this is a long-term template we plan to use going forward. 

  • It can and probably will be updated year-to-year as we see the results of the initial rollout.

  • Renovating large swaths of landscape is expensive, so we’re hoping to continue rolling this template out over the long term, hitting the Even and Odd side as fairly as possible. 

  • If you have any questions about this beautification project, please come to the annual meeting in April.

• Street Light Update: The Board has decided, after many months of information gathering, to renew our contract with BGE. Final choices on the fixtures are being reviewed now by the board, so we can implement the contract. BGE will handle removal of the current fixtures and installation and maintenance of the new ones. We're looking forward to having new, uniform lighting across the neighborhood. 

• The Board is aware of the instances of car theft and vandalism in Water’s Edge. The options afforded to the Board for community-wide solutions are complex and would need more community input. What some may see as common sense, others may see as cost-prohibitive or overly-intrusive. There are quite a number of things that residents can do on their own to deter future issues, such as (but not limited to):

  • Never leave valuables in your vehicle 

  • Always lock your vehicle

  • Park backed-in

  • Use a steering wheel lock (aka Club)

  • Use locking wheel nuts

  • Leave your front porch lights on 

  • Get a car alarm

  • Get personal home video security

  • Always report an incident to the police

  • Call the police if you see anything suspicious

• EV Parking - We’ve come a long way in a short period of time. We went from thinking the empty EV charging spots were wasteful, to now getting complaints that the spots are full when residents need to charge. Please be mindful that the EV parking spots should only be used for active charging. If you use the spots just to park your EV, others that need charging won’t be afforded the opportunity to use the spots. 

  • One possible solution would be to have the EV owners swap info with each other, voluntarily, so that if someone is parked in a charging spot, but is not actively charging, the resident in need of charging can contact the EV owner. This is a new era with new challenges, and the Board is open to hear input about what can be done to mitigate any issues. 

• The Board has approved tree work to be done by Davey Tree Services. More info will be forthcoming. 

Community Affairs:

• The Annual Meeting at Historic Oakland Manor will be held Thursday, April 24 at 6:30 pm. We need as many residents to attend or send a proxy, as possible. The proxy sheets will be distributed in the neighborhood soon. 

• Calling all neighbors! We will need new Board member nominations by the Annual  April meeting. Please let any Board member know if you are interested. The time requirement is only a couple hours a month for the Board meeting. 

New Architecture:

• 5679 was approved for deck work.

Home Sales:

• No new home sales

Reminders

Architectural Applications

• HPM has provided The Board with a convenient flowchart to explain when a Water’s Edge Architecture Application and when a Town Center Architecture Application is needed. 

• You can find the forms and guidelines here: https://www.watersedgecommunity.org/architectural-guidelines

Community/Property Safety

• Practice the 4 L’s: Lock doors (home and auto), Light your house, Listen and Lookout

• Refrain from keeping expensive items in cars.

• ALWAYS alert police to suspicious activity. 

Communicating with the Board

• If you’d like to communicate with the Board, simply Reply (not Reply All), to this email.

• Additionally, you can contact HPM, and your message will get relayed to the Board.

• Additionally, you can come to a Board meeting and participate in Resident Speakout. 

Trash/Recycling/Composting

• Trash, recycling, and composting containers should not be visible from the parking areas.  They must be behind a privacy fence or in the rear of the house.

• Recycling materials must be put out using one of the blue receptacles or paper bags.  The county will no longer collect recyclables in plastic bags.

• If the recycling or trash collectors miss materials, please contact the county at 410-313-6444.

• Link to the Howard County Bureau of Environmental Services https://www.howardcountymd.gov/Departments/Public-Works/Bureau-Of-Environmental-Services

Power Outages

• In the event of a power outage in your home or with one of the parking lot lights, please notify BGE via BGE.com or call 1-800-685-0123.  The more reports, the more likely we are to receive expedient service.

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

• All instructions and information regarding the EV chargers are located on our community website here: https://www.watersedgecommunity.org/e-vehicle-chargers