Member Comments Requested Regarding Minimum Yard Standards

During the September 3, 2020 GHI Board of Directors meeting, the Board proposed revisions to the minimum yard standards as written in Section III. Minimum Use and Maintenance Standards – Home and Yards B. Exterior. The proposed revisions can be seen here. This includes standards for outdoor storage of wood and building materials.

-Section III.B addresses the maintenance of unit exteriors, including fences and yards.
-Subsection B.10 has been removed and Subsections B.11-B.20 have been renumbered.
-Subsection B.10 addressed yard areas, specifically trash, debris, and noxious plants, such as poison ivy.
-The new section B.13 addresses English ivy and other creeping vegetation. A final sentence has been added, “Yard areas shall be free of noxious plants, such as poison ivy.”
-The new Subsection B.19 is a rewrite and reformatting of the old B.10.
-Subsection B.19 begins with the broader statement that exterior areas must be maintained in safe and orderly condition. This statement is broken down in further Subsections a-f. Members should review all of B.19 carefully.

The Board has requested member input regarding the proposed changes. Comments are due to the manager’s office by Thursday, October 8, 2020. You can submit your comments through email or postal mail to mgmtoffice@ghi.coop or Manager’s Office, GHI, 1 Hamilton Place, Greenbelt, MD 20770.

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Community Beautification Program: Does It Apply to Common Spaces?

The Community Beautification Program (CBP), also known as yard inspections, takes place every year beginning in late spring. Members’ yards are inspected to ensure that they are meeting “minimum upkeep standards.” This year, after revisions to the program, 1,379 units failed their first inspection thereby requiring a second inspection to determine if the citation was corrected.  As of the September 3, 2019 Community Beautification Interim Report, 3,470 citations were issued during the first and second inspection.

It is hard to believe that 85% of units aren’t meeting the minimum upkeep standards. When walking around GHI, the egregious violations that I have observed are few and far in between. In fact, it tends to be the same units consistently year after year, and these units have most likely already been identified by GHI.  So how is it that 85% of units are violating what is considered to be “minimum upkeep”?  Where is the breakdown in the CBP inspections?