Month: January 2026

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2025-2026 Snow Event #2, Update #3 (SNOW EMERGENCY IN EFFECT) 

Good evening.  I wanted to get a couple more items out to everyone.  Updates will be coming from Joe or Art as the event unfolds as I’m not on the ground there…

1.  Vehicle Parking.  Reminder to everyone – please pull your vehicles in to the curb in your assigned spaces to allow maximum width for the snow plows to operate.  We have tried to keep the No Parking Zones to a minimum.  That relies on you keeping your vehicle as far from the travel lanes as possible until this event is concluded.

2.  Salting Tonight.  No salting will occur tonight for this storm.  The current environment does not make it reasonable (low temperatures, little traffic on our roads).  If we had salted the material will be non-performant due to temperature then plowed away by the first plow pass-through.  Salting will be applied when needed and as appropriate.

3.  Conditions will deteriorate as we go through the evening – please refrain from travel unless critical until we get through the storm cleanout actions.  By delaying your travel your are reducing the timeline to a functional community for all residents.

Stay safe, stay warm, and be prepared.

Mark

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2025-2026 Snow Event #2, Update #2 (SNOW EMERGENCY IN EFFECT)

Good evening. Here are several more items for your awareness…

I wanted to get a few items out to everyone.  Updates will be coming from Joe or Art as the event unfolds as I’m not on the ground there…

1.  Snow Emergency No Parking Zones.  Treasure Court had a miss-mark of No Parking Zones.  This was remedied this evening.  The No Parking Zones on Treasure Court are the 3 curb spaces on the right as you enter the court and two individual curb spaces on the island.  For the two vehicles parked in those individual spaces, please remove your vehicles as soon as possible or they will be relocated.

2.  Temperatures are going to be frigid for at least a week.  For rooms bordering outside walls especially, recommend you open cabinet doors or doors to rooms that have pipes in them to prevent the pipes from freezing in the upcoming weather.  They need to be wide enough to let air flow through but do not have to be fully open.  You and potentially your neighbor will be grateful to not be paying to repair your and potentially your neighbor’s major water damage once the pipes melt.

3.  There are several collections of information that may be useful for you.  Recommend looking at them to see if you’ve missed anything in your preparation.

3A.  Fairfax County information:  https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/snow/

3B.  Virginia Emergency Management:  https://www.vaemergency.gov/threats/winter-weather

Stay safe and be prepared.

Mark

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2025-2026 Snow Event #2, Update #1 (SNOW EMERGENCY IN EFFECT)

Good evening. I wanted to get a few items out to everyone.  Updates will be coming from Joe or Art as the event unfolds as I’m not on the ground there…

1.  Snow Emergency No Parking Zones have been marked.  They include the three white-painted curbs on Gainsborough Drive, a section of curb parking on Treasure Court, and a section of curb parking on upper Carriagepark Road.  These are critical areas based on the amount of snow we are expecting.

2.  Towing commenced as of 1800 today Thursday, Thursday, January 22, 2026.  The Pool Parking Lot is open as of 1700 today.

3.  Recommend you get any trash you have out for pickup tomorrow as both the Tuesday trash and Wednesday recycling pickups may not occur if the roads are not passable for the trucks.

Stay safe and be prepared.

Mark

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2025-2026 Snow Event #2, Initial Notice (Declaration of SNOW EMERGENCY)

Good morning.

The PWCA has declared a Snow Emergency based on the projected snow totals for the upcoming winter event.  While projections remain divergent between the tools; the Apple weather app current lists between 22 and 30 inches from Saturday evening through early Monday morning.

Regardless of the actual snowfall amounts – this is a major storm and we need to be prepared.

Association Snow Lead:  Joe Underwood with Art Gile as the main supporting Association support lead.

The following is in effect:

1.  All white-painted curbs on Gainsborough Drive are No Parking Zones as of today, Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 6:00PM.  ANY vehicle parked in No Parking Zones after this time is subject to towing at owner expense.  Additional curbs may be deemed NO PARKING areas today.  They will be marked with signs and marking tape/poles if so identified.

2.  The pool parking lot is opened for parking effective today, Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 5:00PM.  Vehicles may park in the pool parking lot with valid permits during this event.  Please remove your vehicles once the event is complete.  Further notice will be provided for when open parking is terminated at the pool parking lot.

3.  Please review the 2025-2026 Snow Removal Policy.

3A.  Request you clear any sidewalks and/or paver walkways in front and to the rear (if appropriate) of your home.

3B.  If the snow totals are sufficient, please consider removing snow around your mailboxes and fire hydrants.

3C.  Please DO NOT expect to be able to drive through our community for days after this event should that kind of snowfall occurs.  The first priority will be to open an emergency access lane throughout the community.  Crews will return later to widen the lanes for resident travel.

3D.  DO NOT place snow you shovel in the street.  That will make the street clearing much harder and take much longer to complete – you are creating danger for yourself and other residents in our community.  In the past we have stopped work in such non-compliant areas to concentrate assets on other areas of the community that followed the rules.

3E.  Please do not direct snow removal crews.  They are operating under direction from the contractor and the Association.  If you have concerns please contact the event lead or email Snow@ParkWestCommunity.org.

4.  The Snow Emergency will be in effect until canceled via email blast for the specific Gainsborough Drive snow emergency zones and any additional identified NO PARKING zones.  Message board notices will be removed once all snow emergency no parking zones are cleared after the snow event.

5.  Appreciate your help – the goal is to be prepared.  See the November 2025 newsletter for our Cold Weather Preparation article.  Please use today to get your home and vehicles ready for this winter event.

Stay safe and be prepared.

Mark

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PWCA Information for Members and Residents (January 2026, Message #1)

Good afternoon. 

Please review my current items of interest at your convenience…..

PERMANENT LINKS:

PWCA Website: https://parkwestcommunity.org/
PWCA Meeting Packets: https://parkwestcommunity.org/association-meeting/
ACC Documents: https://parkwestcommunity.org/architectural-control-committee/
Parking Documents: https://parkwestcommunity.org/parking/
Newsletters: https://parkwestcommunity.org/newsletters/
Quarterly Assessment Timeline and Associated Information: https://parkwestcommunity.org/living-in-pwca/
Trash and Recycling Information: https://parkwestcommunity.org/our-environment/

SEASONAL LINKS:

Director Application for Candidacy: https://parkwestcommunity.org/board-of-directors-chairs-and-managers/

2025 J&J Individual Home Maintenance Program:  https://parkwestcommunity.org/our-environment/

2025-2026 Snow Removal Policy:  https://parkwestcommunity.org/living-in-pwca/

2026 Assessment Notice: https://drive.google.com/file/d/192Il0QQCJCHTEG4L3ty5Vm1NW87kBZBT/view?usp=drive_link

INFORMATION ITEMS:

1.  TRASH SERVICE DELAY.  Patriot ran out of time to collect our trash yesterday.  They will be by today to collect both the trash and the recycling today, Wednesday, January 7, 2026.

2.  HOLIDAY CHRISTMAS TREE PICKUP SCHEDULE.  Christmas tree collection will occur over the next two weeks.

CHRISTMAS TREE COLLECTION:
Wednesday, January 7, 2026:  Christmas Tree Collection #1
Wednesday, January 14, 2026:  Christmas Tree Collection #2

All trees must be placed on the curb with all tinsel/decorations removed and trees should not be placed in plastics bags.  See the website for additional information.

3.  BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING; TUESDAY; JANUARY 20, 2026; 7:00 PM; VIRTUAL.  The monthly board meeting will be conducted via the RingCentral virtual meeting framework.  For the virtual meeting information, see the website under ‘Meetings’, select the year (2025), then the meeting (2025-12-16).  Document #01-1 contains the information to join the meeting.

4.  YARD DEBRIS COLLECTION, RESUMES MARCH 11, 2026.  Yard Debris collection will resume on March 11, 2026.

5.  TRASH AND RECYCLING CONTAINER INFORMATION.  We are finalizing the containers list for Patriot currently.  Please get your request in as soon as possible.  Items for review.  #1 – we request all homes to mark their containers when received.  #2 – if containers are not removed in a timely manner, we issue violations to the home.  If containers are not removed in a timely manner and there are no address markings on them, they will be removed to the pool house for removal by our contractor.  Containers are usually at the pool house for a few weeks after removal so if you are missing a container I recommend checking the pool house for it.  #3 – With the start of a new contract term on 1 January 2026; Patriot is offering to deliver trash and/or recycling containers free of charge to you at the inauguration of this contract.  For further information and if you are interested in obtaining containers please contact the ECC, ECC@ParkWestCommunity.org, to add your name to the list.

6.  BAMBOO REMEDIATION THROUGHOUT OUR COMMUNITY.  Bamboo is an invasive species we do not allow on common ground.  We highly recommend owners not to plant bamboo but to consider various native species as an alternative to invasives and other non-native species.  Please see this link on the county website for further information.  https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/topics/running-bamboo.  This link also covers the potential costs to an owner who allows bamboo to outgrow their land.  I bring this up as we have to conduct bamboo remediation efforts almost every year to contain and remediate the bamboo one of our well-intentioned residents has planted on our common ground.  That help is not needed or desired and just adds cost to managing this property.  Please help us and help yourself by coordinating with the ECC for any desire to plant items on common ground and please refrain from planting running bamboo.

7.  2026 ANNUAL ASSESSMENT NOTICE AND ASSESSMENT TIMELINE.  If you have some kind of manual payment occurring to pay your assessments – please remember to adjust your payment.  We have several accounts that have paid last year’s amount and therefore still have an account balance.  As presented at the Annual Meeting, the Annual Assessment for 2026 has increased to $500.00 per quarter due on the first day of each quarterly assessment period – the first quarter’s payment was due on January 1st. The 2026 Assessment Notice and the Quarterly Assessment Timeline have been mailed/emailed to you and may also be found on the website – links provided above in the Seasonal (Assessment Notice) and Permanent (Assessment Timeline) Links section

8.  2026 SOCIAL EVENTS.  All events conducted in previous years are cancelled in 2026 except the Annual Meeting unless volunteers step forward to prepare for and stage the events.  Please contact the Social Committee if you’d like to step forward to make one of the canceled events occur.

9.  PARK WEST PAGES, NOVEMBER 2025 EDITION.  The current edition of the Park West Pages is available – please see the website for the document.  The Hospitality Committee has hard copies of the edition if you’d like a printed copy.

10.  COMMUNITY SECURITY.  If out-of-the-ordinary events occur and you are concerned for your safety or security please notify the Police non-emergency number (703) 691-2131 to report the occurrence.  While we advertise a Neighborhood Watch on our signs there has been a lack of interest in the past to actually set one up.  If you are interested in participating please let me know.  If we have sufficient interest we will restart the process with the County but not before we see sufficient volunteers to make the effort worthwhile.  As always, please consider leaving your porch lights on throughout the night, remember to lock your vehicle doors, and notify the non-emergency number should you experience some kind of security event in the future. 

11.  OWNER ACCOUNT PORTAL.  This is a recurring topic for many of our owners.  Each owner has the ability to access their account through a portal Summit Management offers.  To access the portal, please go to our website and select the ‘Living in PWCA’ tab.  Scroll down the page to the button ‘Vantaca Owner Login’.  If you have not already done so, Vantaca will prompt you to create a login.  Once you login you’ll be able to access your owner information to include the status of your account.  This also provides an avenue to pay any balances due on the account.

12.  OPEN DIRECTOR POSITION.  Request your consideration to place your name forward to fill our open Director position.  We are looking for people who are invested in making a better community for all who reside here.  If you are interested please complete and submit an Application for Candidacy that may be found on our website and is listed above in the links.  The Nominating Committee will reach out to you after you complete that step.  If you have questions I’m also available to speak with you about more specifics.

Regards,

Mark