Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Information About Home Postal Delivery

Flyers were distributed to homes on Crescent, Oak, Pine, and Orchard this weekend. Here's the text of the flyers:

For those of you considering home postal delivery, see below for some guidelines. If you prefer to maintain your post office box, you can disregard the instructions below.

• We have to use curbside mailboxes; new postal routes no longer accept mailboxes attached to the house.

• The mailboxes must be placed on the side of the street where there is no parking. If you live on the parking side of the street, you will need to coordinate with your neighbor across the street to find the most mutually agreeable location for your mailbox. If multiple mailboxes will be placed in one spot, neighbors should group their mailboxes close together for a neater appearance and easier access for the delivery person.

• If you choose to use a mailbox with a lock, it must have a slot large enough to accommodate your daily mail volume. The locking mailbox available for bulk order meets this description for most customers.

• When placing your mailbox, there should be 36-42 inches from the ground to the base of mailbox. If you need assistance installing your mailbox or post, please indicate this on the form on the back of this page.

• The mailbox should not obstruct traffic but should be close enough to the curb that the driver can easily reach it.

• The house number must be on the front of the mailbox or on the side of the box or post where the driver will be approaching.

• If you receive packages, they will be brought to the door. If no one is home, packages will be held for pick-up at the Candler post office. The Candler post office is our post office branch for home delivery because the Enka post office does not offer home delivery.

• You can pick up change of address forms at any post office or online.

• Postal delivery will be available once the new street signs are installed and the Candler post office comes to the neighborhood to make plans for the new route. Please wait to make changes to your mailing address until the post office has completed this process. (The Enka Village Commission will provide notice of when this process is complete.)

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Clarification on Postal Delivery/Change of Physical Address

Here are some frequently asked questions about the changes coming in our mail service and physical addresses.

I got a notice that my street address is changing. Why does it say "Candler"?

For 911/safety purposes, the City of Asheville needed to alter our street names to eliminate the problem of duplication that currently existed. Physical addresses are linked to postal delivery routes, and since the Enka post office does not offer delivery, our closest option was Candler.

Do I have to use this new address for my mail delivery?

No. If you would like to continue receiving all of your mail through the Enka post office, using your current post office box address, that is perfectly OK. Because of the altered street names and reevaluation of our streets by the postal service, we now have the option of placing a mailbox at our curb to receive delivery. If you choose home delivery, you will use the new address given to you on the letter you received from the City of Asheville as your new mailing address. If you elect to keep your P.O. box instead, your mailing address will not change. The Enka Village Commission pursued home postal delivery at the request of many Enka Village residents, who prefer the convenience of home delivery and wished to avoid the fee involved in a post office box. Residents wishing to keep their post office box for all or part of their mail delivery may certainly do so.

When will home delivery postal service be available?

The new street signs are scheduled to be installed on 2/13, and then the Candler post office will need a few weeks to add us into their system and establish us as part of their route. You may begin putting up a mailbox whenever you like, but you should wait until we get a final go-ahead from them before you start giving out your new mailing address.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Minutes: 1-31-08 Enka Village Community Meeting

Enka Park Commission
Homeowners Meeting
Enka Baptist Church, 7 p.m.
January 31, 2008

Board Members Present:
Glenn Satterfield, President
Jo McGill, Treasurer
Amber and Brian Cook, Beautification
Anthony Devore, Streets & Lights

Guest Speaker, Abby Moore, Emergency Address Coordinator for the City of Asheville:
Abby spoke about needed adjustments to be made to Enka Village street names as part of a move to eliminate duplicate street names in Asheville, Enka, and Candler. Because we are pursuing postal service, the timing was good for this adjustment, which will facilitate mail delivery and 911 service. Abby circulated a list of street names throughout the Asheville area, noting that there are 13 Oaks, 12 Orchards, 9 Pines, and 6 Crescents in the area. Because of the confusion that this could (and has) caused, her department needs to distinguish our street names from the others around us. At the previous meeting and through other input from Enka Village neighbors, it was decided that the most agreeable solution was to place the word “Enka” in front of each street name. The mailing address, and the name that will appear on our street signs, will be Enka Oak, Enka Crescent, Enka Pine, or Enka Orchard. Several Hillcrest residents requested to be part of this change as well, and Abby will contact her colleague in the county to facilitate this request. Glenn asked if anyone had other alternatives or objected to the street name adjustment, and with no objections, he asked Abby to move forward with this process. Abby will provide residents with further information and assistance with incorporating this change in areas like mortgage statements and driver’s licenses. Abby left her card with her contact information for anyone with questions. Her phone number is 828-251-4004 and e-mail is amoore2@ashevillenc.gov

Home Postal Delivery;
Once the street signs have been replaced to reflect the addition of “Enka” to our names, we will be able to proceed with pursuing postal delivery to our homes. The delivering post office will be Candler, which is the closest post office that offers delivery. Amber Cook will be compiling information from the post office for those who are interested in pursuing this service. (Those choosing to keep their post office boxes may do so; a home mailbox is an option rather than a requirement.) This information will include placement of the boxes, height, and other options. Daryl Hawkins has a contact with Lowe’s who is willing to provide a discount on mailboxes if we have a bulk order, so we will be distributing information about those as well. The intention is to have boxes that match each other as much as possible, but we will try to offer at least one low-cost option and one option for a mailbox with a lock. Anthony Devore will be heading up a group of volunteers who can assist those who need help digging a hole for the post for their mailbox. Several residents expressed concern about placement of the boxes in coordination with neighbors (since the boxes can only be placed on one side of the street). Neighbors will be encouraged to work with each other to find the best spot for each mailbox. One homeowner also suggested that we check with Bellsouth to find out any restrictions about placement of mailboxes in relation to telephone poles, and Amber will look into that as well.

Biltmore Lake Sewer line: Glenn gave an update on the construction being done behind the Orchard Street alley. Biltmore Lake is installing a sewer line 20 feet underground, and has recently cleared a wide patch of land so that they can their equipment can access the area for the installation. Glenn called with a concern about the number of trees that had been knocked down, and they have committed to helping with some replanting once the project is complete.

Spring Clean-Up: On May 3, we will have a neighborhood yard sale again, and on the following weekend (May 10), we will be ordering two dumpsters for neighborhood use. These dumpsters will both be placed on the Enka Park side of the neighborhood, but Glenn and others have volunteered to assist any Hillcrest or Lake residents who would like to move items to the dumpsters.

Tree planting: The trees slated for planting on Orchard Street are on hold due to the drought. When planting conditions improve, volunteers from Quality Forward will be coming to assist with this planting.

Sand Hill Road Expansion: This project is on hold indefinitely; the bids that came in to DOT were way over budget, so the construction to expand Sand Hill near the park will not be happening in the near future.

Hillcrest School Bus Bench: Glenn researched the idea of a bench for the end of Hillcrest (to be used as a bus stop for children on the street), but the DOT has not approved the plan. Because it needs to sit in the city right of way rather than on someone’s property, the city had to approve the placement of any object in that area. Glenn is still in contact with the folks from DOT in hopes that an exception can be made, but without their approval, we won’t be able to take on the project without risking liability.

Assessments: The 2008 assessments will be sent out within the next two weeks. Anyone who’d like to help with assembling the mailing (placing stamps, etc.) can meet at Jo McGill’s house (2 Hillcrest) this Sunday, February 3, at 2:00.

Main Street at Enka Village Community Meeting: A representative from the FIRC Group stopped by our meeting with an announcement about a community meeting on Wednesday, February 6. The FIRC Group is the developer for Main Street at Enka Village, which is the shopping/office/residential complex that will be built at the corner of Sand Hill Road and Smoky Park Highway (across from A-B Tech). At the meeting, the developers will be sharing information about their plans and looking for input from the community. The meeting will be held at A-B Tech's Enka Campus in the Haynes Building, Room 200 at 7:00 p.m, on February 6.