APRIL 6
C RY D E R
P O I N T
Property Update
BY JILL DAVIS
MARCH CAME IN LIKE A
LION…
Remember the nor’easter of March 1? I know, that was
several weeks and many storms ago, but it was a biggie.
“The winds had to be over 60 miles an hour,” Bill Newell
reported. “And the rain was horizontal.” Marsha Gellert
took a photograph (thankfully from inside!) that will
give you an idea of how severe the storm was.
During the storm, Bill saw that the ground in the 21/41
courtyard looked loose. “A couple of us saw two trees
swaying,” he reported. These were two of the large maple
trees near the front of the 21 building. “We thought we
were going to lose them that day,” Bill said. You can see
Bill’s picture of a tree we actually did lose in the 01/21
courtyard; it was completely uprooted.
Because of these conditions, as well as a significant
number of both small and large tree limbs that fell
throughout the property, Bill called Bartlett Tree to examine
all of the trees at Cryder Point. (Bartlett is the
certified arborist that did the tree pruning here last fall.)
Their recommendation was startling: In addition to
the two maple trees that were seen swaying during the
storm, Bartlett advised that the other two maple trees
in that area also be removed. They reported that all four
of the trees are in decline and present a safety hazard to
pedestrians. In other words, they’re susceptible to falling,
and it wouldn’t necessarily take a huge windstorm
to topple them. While the recommendation that they be
removed was troubling, the idea that any one or more of
them could fall without warning was even more so.
Nevertheless, the Board wanted to be sure about the
prognosis; removing trees is a last resort, and like going
to the doctor, we needed a second opinion. Arbor-Pro,
another certified arborist, was called in separately for
their evaluation. They also recommended removal, saying
that the trees’ conditions are unsafe.
Putting safety first, the Board voted unanimously that
the trees must go. Bartlett will be doing the work, and
they are also providing recommendations for new trees
to be planted, which will be done as quickly as possible.
As an aside, thanks go out to Queens Garden, who
came the day after the storm for the cleanup. It was a big
job and it took them all day.
ADDITIONAL STORM DAMAGE
On a happy note, the seawall did its job and bore the
6 CRYDER POINT COURIER | APRIL 2018 | WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM
Photo by Bill Newell Photo by Bill Newell
brunt of the water’s fierceness and protected the most vulnerable
parts of our property by the shoreline.
However, no surprise, we lost a couple of planks on the
pier—look at the photos of the dock during the storm,
and the only surprise is that we didn’t lose more.
The cover of the pool was badly ripped up and is pretty
much a goner. Roofers and insurance adjustors have been
here to evaluate the 01 roof; damages there include the
loss of roof fans, vent covers and seven bulkheads. In addition,
two roof doors were wrecked, and coping on the
chimney of the 41 building needs repair. As of this writing,
we are waiting for the insurance report.
SEAWALL SLOPE
As many know, we’ve been struggling to control the
weeds in several areas of the slope. Not only are they unsightly,
but they can attract bugs, which is especially annoying
given the proximity to the pool and promenade.
Queens Garden has recommended the planting of junipers,
which are low-lying plants that spread outward. Step
one is to clean out the current weeds on the slope. This
step has begun(see photo).
Given the crazy weather, the rest of the project has
been slowed, but the next step is for heavy-duty matting
to be installed to suppress the growth of the weeds. It
will secured by rebar to make sure it stays in place. After
that, the junipers will be planted. The areas are likely to
look sparse as these are young plants and will need time
to spread; still, it should all look better than it has, and
fingers crossed, we won’t have to deal with those ornery
weeds any longer.
BUILDING AWNINGS
Yes, new awnings are coming, honest. We’ve been having
some back-and-forth with the vendor about timing of
delivery. We had originally earmarked March for the new
ones to be put in, figuring that the worst of the winter
Slope cleanup begins
Photo by Bill Newell
would be over by then (yeah, right). We are now looking
at getting this done this month if at all possible.
Photo by Marsha Gellert