October 2018 Newsletter
We are going digital, please check your email & the website! The Stonebrook Homeowners Association has made a great effort to update all homeowners contact information. If we do not have current information then you can update your name, address, account status, billing information, online payments and contact form online. The Nextdoor App is the private social network for you, your neighbors and your community. We currently have 214 of our 316 homes connected. This is not required but recommended for quick neighborhood communication. If you would like to connect to those around you find our Stonebrook neighborhood at www.nextdoor.com/join Code: KBBCMP Find out more at https://nextdoor.com/about
2018 INTERNET SOLUTIONS
The Stonebrook community has the opportunity to become one of the first neighborhoods in Idaho Falls to have fiber optic internet lines installed in the ground by the City of Idaho Falls Fiber Network Pilot Program. See attached Post Register Article. This is a great opportunity and will boost our home property values & real estate appeal. Bear Prairie, The City of Idaho Falls Fiber Network General Manager, presented at our Annual Homeowners Meeting in August. Our Stonebrook community of 316 homes has been chosen as part of the pilot program. Join the Fiber Committee for more details.
Why City of Idaho Falls Fiber Network?
In 2016, we approached the City of Idaho Falls regarding the Fiber Network but they did not have plans to move forward with infrastructure. We, the HOA Board, reached out to several private companies such as TruFiber. Summer 2018, the New General Manager of the Idaho Falls Fiber Network was appointed and he advocated for dual purpose installation during the mandatory updates being required. This is a great opportunity for Stonebrook Homeowners!
Pilot Program
There are 3 scenarios to the pilot program installing Fiber Internet:
1. Homes with overhead power lines adding fiber optic lines.
2. Homes with Idaho Falls Power conduit with open space available for adding fiber optic lines.
3. Homes (such as Stonebrook) needing electrical conduit updated & replaced. At the time of required construction the Idaho Falls City will include fiber optic lines in the new conduit. Each box located in the backyards of homes in Stonebrook will be going through a mandatory update required by the city.
Get Involved
If you would like to get more information and are interested in joining the Stonebrook Homeowners Fiber Network committee, contact us for details. Stonebrook HOA Committees will be meeting once a quarter at the Idaho Falls City Library Meeting Room #1 on Nov 14th at 7 pm.
Idaho Falls Power will have an open house with pilot program participants and other interested parties on Oct. 23 at Taylorview Middle School.
City Council approves Idaho Falls Power fiber network pilot program
By RYAN SUPPE rsuppe@postregister.com Sep 28, 2018
Idaho Falls Power is moving forward with a residential high-speed fiber optic pilot program in partnership with UTOPIA Fiber, a Utah-based fiber optic network agency. The City Council unanimously approved the plan Thursday. UTOPIA Fiber will apply to Idaho Falls Power the same rates that it charges its Utah members for engineering and construction services, according to City Council documents. The program involves installing — or connecting previously installed — fiber optic cables, creating a network designed for increased bandwidth and data transfer speeds. The pilot will test and examine the cost of a high-speed fiber optic network for residents and businesses, starting with a designated pilot program area in Idaho Falls. A fiber optic line (a stretched strand of glass that transmits data through light) is a superior method of data transfer to electrical wiring because it can carry more data at increased speeds. Councilman John Radford said that, with electrical systems increasingly tied to the Internet, a fiber-optic system is a necessity for a modern public utility. ”We need to have the ability to really quickly interact with those things,” he said. According to Bear Prairie, general manager of Idaho Falls Power and Idaho Falls Fiber, the fiber network pilot program is a response to the growing need for increased internet bandwidth. ”Need and access of broadband connectivity is quickly becoming a utility-type structure,” Prairie said. “We want to make sure that everybody has access to the bandwidth that they need.” The city of Ammon built a utility-style fiber optic network in 2016, which is currently connected to 350 residential and commercial addresses, according to Bruce Patterson, technology director for the city of Ammon. UTOPIA (Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency), a community-owned, not-for-profit agency, provides a fiber optic network for nearly a dozen Utah cities. It will help design, operate and manage the Idaho Falls’ fiber network, Prairie said. The partnership with Idaho Falls Power will be the first time UTOPIA Fiber has worked on a project outside of Utah, according to a news release from the agency. “As the largest open-access network in the country, there’s nobody else with the experience and expertise that we have,” said Roger Timmerman, UTOPIA Fiber’s executive director, in the release. The boundaries for the pilot program have not yet been finalized, but the general area includes numbered streets between 17th Street and Tautphaus Park and some residential areas south of Sunnyside Road. Residents in the pilot program area will receive a letter of notification in early October.
“The reason we picked the areas that we did is we needed an area that was close to our existing backbone of fiber rings,” Prairie said. “We need to locate near that existing infrastructure.” The city has existing fiber optic lines — used by a number of business — but those lines don’t reach residential areas. Existing lines will be connected to the new network. Idaho Falls Fiber will run new fiber lines through existing overhead and underground power lines. Using existing infrastructure allows the project to be completed at a fraction of the cost any other company would face, Prairie said. Once the system is built, Idaho Falls Power will rely on partnerships with local companies to provide services, such as internet service, on the network. Prairie stressed that Idaho Falls Power will not become an internet service provider, it is simply building the network infrastructure that private businesses can utilize. “Idaho Falls Fiber is going to be doing what we’re really good at, the same thing we’ve done on the power side,” Prairie said. “We already have hundreds of miles of infrastructure we can leverage, by also following the same paths with fiber to drive the cost down and really bring this connectivity out to the local residents.”
Idaho Falls Power officials will be meeting with internet services providers next month to discuss future use of its fiber network. Residents will not have to pay for the installation of the fiber network in their area. However, they will have to pay a fee to connect to the network in addition to the regular cost of internet service from their internet service provider. The pilot program is scheduled to end in spring 2019. At that time, Idaho Falls Power will decide whether to extend the network citywide, Prairie said. There will be an open house with pilot program participants and other interested parties on Oct. 23 at Taylorview Middle School.
Reporter Ryan Suppe can be reached at 208-542-6762. Follow him on Twitter: @salsuppe.
2018-2019 IMPORTANT DATES
· Oct 15 & 16th City of Idaho Falls Leaf Collection
· Tues, Oct 23rd Idaho Falls Power Fiber Network Open house with pilot program participants and other interested parties at Taylorview Middle School with Bear Prairie.
· Saturday, October 20th & October 27th Stonebrook Community Improvement Service Project & Tree Trimming Find more details being sent in email & being delivered door to door.
· Wednesday, Nov 14th HOA Board & Committee Meetings @ Idaho Falls Library
· Wednesday, Feb 13th HOA Board & Committee Meetings @ Idaho Falls Library
· Wednesday, May 8th HOA Board & Committee Meetings @ Idaho Falls Library
· Saturday, May 19th from 8:00am to 3:00pm is our annual Community Yard Sale held rain or shine.
· Friday, May 31st from 6:00 to 8:00pm our second joint Stonebrook & Canterbury Park Community Block Party located at Sunnyside Elementary School. More details will be available online.
· Wednesday, August 14th from 7:00 to 8:00pm is our Stonebrook Home Owners Association Annual Members Meeting. We will be seeking 4 volunteers nominated to serve on the HOA Board for a 2-year commitment. More details will be available online at https://www.stonebrookhomeowners.org/board.
**NEW** Stonebrook HOA COMMITTEES
(MEETING QUARTERLY)
Thank you to the committee member volunteers who signed up at the Annual Membership Meeting in August 2018 to help with our homeowners’ committees. The first quarterly committee meetings will be held on Wed, Nov 14th from 7:30-8:00 pm in the Idaho Falls Public Library Meeting Room #1 (457 W Broadway St., Idaho Falls, ID 83402).
All are invited to join a committee and participate.
Fiber Internet Committee
Block Party/Welcoming
Community Improvement
Neighborhood Watch Committee
Silver Seniors Social Committee
**NEW** Stonebrook SERVICE PROJECT
Oct 20th & Oct 27th 2018
There are services available to help residents comply with city ordinances that prescribe minimum clearances for tree limbs and branches that overhang roads and sidewalks. According to applicable ordinances1, trees are to be trimmed from ground level to at least 15 feet above public streets and 8 feet above sidewalks. During the first two weeks of October, volunteers will be measuring tree clearances in our neighborhood. If you have trees that need to be trimmed to comply with city ordinances, those volunteers will deliver a notice to you. If you have trees that need to be trimmed, you can do it yourself or hire a commercial service. See attached prices for LawnTech’s discounted rate to Stonebrook residents. If you decide to trim your trees yourself or if you hire a service that trims but does not haul branches away, you may wish to use the following free service offered by volunteer Boy Scouts. Boy Scout volunteers will be available on October 20 and October 27 to cut and tie severed branches into 4-foot bundles to be picked up by the City of Idaho Falls Sanitation Department. If you desire to make use of this free service, please contact Jim Lea to schedule the Boy Scout volunteers. Please note that the Boy Scouts will not trim your trees. They will simply cut and bundle branches that have already been trimmed. As an HOA, we hope to continue coordinating this effort each spring and fall in coming years.
1 Idaho Falls Ordinance Nos. 1941, Sections 4-7; 2207, 8-8-96; 2486, 3-27-03; 2738, 2-14-8; 2877, 8-11-11; 2968, 9-10-14.
2018 Stonebrook Statistics and General Information:
Total Homes: 316; Owner Occupied Homes: 301; Rental Homes: 5
Schools: Sunnyside Elementary School; Taylorview Middle School; Idaho Falls High School
Real-estate Report
2016-2017
Homes Sold: 22
Average Sale Price: $297,795
Average Days on Market: 61
High Sale Price: $520,000
Low Sale Price: $210,000
Average Price/Sq Ft: $73.97
2017-2018
Homes Sold: 23
Average Sale Price: $318,496
Average Days on Market: 57
High Sale Price: $445,000
Low Sale Price: $195,000
Market Growth: 8.38%
Average Price/Sq Ft: $78.51
Assessment for Stonebrook Home Owners Association (as of Sept 2018) has 19 accounts prepaid for 2019. 278 accounts paid in full. 5 delinquent ($100+) assessments totaling $822 delinquent assessments. 33 delinquent ($40) assessments totaling $1320 delinquent assessments.
Note: $1 late fee per month has been applied to late accounts. Please pay promptly online: https://www.stonebrookhomeowners.org/pay-assessment
THANK YOU for
…the many hours of service from Vic Jacobson and Sally Henry, …the continued service from Joni Larsen, Kent Okeson & Michael Maloney, and the many who volunteer to serve & improve our community.
WE NEED YOUR VOTE
Four Open Board Positions Available & Four Nominations Received at the Annual Members Meeting. Find BALLOT CARD included in the newsletter mailed to your billing address, please mark and return by Thursday, November 1st.
Nomination: President Jamie Braithwaite (currently serving as HOA Board President)
Nomination: Vice President Josh Chandler (currently serving as HOA Board Vice President)
Nomination: Mark Robison (moved into the community several years ago)
Nomination: Kelli Archibald (original homeowner in the community)