PINE BROOK NEWS
THE PINE BROOK CIVIC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
March 2008

Hidden Park Tanbark
Please mark your calendars for April 19th and join your neighbors for a day of Spring Cleaning at Hidden Park. We will spread another layer of tanbark around the playground equipment in addition to doing other maintenance items. The action begins at 9am. Bring some gloves, a shovel and the willingness to have fun while meeting your neighbors. The entrance to Hidden Park is off Fireside Drive. Just follow the signs. Depending on the number of folks showing up, we are usually done by 11am or Noon.

If you can bring a wheelbarrow and rake with you, that would be very helpful.

Annual Dues Drive
By now, all residents should have received their Pine Brook dues letter. If you have not sent in your $50 calendar year payment, please do so now. Your money is needed to maintain the three PBCA owned parks and to preserve Pine Brook’s status as a premiere neighborhood where people desire to live.

Even if you do not use the common areas, as a Pine Brook property owner you benefit from these green spaces through higher property values and enviable resale results.

Calendar
March 24th , Monday, 7:00 pm PBCA Board meeting @ 211 Lamp Post Ln.

April 19th, Saturday, 9 am - ?? Help spread tanbark at Hidden Park. Go to Fireside Dr. and look for the signs.

Board of Directors

Board Members

Web Site
http://www.pinebrookcivicassociation.org

Pavilion Park Work
This year, the PBCA Board has planned for some major capital projects to be done at Pavilion Park. We have approved a much needed replacement (and upgrade) of the electrical system and lighting fixtures at the Pavilion. The grounds will be rolled and possibly aerated in addition to the annual weeding and feeding. We'll be looking at putting in a new fire pit. The trees will need pruning as well. If you have suggestions for other work or would like to volunteer to be on the Pavilion Park planning committee, please give any board member a call.

SUBMIT YOUR NEWS-BITS
Do you have news or birth announcements to make in the neighborhood? Or do you have a unique service you would like other neighbors to know about? To be included in the Pine Brook News, submit to:

Dave Fish, 405 Lamp Post Lane, Camp Hill, PA 17011

E-mail: PBCAmail@yahoo.com

Or join the Pine Brook discussion group on the web site: http://www.pinebrookcivicassociation.org

Bits and Pieces
Pet Peeves
Some residents would like to remind everyone that the Township does have “pooper-scooper” laws and you must clean up after your pets. This includes the common areas of the neighborhood such as Hidden Park and Pavilion Park.

Not picking up after your pets is a violation of Township laws and the penalty for not picking up after your dog is a fine of no more than $600 and/or jail time of no more than 30 days.

Advertising in the Pine Brook News      
Ads for kids offering yard work or babysitting jobs, will be listed here free of charge. The PBCA also allows interested adults or businesses to advertise in the neighborhood newsletter for a small charge. The cost is $25 for a business card size ad. All money from these ads goes towards the cost of printing the newsletter. The board limits the number of ads and approves the content.

If you are interested, please contact Dave Fish at PBCAmail@yahoo.com or 737-6635.

Pine Brook Entertainment Committee
The Association is in desperate need of volunteers for the Entertainment Committee which is in charge of organizing and running the various events such as the Summer Picnic, Pumpkin Carving, etc. Please contact Dave Fish at 737-6635 to help - even if it is for only one event.

Ads in the newsletter cost $25 per business card size. This money is used to cover the costs of printing the newsletter.

Neighborhood Yard Sale
(Friday, May 2 & Saturday May 3)
It’s time again for the annual extravaganza that is the Pinebrook Neighborhood Yard Sale. Here is your chance to sell your ‘treasures’ before you donate them to charity.

This sale always attracts hundreds of buyers….both professional dealers and the average “browsers” looking for bargains. More buyers mean more sales. More sales equals more money. Don’t you want to be involved in this? All you have to do is set up a table and SELL, SELL, SELL. The Pinebrook Civic Association will take care of the advertising. You do not need to have a permit to hold a yard sale.

PBCA Soccer Tournament
Kids, get ready for the 1st annual Pinebrook soccer tournament. We have targeted Saturday, August 9th, to host a soccer tournament for neighborhood kids of all ages. Depending on the level of interest, we will assemble teams based on age and skill level.

We will look at playing the afternoon of Saturday, August 9th, with a BBQ or ice cream event (or both) to be held afterwards. There will be more information to follow, but if you have children who are interested, please mark the date on your calendar. If you would like to participate, please e-mail Ruairi Gleeson at rrgleeson@comcast.net. We will follow up with an email to the neighborhood closer to the time. Spread the word!!

President’s Corner:
One of our regular projects as an association comes up this year - the neighborhood directory. Elsewhere in this newsletter is information about the cover art contest. Please read about this exciting new idea.

When we sent the dues letter out, there was information on advertising in the directory. I just want to remind everyone of this opportunity and to let you know that response has been very good so far. If you plan to advertise in the directory, it makes sense to let me know sooner rather than later - it may impact how many pages are printed in this year's directory. We won't need art or anything at this point - but by May I'll be contacting all the people who have indicated they want to advertise to get everything organized. If you have questions about advertising in the directory, you can email me at pbcamail@yahoo.com, or call me at 731-8829.

Do you have a new neighbor? Please let us know so we can provide them a friendly welcome from PBCA and introduce the homeowner's association to them in order to keep them in the loop of activities planned for the year. Feel free to let any board member know, or email us, at pbcamail@yahoo.com. And if you want to volunteer to join our Welcoming Committee, please let us know.

Lastly, just a reminder to lock your cars at night if parked outdoors. It seems like every few springs we go through a period of time where unlocked cars are robbed. Even though Pine Brook feels (and is!) very safe, things like this still happen, just like everywhere else. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of filling out police reports.

Wayne Kessler
President, PBCA
731-8829

Upcoming PBCA Events
Here is list of some important neighborhood dates that may be of interest to you.

April 1 - Deadline for neighborhood annual dues
April 19 - Mulch Day at Hidden Park (9am - ?)
May 2, 3 - Spring Neighborhood Yard sale
August 9 - Soccer Camp at Pavilion Park
September 13 - Neighborhood Picnic
October 6 - PBCA Annual Meeting
October 17, 18 - Fall Neighborhood yard sale
October 26 - Pumpkin Patch at Pavilion Park
Dec. ? - Neighborhood Caroling
Dec 24 - Neighborhood luminaries (5 - 9pm)

More details will be provided as each event draws near. Volunteers are needed, so please call any board member to help.

Spiral Path Farms
Once again, our family will be a Spiral Path Farm Organic Produce volunteer host.

Spiral Path Farm is an organic farm in Perry County. Through Spiral Path, you can take part in their Community Supported Agriculture program whereby, for a membership fee, you will receive a box of fresh, locally grown organic produce once a week from mid May through mid November.

There are two different membership programs. Boxes of produce can be picked up every Wednesday at our house at 3807 Candlelight Drive.

We receive no money from Spiral Path Farm; we are simply a volunteer drop-off/pick-up site for the produce.

If you'd like to learn more, you can visit Spiral Path Farm at http://www.spiralpathfarm.com/

Membership fees are here http://www.spiralpathfarm.com/share.html

(There is a reduced fee if you join before April 1. Please contact Spiral Path directly to sign-up.)

If you have any questions about the produce or pick-up procedures, I'd be glad to answer them. jozet@earthlink.net

ALSO: I have limited the number of participants picking up at our house to 50. We had about 45 people picking-up produce at our house last year and I do expect to reach our limit this year.

Josette Plank
3807 Candlelight Drive

Membership application for 2007
HTML Format | PDF Format (Free Adobe Reader required)

Neighborhood Directory
The Pine Brook Civic Association Board has made a change concerning future neighborhood directories. Directories used to go to all residents whether they paid their dues or not. From now on, you must be a full paying member of the association to receive a neighborhood directory.

The deadline for your $50 annual dues is April 1st. Please make your check payable to “PBCA” and mail or deliver it to Mr. Ken Ulrich, PBCA Treasurer, 322 Lamp Post Ln., Camp Hill, 17011.

Directory Cover Art Contest
This summer we'll be publishing the next Pine Brook Direction. This year we're looking for somebody else to provide the cover art for the Pine Brook Civic Association Directory. So, we've decided to have a contest for all kids in the neighborhood under the age of 18. Here are the rules:

Open to any resident of Pine Brook under the age of 18.

The winning art will have to be printed in black and white, so artwork should be created to best take advantage of that requirement.

Artwork must be accompanied with artist's name, address, and age.

Artwork will have to fit within a print space of 4 inches wide by 4 and one half inches high. Original art can be larger and we'll scan and reduce the size, however, artists should know that if the art is too large, or the detail too small prior to shrinking the graphic, those details may be hard to see in the final cover version.

Artwork must be flat. We will have to scan the original for inclusion on the Directory, so it absolutely must be flat.

Artwork must somehow represent the Pine Brook neighborhood. This may include the parks, creek, trees, general view of homes, and nonspecific images of people.

Entries must be submitted by May 15th, 2008, to Wayne Kessler, 211 Lamp Post Lane, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. The cover selection will be determined by the PBCA Board. All artwork will be returned to the artists if names and addresses are provided.

We will provide reference of the winner in our newsletter and in the directory. Identity of the winner will be specified in accordance with the wishes of the artist, parents of the artist and the PBCA Board.

There's no prize beyond being on the cover, but we thought that some kids would appreciate the chance to show off their artistic talents to the households in our neighborhood. Feel free to contact Wayne Kessler at wayne@penncen.com if you have any questions.