Refuse (garbage) collection is provided by a private collector, Refuse-Removal Results. They pick up every Tuesday and Friday.  They provide holiday service except for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. If one of those three holidays should fall on a service day, collection will occur on the following day.

• All trash must be placed in a rigid trash can with a tight-fitting lid. This is required by Montgomery County Law and The Brownstones at Park Potomac HOA Declaration of Covenants.
• Please place all household trash in plastic bags before putting it into the rolling trash receptacle, as this will help prevent animals from getting into the trash and littering the surrounding area. It will also reduce odors and keep the receptacle cleaner.
• Trash receptacles are to be stored inside the garage except on collection days. Please bring in the receptacles as soon as possible after collection.

Recycling in our community is provided by Montgomery County on Thursday. They normally arrive in our community in late morning or early afternoon. The County’s recycling schedule adjusts on National Holidays by sliding forward one day.

• The County has a very informative website on how to Recycle Right, which will describe how to recycle all types of materials.
• Please do not overstuff your recycling bins. This causes recycling debris to fall out and blow around the community. If you see that items from your recycling bin have fallen out, please respect the community and take responsibility to retrieve them.
• Please bring in the recycling receptacles as soon as possible after collection. Recycling bins may not be stored on your roof terrace, deck, or patio.
• Residents of Montgomery County are entitled to order, free of charge, up to 2 blue recycling bins per year. Please click here on instructions on how to do so.
• The County will pick up and recycle old blue recycling bins that have been damaged or are no longer needed, free of charge. Call Montgomery County’s Customer Service Center at 311 (or 240-777-0311) to schedule.

Snow removal in the Brownstones community is provided by two different entities. The Brownstones landscaper, AW Landscaping (AW) is responsible for Ansin Circle Dr, Pearson Knoll, Linda View and Lindsey Hill Terrace. AW is responsible for snow removal on those streets, the sidewalks on those streets and the front steps of the houses on those streets.

The Master Association landscaper, Level Green (LG), is responsible for snow removal on Cadbury sidewalks, but AW is responsible for snow removal from the front steps of Cadbury homes.

Cadbury is a Montgomery County (MOCO) road. MOCO is responsible for snow removal on Cadbury. If the snow on Cadbury is significant and MOCO does not show up, the Master Association can direct LG to remove the snow from Cadbury.

For more information, please see the HOA Rules Recap document.

The Brownstones’ Declaration of Covenants specifies that garages must be configured and maintained to permit the storage of two automobiles. For those dwellings with one-car garages, the garage must be configured and maintained to permit the storage of one automobile.

The Brownstones’ Declaration of Covenants specifies that owners are responsible for watering their front yards. If plants in front yards die from lack of watering, the owner can be required to replace them at their own expense.

For more information, please see the HOA Rules Recap document.

The Brownstones’ Declaration of Covenants specifies that owners are responsible for keeping rear lights on during hours of darkness. Some owners use photocells to automatically turn those lights on/off. Others have installed LED light bulbs and leave them on permanently due to their very low operating expense.

The Brownstones’ Declaration of Covenants includes a section entitled ‘The Architectural Review Board‘ (ARB), which specifies that any exterior modification contemplated by an owner must be submitted to the ARB using the Exterior Modification Application that can be found on the ARB page, before any such modifications may begin. The modifications can begin upon receipt of written approval by the ARB. If the ARB declines the proposed modification, the owner has the right to request a hearing before the Association’s board of directors. The board of directors has the authority to decide either to uphold the ARB’s decision or to overrule the ARB’s decision.

You can view more information on the approved materials and colors for The Brownstones on the ARB page.

The specifics regarding paint color and materials for each unit can be viewed here.

Cadbury is not a private Brownstones street; it is owned and controlled by Montgomery County (MOCO). MOCO has designated the north and south sides of Cadbury Avenue between both intersections with Ansin Circle Drive as a Montgomery County Residential Parking Permit Area (RPPA).

Cadbury Avenue residents may register online and apply for up to two digital RPPA permits at https://montgomerycounty.myparkinginfo.com, or may call 855-510-3995 . Each digital RPPA permit costs $20 per year.

Digital permits are issued only to Cadbury Avenue residents whose cars are registered in Maryland.

In addition to the resident’s own digital RPPA permits, they may also purchase two visitor permits at a cost of $20 each (per year).

When having a visitor, it is the Cadbury RPPA permit holder’s responsibility to provide license tag information for visitor vehicle(s) to avoid ticket issuance. This may be done online or by calling 855-510-3995.

Anyone parking on Cadbury without a RPPA permit is subject to a Montgomery parking violation and fine.

The Brownstones Home Owners Assocation (HOA) is responsible for most of the landscaping within the Brownstones neighborhood property. Specifically, the HOA is responsible for landscaping of all Brownstones Common Property, and has a shared responsibility for landscaping in front and side yards of our community homes.  Shared in the sense that the HOA has a responsibility to  maintain the front and side yard plantings that were installed by the developer or the HOA, but the homeowner has the responsibility to water those plants. If plants die from lack of watering, it becomes the homeowner’s responsibility to replace them.

Rear yards of homes with front loading garages are the homeowner’s responsibility. Planter boxes in the rear of alleyway homes are the HOA’s responsibility, but owners are responsible for watering them.

Observations and monitoring of the landscaping on community common property and in the front and side yards of homes is the responsibility of the Brownstones Landscaping Committee. The Landscaping Committee makes frequent neighborhood inspections, and offers periodic landscaping recommendations to the HOA Board for their decision.

The landscape committee also makes a regular spring and fall review of landscaping, focusing largely on the front yards of homes, to determine whether any upgrade for a particular yard is warranted. Individual homeowner requests for upgrades can be submitted to the Landscaping Committee (via First Service Residential), and those requests will be noted for the next regularly scheduled spring or fall inspection and subject to the committee’s evaluation for possible upgrade or amelioration. Proposals for upgrades identified by the Landscaping Committee during these spring and fall inspections are submitted for the HOA Board’s approval.

Residents may also apply to make their own front yard remediations by completing an ARB application setting forth the types of plants to be used and including a diagram of the planting layout and sending it to First Service Residential for referral to the Landscape Committee. Following their review, the Landscaping Committee will provide their response to the resident. The ARB application can be found on the website under DOCUMENTS – Forms & Applications – Exterior Modification Application.

It is a non-profit corporation registered with the state and managed by a duly elected Board of Directors. Its purpose is to maintain all common areas and to govern the community in accordance with the provisions of the legal documents, the Bylaws and the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions.

The governing legal documents for The Brownstones at Park Potomac Homeowners Association may be viewed online by clicking “Documents” in the menu.

The corporation is financially supported by all members of the homeowners association. Membership is both automatic and mandatory; every homeowner is entitled to one (1) vote for each lot owned within the Brownstones community.

The Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) are the governing legal documents that set up the guidelines for the operation of our planned community as a non-profit corporation. The CC&Rs were recorded by Montgomery County and are included in the title to each homeowner’s property.

Each homeowner in The Brownstones at Park Potomac should have received a full set of our governing documents prior to or at settlement. Failure to abide by the CC&Rs may result in a fine to a homeowner levied by the Association.

The Bylaws are the guidelines for the operation of The Brownstones at Park Potomac Homeowners Association, a non-profit corporation. The Bylaws define the duties of the various offices of the Board of Directors, the terms of service of the Directors, the membership’s voting rights, required meetings and notices of meetings, the principal office of the Association, as well as other specific items that are necessary to run the Homeowners Association as a business.

Because The Brownstones at Park Potomac Homeowners Association is a corporation, a governing body is required to oversee its business. The Board of Directors is elected by the homeowners or as otherwise specified in the Bylaws. The limitations and restrictions of power of the Board of Directors are outlined in the governing documents.

Yes, the Board meetings are open to all residents. Notice of the dates and times for regular meetings of the Board of Directors will be noted on the Home page on this website. The HOA Board meetings are held in the clubhouse.

The assessment is the periodic amount due from each homeowner to cover the operating expenses of the Homeowners Association and to provide for reserve funds for replacement of common facilities in future years.

Your assessments are due on the first of the month. You will receive a monthly bill from First Service Residential showing the current amount of your assessment as well as any past-due amounts. Please contact them at 301-695-6619 or email richard.brandes@fsresidential.com if you have any questions.

An initial homeowners association budget for a new community is established by the developer. This budget is set using specific guidelines for utilities, landscaping, administration, etc. Reserve funds are included; these are monies set aside for future expenses due to the life expectancy of certain common area items such as lighting, trees and shrubbery, pool equipment, etc.

These budgeted amounts are then divided by the number of units built. Our Homeowners Association makes an additional calculation to allocate the budgeted amounts to each homeowner which takes into account that the Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit (MPDU) homeowners pay 2/3 of the full assessment amount.

Subsequent budgets are developed by the Board of Directors in conjunction with the Budget Committee, and are based on actual costs and projections of funds needed to meet anticipated expenses. The annual Budget is mailed to all homeowners with the assessment amount for that year. Budgets may also be viewed online by clicking “Resource Center” in the menu bar of this website. Then click “Financials” in the list of resources.

There is no concrete answer to this. Every effort is made by the Finance Committee and the Board of Directors to establish annual budgets that are as accurate as possible. But it is possible in any given year that the Board of Directors may approve an increased budget, which would then raise each homeowner’s assessment in order to cover increased costs of operating, of maintaining the common areas and to establish sufficient reserve funds.

The continuation of community services (such as trash and snow removal) and management of expenses incurred by The Brownstones at Park Potomac Homeowners Association depend upon timely receipt of the assessments due from each homeowner on the first of each month. Late payments will result in a late charge.

In addition, the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) allows the Homeowners Association to charge interest and to establish a lien on your property, or to institute foreclosure proceedings, for nonpayment of assessments.