Resident Information

Welcome Home!

To all of our new residents: the Board of Directors, a committed volunteer organization made up of your neighbors, would like to welcome you and your family! If you are new to the neighborhood, please take a few minutes to send us your preferred contact information. We often do not receive complete information from the title companies, and this can make sure you receive appropriate Haverhill mailings and other important information.

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT HAVERHILL

Annual Dues

The annual dues are paid by each resident, each calendar year. It funds many “shared” items around the association, including snow plowing, mowing, taxes, utilities, and upkeep of our common areas. Invoices will be mailed in the fall of each year to the address on file for the property owner. The full amount is due on January 1st, and covers that calendar year. According to the restrictive covenants, failing to pay the association annual dues will result in a lien placed against your property. If you just purchased a home, then any outstanding dues amounts, as well as the remaining (pro-rated) amount for the current calendar year should have been included in your closing fees. Please contact the The Newcomb Group if you have questions about whether or not you have outstanding dues on your property.

Association Board

The Haverhill Board of Directors is a volunteer group of dynamic residents who are responsible for managing and maintaining Haverhill association assets. If you have a question, and are a new resident, the best place to start is with your area director. You should get to know this person, as they are responsible for representing the interests of your area to the board. They can also tell you who to contact with specific questions, such as architectural policies or other issues.

The board meets quarterly, usually in the meeting room at the Aboite branch of the Allen County Public Library. Location will be sent out to our email list, posted on Facebook, and on our Events page. These meetings are open to all residents and property owners – feel free to stop by if you have a question, suggestion, or concern. (You don’t have to stay for the entire meeting – we promise.)

Common Areas

Common areas, such as the parks, playgrounds, and tennis courts in the association are available to all residents. Feel free to use these and care for them as your own. Residents are expected to clean up after themselves – please do not leave trash, toys, or other debris in common areas.

Garbage Collection

Garbage collection is a service of the City of Fort Wayne – they will provide you with a 96-gallon trash cart, as well as recycling bins. These are the property of the city, and should have already been at your house when you moved in. Our collection day is on Friday, with the exception of when a national holiday falls during the pickup week. Curbside recycling is every other week. If you have questions, or need a trash cart or recycling bins, please contact the City of Fort Wayne (via the 311 call center or visit their website.)

Per city guidelines, your trash cart should be placed by the street by 5am on the pickup day, and must be removed from sight by noon on the day after pickup. Trash bins should not be visible from the street – please store these behind a fence or in your garage. While having the large trash and recycling bins is nice, they are not the prettiest things to look at from a property-value perspective. According to city ordinance, if you store your trash bins outside, they must be along the side of your house, a minimum of 10 feet back from the side of your house facing the street. They cannot be stored in the front of your home. Please attempt to keep them out of sight as much as possible.

Restrictive Covenants (aka – The Rules)

A full copy of our restrictive covenants (i.e. the rules) can be found on this website. You also should receive a printed copy – either as part of your closing documents, or within a new resident welcome packet (delivered by The Newcomb Group). These covenants are a legal document in place to protect residents and their property values, and are enforced by the Haverhill Board.

If you are breaking one of these covenants, then the board normally will take this course of action (however, this is based on the severity of the situation):

1. First report of the violation: A visit or note from your friendly area director or another board member – informing you of the problem, and a reminder of the covenant.
2. If the violation continues: An “official” written letter from the board, informing you that the situation must be remedied within a certain time period.
3. If the violation still continues: You’ll probably be hearing from the attorney. Sorry, but we are required to do this in order to protect the other residents (and their property values!)

Again, please remember that this course of action is an example of what usually will happen in the event of a covenant violation. Board members can choose other routes, based on the severity of the situation. Also, as a board, we do not actively patrol the neighborhood looking for people breaking the rules. We hope that all residents take pride in our neighborhood, get along with their neighbors, and want to make sure it remains a great place to live. The covenants help us do this by making sure we’re all on the same page as to what is acceptable and unacceptable for a Haverhill property. It is a reality that sometimes violations take place. These can be reported to any board member for investigation of the situation.

Security

The association contracts off-duty police officers for security patrols of the neighborhood. However, these patrols are limited and are no replacement for vigilant residents. If you see something suspicious, please do not hesitate to contact the Fort Wayne Police Department. Do not contact a board member or your area director directly to report suspicious activity as it is happening, they will ask you to call the FWPD. However, we would appreciate a call after the fact so we can spread the news to other board members and residents, as well as advise our contracted security to watch for specific activity.

Snow Plowing

Since we were annexed into the City of Fort Wayne, snowplowing on our streets became the responsibility of the city street department. However, we quickly discovered that our streets were low-priority on their plowing list (with good reason). So, based on resident requests and feedback, the association decided to continue contracting snowplowing for the addition – this is a valuable service for many of our residents who must be able to get out on snowy days.

Contractors are instructed to plow the streets when snow accumulation is at or above three inches. Overall, we’ve been pleased with our current contractor’s response time. In general, if the snow has fallen during the day they come through and clear in the evening. If it’s overnight, then they usually clear our streets before or around the time that most people leave for a regular work day. Actual times are not designated in our plowing contract, but we have been happy with the job they have done for the past few years. If you have questions or concerns about snow plowing, please do not hesitate to contact your area director or a board member.

ABOUT THE AREA

Schools

We are located within the Southwest Allen County School District (SACS), a high-performing district with excellent elementary, middle, and high schools.

  • Elementary: Haverhill Elementary
  • Middle: Summit Middle School
  • High: Homestead High School

Recreation

We are within easy walking distance of the Fort Wayne Trails system, as well as Indian Trails Park and the Jorgenson YMCA. The association itself includes many recreational amenities such as tennis courts, trails, and play areas.

Utilities:

  • Natural Gas: NIPSCO
  • Electric: Northeastern REMC
  • Water/Sewage: Aqua Indiana and Fort Wayne City Utilities
  • Garbage/Recycling Collection: Fort Wayne City Utilities
  • TV/Cable Providers: Verizon FiOS, Comcast, DirectTV
  • Indiana Underground Plant Protection Service (Call Before You Dig): Dial 811

Local Features:

  • Allen County Public Library
  • Local Newspapers: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (morning), Fort Wayne News-Sentinel (evening)
  • Local Television Stations: WANE (CBS), WPTA/WISE (ABC/NBC), WFWA (PBS), WFFT (FOX)