Board Minutes
The RECA Board meets monthly except during the summer. Board meeting minutes are available to Regency Estates residents upon request. Please use the Contact Us form.
General Meeting Minutes
The RECA General Meeting is held in May of each year. Minutes of the prior years’s meeting are approved at each meeting. The approved minutes for prior Annual Meetings are available upon request. Please use the Contact Us form.
Bylaws
The RECA bylaws are available here.
Tax Assessment Meeting
The RECA Tax Assessment Meeting is held every three years to coincide with Maryland’s property tax assessment cycle. This meeting provides an introduction to Maryland property tax assessments, their impact on your home and how to appeal them if you are not satisfied with the result. The formal presentation from our December 2023 meeting is available here. We followed up that meeting with a RECA-lead Tax Assessment Virtual Recap in January 2024. The slides from that presentation are available here.
WSSC Sewage Backup Issue
It has come to RECA’s attention that there has been an ongoing series of serious sewage damage to homes in Regency Estates. They are the result of the aging sewer lines beneath us owned by WSSC and their activities. We are concerned that damage to resident homes will continue to happen unless a robust solution is put in place by WSSC.
We’d first like to share a very recent example of destruction caused by WSSC activities that have affected several neighbors on the same street. Then we’d like to ask that others who have experienced WSSC sewage backup issues to please share your address, date(s) of occurrence, and concise description of your issue(s) so that we may compile and timely share this information with WSSC so they are aware of the gravity of the situation. We will request that they address our concerns in a virtual community meeting. In the interim, we want our community to know what the reporting and claims process is for sewage backup issues caused by WSSC in case that should happen to any of us.
First-hand Account from a Regency Estates Neighbor
On the evening of Feb. 26, 2024, five homes on Enid Drive experienced substantial basement flooding of sludge-filled sewer water backing up into their basements from floor drains and lower-level toilets. Another RECA homeowner on Milburn Drive described a similar basement event in January 2024. One affected neighbor shared their stressful clean-up process, which began with a seven-person clean-up crew deployed to their home through a WSSC contractor. They worked for eight hours to begin the several-day clean-up process to remove contaminated personal property, cabinetry, furniture, sections of dry wall, doors, carpets, floor tiles, and more. Large water vacuums, multiple applications of biocontainment/disinfectant, and mold abatement procedures were used before installing large fans, air purifiers and dehumidifiers in an attempt to hasten drying and reduce the smell of sewage. Next came the process of filing claims, getting estimates from contractors to repair interior structural damage, planning for the construction mess, and continuing to deodorize the home in anticipation of the warmer weather.
Several neighbors have experienced these unfortunate incidents multiple times. The back-up appears to be the result of WSSC’s “routine” high pressure water jets used to remove tree roots in the main sewer lines under our street that forces the sewer contents up the lines into our basements. While we understand the need for routine procedures, the resulting destruction is not ok. This periodic, serious interruption should not to be considered routine events to WSSC.
WSSC Reporting and Claims Process
When a sewage backup occurs, please know that there is a reporting and claims process through WSSC where they will investigate the lines in question, and if determined at-fault, they are responsible for repairing the line, cleaning the affected areas of the home, repairing and/or replacing damaged property/value as well as household items. Please click the link below to view WSSC’s emergency contact number and step-by-step process guide:
https://www.wsscwater.com/claims
Urgent Request for Neighbor Incidence Information
Importantly, if you have experienced one or more sewer backup issues in your home over the past years, please reply to this email with your address, when the incident(s) occurred, and a brief description of the issue(s). The more information we can compile, the stronger our case will be, which will facilitate getting on WSSC’s radar and helping us advance to solutions quicker.
Because more sewage backup incidents can happen anytime, there is a sense of urgency to collect this data and send to WSSC as soon as possible. If you can please reply by April 5, that will help expedite our community’s advocacy efforts. Any questions, please feel free to reply to this email and we will do our best to answer them or direct you to someone who can.
Thank you in advance for your commitment to our community.