Eastman Living Online Magazine

By David Barber

Even long-time Eastman residents may at one time or another wonder, “Where the heck is Paul’s Place?” Or, for that matter, Ash Lane? Or Stoney Brae? Or, in spite of its name, “Where on earth is Fairway Drive?” There’s a group in Eastman with answers to all these queries and others, as they have seen all of those places and many more. The Environmental Control Committee (ECC) is a committee of Eastman volunteers charged with maintaining ECC’s bylaws that protect property values and the beauty of Eastman.

Every Wednesday, the ECC “travel team,” consisting of four committee members, goes to specific sites within the community to consult with owners about their proposed projects and to assure that these projects conform to ECC bylaws. Projects may include tree removals, house painting, new roofs, driveway work, new construction and remodeling, or maintenance of a neat and tidy lot, among others.

Let’s tag along on a typical run of site visits. It’s Wednesday morning around 8:15 a.m., and this week’s travel team is meeting at the ECA Office to begin the day’s visits. Depending on the season and weather that day, each member is likely to be equipped with a rain hat, mud boots, bug repellant (lots in May), crampons for walking on ice, boots, walking stick, and a travel mug full of coffee. The leader of the group that week, who is also the driver, has planned the route using an Eastman map, compass, GPS, local knowledge, and old-fashioned, seat-of-the-pants navigation skills to find the homes the group will be visiting. The first visit this day might be in the Greensward Special Place to review a request to cut down trees. The next visit might be to check on the progress of a remodeling project in North Cove Special Place, and the third might be to view a driveway project in West Cove.

The ECC members work closely with each homeowner to expedite his or her project. Depending on the number of visits on a Wednesday morning, the simplicity or complexity of the projects involved, and how fast the tour leader can drive between sites, the travel team may make decisions for projects like tree-cutting or house painting right away and relay them to the homeowners quickly. For more involved projects, they may defer decisions for discussion at the monthly committee meeting.

The journey can be as much fun as the visits themselves, with lots of good conversation, gossip, family talk, and topics of the day. But it is always understood that “what is said in the car stays in the car.” And speaking of the car, ECC’s tour drivers have become skilled at backing out of narrow, winding, and hilly driveways, and are adroit at turning around in areas often thought impossible to do so. They can also expertly spot potholes in the unpaved roads and they know the exact locations of all of Eastman’s speed bumps.

The full ECC Committee meets once a month to discuss new and old business, map out schedules, and solve other issues. The ECC reports to the ECA Board of Directors, which is the appellate body for the ECC’s decisions. Most of the time, ECC meetings only last an hour, which allows members to get on with their day. The downside to this, of course, is that it doesn’t allow much time for knitting or checking Facebook during meetings. Be that as it may, business is conducted in an efficient manner, and committee members are adept at moving things along.

With the morning’s work done, the travel team is dispersing. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find my way back from Birdie Knob in time for the next meeting.

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David Barber has lived in Eastman since 2007 and is a member of the Environmental Control Committee. He also knows his way to the pickleball courts in the Spring Glen Special Place.

Filed under: ECA@Work.