CooperatorNews New Jersey Fall 2021

NEWJERSEY
THE CONDO & HOA RESOURCE
COOPERATORNEWS Fall 2021
NJ.COOPERATORNEWS.COM
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Experts in the fi eld of clean energy contend that the last 20 years
have seen a huge reduction in the cost of manufacturing and install-
ing photovoltaic modules. One of these experts is Frank van Mierlo,
CEO of 1366 Technologies Inc., a company based in Bedford, Mas-
sachusetts, that is at the forefront of solar technology development
and production. In a recent podcast called “Th e Science of Solar,”
Mierlo states that the fi rst solar technology was developed in 1954
by Bell Labs. At that time, a solar panel’s cost per kilowatt-hour was
In the beginning … there was light. And all this time later, we are fi nally harnessing
light’s energy to power our cities, our buildings, and our everyday devices—mostly because
all of the energy sources we’ve used until now emit incalculable amounts of carbon and
other dangerous particles into the atmosphere, causing what is now widely understood to
be a global climate catastrophe.
While the light was good, it was also expensive. Capturing energy from the sun requires
acres and acres of enormous photovoltaic panels. Storage and distribution of that energy
requires yet another set of costly infrastructure. And scaling and applying this technology
to an off -the-grid cabin in the woods is much diff erent from getting it to power an 80-story
high-rise in a large city.
But over the last few decades—and particularly over the last few years, as we’ve reached
our climate reckoning in the wake of disasters of near-biblical proportions—the technol-
ogy and components for making and providing non-fossil-burning power are becoming
cheaper, smarter, and more widely available.
The Solar Scale
New Green Tech for the
Multifamily Sector
Shiny, Tiny…& Brainy
BY DARCEY GERSTEIN
Receiverships &
Conservatorships 101
Understanding a Powerful
Legal Tool
BY A. J. SIDRANSKY
Th e ‘3 Greens’ of
Landscaping
Some Communities Go It
Alone—Others Outsource
BY A J SIDRANSKY
Between the tragedy of the Surfside
condominium collapse in Florida and
the subsequent placement of the associa-
tion in receivership, as well as the fl urry
of recent press around popstar Britney
Spears’s yearslong struggle against her
own fi nancial and legal conservatorship
situation, many may be confused—or
just curious—about what exactly those
terms mean, and how both an entity like
a condo association and a private indi-
vidual can be in the same legal ballpark.
While it’s rare for an entire multifamily
community to be placed in receivership,
conservatorships for individual residents
are much more common—so it’s helpful
for both boards and residents to have a
basic understanding of both processes,
how they come about, and how they may
change with a given set of circumstances.
Fundamentally, when a property or
individual fi nds itself or themselves in
a situation that threatens the continued
economic viability of the asset or estate,
our laws provide a level of supervised as-
sistance from qualifi ed third parties to
help restore and preserve that viability. In
the case of real property, that assistance
is known as
receivership.
In the case of an
individual, it is known as
conservatorship
or
guardianship
. In both cases, the goal is
to stabilize and preserve the value of the
In multifamily properties, diff erent
households share in the use, visual en-
joyment, and enhanced property value of
landscaped outdoor elements. Th at means
that a lot of consideration goes into de-
ciding what and where to plant, how to
maintain it, and how much to spend on it
all. Th ese considerations can be summed
up as the ‘Th ree Greens’: the vitality and
vibrancy of lawns and other plantings—
their literal greenness—the dollars that
condos and co-ops invest to design, in-
stall, and maintain these areas; and the
ecological factors that determine the best
practices, placements, and products that
use the least resources and have the best
environmental impacts.
Th e three greens of landscaping must
be considered simultaneously to maxi-
mize each. For example, an association
with a limited landscaping budget might
think that skimping on mulch will save
them money—but the right type of mulch
in the right amounts is important for soil
health, water conservation, and weed
mitigation, according to the pros. Simi-
larly, a community with ample grounds
might think that laying a bunch of sod for
sprawling lawns might be the right way to
‘green’—but this type of landscape might
actually be the least cost eff ective to main-
tain and least ecologically effi cient and/or
benefi cial.
Mix It Up
Generally, as with most things biologi-
cal, diversity is best. Having a combina-
tion of soft scape (plantings and grasses)
and hardscape (concrete, paving, turf)
creates visual appeal and can diff erenti-
ate outdoor spaces for a variety of uses.
A carefully planned landscape can also
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