Page 1 - CooperatorNews New Jersey Fall 2021
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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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