South Cove Homeowners Association Board Meeting Minutes – 7/17/2002

At Home of Mark Southern

 

Board Members Present:  Susie Carney, David Bangs, Susi Tom, Kendra Mills, Mark Southern, Mike Quaranta

Non-Board members present: Julie McDaniel

Board Members Absent:  Doug McDaniel, Cynthia Murphy, Shelly Birkwood

 

Meeting called to order at 7:05pm by Susie Carney

 

Minutes: David read the minutes for June 2002, and they were approved as read and corrected.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Mark reports we have $57,658 in the bank. 15 outstanding dues or assessment payments – down from 27 last month.  Breakdown is 9 special assessment, 4 2002 dues and 2 2001 dues. The certified letter sent to the homeowner late on all three dues was returned as undeliverable. Mark will investigate options to file liens or hire a collection agency for some of the most outstanding dues/assessments.

 

Landscaping: 

Drainage:  Kendra recommended we refocus the project on just the main part of the park, rather than the soccer field N. of the tennis courts.  The bid from Olympic Irrigation is $22,492 just for that area.  The work would removing 17,000 sq ft of turf, regrading and reseeding, and substantially reworking the drainage system. An additional $2,000 might be needed to reinstall the irrigation system.  This figure, with tax on top, would be far higher than the $20,000 upper limit on drainage work. Kendra will obtain comparable bids from two other venders prior to next month’s board meeting.  We hope to have enough information to approve a project at the August board meeting so the work can be done this fall.

 

Park Paving: Susie Carney reported that the latest bid from Sammamish Paving is $15,730 (tax included). The special assessment allocates $19,000 to the path project. This price includes the paths in the park plus our portion of the path from South Cove to Sammamish Beach Club. In order to widen the path to SBC, we would have to remove 30 shrubs, some of which are primadalis.  We should think about places where these plants could be reused. 

 

It was mentioned that two fir trees at the S.E. 44th Way park entrance, which we discussed removing last month, are very close to the paths and at least one of them would have to be removed in order to widen the park paths.  We had previously been considering removing these trees at the request of neighbors (Doug and Julie McDaniel), since the trees almost entirely overhang their play yard and roof and drop needles and small branches regularly.  David Bangs moved, and Susie Carney seconded, that we approve the bid by Cascade Tree service, of $925 plus tax, to remove the two trees, with costs allocated to the path project budget.  Approved unanimously with one abstention.

 

Curbing:  Susie Carney reported that residents of S.E. 45th Court are concerned that when their curbing was replaced, the planting island was made larger, which narrowed the width of the roadway around the cul-de-sac by 10 inches – to a width of 21 feet.  This width reduction could make it a bit tougher for garbage trucks to pass.  Abel curbing was aware that we were concerned about leaving more room for passing, but this planting island was enlarged slightly to avoid having to repair asphalt which came up while removing the old curbing. All codes are met by the new dimensions, and we’ve been advised independently that moving out curbs to avoid asphalt repair is standard industry practice.  Abel curbing offered re-lay curb on that cul-de-sac to small dimensions and fix the exposed asphalt for $1000.  This is a good deal, since another company would charge $2500 just to fix the exposed asphalt.  The Board is reluctant to spend $1000 to address this concern without further evidence of a problem. However, we would like to ask Abel Curbing to lock in the $1000 bid so that we can consider performing this work in the future should this particular curbing fail due to tire damage.  Susie Carney will discuss this request with them.

 

Other Landscaping: Kendra Mills reported that volunteer work parties spread gravel at the playground, and pulled dying junipers and spread mulch on 188th. She will order 10 more yards of mulch to complete coverage on 188th.  Painting playground spring-toys is deferred to a later work party.  David will look at plot maps to determine the exact area near the S.E. 44th Way entrance which the Association is responsible for maintaining.

 

Tennis: Julie McDaniel report that The Fence Connection is now scheduled to come next week to install tennis court locks.  The gentleman who cleaned the courts is scheduled to do the final cleaning this weekend.  Tennis lessons are going well – and there are still openings available.

 

Beach: Mike Quaranta recently went diving twice to fix the dock.  It is now anchored with two chains.  In response to last months’ questions, Mike said the dock will continue to be able to be rocked, but it is rigid.  The appearance of flex could easily have been an optical illusion.  Mike will install non-skid tape, but can’t guarantee it will prevent kids from falling off if they are playing rough.

 

The nylon ropes around the swim area need replacement because they are fraying and feel sharp and abrasive.  However, the job to replace them is difficult since they must be installed underwater, and with tight tension.  The current ropes were apparently installed along with the cement pilings.  But no contractor will bid on the job of installing just ropes and floats.  The Greenwood Point Association is going to undertake a similar project.  Mike will volunteer to help them, in order to learn from that experience, before further considering replacing our beach’s ropes.

 

Government Affairs:  David Bangs reported there will be a meeting July 29th at the Library Resource Center on Newport Way to consider the Annexation Committee’s strategy for communicating with neighbors and conducting a survey to determine levels of interest in early annexation to Issaquah.  Representatives from each neighborhood are invited.  The first large public meeting for all residents to discuss annexation with committee members and City officials has been scheduled for October 8th, at the Pickering Barn.  David showed the final “One-Pager” which will be distributed to neighbors to give them an overview, and also reported that the committee’s web site (www.issaquahweb.org) is on-line to provide more in-depth information about the issues.  David turned in at $50 check from Sammamish Beach Club to help fund annexation communication expenses.  Checks from other HOA’s will come later.  David reported that the Annexation Committee plans to use the South Cove HOA P.O. Box as its mailing address for returned survey postcards, and there we no objections.

 

New Business:

 

A girl was injured while riding her bike.  She steered into a mailbox cluster while trying to avoid shrubs that were overhanging the sidewalk.  Susi Tom and others will look around for shrubs overhanging the sidewalk and contract homeowners.

 

In the last few years, all covenant violation reports have been referred to the Architecture Committee.  But technically, that committee is only responsible for considering architecture review applications.  We discussed who else on the Board might consider covenant violation complaints.  For now, the president will delegate these.

 

Mark Southern mentioned that he has seen other potential covenant violations in the neighborhood and promised to send a list of those violations to the president. He suggested that that before we contact homeowners, we need to understand what exact section of the covenants is being violated.  In cases where a clause in the “Rules and Regulations” document is being violated, we need to understand what authority in the Covenants empowered the Board to create that particular rule.

 

David Bangs mentioned the rules committee will meet for the first time prior to the August Board Meeting to begin discussing priorities for that committee.  The committee will study our rules documents for potential problems and suggest critical changes that should be made.  The committee will also recommend a standard process for reporting covenant violations to the Board, and ensure that we understand the timeline required to meet the first 30 year window for amending the covenants.


In order to avoid schedule conflicts, we changed the date of the August board meeting to the 14th.

 

Meeting was adjourned.

 

Next Meeting:

Wednesday, August 14th, 7pm
Home of David Bangs
4314 193rd Ave. S.E.