DEER CREEK LANDOWNERS, INC.
Minutes of General
Meeting April 24, 2010
Scopazzi’s Restaurant,
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
President’s
Welcome: Joseph
called the meeting to order at 1:14 p.m., welcomed the landowners, and
introductions were held. Roster of
attendees and proxies is with hard copy in Book of Minutes. Arden moved to approve the minutes of the
Fall membership meeting, Tys 2nd, approved.
Treasurer’s
Report: Tys
handed out financial report; hard copy in Book of Minutes – also can be
accessed online at dcli.org; acknowledgment was given to Ron Chandik for
advising Tys, and Arden for helping as 2nd signer on checkbook. Tys asked membership to study the handouts as
he narrated – the hard copies of Treasurer report in Book of Minutes and will
be posted online. Bruce moved to approve
the Treasurer’s Report, Stan 2nd, approved.
Secretary’s
report: Manuela reported on all lien activity – hard copy of Secretary’s report
is in Book of Minutes and posted online – and informed the membership that DCLI
has placed liens totaling approximately $19,5000, which does not include late
charges, recording fees, or interest.
Manuela submitted to Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County
a request to collaborate with representatives of various road associations who
have attended a Rural Roads workshop (our Road Manager Tom Bird is a presenter
at the workshops) and they have expressed interest in working together to
address the issues of the difficulty in collecting dues from landowners who are
members of road associations, in addition to collecting the shared
costs/contributions from non-member landowners who utilize the road
system. The plan is to gather together
representatives from other road associations and pool resources so that we all
can contribute to the costs of engaging a lawyer to argue test cases in
Superior court. We would like to have
the test cases presented in order to obtain a ruling that will set a precedent
for all future cases that we bring to Small Claims court for obtaining a Judgment;
because we are a corporation, we need to be represented by an attorney Because we are a corporation, we must engage
an attorney to argue our case, and by joining forces with other road
associations, the costs will be defrayed.
Now,
for a wonderful report. Tom Bird was
contacted last week and informed that Deer Creek Landowners (of which Tom is
Road Manager), and Bear Creek Canyon Road Association (of which Tom is
President) had rec’d the 2010 Blue Circle Watershed Champion Award. We all know that it is only because of Tom’s
tireless work with the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County on
behalf of the two road associations that the award was given to us. The award is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources
Conservation Service and the Resource
Conservation District of Santa Cruz County. and is presented every other
year. The Presentation of Awards took
place at The Blue Circle/Earth Day Event held in Santa Cruz, on 40th
Anniversary of Earth Day. Included in
the wording of the plaque: ‘To Deer Creek…for your perseverance and leadership
in implementing Best Management Practices on rural roads to protect water
quality and fish habitat in the.…watersheds. For work and cooperation with the
Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County that helped educate
community members through site tours and workshops.” (Tom has conducted various
workshops and site tours with RCD and NRCS, to assist other road associations
to develop their erosion control plans. “[We] are setting an example of how
road associations working together can build better roads and protect
watersheds. Thank you Deer Creek…for
all of your road improvement work and related community educational
efforts.” Great applause for Tom.
Road
Manager’s Report: Tom narrated his Power Point presentation (available on DCLI website),
and showed before and after photos of sections of the road system for which
money had been budgeted by the membership during the Spring 2009 meeting.
In Spring 2009, the membership approved road maintenance projects totaling
$27,800. During 2009-2010, most of those projects were completed, for a total
expenditure on road projects of $26,948.18.
The
membership addressed the line item budget for 2010-2011, and voted to approve a
road maintenance project budget of $29,200. Of that total amount, $16,200 is
for 13 small projects throughout the road system, including culverts, ditching,
transfers, and grading. The details are available in the Road Manager’s report
on the DCLI website. The remainder, $13,000, is earmarked for a project to
stabilize the road over the landslide at the 3rd bridge by building
a “deadman’s cage” over the existing slide.
There
was a great deal of discussion, enthusiasm and input from the membership
regarding various projects to be implemented this year. Of
particular note was a discussion of which discretionary project to tackle this
year. Tom presented several possible discretionary projects:
1.
Slide repair,
“Paintball”: $300,000 or $20,000, depending on which engineering approach we
take
2.
Slide repair,
“3rd bridge”: $13,000
3.
Slide repair,
“yellow gate”: $13,000
4.
Grade,
culverts, repair, 3rd bridge to Ramble: $13,500 (plus a matching
grant from RCD for a total project cost of $27,000). This project would get
this section of road ready for paving, but does not include asphalt. The
total grant cost would be $27000, plus we will be required to hire a Geotech
Engineer to recommend and approve the final design. This will be an
additional charge of $15,000 to $20,000. RCD and The Natural Resource
Conservation Service will not give final approval for the grant until they
evaluate the Geotech report.
5.
Rebuild road
from Locatelli Gate to 2nd bridge: $15,980.
After
substantial discussion, the membership chose to budget for one slide repair
project this year, at the 3rd bridge. First, the membership decided
not to substantially increase road maintenance fees. To meet this goal, we
could choose a single discretionary project. Proponents of project #4 (3rd
bridge to Ramble) pointed out that the matching grant may not be available in
future years. Proponents of repairing the paintball slide or project #5 pointed
out that all property owners benefit from improvements in this section of the
road. Nonetheless, the membership agreed to work on the slide at the 3rd
bridge. The main arguments in favor of this project are:
-
If this slide
(or the one at the yellow gate) collapses, there is no backup plan. Residents
beyond that point would not be able to reach their properties. By contrast, the
paintball slide could probably be made passable after a collapse.
-
The paintball
slide project is more complex; it seems better to evaluate the new slide repair
technique on a smaller slide.
-
Projects 4 and
5 were very appealing, but clearly less important to the membership than
protecting against the collapse of a slide.
Tom
proposed changes in the Heavy Vehicle Policy and after much discussion they
were accepted by the membership. The
final version is posted online at dcli.org. The changes are summarized as
follows:
- The heavy vehicle fee applies after 8
round trips a year (previously 10)
-
Heavy vehicles
are charged based on actual weight and miles traveled. This language now takes
into account the fact that one leg of a round trip is usually empty.
-
Fee changes can
be made annually by a majority vote of the membership, and are limited to the Bay
Area inflation rate.
Tom
is meeting with Rich Samson of Cal Fire next week to discuss the damage done to
Deer Creek Road by the Cal Fire bulldozer.
Manuela moved to approve the Road Manager’s report, 2nd by
Arden, approved.
Manuela
moved to adjourn the meeting, Rich 2nd, adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
Break for 2 minutes before 845 meeting.
845 meeting attended by Gordy Stewart and Bernadette McNeill: Gordy stated that he would like to write
a letter to Deer Creek landowners requesting additional donations be given
to DCLI for specific work to be done exclusively on the front of the road.