Los Trancos Woods Community Association

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board

February 5, 2003, 7:00 p.m.

Attendees: Nelson Dake, Linda Drey-Nightingale, Julie Duncan, Michael Glenn, Dave Lowin, Peri Nielsen, Jan Simpson, Gale Smith, Marguerite Thayer, Tom Thayer, Carol Wagner. Michael led the meeting.

Public Comment: None.

Emergency Preparedness: Carol will be leaving her post as our Emergency Preparedness Coordinator in the near future. The Board applauded Carol for all of her efforts and thanked her for the generosity of time and spirit she has extended to the Woods community over these many years.

Recognizing that no one person could ever replace her, Carol has found a few kind people to take over certain of her responsibilities (e.g., Gale, Dr. Stritter and Jean Rasch for medical, Jan Avilla for copying emergency materials, Dan Kingman for the emergency container, Gene Hunner for the backup radio, and Linda to make calls). Thanks to these volunteers!

It is now up to the Board to find a candidate to oversee the process. We anticipate this role will require attendance at local meetings on emergency preparedness, as well as coordination of functions (i.e., making sure folks are doing what they are supposed to be doing). We believe it may be possible for two people to share this responsibility.

If anyone is interested in filling this crucial position, please contact Carol, Linda or Michael. We are very eager to get this vacancy filled in the next few months so whoever takes over has the benefit of learning all of Carol’s “tricks of the trade.” Please consider volunteering. It is a great way to get involved our community!

Newsletter Items: Linda solicited ideas for the upcoming LTWCA newsletter. She will be forwarding information from Stan Gage’s e-mail concerning the upcoming construction to replace old water pipes.

Storm Preparedness: Carol informed everyone that, during the last big storm, the Woodside Fire Department called her to let us know that it would not be in a position to come and help us immediately if we needed assistance. So, the message is: it is up to us to clear our own culverts during storms! Discussion ensued about what was the best way to communicate this message. Suggestions were floated about posting a sign on the intersection of Ramona and Los Trancos Road, as well as reminding people to turn on their 2-way radios during a storm, especially if there is a power outage.

Continuing to Serve: Linda inquired about whether people wanted to remain on the Board after September. Nelson indicated that he would like to resign. David and Tom said, if there were someone who would like to take over their positions, they would be happy to cede them but, if not, they would continue to serve. The Board asked them to solicit possible replacements and consider ways we could persuade them to continue to serve. Suggestions were made to decrease the number of meetings to reduce the time commitment involved.

If anyone in LTW is interested in serving, now is the time to come forward!

Zoning Committee Update: Tom reported that the Zoning Committee is anticipating that it will be circulating a final proposal in the next few months that will be substantially similar to the initial one, although with some modification to take into account comment elicited during the community discussions. He believes the Committee is in the final stretch of the process.

Sewer Update: Julie gave an update on the progress of bringing a sewer system to LTW. She confirmed that some of the persons seen surveying around the Woods were from the engineering firm hired by the sewer annexation group to design a sewer system. The group hopes that the design will be completed by the spring.

Old Business & New Business:

Julie reported that she attended the most recent meeting of the unincorporated associations of San Mateo County. The message she (and the other association representatives) received was that the County has no money and basically it will be up to us to take care of ourselves. Julie voiced the importance of bringing sewers to the Woods, as well as the need for road repair. Both she and Carol spoke about the burglary and mail theft incidents and the poor communication between LTW and the Sheriff’s department these incidents signaled. The Sheriff’s department committed to reporting LTW incidents in The Almanac. In addition, it suggested that the Sheriff’s Department be given access to the LTW e-mail list to alert the community of incidents. The Board agreed that this was a good idea. Julie will contact Jerry Jensen with the relevant information.

Peri reported seeing a variety of black dogs in the middle of Ramona Road, posing a serious risk to both the dogs and to oncoming traffic. The Board discussed generally the problems with speeding traffic and four recent automobile accidents in the Woods – two of which were on Ramona Road. The Board agreed that a reminder to residents to drive carefully, stay in lane and take turns slowly was needed. Michael also asked that residents clean up after their dogs when taking them on the trails.

The Board also kindly requests that LTW residents be considerate during the upcoming construction on the water pipes and, if possible, refrain from parking on the streets when they are under construction.

Treasurer’s Report: Julie Duncan, the LTWCA Treasurer, gave the Treasurer’s Report.

The next LTWCA meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on March 5, 2003 at 21 Old Spanish Trail.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Peri Nielsen, LTWCA Secretary.