Los Trancos Woods Community Association

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board

March 9, 2005, 7:00 p.m.

 

 

Attendees:    Jan Avilla, Nelson Dake, Linda Drey-Nightingale, Julie Duncan, Mary McDonald, Peri Nielsen, and David Smernoff. Linda led the meeting.

 

Public Comment: None.

 

Newsletter: Linda asked for suggestions about topics to be addressed in upcoming newsletters. Jan suggested an article about the environmental impact of residents’ gathering wildflowers.

 

Mountain Lions: Linda explained to the Board the origins of Ann Baldwin’s email regarding tracking mountain lions’ movements. Ann wants to inform the community about how and when to report mountain lion sightings in an effort to track these movements. The Board discussed and agreed that this effort was worthwhile and that it should be continued on an informal basis, to be revisited in one year unless the mountain lions appear to become a safety concern in LTW.

 

County Letter: Linda reported receiving a letter from the County giving notice of a meeting at 455 County Center, Room 101 on March 22 at 7:00 p.m. to receive comments (positive or negative) regarding the San Mateo Planning & Building Department. This meeting is being conducted by the San Mateo Planning & Building Task Force. The Board agreed that notice of this meeting should be disseminated by email and posting on the LTW bulletin boards.

 

Rep-At-Large: The Board acknowledged that there is a vacancy on the Board for the position of “rep-at-large” and agreed that recruitment to fill this post should begin in earnest at the next meeting for election in September.

 

Emergency Preparedness:          David reported that he and Jamie Sovereign were committed to continue in their positions for the April 30 drill and that they were intent on finding someone who could take the lead in the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator position going forward.

 

David expressed his belief that the community needed someone who could function as a “leader” in emergency preparedness and delegate “chunks” of tasks to other community members. David also reported that he and Linda met with Arthur Nielsen who expressed an interest in assuming this responsibility. Arthur has agreed to be involved in the drill to see what is involved. David represented that he and Jamie could generate a working draft of what will essentially be a job description for the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator position for the next Board meeting. At that point, the Board can discuss what, if anything, more is needed with respect to emergency preparedness and who can potentially assume part or all of this responsibility. The Board also agreed that Carol Wagner, the former Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, should be provided with a draft of this description to comment and provide her insights.

 

Blue Oaks BMRs: Linda gave the Board a brief history of the “below market rate” (BMR) units that formed part of the original design of the Blue Oaks subdivision. Linda informed the Board that recent information suggests that the Blue Oaks homeowners’ association might be proposing an amendment to the original plan, which amendment would place the BMR units at the fire access road on Los Trancos Road – rather than in the middle of the subdivision pursuant to the original design plan.

 

The Board discussed and agreed that such a proposal, if implemented, would have potentially significant impacts on LTW’s traffic flow, environment, and emergency safety procedures. As a result, the Board discussed and agreed that David and Linda would contact representatives from Portola Valley government to ascertain the status of this proposal and report back to the Board at the next meeting. At that point, the Board would consider reaching out to Blue Oaks’ community association and potentially other avenues to ensure that LTW’s concerns were addressed.

 

Water Board: Linda reported that the Bear Gulch water district had contacted her to communicate its desire to meet with community residents to introduce itself as the new water district and answer any questions. The Board agreed to invite the district to the next Board meeting and to publish notice of the district’s attendance in case residents wanted to take advantage of the district’s offer.

 

The next LTWCA meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on May 11, 2005 at 1074 Los Trancos Road.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted, Peri Nielsen, LTWCA Secretary.