Los Trancos Woods Community Association

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board

June 13, 2007 7:00 p.m.

 

 

Attendees:    Ellen Ashley, Nelson Dake, Linda Drey-Nightingale, Julie Duncan, Michael Glenn, Peri Nielsen, Jamie Sovereign, and Keri Tate. Peri (in Arthur’s absence) led the meeting.

 

Public Comment: None.

 

Treasurer’s Report: Julie gave the Treasurers’ Report.

 

Vacancies: Jamie and Nelson both gave notice of their resignations from the Board. We thank them for their respective years of service and their contributions!

 

The Board then discussed the alarming number of vacancies on the Board. In particular, only one District (District IV) has a representative (Linda). The other Board members are two “at large” members (Michael and Ellen), as well as the Treasurer (Julie), Secretary (Peri) and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator (Arthur).

 

The Board discussed whether, in light of the declining Board membership, the LTWCA ought to remain active. The Board agreed that the LTWCA plays numerous and valuable roles in the community, e.g., as a resource for residents to obtain information, as a way of meeting and socializing with neighbors, as a “voice” representing the community and its concerns before County agencies. As a result, the Board agreed that it would be detrimental to become inactive or disband the Board/LTWCA and that all efforts would be made, particularly at the community picnic, to make the community aware of the situation and to solicit membership on the Board.

 

Rezoning Proposal: Peri reported on the public meeting held on June 8 at the Corte Madera School to discuss the proposed rezoning proposal. Peri noted that the informal poll taken at the meeting resulted in the County’s decision to move ahead with the rezoning proposal.

 

According to the County representatives, two additional public meetings will be held in connection with the process to amend the zoning code. The Board agreed that efforts should be made to attend these and any other meetings. The Board also agreed that community members who want to see changes to the zoning code ought to be encouraged to support the proposal since, in its absence, the code will remain unchanged.

 

Sewers: The Board discussed briefly the status of the sewer project, what kinds of informational resources would be available to residents (both sewer annexation group members and others) and the possibility that an email group could be established for just the sewer participants. Julie noted that West Bay Sanitary District would be handling all questions and communications regarding the project. The Board agreed to revisit the topic at a later time.

 

Water: The Board discussed briefly the recent events involving the Water District, including the debate over the affidavit requirement. Keri Tate reported on the recent Water District meeting and that no definitive decisions had been made to date.

 

Trees: Linda reported on the recent meeting of the Sudden Oak Death (SOD) syndrome task force. The SOD task force agreed on two goals: to educate homeowners and to provide guidelines for best practices. The task force requested a donation of $100 to distribute a flier regarding a specimen collection that will take place over the summer. The Board agreed to provide these funds. The Board discussed the flier’s message and purpose and that it would be desirable for the community to understand that, while detection is helpful, the only certain way to prevent trees from being affected by SOD is to spray them as there is little question SOD is present in the Woods and there is no way to eradicate it.

 

Picnic: The Board agreed to hold the LTW picnic on September 23 at 3:00 p.m. Nelson graciously offered his house again (1074 Los Trancos Road) if the property at which the picnic was held last year were not available. Linda agreed to look into whether someone from the County could attend the picnic and speak about SOD.

 

Emergency Preparedness: Jamie offered to upload the emergency preparedness-related information collected from LTW residents to an electronic database. The Board discussed and agreed to accept Jamie’s offer (with a big thank you) since having the information in a database would be infinitely better than remaining on hard copy.

 

The next LTWCA meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on August 8, 2007 at 124 Los Trancos Circle. Peri will lead that meeting.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted, Peri Nielsen, LTWCA Secretary.