Thursday, July 23, 2020

Kill Tree Committee Minutes

They need to change their name to the Compliance Committee.  Now they are working on address compliance.  Guess they want to make it easy to write complaints if they have an address posted on the street. 

TTREE, BRUSH, VEGETATION AND NOXIOUS WEEDS COMMITTEE July 3, 2020 

Call to Order: Conference call; Meeting called to order at 1:00 pm. Present: Peggy Olds (Chair), Annette deLeest (Trustee) Diane Mangels, Betsey Nelson.
Introduction and Welcome: Peggy welcomed all members. Old Business: --June, 2020 Minutes: The draft June 2020 minutes were circulated by email for correction and committee input. They are approved by the Board at their June meeting. --Member Appeal #5445 Follow-up: At the June board meeting, the Board voted to increase the tree height limits to 30 feet. The committee agreed this case should remain open until trees are trimmed to 30ft, since trees measure over 30 feet high. The owners are expected to cut trees at or below that new height. Peggy will follow-up with Georgia regarding status of the tree plan since we are within the 21-day period since decision (June 20, 2020). --Information/Education for the Weekender: Betsey drafted an article concerning riparian area/ vegetation management around Surfside lakes and canals. Peggy agreed to review/assist with a revised draft document. She will work with Betsey to finalize draft for committee review at the August meeting. --Procedure for Addressing Member-to-member complaints: Peggy presented a revised draft procedure from the June meeting. Peggy to work with Tom to confirm notification to the complainant once the issue has been determined to be outside the existing Surfside complaint process (agenda item #3 of the second Review Draft for Procedure for Addressing Neighbor to Neighbor Complaints). --Plan for Pro-Active Enforcement: The Board, in August 2019, adopted a pro-active compliance approach for covenant compliance in response to member concerns about the complaint driven compliance approach. With full staff now present, tree committee volunteers will assist Surfside’s compliance investigator by verifying identified tree/vegetation non-compliant lots and providing documentation support. Other Old Business: --Property Address ID: this will be requested in the Committee’s August 2021 Budget Request. --Escrow Checks: Annette and Peggy worked with Georgia to develop a revised approach to escrow check documentation. New Business: -- Committee Membership: Karen Pachman resigned from the committee. --Tree Report/Discussion: The committee reviewed the Georgia’s June 2020 Tree Report. Case #4674 is listed as R (referred to attorney). This work has been completed. Case #5445 is listed as A (appeal action). The appeal has been resolved and this case will move to TP (tree plan). There are multiple complaints that have not been resolved in 6 months or more. Peggy and Annette will follow up on this item with Georgia. --Member contacts: A member contacted Annette regarding the status of complaints submitted, some going back over 18+ months ago. Annette will work with Tom and Georgia to see that Members who have filed complaints receive status updates. A new member contacted Betsey regarding follow-up on a complaint he received. Betsey will contact the member for further follow-up. -- The Chipper site is open! Surfside’s Firewise Chipper site is available for member use through Wednesday, September 9, 2020. Meeting adjourned at 1:50pm 

Next Meeting will be Friday, August 7, 2020 at 1:00. Place or Conference Call will be determined.

12 comments:

JoAnne said...

Be sure to read on for the report of new non-compliance members!

Anonymous said...

What do you mean JoAnne?

JoAnne said...

On the “official surfside website” there is a line saying “July 18, 2020 Regular Board Meeting. Go into that and scroll way down to June 2020 Tree Report. 15 new cases were opened between March 15-May 31. 78 open tree cases!! Really? I don’t understand this vengeance during a time when everything is shut down. Couldn’t they take a time out until times are better?
Just my views!

Anonymous said...

Our membership as a whole deserves continued operations in light of the naysayers and current conditions. It allows them to see their duly selected BOT is responsive and looking out for the community.

Anonymous said...

George, I think you need to start an online petition form to submit to the board to stop the pro-active enforcement during a global pandemic. Peg and the committee are generating a lot of new complaints every week!!! I think she is out of control and the BOT needs to hear from the membership on this.

JoAnne said...

I guess the tree police are making their way to our neighborhood! All weekend chain saws and chipper going on! Two different properties being done by a local company. Talk about noise! But let’s get those pesky trees gone and out if view 😡. Not a pleasant way to spend the weekend. Most likely will be more to come!

Anonymous said...

The noise is just temporary. Meanwhile your lights are shinning away every night.

JoAnne said...

Are you kidding me? Yes and they’re in compliance, so find something else to be nasty about! Easy when you’re anonymous

Steve Cox said...

3:48....How about you identify who you are, and/or where you live, that the McMurphy's lights are a problem for you. I'm willing to bet that you don't live within sight of their front porch, where ONE string of Edison style lights are hanging.

Their home faces north, and only an undeveloped lot with lots of 12 ft trees is directly across the street from them. Annette deLeest had a fit over them, and she doesn't live anywhere near the McMurphy's. Most of the Tree "complaints" have been generated by Trustee Clancy, and they have no bearing on his views from J Place. If you are not directly affected by something of this nature, filing a complaint is needlessly meddlesome in a matter that is up to the immediate neighbors to decide.

Documents like our covenants always try to deputize all members, by claiming it is everyone's "duty" to report "violations". The community has a designated "Compliance Officer", whose duty it IS to monitor the community. No one should be filing complaints about stuff that does not directly effect them. Most compliance issues are judgement calls and a compliance officer has more perspective to determine what is a problem and what is not.

Anonymous said...

Good post Cox! I agree with everything you said.

Anonymous said...

Excellent, I concur

Steve Cox said...

Newsweek said "Steve would have been a great addition to the Surfside Board of Trustees, but they fear his dedication to simple truth." Washington Post said "Steve sees the issues clearly, believes in simple solutions and fairness." Eating Right said "He could stand to eat fewer potato chips !" Chinook Observer said "too bad Steve isn't running for the Surfside Board !"