Special Meeting: March 2023 Archives

A Special meeting of the Membership was held Sept 8, 2022 

Purpose: discuss removal of junipers from common area planters and the speed bump at the east entrance to Rain Lilly Ln.

Membership present: Shoni Kahn, Jerry Gordon & Sally Yerger, Susan & John Bachman, Terry & John Staarmann, Roy McCutchen, Sola DiDomenico, Doug & Shana Parker, Amanda Crandall, Vera and Robert Frajzyngier, Wendy Zerin, Judith Ansara & Robert Gass, Geoff Cooper.

There being 12 of 14 members/households represented the meeting was called to order around 6 PM by John Staarmann, Association President.

The first issue had been brought up at the Annual Meeting and that was the question of whether we should remove the Junipers from the common area planters because they are considered a fire hazard due to their highly flammable nature. Several people had done research including contacting the Boulder Fire Department. The current wisdom seems to be that removal of juniper bushes is something that should be done as part of any neighborhood fire mitigation effort.

The purpose of this meeting was to get a sense of the membership pro and con and how to proceed.

There was some general discussion, and a number of price options were presented running from around $5,000 upwards to $15,000. More detailed proposals behind the price options had been circulated already via email. After the general chit chat, everybody (not just one per household) was given two minutes to express their view. Then a bit more chit chat and we went around a second time giving everyone one minute to express any follow up thoughts.

There were a majority of people that said they would like to see the junipers removed. As we went around, of the 18 present, 13 people representing 8 households said to remove, though there were varying degrees of intensity. Three people didn't care and would not vote to spend money removing them. One person voted to leave them alone. And one person agreed in principle but was concerned that removal of the junipers near her house would create a privacy problem.

There was discussion about cost. Everybody was against spending $15,000. When it came to spending five or maybe even six thousand from reserves there was more acceptance, though several people started wincing at six. Sally, Treasurer to the HOA, noted that we have $43,595 in the bank; that our income last year was $6,300 with expenses of $3,400 returning $2,900 to reserves; and that we are responsible for maintaining, even replacing, the entire street, the drainage system and the planters. We should keep that in mind as currently, we do not have anywhere near the reserves to accomplish more than minor replacement of parts of the street. There was the mention of special assessment and a question of how many would opt to spend $1,000. That was roundly shouted down. Even $500 each (total $7,000) to accomplish this project was not acceptable.    

There was discussion that the current proposals are of varying description and that we need more solidly defined scope of work and costs. There seemed to be a general idea that we could get the bare basics done for around $5,000, but immediately questions came up about people wanting this or that more done than the bare basics.  There was an informal motion to gather more information and a majority voted to get solid line-item, apple to apple, quotes to include such items as:

1)      Cut down and eliminate the junipers

2)      Apply weed barrier and rock of some sort

3)      Suggestions and costs to deal with the edging on the planters

4)      Suggestions and costs to revegetate

5)      Cost to limb up two trees in the planter on the south side at the east entrance

There was also an understanding that we would look at the various options and determine what is possible now and what might have to be deferred or dropped altogether. Costs is a factor. It was pointed out that fire mitigation is a long-term process. There was general agreement to have John Staarmann do this to which Terry Staarmann voice enthusiastic approval.

The discussion shifted to the speed bump at the east entrance to Rainlilly. John noted that we requested the speed bump, which is concrete, be made the same height as the other asphalt speed bumps on the street, but that clearly the contractor did make it higher. Amanda contacted the contractor who claims we asked for it to be higher even though he was not the owner at the time and probably did not actually know. He offered to fix it for $3,000. Amanda got two other quotes that came in double that. There was some discussion about grinding it down, which several people said was not a good idea. There were comments that it is high and that you must go over it very slowly to which several people pointed out that it was apparently doing its job. Several people pointed out that we have young children in the neighborhood again and they play in the street. Some in the neighborhood who have been around a long time remember how bad the speeding was before the speed bumps. It was noted that it has been measured and is within the standards we have found. The consensus was that we should have the speed bumps and while a few people continued to wonder about grinding, the majority of people indicated no interests in spending anything to reduce the height.

Respectfully submitted,

Roy McCutchen, Secretary, Wonderland Lake Point HOA