Annual Meeting Info
Materials for this year’s annual homeowner meeting were mailed out this week and should be hitting your mailbox soon. Only one package was mailed out per lot, so if your lot has multiple owners, it is the responsibility of the one lucky winner to share with the rest of the partners and decide together how to cast your vote for the Board of Directors election. This year there are two seats up for election – those belonging to President Tim Breaux and Board Member Brian Christopher. Tim has decided to run again for reelection, and will be running alongside full-time homeowner Cherie Plaisted. Statements from both candidates are included in your packet, along with a proxy ballot which can be used to cast your vote(s) in the event that you can not join us for the meeting. Proxy ballots must be signed, dated, and received at the office no later than Friday, April 20, 2018 at 5pm in order to be counted towards the vote. If you aren’t sure yet whether you’ll be attending the meeting, you should send in your proxy. You can always claim it back at the meeting if you need to make changes to your vote.
If you just can’t wait until your package arrives (or if you’re one of the partner owners that did not receive a mailed package), you can visit our Owner’s Only page and download your very own copy. (A direct link to the file will be provided in your April newsletter from The Capes.)
Reserve Study and Independent Financial Review
If you’re having trouble sleeping and need a little something to help you nod off, the 2018 Reserve Study and the 2017 Independent Financial Review have been uploaded to the Owner’s Only documents section of this website. (A direct link to each document will be included in your April newsletter from The Capes.) If you have questions about either document, please direct them to Board Treasurer, Cheryl Jones (cherylaj@charter.net).
Beach Fires
As we get closer to the summer “dry season” at the coast, we need to start thinking more about fire safety. While building a fire on the public beach is not prohibited, there are rules that must be followed. Fires must be laid well away from vegetation, and may not be made with the large, tree-sized logs that frequently wash up on our shores. Small logs or pieces of wood only, please. A beach-goer who builds a fire must have water available to extinguish the blaze, as well – simply burying your fire under the sand will not necessarily put it out. It can continue to smolder and could potentially reignite while unattended, or cause burns to someone walking by unawares. When putting out your beach fire, you should separate the remaining wood and douse it with water to ensure that it is truly out before you walk away.
If you see a fire burning on the beach that you believe may be in violation of the rules or just plain doesn’t look safe – whether it’s attended or not – you can call the Netarts-Oceanside Fire District, and they will come check it out. Their office number is 503-842-5900. If it’s after hours or a Sunday, you can call the non-emergency number at 503-815-1911.
CapesGate Update
Everyone is most likely aware by now that our gate was the unfortunate victim in a hit-and-run incident at the beginning of February. It’s been a long two-months of filing police reports, dealing with the insurance company, contacting vendors to request repair estimates, waiting for vendors to come out from Portland to review the damage in order to prepare said estimates, waiting for vendors to email their completed estimates, waiting for vendors to come back out and review the damage a second time after important repairs were left off of said completed estimates, waiting for the insurance company to assign an independent adjuster, waiting for the independent adjuster to come out and review the damage, and waiting for the independent adjuster to compare our collected estimates with his assessment of the damage and compile a report for the insurance company…all mixed in with a liberal sprinkling of “hurry up and wait” for good measure. I am thrilled to report that we have finally been given the go-ahead to complete the repairs – though we haven’t yet heard what portion of the damages the insurance company will cover. Metro Access Control is expected to be here for two days during the second week of April to pour concrete for the new slabs that hold the arm mechanism and the gate itself. They will return approximately 1 week after that to install the arm mechanism and rehang the gate.
Long Term Rental Survey
When you receive your annual meeting packet, you will notice that one of the open discussion items on the agenda is “long term rentals.” No matter which side of the fence you are on when it comes to this issue, there’s no need to get excited or upset right now. This is NOT up for a vote at this time, and there have been NO CHANGES to the CC&R’s stated policy on rentals. This is merely an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons together as a community to see where the majority of Capes owners stand on the subject. To aid in the discussion, we have created a brief survey and would love to get as many owner responses as possible. We put out a similar survey two years ago, but as people’s minds (and circumstances) are subject to change, it is the hope that everyone will complete this new survey even if you filled out the form previously. (In order to keep non-owners from responding, the link to the survey will be provided in your emailed April newsletter from The Capes.) We will present the survey results at the annual meeting as part of the discussion. (And don’t worry…comments will be shared, but the names of the individual commenters will remain anonymous!)