New(ish) Dues for 2020
At their last meeting on November 16, 2019, the Board voted to accept the 2020 budget as proposed by the Budget Committee. Not all home types had a change in their dues – Single Family Homes and Cottages will remain the same at $137 per month. Townhomes are going up by $1 per month and Undeveloped Lots will go down by $1 per month. If you use your bank’s autopay system, please make sure to update the amount that is being paid (if necessary) AFTER your December payment has been sent. (If you aren’t sure if you’ve paid for December yet or not, feel free to ask me!)
- Undeveloped Lots – $128 per month
- Single Family Homes – $137 per month
- Cottages – $137 per month
- Townhomes – $270 per month
Save These Dates in 2020!
Mark your calendars – you’re not going to want to miss these stellar events at The Capes!
- Monthly Board meetings – In 2020, the monthly meeting of the Board of Directors will take place on the 3rd Saturday of each of the following months, starting at 9:30 am, at the Bridge House: January, February, March, May, June, July, September, October and November. (There is no board meeting in August or December)
- Annual Meeting of Homeowners and April Board meeting – The Capes Annual Meeting of Homeowners will take place on Saturday, April 18, 2020 at the Netarts Fire Department conference room, starting at 10:00 am. The Board of Directors will have a brief monthly meeting immediately following the annual meeting in order to select officers.
- Social Events
- Ice Cream Social – Saturday, May 23, 2020 from 2-4 pm
- Annual Barbecue – Saturday, July 4, 2020 from 12-3 pm
- Wine and Cheese Social – Saturday, September 5, 2020 from 4-6 pm
- Brats ‘n Boos Halloween Party – Saturday, October 24, 2020 from 4-7 pm
It’s Official: We’ve Adopted, and It’s Twins…a BEACH and a BANNER!
We are proud to announce that The Capes Homeowners Association is participating in the new SOLVE Adopt-a-Beach program! We’ve adopted the section of beach just west of The Capes stretching approximately 1.25 miles from Fall Creek (south, near Happy Camp) to Baughman Creek (north, near Oceanside). As new beach parents, it is our responsibility to keep our baby clean; we will schedule 3 volunteer beach clean-ups in 2020, so watch this page for more information! To learn more about SOLVE and their Adopt-a-Beach program, click here.
The Capes is also participating in the Tillamook Revitalization Association’s Mainstreet Streetlight Banner Program (try saying that 3 times, fast!) and will sponsor a streetlight banner on First Street in Tillamook near Kimmel’s Hardware. Holiday banners should be in place soon, so keep an eye out for ours!
Mailboxes: The Update
Before you ask, no, I do not yet know when our new cluster mailboxes will be up and running. I’ll let you know when I do.
Just in case you tuned in late, here’s the story: We are working on getting USPS mail service set up here at The Capes (finally!) in the form of cluster mailboxes. Any Capes owner who would like to have mail delivery will be able to do so. There will be an initial, one-time, non-refundable fee of $125 to reserve your box, and then it’s “yours” for as long as you own your home at The Capes. [If you sell, the mailbox will not convey – new homeowners will have to pay the fee to reserve their own box, if they so choose.] The purpose of the fee is to cover the cost of purchasing, installing and maintaining the boxes, so that this expense is not being passed on to owners who aren’t here often enough to need or want to receive mail.
I had previously reported that the mailing address of your box would be Your Capes Street Address, Tillamook, OR 97141, as that is how the mail must be addressed to owners who currently have mailboxes on Highway 131…but this may not be accurate. If you plug a Capes street address into the USPS zip code finder, the zip code returned is Oceanside, not Tillamook. I have reached out to the Tillamook postmaster for clarification, and should have a definitive answer soon as to whether our mailing addresses would be Tillamook or Oceanside. When I know, you’ll know!
This is not a one-time offer. Once we have mail service up and running, having a box will always be an option available to any owner who would like one. If you plan to retire here in 5 years, you do not need to worry about getting a box now and having it collect junk mail for 5 years…they will still be available when you want to start using them. The plan is to get an accurate number of owners who would like to have mail delivery now and install enough boxes to accommodate them. Then, we will add more over time as they are needed.
So….if you are interested in having mail delivery now (or even if you’re a strong “maybe”) and you have not already done so, please email the office (manager@thecapeshoa.org) and let me know. [And if you previously told me that you want a box, but you don’t actually want it right away, let me know that as well!] Do not send any money at this time – I’ll let you know when it’s time to pay the fee!
Please Don’t Feed the <Insert Animal Name Here>
It has come to my attention that one or more kindhearted souls may be leaving food out on the grounds of The Capes for the wildlife. Items like carrots have been spotted in the meadow (Lucy the lab thanks you for those, by the way) and recently apple peels and other scraps were seen dumped in the canyon. Please do not do this. Here’s why:
- Feeding deer, rabbits and other small critters will not only attract the animals you’re intending to feed – it will also attract their natural predators: coyote, bobcats, and cougars.
- Artificial feeding concentrates wildlife, which leads to easier spread of disease and parasites
- Artificial feeding can cause deer to become habituated to humans and aggressive towards them
- Introducing atypical food into their diets can actually do more harm than good. Providing foods that deer and other animals are not used to can inhibit digestion and lead to death by starvation or infection
- If you put food out and animals don’t eat it right away, it rots. Who wants to look at a pile of rotted food laying around?
I know you mean well. It’s winter and you want to make sure those cute baby deer have plenty to eat. I get it. But according to many online sources, the best winter food for deer is the woody browse that they are already eating. (Buds and twigs of woody plants). You can find more information from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife here.