BVRI SUMMER 2007 NEWSLETTER

EDITOR BILL WEBB

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: BVRI President Brian Neth reports the following:

As we all aware, great changes are on the horizon for Bear Valley! This issue of the newsletter addresses some of these changes and how BVRI is working for your benefit.

BVRI continues to

Conduct the Forest Management and Fire Prevention program, but now with a stronger tool (please see the article below).

Monitor the various development plans and identify issues.

Enforce the CC&R’s.

Facilitate communication with other organizations (please see Water District article) and among ourselves (with a new blog site).

A note on communication – last week’s General Meeting was long, but well worth it. Issues were raised regarding CC&R changes, snowmobile trails, forest management, and so on. But, all participants showed courtesy and respect for all others, regardless of their views.

Thanks and regards

Brian

ARC REPORT: Architectural Review Committee Chairman Ron Murphy reports the following: The ARC approved one new home for construction at the intersection of Avalanche and Snowshoe Roads. Construction on the foundation has commenced. Also approved were two new roofs and two deck additions. Several re-paint/re-stain applications were also approved. Currently under review is a re-stain request, a deck addition and a re-roof and re-stain of a home that had an addition where the colors of the old and new roofs and siding didn’t match.

Reminder: It is the responsibility of the property owner to request and obtain ARC approval prior to construction or any other exterior changes to a home. This includes re-paint or re-stain, re-roof, re-model, propane tank covering structures. Prior review and approval will avoid possible fines and fee increases, as well as having to dismantle unapproved construction.

The ARC members encourage you to contact them and let them assist you through the review and approval process. ARC members are Ron Murphy (Chairman), Terry Woodrow, Nancy Zawacki, Gary Willard and Chuck Taylor. They can be contacted through the BVRI website (www.bvri.org).

BEAR VALLEY WATER DISTRICT: The following report is from Mr. David Ritchie of the Bear Valley Water District.

"Why do we need an Assessment district?"

The wastewater storage pond of the Bear Valley Water District has overflowed several times in the recent past. This has occurred during Spring melt when large amounts of snowmelt enter the system, mix with treated wastewater, and overwhelm the holding capacity of the storage pond. Uncontrolled amounts of treated wastewater have then spilled into Bloods Creek and beyond. Because of these spills, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Controls Board (the State) has mandated that the Water District install a tertiary treatment plant to process all wastewater that enters the storage pond and install an outfall pipe that allows for controlled releases from the pond. The outfall pipe has now been installed.

The Water District has just completed the pre-design phase of the mandated tertiary treatment plant. The estimated cost of the first phase is in excess of ten million dollars. Several components of this plan need to be sized to allow for treatment of flows from future development. The Water District feels that the most equitable way to cover the cost is to spread payment over all of the current and future users via an assessment district. Future users would face additional costs to finance the second phase expansion that would be needed as our community grows.

An assessment district could be formed if a majority of the owners of real property within the proposed district who respond to a mailed ballot approve the formation. The vote would be weighted as to the benefit that is to be received by the property.

The property owner could make payment on the assessment annually or semiannually when Alpine County property taxes are paid or could pay the total balance at any time.

In the event that the responding eligible voters reject the formation of an assessment district, the cost of the tertiary plant would initially fall on the current users and would be paid for by raising the service fees and by collecting appropriate connection fees as future users come on line. In this case, the service fees would have to be increased to cover the entire annual cost to pay back any loans the District acquires to finance the project. Raising the service fees is a public process and could be rejected by a majority of the current users.

Failure to construct the required tertiary plant will result in heavy fines by the State to the current users when (not if) the storage pond needs controlled discharges to prevent overflows. Also, the State will require another building moratorium if there is no plant construction.

As previously stated, the Bear Valley Water District feels that the formation of an assessment district is the most equitable way to spread the cost of the mandated tertiary treatment plant.

FOREST MANAGEMENT REPORT: BVRI Vice President Dave Morley reports the following: If you are in Bear Valley this summer, you will see a lot of lot clearing going on. On behalf of the BVRI Board of Directors, and as a homeowner myself, I would like to thank those who are creating a defensible space around their homes and those that are clearing vacant lots.

The Angora Fire has given us a very strong message. 254 homes were destroyed along with 75 commercial and other structures. Many say that one of the reasons for the mass destruction was the abundance of burnable materials around homes and structures.

For those homeowners and lot owners who have not gotten the message, now is the time to clean up your lot. In January 2005 a new state law became effective that extended the defensible space clearance around homes and structures from 30 to 100 feet. Proper clearance to 100 feet dramatically increases the chance of your house surviving a wildfire. This defensible space also provides for firefighter safety when protecting homes during a wildland fire.

What is a defensible space? All burnable material is removed within 100 feet of your home, or up to your property line. Duff must be removed, dead trees must be removed, dead branches on all trees must be removed, and all branches must be removed up to 6 feet of the ground on trees that are taller than 18 feet.

There is now a county ordinance that requires lot owners to clean up their lot. The Bear Valley Fire Chief now can cite lot owners who have not cleaned their lots. The county code states that if a property owner fails to comply in a timely manner after initiation of enforcement by the Fire Chief, the county may retain a private contractor of its choosing to abate the fire hazard and the cost of the abatement shall be borne by the property owner.

FIRE AND CC&R INSPECTIONS: Thanks to a great group of volunteers all property inspections have been completed for this year. Letters have been sent to both home owners and lot owners requesting clean up or corrective action. If you have been contacted, we request that you take the appropriate steps to insure you are in compliance with both fire safety and CC&R issues. With your corporation, we can avoid the kind of fire disaster that recently hit the Tahoe area!! Our thanks to the following volunteers for their valuable time and interest in keeping Bear Valley fire safe and scenic:

Gus Carlson, Larry Gray, Eric Jung, John Korn, Jesse Markham, Randy Mancini, Ron Murphy, Paul Petersen, Mike Webb and Martin Wegenstein. Thanks again for all of your help!!

ANNUAL COMMUNITY PICNIC: Thanks to all of the great support from the homeowners’ as well as local residents, we had a terrific picnic this year! Our raffle raised a total of $1818.00 which has been donated to the Early Learning Center/BV Parent’s Group and the BV School Kids Trip fund. Each organization has received a check for $909.00 from BVRI – thanks to your great support. In addition to a terrific BBQ dinner, we had kids games with trophies to the winners as well as a $1,000 BVRI Scholarship presentation to Zane Schoettgen towards his college education.

Raffle Chairman Ginny Parkinson wishes to thank the following businesses and individuals for their support of the raffle by donating generously – "Thank You" to the following:

Dave Adams, Eric Jung, BV Parents European Fund, BV Parents Group, Base Camp, Terry Woodrow – Premier Properties, BV Cross Country & Adventure Co., BV General Store, BV Sports Shop, BV Music Festival, Linda Trent, Headwaters, BV Real Estate, Brad & Ginny Parkinson, Bill & Mary Ann Webb, Katherine and Kim Aitken-Young, Animal Kingdom, Murphys Home Outfitters, Lura Francis, The Outhouse Collection, Paula Li-Massage for Health, Calamity Joan’s Bakery, BV Search & Rescue, Froggy’s Car Wash, A Class Act, BV Tennis Club, B.R. Garvin Gallery, Gordon & Amy Ritter and MT Adventure Seminars.

SUMMER ’07 BEACH SUMMARY: BVRI Board member Gloria English reports the following: The BVRI Board extends a huge "Thank You" to Bee Bankston, our summer beach attendant. Bee did an outstanding job of helping to maintain the beach this season. We are having problems with a local bear, so please remember to dispose of all trash in the trash cans that are provided.

As a reminder, all private beach parties need to contact Gloria English @ 408-253-6423 prior to the event. A $50.00 deposit is required and the beach is still open to the public during private events.

As the summer draws to an end, please remove all boats and canoes by October 1^st. The boats/canoes may not be stowed at the beach during the winter – thanks for your cooperation!!

COMMUNITY MEETING AND WORKSHOP: Saturday, September 29^th, 10:00am: The County is hosting a public meeting and workshop on Saturday September 29th at 10:00AM in the Perry Walther Building in Bear Valley. The purpose of this meeting is for the community to provide input to County representatives, regarding a snow mobile trail that cuts across common area in the village. Once the County has received input from the community, they will make a recommendation to the County Supervisor’s office regarding this trail.

BVRI WEBSITE INFORMATION: This is to remind all home owners that copies of BVRI Board Meeting minutes as well as financial reports are posted for your viewing on the BVRI website (www.bvri.org). You are also reminded that BVRI board meetings are open to the public. Please contact BVRI President Brian Neth if you have specific topics to discuss at a particular board meeting so it can be added to the agenda. The BVRI website also contains specific information on board members as well as other links to Bear Valley sites. Also, please note email correspondence addressed to BVRI should be sent to the following address (bvri@goldrush.com) – thanks.

BEAR VALLEY VILLAGE PARTNERS (BVVP) MEETINGS: BVRI board Member Eric Jung provides the following summary of BVVP meetings:

June 27 – Parking

BVRI Board members Dave Morley, Ron Rossi, and Eric Jung met with BVVP representatives Chuck Toeniskoetter, Leah Toeniskoetter, and Steve Hallgrimson. County Supervisor Terry Woodrow also attended, along with Assistant County Planner Zach Wood. The purpose of the meeting was to clarify the developer’s intent re public parking. The BVRI Board members expressed two concerns:

(1.) Bear Valley cannot afford a net loss of public and homeowner parking at any stage of future development. The village comes close to maximum parking load a few times each winter already, and business should increase as development occurs. BVVP’s proposal for B and C lots, and the proposed moving of No Name Road will have an effect on existing parking patterns. The community needs to maintain parking capacity and needs enough notice of changes to take appropriate measures.

(2.) BVVP’s parking consultant may have undercounted the spaces in B and C lots. Preliminary reports have the consultant’s number at 122 spaces, but the consultant may not have been aware that on peak days parking is allowed in areas normally marked No Parking. BVRI’s position is that there are 156 spaces available now in the two lots. This is important because the developer is proposing to put a parking/condo building on the two lots, with some garage parking available to homeowners through the county which will be given title to a portion of the building. BVVP will need to negotiate with the county and the community a price for the developer’s use of the lots. Presumably part of the price offered will include the offer of a portion of the building to the county for homeowners’ parking. It is therefore important to know how many outdoor spaces the community is giving up and how many indoor spaces the community would get back.

The response of the BVVP representatives was that they agree with the principle that there be no net loss of parking spaces at any stage of development, and the community must have sufficient notice of changes to deal with the needs.

Re the parking count, they noted that their parking consultant is still working on the traffic component of the Environmental Impact Report. They have passed along previous comments about the undercount. BVRI will have the opportunity to comment on the consultant’s work when the draft EIR comes out. The BVRI representatives asked whether it would be possible to see the traffic element of the EIR before the full draft comes out. BVVP representatives said they would consider that.

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July 27, 2007 – Bear Valley Business Association

Chuck Toeniskoetter made a presentation to the members of the Bear Valley business community. He outlined the components of BVVP’s development proposal. Points which were also covered the following day at the public presentation will be covered below under the July 28 meeting.

Points which came at this presentation but not so much the next day:

* The snowmobile parking lot by the bus stop will be available one more winter. The county is working toward a new snowmobile parking area on Bear Valley Road near the intersection with No Name Road. But environmental requirements have made it impossible to complete the new area for this winter. BVVP have graciously granted the community one more year of use of their property at the current snowmobile/bus stop area.

* BVVP has reduced the size of their proposed building on B and C parking lots to make more room behind the Transportation Center for snowmobiles.

* BVVP is designing buildings along Creekside Drive for minimum disturbance of trees.

* BVVP is considering an amphitheater for possible use by the Bear Valley Music Festival.

* BVVP wants to preserve the commercial tenant base. Bear Valley differs from Kirkwood because of Bear Valley’s independent business people. Toeniskoetter said his parnership recognizes the value of independent entrepreneurs, as opposed to a company town. Bear Valley will differ from Kirkwood also in having a more centralized commercial/pedestrian area, plus more covered parking.

* BVVP will consider having a space for a daycare center.

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July 28 Public Presentation

Chuck Toeniskoetter emphasized that he and his partners are serious about their plans and fully intend to follow through. He said he personally has been working on the plan for 22 years. He said they are "very dedicated to this project". He noted that the plan is complex and the approval process long, and they want to do it in the "right proper manner".

They have staked the liftline for the village chairlift, and community members are invited to walk the line. There are only two chairlift manufacturers still operating, and both are being asked to submit a bid for the chair, which will be a high speed quad. It will be 8500 feet long, ending at top of Koala Chair. It would be useable in summer for pedestrians and bikes. In winter it would be useable mostly for intermediate or better skiers.

He said they don’t want to "over-retail" their development.

Each building will be self-contained as to parking, with under-building parking. He and his partners felt that one of the biggest problems in town was the parking/plowing situation. They want to provide covered parking for the homeowners. In order to make that economically feasible for them, they are proposing that they buy parking lots B and C and put a combination parking/condo structure there. They would deed a portion of the garage to the county to operate as the county sees fit. The number of spaces to be included in this part of the garage is yet to be determined. They are waiting for their parking consultant to complete a study. There would be two stories of parking with three floors of condos on top. The number of condos is tentatively set at 150, and the sale of the condos would finance the construction of the parking garage. The timing of construction of this building will be held separate from the rest of their development, since it will involve negotiating with the county the price and terms of the purchase of the lots. Including these 150, the developer is planning 491 new condos (there are another 158 potential condos on other independently owned parcels).

Responding to a question on parking for people who just want to pull into town and ride the lift up, he said there is no provision for that in their buildings. It would be up to the county and the community to control parking in the public and homeowner parking areas.

The snowmobile parking area by the bus stop will go away, since it is private property and part of the new development. When the North Lot (also owned by the developer) is closed to parking for construction of condos, they will open the bus stop lot to parking.

Next to the parking/condo structure on B and C lots will be a 50 bedroom employee housing unit.

They anticipate releasing the Draft Environmental Impact Report in November, 2007. There follows a 45 day public comment period. They anticipate starting construction on the first phase in 2009 and finishing in late 2010. The first phase includes 49 condos in one building and 32 in the next, in the area around where the old Transportation Center was. The chairlift would also be in the first phase, and would be ready for operation in the winter of 2010.

The timing of later phases would be determined by market conditions – in other words, how quickly they can sell the new condos.

The Lodge will be torn down. He said "It’s served its purpose". They are not planning to build new hotel rooms. Citing an economic study they have done, he said "The new model is condos". They don’t know yet whether they will sell condos as fractional ownership, single ownership, or timeshare.

Bear Valley’s water system was planned for this level of development and should have no problem handling it. Bear Valley Water District is upgrading the sewer system to tertiary treatment, and the system should handle the full development of their plan. Electrical capacity should also be no problem.

Snow removal issues will be addressed in the EIR.

Jim Gentling, General Manager of the downhill ski area, said the likely area for the next terrain expansion was the East Bowl. They are working on rerouting the Home Run to eliminate the traverse section.

They have ruled out an ice skating rink as an economic non-starter.

They hope to have the updated version of their plan posted on the ski area website in the next few weeks, www.bearvalley.com.

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The Parking Garage

There were many questions about the operation of the homeowners’ parking garage. Toeniskoetter deferred these questions, saying that their plan was to give garage space to the county and let the county own and operate it however it wants. We can make a few observations about the possible operation of the garage, however.

B and C parking lots, where the garage would go, were built by the Bear Valley Development Company as a county condition for the development of parts of the New Subdivision. They are currently plowed for public parking with funds from the budget of County Service Area #1, Zone 1 (the New Subdivision and the Commercial Area). Putting a garage on the lots will free up some of the snow plowing money from that budget, and it seems safe to assume that that money would be applied to the maintenance and operation of the county part of the garage.

Who gets to park there? This will be the subject of public hearings at the CSA Board and ultimately the Board of Supervisors. There won’t be enough spaces to accommodate all homeowners and their guests on peak days. Here is how it MIGHT work:

1. Access will be controlled with card keys.

2. These keys would be issued to eligible homeowners. Since the lots were tied to the New Subdivision, that would mean New Subdivision homeowners.

3. Each home would be issued one, two, or three card keys; one, if the community wants to maximize each owner’s chances of getting at least one space on a given day; the Master Plan calls for two spaces per house; and a house with a legal apartment is theoretically entitled to three spaces. The number issued to each house will be a decision the community will have to make.

4. Will there be a charge for parking in the garage? Hopefully not, if the CSA funds freed up from plowing cover the cost of operation and maintenance of the garage. This remains to be seen. If the CSA funds don’t cover it, it may be necessary to charge.

5. Will snowmobile parking be allowed in the garage? That will be another decision for the community to make. If it were allowed, it would impact the business of the Transportation Center. And snowmobile exhaust is much worse than auto exhaust, so it would affect the air quality in the garage. But it is physically feasible.

6. Will people (locals?) be allowed to leave a car in the garage all winter? In other words, will there be time limits and move days in the garage? Another decision for the community to make.

Toeniskoetter was asked about parking for Old Subdivision owners. This would be another decision for the Board of Supervisors. There are strong arguments against including Old Subdivision owners in the parking garage. First, the creation of B and C lots was tied specifically to the development of lots in the New Subdivision. Second, the Old Subdivision has been invited to join the CSA#1 Zone 1 and has repeatedly declined (note: the Old Subdivision is in CSA#1 Zone 2 for the two garbage assessments but not the fire assessment). The funds to maintain and operate the garage will presumably come from the Zone 1 snow plowing funds. Third, the Old Subdivision owners have never paid to create any winter parking. The expansion of their winter parking at the "T" was done with County Road Department funds. There used to be a lot in the Old Subdivision designated for future parking, but their homeowners’ association sold it.

The B and C parking lots are master planned for New Subdivision homeowner parking, and it seems most logical that if the county sells the lots to the developer and gets part of the building back in the parking garage, the parking spaces would be reserved for New Subdivision homeowners. It will be up to the Board of Supervisors, however.

With the construction of the parking garage, there would still be uncovered public parking in the South lot, Bear Valley Road, and Creekside Drive. Will it be enough for the future? If the occupancy rate in the homes goes up even modestly, we may need to add more parking space, covered or uncovered. There are two areas designated in the Master Plan for expansion of parking. First is the extension of parking lot A (next to the Perry Walther Building) toward the highway. Second is the area between the South lot and the highway, where the frisbee golf course is now. Since the county is not in the business of building parking lots, the community will have to find a way to fund such expansion if it becomes necessary.

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