Hi All! The Willow Creek Board has a new group email address! Wcehoaboard@gmail.com One address and you get us all :-) Please email us with your thoughts, concerns or questions, we are always happy to help. You are still welcome to contact us individually as well but your newsletters and neighborhood information will come from the new address. Please add the gmail address to your "white" list. Thanks!
Cinder & Brick Walls - Important Information!!
As you may or may not know for many years the front brick and rear cinder block walls have been an on-going concern for the HOA Board.
There is a great deal of degradation to the integrity of the walls due to age and stress.
A few years ago, the Board became aware that the walls are built on the individual homeowners’ property and, therefore, the legal responsibility of the homeowner. This information left us in a quandary as to how to approach repair of the current damage to the walls in addition to future care of the walls.
We recently had a brick mason, Mike Cacka, assess the current situation of the brick wall and give us an estimate for a partial repair. There is currently one very large crack and many smaller ones. To repair the large one would be $600 - $700. In addition, Mike suggests that we drill drainage holes along the brick wall; he could do this for an additional $1700. Keep in mind these “fixes” are band-aids only and to protect the integrity of the wall more should be done.
In the Board’s efforts to get the new CC&R’s completed, we consulted with our attorney for his opinion on this situation. He suggests that we write into the CC&Rs a clause that the Homeowners Association assumes responsibility for the upkeep and repair of the walls. This is a decision that will have far reaching financial consequences and not one we, as a Board, feel comfortable making without input from the residents.
Replacement of the front brick wall, should it fail, would be upwards of $50,000. We do not have an estimate on replacing the rear cinder block wall. We currently have less than $30,000 in our combined checking and reserve accounts. This leaves us with several possibilities: 1) We leave the responsibility of the walls as is and ask the homeowners that live on the wall to initiate the necessary repairs as soon as possible. 2) Take responsibility for the walls and initiate the immediate repairs.
Once we have chosen one of these courses of action, we will need to assess the walls for further corrective measures.
While we have the funds to complete the repairs that Mike suggests immediately, in order to complete a more comprehensive fix it is unlikely we will have adequate funds. Consequently we will need to raise the funds through an assessment. Again, we have options: 1) Assess all homes equally regardless of their location, 2) Assess homes located on the walls at a higher rate than the rest of the homes, or 3) Assess only the homes that are located on the walls.
As you can see this is a complicated issue. We would like as much feedback as possible. Please speak with a Board member or, preferably, put your thoughts in writing and email them to Cara@Canby.com You may also post on this website's message board.
Thank you!
Entry improvements
We have contracted with Earthworks to complete the improvements to the entry way. They are have put us on their schedule and anticipate a start date somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd week of November, earlier if other jobs go more quickly than expected. During the construction time expect there to be trucks with rock, plant and soil amendment deliveries, workmen and most likely mud. We sincerely appreciate your patience with this project and apologize for any inconvenience it may cause you. The bright side is that we may very likely have a beautiful new entry way for your Thanksgiving guests to admire! Contact a Board member with any questions.
Planting Plan - Landscape Design
Below you will find the PDF file of the Landscape design. We also have a planting list but not a computer file of that at this time. If you are interested in seeing the plans in person, we would be happy to arrange that, just contact a Board member (we will not have the plans in hand until after Tuesday, July 27th).
We met with the gal from Clackamas County today. She is part of wetlands management and would tell us if we have any restrictions concerning the grassy strip from the entry to the brick water way. Long story short, she said that she will NOT be taking jurisdiction over that piece of property and we are free to do as we please. This is especially good news because we will be meeting with the landscape designer next Tuesday and she will be delivering the final plan to us. As soon as we have that in hand we will be contacting the brick mason to begin work on repairing the brickwork and Earthworks to begin placing the rocks. We should be seeing some significant progress in the next few weeks, yay! Our plan is to have a neighborhood work day to do all of the planting but that won’t be until the fall. Alternatively, if Earthworks can do the planting at a reasonable cost, we may have them do that. But again, either way, because we have no water up there, we won’t be planting until fall.
We had a small turn out for the BBQ, we assume it was because the weather was so hot. Those of us that attended had a great time though! Look for pictures of the festivities posted in the Photo Gallery. The yard awards went to Bruce and Kim Blake for Best Yard, John Merina & Tammie Matson for Best Grass, Dan & Pat Hitchcock for Best Container Plantings, Joe & Lynn Iafrati for Best Trees & Shrubs, Mark & Janet Goodwin for Best Annual Planting, Congratulations to you ALL!
Well, that’s about it, hope you all are enjoying your summer!
Redwood Street Annexation Project
April 9, 2010
Dear Neighbors,
As most of you know, there has been an on-going concern that the City will install a new street from the Redwood area connecting to Teakwood Street. We have recently become aware that such a plan is being considered by the owners of 10 acres of Redwood street property.
The City has revamped their annexation process and now the owners of the property must devise a development plan that they present to the City Council. The Council may ask them to make changes and once the Council and property owners arrive at a proposal that is acceptable to all, the annexation and development plan is placed on the ballot.
As we understand it, the Manual brothers own 10 acres of property on Redwood Street. They previously tried to annex all 10 acres but were defeated. This was before the City had changed their annexation process. Their plan now is to offer 4 acres for annexation and includes a street connecting into Teakwood. They are still working on their plan and have yet to formally present it to the City. They are running behind schedule and if they hope to get their proposal on the November ballot, they must present something soon. There will be public meetings once they present their plan.
The WC Board has been in contact with the planning department and have given them our contact information so that our neighborhood is sure to be advised when the plan is complete and scheduled to be presented. We cannot urge you strongly enough to make plans to attend this meeting!
I am pasting the contents of the explanation email that we received from the planning department so that you are able to interpret the comments for yourself. If you have any questions or any information to contribute, we would like to hear from you.
Thank you, Cara
The following is the aforementioned email;
Some clarification is necessary. The only application submitted to date that staff is processing is an annexation application for a tract of approximately 4 plus acres from Alan and Dan Manual located at 1176/1212/1234 N. Redwood Street. City Code now requires that prior to or concurrent with an annexation that an Annexation Concept Development Plan be submitted for a much larger designated area which includes all of the yet to be annexed land within an approximate 66 acre area which I believe would included the property at 1758 N. Redwood. The applicant is still working on submitting his Concept Development Plan. The early drafts shared with the City for input have included an internal street connection from Redwood to Teakwood. They are indeed attempting to have their plans submitted in time allow a possible placement before the voters on a Nov. 2010 ballot. They have not yet shared there land use development concept plan but they are intending to utilize the existing zoning on the properties involved. The property they are annexing does have R2 High Density Residential Zoning, with the remainder of the 66 acres having R1.5 Medium Density and R1 Low Density Residential Zoning. The applicant is required to notify all property owners within 500 of the property being annexed of a neighborhood meeting to be held. Staff is also going to utilize our discretion within the Code to require the applicant to also include all property owners within the 66 acre concept plan area to also be included in a neighborhood meeting. We will send your message of interest from the Willow Creek Homeowners Association to be included in such a neighborhood meeting to the applicant encouraging that he include others who have voice an interest to be included.
I hope this clarifies where the application is at at this time. Thanks. Bryan