The meeting was called to order at 7:05PM. Board members present: Cindy Esselman, Omar Nur, Jason Barth, Steve Johnston, Mary Ruhlman, Bill Schilling, Maggie Tabor, Jennifer Mace, David Fosmire
PRESIDENT, Cynthia Esselman –
Annual Meeting update. The annual meeting of the HOA will be on January 18th, at 7:00PM at the Innis Arden Clubhouse. We will have the option to vote online, by mail and in person this year. There are four open positions and as of this evening, we have four candidate statements. The four candidates are, Steve Johnston and Jennifer Mace, who are currently on the Board and rerunning, Alecia Craft and Sean Chittenden.
We will also be voting to ratify Brian Branagan for the Activity Committee Board position and voting on the 2023 proposed budget and annual dues of $980.
VICE PRESIDENT/LEGAL AFFAIRS, Omar Nur –
Legal Report:
The Swim Club Lease Agreement is in the final stages and hope to be completed soon. In November, IAC President and Vice President met with several IASC board members. The good news is the main provisions are all in agreement. All that remains is the review and finalization of the minor details within the various articles of the agreement. We will be meeting with IASC President Stacey Pederson to finalize these details.
By-Law Amendments are still in the works and hope to have proposed changes published to the community in the near future to give the community opportunity to review and comment before a vote is submitted to the board.
Compliance Report:
There still are approx. 11 petitioned (CRF) properties with unresolved compliance issues as follows:
*18760 Ridgefield Rd. NW (Thorne, formerly Schuler): At the 11/16/2021 Compliance Hearing this property was found to be non-compliant. The property has changed ownership. We have made contact with the new owners who are willing to work with the board to help restore views for their neighbors. We are grateful for their cooperation and look forward to resolving this matter together.
*915 NW RB Road (Chen-Dai, formerly Yu): At the 11/16/2021 Compliance Hearing this property was found to be non-compliant. On 2/23/2022 the IAC issued a Written Decision concerning the vegetation compliance on this property. The decision notes the owner’s failure to submit a compliance plan for review and approval by the IAC along with fines of $50 per day accruing from the 11/16/2021 Compliance Hearing and up until full compliance has been achieved. This property has changed ownership.
The new owners of the property have reached out to the board to discuss their progress toward bringing the property back into compliance.
*1001 NW Richmond Beach Road (Zawtkowski): The board is reviewing survey records to determine which property any out of compliance vegetation may be on.
*18029 13th Ave NW (Hjelle): Since the last compliance hearing scheduled for September 19, 2022 was cancelled due to the property owner removing the at issue vegetation, the board has yet to see Hjelle take action to address the potentially view blocking / non-compliant arborvitae hedge along northern property line. Because no progress has been made on this hedge, a motion was made, seconded and approved with one abstention to hold a compliance hearing on this property to address the arborvitae hedge along northern property line. This hearing will be held on February 16th at 6:30 pm via zoom.
*17727 17th Ave NW (Lawson): At the 11/30/2021 Compliance Hearing this property was found to be non-compliant.
On November 8, 2022 a written decision was issued to the property owners. The compliance chair has met with the property owners to discuss the out of compliance vegetation and explain the next steps. We are currently awaiting compliance plans and new details to determine next steps in bringing this property in to compliance.
*17732 17th Ave NW (Bargreen): At the 11/30/2021 Compliance Hearing this property was found to be non-compliant.
On November 8, 2022 a written decision was issued to the property owners. The compliance chair has met with the property owners to discuss the out of compliance vegetation and explain the next steps. We are currently awaiting compliance plans and new details to determine next steps in bringing this property in to compliance.
*18770 Ridgefield Rd. NW (McHugh): Omar has contacted the McHugh’s and followed up with some discussions of the POV photos and impact to neighboring properties. A Compliance Hearing was scheduled for 6/8/22 and then cancelled to allow the McHugh’s an opportunity to speak with his neighbors and voluntarily comply. Another follow up has been sent to the McHugh’s for update on their progress.
*1250 NW 175th St. (Sullivan): A CRF was received on 8/10/2020 for this property. Cindy and Bruce made a site visit on 4/28/2022 to discuss with the Owner. Bruce made another site visit 5/27/22, at the request of the owner, to meet with Ballard Tree and look at trimming options that may be able to restore neighboring properties views. The Board is awaiting additional information to determine next steps with this property.
*17770 14th Ave NW (Tynan): A CRF dated 2/12/2022 was received on this property. There is a previous written decision in July of 2017 that found the property not in compliance.
*17037 14th Ave NW (Kirkness): A CRF dated 3/24/2022 was received on this property. On 3/29/2022 the Compliance Committee requested more specific information from the Petitioner’s before scheduling a site visit with the owners.
*17747 17th Ave NW (Hauge): A CRF dated 09/19/2022 was received on this property. On 10/07/2022 Board Member Bill Schilling met with the neighbors to observe the view blocking vegetation. The Board will reach out to the Hauge’s first to meet with them and discuss gaining voluntary compliance.
To learn more about view protections and compliance see IA-New-Neighbor-Guide.pdf (innisarden.org) and HOA FAQ’s “Is Innis Arden a Puget Sound and Mountain view protected community?” at https://innisarden.org/hoa-faq/
BUILDING AND REMODEL, Jason Barth –
Building and Remodel Report
Kathryne & Ross Shrewsbury
840 NW 180th St
Shoreline, WA 98177
Approved
Daniel Ginsey
18720 Ridgefield RD NW
Shoreline, WA 98177
Denial Without Prejudice
Shrewberry Remodel
840 180th Street
Shoreline, WA 98177
The following motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously by the Board.
I moved to approve the project as presented for the remodel of the Shrewsberry residence at, 840 NW 180th Street, Shoreline WA 98177
Ginsey Rebuild
18720 Ridgefield RD NW
Shoreline, WA 98177
The following motion was made, seconded, and passed with one abstention. I move that we deny the Ginsey building application on an interim basis and plan to try to take it up again as a resubmitted application at our January or February Board meeting. By way of explanation, the application is still not complete. Our Guidelines call for story poles and related information to be available a minimum of thirty days before a Board meeting on a building application. That has not happened here. We are still waiting for an actual report on the story poles explaining whether they are accurate and what they show. Setting this over to next year will give Board members and Club members time to digest the story pole report and consider it in the context of the application as a whole. As part of this motion, I suggest that we leave it to the President or Vice President to decide what month would be best to take up the application.
January Agenda:
Doug Lockhart
18238 Ridgefield Rd. NW
Innis Arden, WA 98177
Dan Ginsey
18720 Ridgefield Rd NW
Innis Arden, WA 98177
TREASURER, Jennifer Mace –
The following motion was presented and approved at the December meeting: “Motion set to move $120,000 from the asset reserve Wells Fargo account to the checking account to fund the December – February operations.” Motion was unanimously passed. The plan for repayment is as follows:
- January and February allocation of expenses (expected to be approximately $75,000 of the $120,000, will be repaid out of the 2023 dues once those collections start. We expect to have this refunded to the asset reserve by end of February.
- December expense allocations are expected to be repaid as follows: $5,000 from the 2023 budget surplus expected and the remaining in 2024 as part of the 2024 budget.
At the close of November 2022, our Operating Checking was $5,041, Collections Savings was $2,222, and the Asset Reserves Savings was $441,236.
GROUNDS, Bill Schilling –
Late fall / early winter cleanup continues to be underway.
The early December snowfall flattened decorative grasses at our entrance and toppled a tree into Innis Arden way northbound.
AS Landscaping cleared the tree on the weekend for passage and tended to the entrance.
I felt too much of the remaining stump was close to the road and might cause and accident / injury. ASL cut the remaining stump back 4 feet and took care of the debris. Things will slow down as we enter winter.
If you have a problem with storm debris, please let me know and it will be addressed.
CLUBHOUSE, Mary Ruhlman –
The family of Sonja Staley, a long time Innis Arden resident who recently passed away, would like to provide memorial funds for a bench placed on the Innis Arden grounds in her memory. The Club will help with the selection of the bench and its location.
The following motion was made seconded and passed unanimously by the Board.
I move to approve the proposal to install a bench on the Innis Arden grounds in memory of Sonja Staley.
The clubhouse has hired CleanSmart Cleaning Services to provide cleanings following each rental. They will share the cleaning responsibility with Fred Lieu, who has been an amazing and faithful cleaner of the clubhouse for many years. Cleaning costs have increased and that will be reflected in upcoming proposed changes to clubhouse rental fees, soon.
There were three rentals in the month of November, none were sponsored by the Activities Committee. For the month of December, we have three rentals, one of which is sponsored by the Activities Committee.
If you have questions about renting the clubhouse, please contact Joy Griffith at 206-542-5558 or communications@innisarden.org.
NATURAL RESERVES, Steve Johnston –
Storm-downed shrubs and tree limbs in Bear, Grouse, and Running Water were cleared by Adrian and crew
Our native plant and invasive control crew, Garden Cycles, finished fall planting in the Reserves. They came in $7500 under budget for the year at my request due to our limited funds for Reserves improvements and maintenance
The recent heavy rains caused the creek in Blue Heron to flood the trail Adrian and crew are working to remove log jam the rains created and also to remove garbage dumped in Eagle and Grouse
ACTIVITIES, Maggie Taber –
Save the Dates:
Santa’s Sleigh Ride – Thursday, December 22nd.
Winter Sowing and No-Transplant Winter Sowing Workshop – Saturday February 4th.
Soil Blocking Workshop – Saturday, March 4th.
Square Foot Garden Workshop – Saturday, April 1st (note date correction).
The Holiday Decorating party was on Tuesday, November 29th. Community volunteers gathered at the Clubhouse to put up festive decor for our first holiday party since Covid 19. The space was made ever more special with staging donated by Cori Whitaker.
Sunday, December 4th, around 200 attendees came together to “Jingle and Mingle” at his year’s Holiday Party. Santa made a guest appearance to hand out bells to the 74(!) neighborhood children who attended. Check out Innis Arden Facebook where Belinda Leung posted photos from the night! There will also be a follow-up article in Stroll. If you have any photos from the party that you would like to share, please forward to Randi Fattizzi randiski@msn.com. The party couldn’t have happened without all the volunteers who stepped up before and after the party. Special thanks to our Holiday Party lead Frieda Magin, Jaime and their daughters!
Santa’s Sleigh Ride is coming up on Thursday, December 22nd, starting at 5pm. Map and times will be sent to the community.
IAAC Officers for 2023 are:
Co-presidents – Sarah Kennedy and Randi Fattizzi
Chair and Activities Committee board representative – Brian Branagan
Treasurer – Christopher Douglass
Secretary – Rissa Sanchez
Next meeting: Monday, January 2, 2023, 7 pm, at the clubhouse. Please join us!
Meeting was adjourned at 8:20PM
If you are new or have changed your phone number and/or email address, please email updates to communications@innisarden.org and be sure to include your address!