The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

March 2008 ISSUE

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and CID/HOA board of directors and report the facts!

Coto de Caza's Double Bubble Trouble – The Triple (CC&R) Threat

February 14, 2008

A recent editorial published in the Sacramento Bee titled 'Double bubble' trouble, L.A. mess shows need for ballot redesign attributes the fiasco to “..the pitfalls of having each of the state's 58 counties set its own rules and ballot designs” and goes on to describe the scale of of disenfranchisement between “ 94,500 of 189,000 decline-to-state votes”

In this case, many LA voters did not see and did not fill out a second bubble – and, thus, their votes did not count.

The CZ voting packet contains an ominously oversized envelop, requiring a signature, or else the vote will not count. Further, the votes from residents living in districts with no delegates, will not count.

It does not take a ballot designer genius to figure out that some residents will forget to sign the envelope. Others will not sign given the prevalence of identity theft. Then there is the issue of the envelope. Does it require special postage, or does a $0.41 stamp do? – we checked with the Post Office – a 41 cent stamp is enough postage - read "open to legal challenges"

We strongly recommend voting in favor of direct elections.
We strongly discourage voting to maintain what has been described as a corrupt delegate system. To add insult to injury, the changes extend the delegate term limits – analogous to the Sacramento “grandfathering” current politician’s terms.
Finally, we strongly recommend voting against the home business initiatives until such a time as the association stops subsidizing all businesses operating within CZ, and all non CZ residents.

Buzz:

That is interesting. I never thought in terms of CZ subsidizing a Member who runs a business from his or her home. However, to the extent that a Member has more outsiders coming in to Coto than would otherwise be the case for typical guests who are more sporadic, a home office/business does negatively add to our security and street cost. Maybe CZ should charge for an annual business license so to speak if this amendment passes and the business actually involves customers or clients coming into Coto. This is just another type of user fee. Why not? JM

P.S. I maintain a home office in our home in Reno; but there are no clients or vendors coming into our gates impacting the HOA’s cost so there is a distinction

Joe,

The idea is flawed in many respects, but primarily these activities
would violate county zoning ordiances, and in a sense be against the
law. Therefore, not a good idea for CZ Master to promote such an idea
and benefit financially.

Why do you keep beating this dead horse regarding user fees? You
overstate a landscape renovation number and then propose revenue
sources that will only contribute nickels and dimes towards problems
that require real dollars to solve.

I am all for prudent increases for non-members. But the reality is
that most of the people that you intend to target are CZ Master
Members. You just don't know it because you are not involved in any
aspect of the community.

Dave

Dave: When was the last time you took a drive around Coto particularly the older areas. And, when was the last time you had any landscaping work done? We just landscaped an acre in essentially high desert landscaping and the cost was about $120,000. We when did a yard remodel in Coto a few years ago, the cost was $70,000. As you know CZ owns a whole lot of common area. There are many areas in Coto today that require renovation. The face of the Woods alone is about three blocks long. If those slopes are scraped except for trees, I would be willing to bet that the cost will top $300,000 for complete renovation and that assumes a volume deal. That does not include the interior slopes of the Woods which in some cases are just as bad. This is just one area. There are several that are more than 15 years old that have had little or no work done since original planting. As such, I don’t think my $3,000,000 figure is out of hand.

Specific to business licenses, we already have CZ Members who conduct business from their homes with clients and/or customers coming to their homes. This occurrence should be beyond the definition of a “guest” yet today we have no way of charging those CZ Members or others the impact CZ cost and therefore our Members. I really don’t understand why you are so opposed to user fees and or differentiated fees for non-members. It is just common sense. Why should all Members have to pay for expenses that should be outside “normal”? It is just not logical.

Further, I am not arguing for a special assessment to deal with landscaping renovation or even a dues increase at least not before first dealing with the subsidies going to outsiders and various organizations; again just common sense. JM

As a commercial developer I am very experienced with landscaping and
its cost.

What I see can be greatly enhanced with better maintenance and care.
That combined with the gradual introduction of new plant material in
certain ares would produce a visible improvement in little time at a
fraction of the cost. This program could be handled as part of the
annual operating budget and not require a special assessment.

We do not need to scrape the slopes and re-plant as you suggest. What
you propose is akin to open heart surgery to cure the common cold.
And at a considerable expense.

CZ needs a full time person to manage its landscaping like we had
with Mitts Kanemoto. This is a major portion of our annual budget and
should be treated as a top priority. I don't believe that an outside
consultant can addequately do the job, as you need to be here almost
every day.

Dave

Dave: Apparently, the HOA’s in Mission Viejo beg to differ with you. Many of the slopes in Mission Viejo have under gone complete renovation with scraping except for trees in recognition of the notion that plants have a plant life of about 10 – 15 years. There is no way to bring back the face of the Woods; though I do agree we should have a full time landscaping supervisor back on the Keystone’s payroll rather than paying much more for a part time Consultant. The Woods slopes are a mess that require scraping. A dead plant is a dead plant. Of course, we could pray for Jesus to come and raise those plants from the dead; but I suspect he has more important things to deal with. JM

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