On Rewriting Our CC&Rs

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Plumb Out of Luck

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Meeting Time Again - July 30, 2007

I received notice Monday of an upcoming special board meeting. I'll post the notice in its entirety below so that people are aware of the event. If you have interest in either of these topics, or just want to see how our association runs, I encourage you to attend.

IMPORTANT NOTICE
DATE: Monday July 30, 2007 6:45
TO: All Members & Residents of Seabridge Homeowners Community Association
FROM: Your Board of Directors

SUBJECT: Special Meeting Notice For Adopt Member At Large, Landscape Contracts

Please be advised that on MONDAY JULY 30, 2007 at 6:45 P.M. the Board of Directors will hold a special meeting to discuss Landscape Contractor and adopt Member At Large. Should you have any questions, please call our Certified Community Association Manager, Brenda Cooney-CCAM, at (714) 508-9070 Ext. 241

A note on recent changes

Welcome back! As you've noticed, I've made a few changes to improve things around here. I apologize for any inconvenience, but I think it will make things better all around.

Why the need to log in? Well, I had a few thoughts. For one, we don't let people off the street just wander into our board meetings, so I wanted to implement the on-line equivalent. For another, I wanted to be sure you are reading this blog because you are interested in hearing what I have to say. Sunsets and general community information are an important part of this blog, but I also write about decisions that affect us all. When you log in, I know you want to "listen".

More so, logging in allows you to speak too. You've already done the hard part by logging in. It's now very easy for you to hit the "comments" button and make this more of a two-way street. While I write about subjects that interest me, that doesn't meant that I and others don't want to hear your opinions on the topics, too. My main goal of this site is to build community and increase awareness for all of us, moi included, and you can help do so by offering your views on things that matter to us.

The goal here is to be respectful and open, and I trust we can all do that. And if my blog here doesn't fit your needs, the more blogs, the better, I say.

Regular Board Meeting - July 17, 2007

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A Visit to Brix

(e-mail readers, click "A Visit to Brix" title to continue to full article)

Last week's post on the gondolas reminded me of another Sunset Beach business with even more connections to Seabridge - Brix Wine Bar on PCH. Owners Tom O'Regan and Rick & Sharon Reich have all been Seabridge residents. Anyone who has lived here these past few years will undoubtedly remember Tara, the Saint Bernard.

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Yesterday I stopped by Brix to find what they've been up to lately. As is typical during any visit, the glass of wine I enjoyed (a pinot noir from Oregon's Cloudline winery) was accompanied by lively conversation and interesting people. Discussions taking place throughout the bar covered all sorts of topics, from restaurants to pets to achieving one's goals in life. From time to time there are occasional celebrity visitors, and I was updated on the latest interesting people to make an appearance. Brix sponsors special theme nights, focused wine tasting, and other special events. I enjoyed their New Year's Eve celebration this past year.

The Reichs don't just run a great gathering place; they are actively involved in the local community. Recent events have included Sunset Beach art and wine festivals, and they just completed a charity event at the Latin American Museum to benefit local children's libraries.

And as they go into their third year, they have a lot of ideas in the works. Rick hopes to go to chef school to balance his deep wine knowledge with a better understanding of food. They are also expanding their offerings. Sundays, for example, have become centered around music, with concert DVDs played on the TV. Whether you're a wine snob or just someone who wants to get more familiar with wines in a relaxed and welcoming setting, Brix is a great place to do so. As they like to say, "What happens at Brix always happens at Brix."

Rick is looking to have another Seabridge wine tasting event on some Sunday afternoon, so if you would be interested, post a comment here.

Seabridge Journal Front Page

Coming Soon...

I'm working on ideas for some upcoming posts. One of them involves interviews I'm conducting with original residents of the community. As far as I can determine, there are only about five residences that can claim original owners (those people who bought back in '78). I think it will be interesting to write about what made them "Seabridge Pioneers" and what changes they've witnessed over the years.

I'm also musing on a post about neighbors. We can brag about a lot of things our community has going for it - great weather and fantastic location come right to mind - but for me, the thing that keeps me here are the wonderful neighbors who offer support during difficult times and who make the good times all the more fun.

Oh, I should mention another "coming attraction": my sister, who will be living with me quite temporarily while she secures a job here in the Southland. If you have any ideas for must-do activities for a newcomer, I'd love to hear them - please post suggestions in the comments area. Angels game? Hollywood Bowl? Help me!

Let me know if you have any contributions for the posts I mentioned - or if you have other ideas for future ones. But in the immediate future, you can look forward to news from tomorrow's monthly board meeting. I don't know what the particular agenda items are, so if anyone has information, please feel free to post that as a comment.

A little change is underfoot

(Note: if this post seems short in your e-mail, click on the title!) Many of you get notified of new articles by e-mail. That's great, as it ensures that you receive word on the same day that something new is posted.

However, I've noticed that many people seem to just read the e-mails exclusively, and they then miss out on the other parts of the blog, including comments and local news.

Therefore, I've changed the e-mails so they should only give you the first paragraph of each post. You can click on the post title to read the whole thing directly on the Seabridge Journal blog.

Hopefully it's as straightforward as that - we'll see how it works out tomorrow evening.

I always enjoy comments, so if you read something particularly interesting to you, or if you have any follow-up to add to a post, I encourage you to use the commenting feature!

"O Sole Mio..."

Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole,
n'aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe' ll'aria fresca pare gia' na festa...
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole.

Ma n'atu sole
cchiu' bello, oi ne'.
'o sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
'o sole, 'o sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
sta 'nfronte a te!

Sure, we're 6100 miles from Venice, but if you've spent any time near the water these summer evenings, you've likely had a chance to see a gondola coast by. There's just something about the way they are crafted, and the way they glide through the water, that instantly transports a part of you somewhere else. Throw in an Italian song crooned by a gondolier, and you can almost see St. Mark's Square.

Long Beach/Naples doesn't hold the monopoly on gondola rides any more. Last fall, Sunset Gondola began operations right here in Huntington Harbour. I think it's a fantastic addition to our area. I just discovered that they have a website. And that discovery turns out to be timely: this coming Tuesday, July 17th they are hosting their first annual "La Festa della Gondola", with rides, food and wine. Sounds like a neat event.

Whether you have out-of-town guests, or just want to have your own little getaway, keep Sunset Gondolas in mind. We're lucky to have them here.

Can you ever get sick of these sunsets?

Sunset over Portofino Cove docks, viewed from Trinidad Island, 7/14/2007

Huntington Harbour Property Owners

An earlier post mentioned that I found the Huntington Harbour Property Owners website to unfortunately be out of date. Well, apparently I was checking out HHPOA.org instead of HHPOA.net. (Don't ask me why they don't update the .org site as well since it's the same organization...)

HHPOA.net is the correct website for the Huntington Harbour Property Owners, and it seems to provide some current news for events and projects in our area. Malheureusement, it's too late now to check out the concert in the park that took place this afternoon, but I believe they'll have other events this summer.

I'll add the website to my list of helpful websites on the right of this page.

Introducing the Condo Guru

"CID", "Davis-Stirling", "PUD", "fiduciary duty" - there are enough terms floating around association living to make one's head spin! But as I've said before, they affect us whether we pay attention or not. So it's good for all homeowners to have at least a familiarity with the current issues surrounding community association living.

But it's a confusing world to navigate - how do you go about it? I was recently reminded of a great resource I discovered when I served on the board: the California Condo Guru. Beth Grimm, an attorney in Northern California set up this website and does an excellent job of serving up relevant information in Plain English. There are many other HOA law firms in California that provide legal updates and newsletter, but I found Beth's site to be most helpful to the average homeowner.

I now see that Beth is also providing information on her own blog, and I find this feature to be extremely helpful. Topics she has recently covered include:

• Homeowners planting flowers in the common area
• Earthquake Insurance - Drop It or Keep It?
• Reserves and "Healthy" Financial Planning

Each article only takes a few minutes to read, yet provides a good background on topics that our association often deals with. The board should always consult with its own experts when needed, but at a minimum, the information provided helps homeowners and board members set out in the right direction to learn more and make the right decisions for the community.

Let me know if you find her blog helpful. I'll try to remember to link to specific posts of hers if I read any that are especially relevant to us.

News from Around Seabridge

Well, hopefully things are drying out from this morning's sprinkler malfunction that sent streams of water down the hillside by my house. Any more water and we could have opened a water park. Perhaps I'll see about getting some video up on this blog.

Don't forget that there's a regular meeting of the Seabridge HOA Board of Directors next Tuesday at 7PM in the Clubhouse. The last meeting was very informative, and the board has some important decisions to make in the coming year that will affect all of us. While I'll attempt to report the news here, it's always good for homeowners to see and contribute (in the appropriate way) to board discussions first-hand

I saw a banner at the corner of Heil and Algonquin this morning that looked encouraging - it was providing information on the Huntington Harbour Property Owners Association website. But unfortunately, the link I followed seems contain information about 2 years out of date. Perhaps they'll be updating it soon.

However, the OC Register runs a column on Harbour Happenings that provides some interesting updates from the Harbour, most notably the Edinger Project that I mentioned last week

I leave you with this picture of a beautiful sunset, taken Monday night from Sunset Aquatic Park at the end of Edinger.

Summer Days Aren't So Bad Either

I know I've posted quite a few pictures-only lately, but it's kind of hard to pass them up when we've had such beautiful weather recently. Especially when the rest of the West seems to be baking in 100 degree heat. So, indulge me a little more. These photos are from a walk I was on shortly after noon today.

The pictures do remind me - have you seen what our community looks like with the "Birds Eye" view of Microsoft Live Search/Virtual Earth? Check out what we look like from the air...

(bonus credit to anyone who can point out any clues as to when these might have been taken - or any other noteworthy observations. It definitely seems to be before the painting.)

Those Summer Nights, Part II

Huntington Harbour Sunset, July 6, 2007

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

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"Here She Comes, Miss...Yard Waste?!"

Living in California, we get used to all sorts of things. But it was still kind of fun during Wednesday's parade to see floats with Miss Huntington Beach, Miss Garden Grove Strawberry festival - and then the trio of "Miss Trash", "Miss Recyclables" and "Miss Yard Waste". I can just imagine the pageant itself, with Oscar the Grouch serving as emcee...

I applaud Rainbow Disposal for getting the message out there. We seldom think about where our garbage goes, but as yesterday's post on water quality indicated, some of it winds up quite close to home. In fact, when people pour things into our storm drain system, our harbor water becomes a big cesspool.

It never hurts to think again about the impact of throwing hazardous waste in our Seabridge drains and dumpsters. I suspect that the readers of this blog don't engage in the practice, but we've all seen it. Perhaps better education, awareness and community cooperation can help us in keeping waste where it belongs.

As to what we can do at Seabridge, I suggest the following as a start:

• If you see someone throwing something hazardous in the dumpsters or down the storm drains, tell them. Sometimes, a little awareness goes a long ways.

• Often the culprit is not homeowners, but their contractors. If you are doing remodeling, make sure your contractors get a rent-a-bin and dispose of all waste properly.

• It is really not hard at all to drive your hazardous waste items over to Rainbow's facility at Warner and Nichols to dispose of them in the proper manner. They make it a piece of cake - you don't even get out of the car. Did I mention that it's FREE? I'll try to post a message here if I'm planning a trip, and I encourage others to do the same.

• Huntington Beach has a great freecycling program if you're looking to give something a new lease on life. It's almost as easy as walking over to the dumpster, but a lot easier on our landfills.

• And with fall just a few short months away, perhaps it's time to start thinking about another garage sale?

If you have suggestions for other things we can do to help keep Seabridge clean, I welcome your comments.

Those Summer Nights...

Seabridge from Trinidad Bridge, July 5, 2007

How's the Water?

If you didn't feel it already, the 4th of July holiday should tell you that summer is in full swing. We live in a terrific location, especially when it comes to enjoying the water. The harbor is literally in our backyards. We fish in it, sail on it, kayak on it - some Seabridge stalwarts even swim in it.

So you may wonder from time to time: just how clean is the water? Contrary to what you might think, our harbor usually gets excellent grades. Heal The Bay, an organization that looks after the quality of Southern California coastal waters, publishes a weekly beach report card that includes two of our local beaches, the Mothers' Beach at Seabridge Park, and the small beach just over the bridge on Trinidad Island. You can check out the current report card here. Both beaches usually get an A+ rating during dry conditions.

Of course, when it rains, we're the end of the line for all the junk that enters the storm drains and flows down the channels into our harbor. It's not just all the garbage you can see by the docks; it's also higher levels of other waste and bacteria. At those times, it's a good idea to stay out of the water for at least 3 days after the rain and to monitor the conditions closely.

4th of July - Surf City Style

If there's one holiday Huntington Beach truly celebrates in style, it's the 4th of July. Our parade is billed as the largest one west of the Mississippi, and as I stood at the corner of Utica and Main for 2 hours this morning, I believed that claim!

We had a group of hearty Seabridge residents leave the complex before 8 and bike to the Park Bench Cafe in Central Park for breakfast. From there, we rode down to Main Street to enjoy the parade and then enjoyed the Pacific Ocean as we biked back along the beach.

My evening was capped off viewing the fireworks from our own Huntington Beach and neighboring cities. Happy Independence Day!

Special Board Meeting - July 3, 2007

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Update: The Edinger Landscape Project

As I have driven to work these past few days, I've noticed that the sign on Edinger across from Saybrook had some updates. Today I finally remembered to stop, and while they were all out of flyers, your cub reporter copied down all the information.

We all drive by the "mudflats" daily. Imagine what a "grand entrance" we'll have to our community if that is improved and planted nicely. This is a very worthwhile effort for us all to support. Here's the information from the flyer:

Sea Isle Garden Club Edinger Street Landscape Project - A Cooperative Effort of the City of Huntington Beach and Members of the Community Our Garden Club Meeting on September 12, 2007 will have actual samples of the plants budgeted in the city's landscape design. We plan to plant these samples on the ground for you to see. Curbs have already been budgeted by the city. Getting grant money is a focus for this year. Ways you can help: Make a donation of your time when we plant a section in October 2007 Join our Garden Club and find out how we are pushing the project forward Get on our mailing list for updates. Our next community forum will be October 24, 2007 Provide us with information on other resources which may further our project Contact Caron Mount, Sea Isle Garden Club President, 714-377-8522

Tuesday's Meeting Is Now at 4PM

This just into our newsroom: the notice for Tuesday's meeting now states that it will be held at 4PM. I will provide additional information should it become available.

In the Spotlight: Meeting and Notice Requirements

From time to time, I intend to focus on some aspect of Common Interest Development living that might interest Seabridge homeowners. When I was on the board, I found the Condominium Bluebook, published by Piedmont Press, to be extremely useful. If each current board member doesn't have a copy, I highly recommend it. And while I will use this space to highlight important items from it, I would also recommend the book to any homeowner. This column is no substitute for the wealth of knowledge that this book keeps collected, current, and organized. Both the board and the homeowners have responsibilities to ensure that the community runs well. For many laws affecting our community, you can also go straight to the source: sections of the California Civil Code, also known as the Davis-Stirling Act. Many of these points are from section 1363.05.

There are several kinds of meetings that occur here at Seabridge. Every June, we have a membership meeting. That's when each of us as homeowners have the opportunity to vote on matters, including the election of board members and the determination on what to do with excess operating funds.

The rest of the year, most meetings consist of regular meetings of the board of directors. While these are open to the homeowners, we do not have the opportunity to vote since these are not meetings of the membership, just the board of directors. We do, however, have the opportunity to speak in open forum.

The board is also allowed to take certain discussions into executive session. By law, the discussion that may take place is limited to consideration of litigation, matters related to the formation of contracts with third parties, member discipline, personnel matters, or to meet with a member subject to discipline, if the member requests it. The matters discussed must be generally noted in the minutes of next meeting open to homeowners following that session.

Meetings of the board are required to be announced to homeowners 4 days prior to the meeting. The notice should be posted in a prominent place or places in the common area. In the past, a posting on the clubhouse has been common. Seabridge Board meetings occur on the third Tuesday of each month at 7PM, and that has been announced regularly in the newsletter distributed to all residents. I'm no lawyer, but I suspect that this adequately announces those meetings. It never, hurts, however, to over-communicate, and perhaps the board can also employ the website.

Did you Know? Civil Code 1363.05(g) says that "...Notice shall be given by posting the notice in a prominent place or places within the common area and by mail to any owner who had requested notification of board meeting by mail, at the address requested by the owner." The last part certainly seems aimed at reducing confusion as to when meetings take place, and I think I'll request it myself.

Emergency meetings may be called if there are circumstances that could not have been reasonably foreseen which require immediate attention and possible action by the board, and which make it impracticable to provide notice.

Each type of meeting has its purpose and will be appropriate for certain situations. I believe that the test for what should not be covered in a regular board meeting should not be made loosely. That may lead to a longer meeting - believe me, I know from experience! - but also leads to the most trust in the board and its actions.

As with any other posting on the site, the information provided only reflects my understanding. The best thing to do is go straight to the source and learn for yourself! I hope this has helped you get started.