Surfside HOA, Ocean Park, WA 2/15/2020
There are 9 board positions. Each year 3 board member’s term ends and 3 new board members are elected. Once we find out who is running we will post them here.
Category: Blog
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Preferential Treatment of the "Elite Faction"
Surfside HOA, Ocean Park, WA
There has been much talk of the preferential treatment of the elite faction. Tell us the facts. What concrete examples can you tell us about? How do we solve this?
Unequal Enforcement of Covenants
Surfside HOA, Ocean Park, WA
Unequal enforcement of Covenants has reached an all time high in Surfside. Have you been a victim of this? Tell us your story. Surfside switched from “complaint” to a “compliance” program, yet is the compliance enforced equally for all? What are the pros and cons of each program? Are the covenants being changed just to “get” someone or to favor the “Elite Faction”? What are your thoughts? What is the solution?
Water System Problems
Surfside HOA, Ocean Park, WA.
Surfside seems to have endless problems with the water system. The pipes constantly break, the water is frequently reported to have a bad taste, a bad smell, often there is low water pressure, and there is a constant stream of warnings not to drink the water. The water system is the largest item on our budget. Can anyone specify why we have all these problems? What are the solutions?
Voting/Electronic Voting
Surfside HOA, Ocean Park, WA.
Many of the members of Surfside HOA feel that a small “Elitist Faction” controls the Board. The Board controls the voting and holds the votes for the Independent Voting company that counts the votes. Some feel that some of those votes are lost or miscounted. Some have proposed electronic voting in a manner that all could see the results and the results could be audited. Deb Blagg proposed a software program that cost less than $1000 per year that could achieve this. What would you suggest as a solution to this problem?
Free Member to Member Communication
Surfside HOA, Ocean Park, Wa
One of the biggest problems in Surfside seems to be lack of communication. The Board controls the Weekender weekly newsletter, the Facebook page and the Website. The HOA refuses to post opposing viewpoints. The only voice of the property owners is a property owner blog, surfsideinfo.blogspot.com/ , that is produced by George Miller. The Board also has the ability to send emails to all the members, but this ability is not shared with the other members. Thus a “Faction” of the community controls all the information sent to the members. Should the email list that the HOA has be available to all the members? Is there some other solution?
Rewriting the Covenants
Surfside HOA, Ocean Park, WA
Many have talked for years about the AMAZING number and intensity of problems in Surfside HOA. If you could rewrite the covenants, what would you change and why?
Illegal and Unethical Actions of the Surfside Board
Recently it was discovered that Surfside Board Members and Managers had allowed illegal cutting, removal, storage and burying of the removed asbestos pipe. Surfside was fined and some of the people involved were criminally investigated.
It was also discovered that they moved soil into a wetland, and built a building, without permits. There are fines and Surfside is now required to purchase wetlands to replace what they damaged. More costs to be paid by the property owners.
There has been a flurry of false covenant violations made against the property owners, which have ended in a variety of lawsuits. These included the Durdels, Ottersens and Johansens. There may be others but frequently actions are taken by Surfside in secret, and sometimes even some of the board members are not informed of the actions. Of those we are aware of, most were won by the property owners. We understand that these costs far exceeded $100,000, but we are also aware that the HOA filed many other lawsuits that were not mentioned at board meetings and the details of these were hidden from the members.
It appears that Surfside HOA is controlled by a small group of people. This group seems to be involved in all of the above and includes most of the members of the board. What Solutions are available for the mass of members to get and maintain control of the board?
I am not an attorney, these are my beliefs and understandings.
Patrick Johansen
Tree Topping, Surfside, Ocean Park, WA
Currently Surfside has covenants that require only people on the west side of J PLace to top their trees to various heights. These seem to be random heights and we have not been able to get an explanation of why those heights. Two neighbors who live next to each other may find that one is required to top their trees to 16′ yet the other can let theirs grow to 24′. J Place is about 30′ to 50′ above most of the other street. The houses on “Ocean Front” properties like G and F Streets can all keep theirs at 24′. What is the logic of topping trees between the Ocean Front properties shorter than those on the Ocean Front properties. In reality most of the trees between G Place and J Place, could grow to their full height and not interfere with the views of the J Place Members. The cost to the properties that have to top their trees is high and and is the damage to the appearance of their properties. What solutions could we find to solve this problem?