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Dakota Ridge Board of Director’s Meeting
April 12, 2023 at 8:30am via Zoom
Board Members Present: Ron Lemieux, Holly Van Deursen, Carrie Hayden, Bill Noyes, Scott Prochazka
Others Present: Andrea Wilhelm (CPG), Tomas & Robin Stone (Lot 25 owners), Chad Whitmore (Native Excavating, Nick Holt (Civil Design Consultants)
Waterline Replacement Project
The first item on the agenda was a discussion of the upcoming water line replacement project at the corner of Agate Creek and Aspen Ridge Rd. The nearby owners of Lot 25 expressed concern two weeks ago over potentially losing two aspen trees at the entrance of their driveway located within the 15 ft easement. They requested that the Board consider an alternative plan to place the pipe under the road. Andrea provided a summary of an onsite meeting the day prior with Nick Holt, Chad Whitmore and Carrie Hayden. Measurements indicated that diverting the line under the road to bypass their driveway would result in an additional 75ft of asphalt excavation/repair and increase the cost of the project. She then opened the floor for comments and questions.
Tomas acknowledged the 15-foot easement but shared his opinion that the owner of that easement (the Association) needs to be reasonable in considering the impact and rights of the burdened lot owner. He further stated that he felt the additional asphalt cost might be offset by remediation costs required to otherwise revegetate the roadside/easement area. He asked that regardless of where the digging occurs, all work performed should stay within the easement zone and pointed out that any amount of digging will impact tree roots and the mature forest.
The Board members asked the Native and CDC consultants various questions about the implications of this plan including future maintenance, additional connection points/elbows, leak detection, road compression, and revegetation. To conclude the conversation, Ron asked the Stones if they would be willing to contribute to the added cost so that the Association is not fully funding a solution that is beneficial to only one owner. Tomas indicated they would consider that option and the Board also asked for more time to consider the issue and respond the following day. After Tomas, Robin, Nick and Chad exited the meeting, Holly asked Andrea to investigate with CDC whether flow meters at each end of the new segment would be beneficial or effective. Andrea also brought up the question of whether the Board wished to add an additional fire hydrant at the upper connection point of the new main line as the current distance between hydrants in that section is over 2000ft. The CIP reflects the addition of five hydrants as a “Potential Future Need” and CDC indicated there could be some cost savings to installing one while the main is uncovered. The Board agreed that if this addition would replace one of those five within the CIP and was within the recommended distance, they would move forward. If it was an addition to the five, and/or the preferred placement would be higher on the road, they would not proceed.
2023/2024 Budget Approval
As the draft 2023/2024 Budget and Capital Improvement Plan were both reviewed and finalized in a working session on March 23rd, Andrea provided a brief recap that the prior year operating deficit is right around $50K due to variances in Snow Removal, Water Ops, and Water User Fees. In addition, the Association spent another $50K of unbudgeted funds the prior year on the water main breaks and leak detection efforts. Given the prior year shortfall, the upcoming reserve projects, as well as the $300K minimum reserve balance established by the Board, the 23/24 Budget was finalized with Reserves Assessments doubling to $5300/lot and Operating Assessments increasing to $2435/lot. Ron made a motion to approve the budget as presented, Carrie seconded the motion and all were in favor with none opposed.
Policy Adoptions – Collections, Enforcement, and Renewable Energy
Prior to the meeting, Andrea circulated a final copy of the updated Collections and Enforcement Policy discussed in the prior Board meeting and necessary for compliance with House Bill 22-1137. She also circulated a proposed draft of a Renewable Energy policy drafted by a Denver-based law firm (Winzenburg, Leff, Purvis & Payne). After some discussion, Andrea was asked to request three changes to the Renewable Energy Policy: 1) a typo in #2a; 2) replacement of “Architectural Approval Committee” with “Architectural Review Committee”; and 3) the addition of the clause: “…preferably in a location that minimizes visual impact for neighbors to the maximum extent possible” at the end of the first sentence in #4b. Subject to those changes, Holly made a motion to adopt both polices, seconded by Ron and all those present were also in favor.
Related to the above, Andrea reported that the owner of Lot 46 recently approved for a solar array authorized CPG to proactively notify the neighbor of his installation plans. She asked the Board which neighbors should be notified, and they felt the adjacent lot owners were sufficient.
Colorado Land Use Bill
Carrie referenced a recent email from Paul Sachs in regards to a new bill (SB23-178) under consideration by the state legislature. The Board asked Andrea to research whether there were any Front Range or mountain organizations lobbying against this bill which Dakota Ridge could join in order to express opposition.
Annual Meeting Planning
Andrea reported that Jim Makens had nominated himself for a Board of Directors position. She was asked to reach out to him about a bio and also search for Ron and Scott’s bios from years past so that all three could be included in the Annual Meeting packet. She suggested that in lieu of compiling reports from each committee head, she could draft the first version of the meeting packet for Directors to edit accordingly. Holly noted she would prefer to write her own financial report and Andrea said she should have final statements next week once Tim Gibbons submits his first quarter invoice. She said she would try to circulate a meeting packet draft by the end of next week for comments and edits, then target the first week of May for emailing it to the owners.
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:20am.
Recorded by,
Andrea Wilhelm
