SUMMER 2002 NEWSLETTER

Editor Bill Webb

ANNUAL JULY PICNIC/ GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Thanks to an outstanding turnout of homeowners, we had a great picnic this year – serving over 250 people! Thanks again to all of the volunteers that made this a very successful event from cooks to trash cleanup helpers – you were great!! The raffle was also a great success and due to your contributions, BVRI was able to make a $1,000 donation to the Bear Valley Search & Rescue Team – our thanks again to all who donated prizes as well as purchased raffle tickets. Here are the names of the individuals/companies who donated prizes: Bear Valley Mountain Resort; Barbara Garvin; Lura Francis; Mr. And Mrs. Bill Webb; Terry Woodrow (Premier Properties); Mr. And Mrs. Tom Peterson; Lake Alpine Lodge; Bear Valley General Store; Milliaire Winery; Headwaters Café; Fine Things; Bear Valley Lodge; Katherine and Kim Aitken-Young; Bear Valley Snowmobile; Eric Jung- Cub Reporter; Bear Valley Real Estate; Bear Valley Pizza Co.; Vienna; The Feather’s Edge Finery; Bear Valley Sport Shop; Paula Li, CMT; Chatom Vineyards; Bear Valley Music Festival; Bear Valley Search and Rescue; Bear Valley Cross Country and Adventure Company.

BVRI President Dave Morley presented a $1,000 BVRI Scholarship check to former Bear Valley school graduate Luke Stephens who upon graduation from Bret Hart High School has enrolled for classes at Columbia CC. Congratulations again to Luke and the very best in your education pursuits. The BVRI Scholarship program allows us to support the residents (and there families) of Bear Valley that contribute so much to our enjoyment of this unique area!

The General Membership Meeting held on July 6^th was well attended with a wide range of topics covered – complete minutes of the meeting can be obtained via the BVRI web site @ BVRI.ORG.

Please mark your calendars now for the 2003 Annual Homeowners Picnic – it will be held on Friday July 4^th, 2003 at the Big Beach – more details to follow but we will add some fun kids/ family activities to next year’s event and perhaps some extra entertainment – like dance music!!!! Stay tuned for more details in future newsletters.

At its June 7^th meeting the Regional Water Quality Control Board rescinded the Cease and Desist Order against the Bear Valley Water District. Lifting the Order means that there is no longer a limit on new hookups for the time being. Following a public hearing in Bear Valley on June 17^th, the Water District Board has approved a rate hike for all homeowners from $36 to $56 per month. Board Chairman Dave Ritchie stated that the rate hike was to fund engineering and monitoring required by the state for the system as it exists now. Ritchie indicated that rates may go back down as required projects are completed, like monitoring wells, the need for up front money will go away. He indicated the rates won’t go back to $36 because of added costs of the monitoring program, but could come down from the new rate of $56.

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE ARC Chairman Ron Murphy reports there are currently four new homes under construction, two more about to begin construction and three additional sets of plans expected in the near term. As a reminder to all homeowners in the "new" subdivisions of Bear Valley (tracts 1-7,9) that any alteration to the exterior of their homes requires ARC approval prior to implementation. (Some require Alpine County Building Department approval). This includes reroof, repaint/ restain, tree removal, landscaping, remodel – anything that changes the exterior appearance of the property. Your ARC Committee consists of Ron Murphy (Chair), Terry Woodrow, Robin La Roy, Clem Soga and Gary Willard. You may contact any of them direct with any questions or email them through the BVRI web site @ BVRI.ORG. 

EMAIL ADDRESS REQUEST To help reduce costs as well as improve/ speed our communication process with all homeowners, this is to request that you forward your email address to BVRI at our web site – BVRI.ORG – for future use by BVRI in communications with you. This information will not be shared outside of BVRI and will be used only for informing you of BVRI issues. We could reduce both our costs of communications (eliminating both postage and printing costs) by going to an email newsletter process as well as significantly reduce time delays on important topics to homeowners – Thanks for your cooperation/ support on this important request! We will keep you informed of any changes to our newsletter communication process to avoid any possible confusion.  

BEACH REPORT BVRI Board Member Sue Garratt reports the new swim platform at the big beach is a very popular addition to this summer’s activities. The swim ladder has been secured so all swimmers can now use the platform. Sue has formed a BVRI Lake Restoration Committee and any one interested in joining her should contact Sue via her email address @ sgarratt@iopener.net. or via the BVRI web site – bvri.org. While some important cleanup work has been accomplished this summer, there is additional work needed to insure we protect the beaches. Because the beaches are a very important part of our Bear Valley summer experience, this is a reminder that No Dogs are allowed on the beaches (both) this is a specific requirement of the water company for BVRI to has access to the lake. All homeowners can assist us by not allowing your or guests dogs to use the beach areas as well as reminding people that violate the rules to remove there dogs from these areas – Thanks in advance for your cooperation/ assistance in helping us continue to have access to the lake!

SNOWMOBILE STORAGE On behalf of the entire BVRI Board, President Dave Morley has sent out 34 letters to homeowners for violations of the CC&R’s on snowmobile storage. Responses to date have been very encouraging with many homeowners already taken steps to comply with the rules. We encourage anyone that has received a letter to take immediate steps to comply with the guidelines for snowmobile storage. Let’s keep Bear Valley as natural and scenic as possibly for all of our neighbors to enjoy the full beauty of this unique area. The entire BVRI Board thanks you for your cooperation and support.

EMERGENCY PRECAUTIONS We want to remind you of two precautions that could be critical to you or your family in case of an emergency:

First, please mark the outside of your house with an address number. This will help emergency crews to quickly locate your house. If you have renters, or allow friends and family to use your house, please post the telephone number and address of your house in a conspicuous location – right next to the telephone is a good place for this information.

Second, in case of an emergency, rescue vehicles will be responding rapidly on the subdivision roads. Keep these roadways clear of vehicles so that help can arrive as quickly as possible – this will also prevent your vehicles from unnecessary damage! 

FIRE PREVENTION PROGRAM – 2002

Dear Bear Valley Home and Lot Owners:

This year, the news has been filled with incredible scenes of wildfires and destruction in New Mexico, Colorado and California! We do not want this to happen to Bear Valley.

To prevent anything like this happening, we, the Bear Valley Fire Department, BVRI, and your fellow Bear Valley citizens, ask that you to create a "fire defensible" zone around your home and on your property. You must clear your properties of fire hazards and continue a fire safe maintenance program throughout the summer and fall.

HOW DO YOU CREATE A "FIRE DEFENSIBLE" SPACE?

100% compliance in making our homes and properties "fire defensible" and sharing in the burden of fire protection is everyone’s responsibility and mandated by law. You are being asked to fully cooperate by meeting the requirements as listed on the enclosed checklist and then performing a self-inspection of your property. But, to summarize, you can take these simple actions –

• Clear a firebreak, 30 feet wide, around your house. Clear out any dead vegetation and wood from the ground.
• Make sure that no tree limbs are close to your chimney or stovepipe.
• Clean the roof of any leaves, needles, or dead growth.
• Remove dead branches from trees near the house.
• Dispose of the debris.

HOW DO YOU DISPOSE OF THE DEBRIS?

You can dispose of the material in the following acceptable ways –

• Currently all burning is suspended in the State of California. But, once the suspension is lifted, you can burn small piles of yard debris on you property. Residential burn permits are required from May1 through December 31 and may be obtained at the Sheriff’s Office. Air pollution controls what days you can burn. Call 754-6600 for all burn day status, or
• You can haul it to the closest public landfill or trash dump and dispose of it there. Yard waste is accepted at Red Hill (between Murphys and Angels Camp) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. There’s a 4-yard limit for homeowners, who must show proof of property ownership in Bear Valley. The proof is casual: a piece of mail to a Bear Valley address, a driver’s license showing a BV address or vehicle registration, an Alpine County tax bill. For questions, call Calaveras County Solid Waste at 209-754-6403, or
• BV homeowners can rent a 3-yard bin from SEI/BV Disposal for $50. 3yards will probably take care of raked up debris in a typical yard, but may not hold enough if you’ve got a downed tree with a lot of slash, or
• You can contact Jason Comfort, who has an exclusive arrangement to operate a burn pile (once the burn suspension is lifted), to dispose of it.

The beautiful environment we enjoy in Bear Valley and the outlying area is covered with flammable vegetation, as is much of the state, making California the highest fire-risk area in the world. We must reduce the risk by voluntarily maintaining a fire defensible property.

We will begin making spot checks of all Bear Valley properties in August to ensure the fire safety of the community and also ask that you contact us if you are concerned about areas that are not observed to be fire defensible. Violators will be warned and asked to cooperate. Failing to cooperate may result in citations.

The danger of fires in California is always extremely high. We can all reduce that risk for Bear Valley by cooperating with the community’s fire protection efforts. If you have any questions about making your home and property fire safe, or have concerns about areas you observe as not fire defensible, please contact us at 209-753-2232.

Sincerely

Bear Valley Community Fire Department and Bear Valley Residents, Inc. 

BEAR VALLEY FIRE SAFETY SELF-INSPECTION CHECKLIST:

_______ Maintain around and adjacent to building or structure a firebreak for a distance of not less than 30 feet on each side or to the property line, whichever is nearer. This does not apply to single trees, ornamental shrubbery, or similar plants used as ground cover, if they do not form a means of rapidly transmitting fire from the native growth to the residence or building.

_______ Maintain around and adjacent to building or structure additional fire protection or firebreak which is located from 30 to 100 feet from such building or structure to the property line, whichever is nearer, as may be required by the director, because of extra hazardous condition, a firebreak of only 30 feet is not sufficient to provide reasonable fire safety. Grass and other vegetation located more than 30 feet from such ground may be maintained where necessary to stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.

______ Remove that portion of any tree which extends within 10 feet of the outlet of any chimney or stovepipe.

______ Maintain the roof and rain gutters of any structure free of leaves, needles or other dead vegetative growth.

______ Maintain any tree adjacent to or overhanging any building free of dead or dying wood.

______ Provide and maintain at all times a screen over the outlet of every chimney or stovepipe. The screen can be constructed of nonflammable material with openings of not more than one-half inch in size.

Examples of flammable vegetation that must be cleared within 30 feet around your structure: (1) Bear clover (mountain misery). Bear clover is a low ground cover with fern-type leaves and a small white flower. (2) Dry grass. (3) Forest debris. (4) Duff. Duff is the accumulation of leaves and evergreen needles, dead twigs, and pinecones, sometimes reaching a depth of several inches thick on the ground. This must be cleared down to the mineral dirt. (5) Wild shrubs such as manzanita, deer brush, and wild lilac. Most wild shrubs in this area are highly flammable and should be thinned out to a spacing of 8 feet. Remove dead branches to a height of 4 feet. (6) Small. Dead or dying trees. (7) Dead branches on trees (to a height of 6 feet). (8) Limbs removed 6 feet from the ground on trees over 18 feet tall.

The 30-foot clearance is measured from all exterior sides of the structure. For example, if you have a deck extending from the house, you measure 30 feet from the outer edge of the deck. Use a tape measure – most people misjudge 30 feet.

Permanent renters must be informed that they are responsible for exterior fire safety maintenance as listed above.

Debris should not be left in piles since it creates a fire hazard. Debris should be burned or hauled away to a refuse site.

GO BACK TO NEWSLETTER INDEX           GO BACK TO HOME PAGE