Recent News

Sunlanders,

 

We were approached by RYKA Land services at the beginning of this year inquiring about installing a cell antenna in Sunland. RYKA is overseeing this project for Horizon Antenna Corp and Verizon Wireless. The primary objective of this cell tower installation project is to offer both coverage and capacity to the Sundland community, as well as neighboring areas to the north, south, and across the river. The proposed site will alleviate the burden on nearby sites that become overwhelmed during peak usage times. This strain is expected to intensify as the number of users grows or as their usage patterns increase. The county and many residents are likely familiar with this situation: when it appears that there's a signal (as indicated by bars on the phone), yet texting, making calls, or using data services effectively becomes challenging. 

 

The Sunland Community is largely residential, with just one parcel zoned for commercial use—the store/gas station.  This space will not be able to accommodate a tower and the necessary surrounding ground area. The proposed site is directly behind the old office at the maintenance yard. The proposed site offers ample space for both a tower and equipment cabinets. This location was selected because it minimizes impacts to the western vistas, maintains a distance from the majority of residences, and is positioned as far from the water as feasible. Nonetheless, it retains the capability to "see" up and down the river, a requirement for effectiveness. In order to accommodate this project, the maintenance lot would need to be rezoned to be commercial with allowance for cell antenna. Rezoning requests are only addressed once each year in February. The County will put out a Notice of the request to rezone accompanied by a public comment period.

 

Verizon is the only carrier that has proposed installing antennas on the tower along with ground-based support equipment. The proposed lease would be $1,000.00 a month with an automatic annual 2% escalation.  

 

Attached is a Verizon Wireless educational handout. The handout offers information on radio frequency (RF) safety and how Verizon and other carriers comply with the FCC.  There are a number of sources listed that we encourage you to review as well. They can also provide a visual report that demonstrates the power levels for this specific site, confirming that they are well within the FCC guidelines.

 

Sunland Antenna Location Photos (Click to view)

Education Handout  (Click to view)

 

They have provided a set of photo simulations from 2 different viewpoints. They have positioned it on the lower shelf of the property to help conceal the base of the tower. This design, a monopole structure, is chosen because we believe it offers a more streamlined appearance than other tower types.

 

Sunland HOA

Dear Sunland Estates HOA Members,

 

We want to provide the following explanation of portions of the Budget in order to update the community on why there is a significant increase in annual dues. We will be going over the budget line item by line item at the meeting this Saturday. However, we want to get the following information out in advance to help both those attending and those who are unable to make it. In our monthly meetings along with our two budget planning meetings we set several goals that we wanted to accomplish going forward. Throughout the year we have looked at the services that are provided by the office, use of amenities, established a cost for services, developed policies and a rental agreement for use of the park that protects the Association. We are dedicated to adhering to the budget and making every effort to prevent overspending. The two major goals that are increasing next year’s dues are increase deposits made to our reserve fund to become fully funded by the end of the fiscal year that is published in our reserve study and to start the work to replace the Sunland Office building prior to the end of the next fiscal year. Our Master Planning Committee and Board have been reaching out to architects, contractors and building inspectors within our community and friends and family that are in the construction industry to gather as much insight to what this will take before we start spending money. 

 

Eight years ago, the Board took a hard look at all the structures and assets belonging to the Association and put together a committee to provide the Board and Community a comprehensive plan to meet the community’s future needs and wants, the project was named Vision 2025. Several years ago, the community felt it was too elaborate and the project was stopped. At that time the Board felt there was a lot of good information that came from that committee and there was still a need to have a comprehensive plan to address the structures. A new committee was formed, Master Planning, which put together a survey, conducted outreach to solicit input and developing plans and options to present to the board and community. Over the last year it has become very apparent that we need to set aside any proposals to enhance our Park to provide a better experience with updated amenities and focus on addressing the facilities that are in desperate need of repair or replacement. This last year we charged the Master Planning Committee to provide us a plan to replace the Office building.

 

The Sunland Building History:  The building that houses the office was built in 1967 as the original bathhouse for the original pool. It had four rooms: ladies’ restroom, ladies’ shower room, men’s restroom and men’s shower room. A 60amp breaker box was installed to power a hot water heater, ceiling vents with heaters, outlets and a few light fixtures since all rooms had skylights. Since the bathhouse was only used in the summer months it had little to no insulation. In the mid-eighties the new bathhouse was completed, half of the old building was remodeled to be the Office and the other half used for storage. The same 60amp breaker box is still in there and provides the electricity for the office. The overwhelming feedback we are getting from professionals that have thoroughly looked over the building is that it is an unhealthy work environment with many safety issues, it has far surpassed its useful life and it is beyond repair and needs to be replaced.

 

 

Funding: We project at the end of this fiscal year we will have over $600k in our reserves, making us approximately 90% funded of what is recommended by our reserve study. With the dues increase to $1200, equating to an increase of $37.50 per month proposed for next fiscal year, we anticipate deposits to the reserves to be approximately $525k for a yea rend total of $1.18m.  This balance does not consider any capital expenditures as required for repair and replacements that may come up prior to September 2024. If we time our office project to begin immediately after Labor Day 2024 spending approximately $225k out of next fiscal year’s budget, we will end the year with approximately $955k, keeping us very well-funded. The following fiscal year if we propose dues to be $1,272 (6% increase) taking us to $106.00 per month. Completion of the office building costs would be approximately $450k leaving a projected balance in our reserves of over $1mil at the end of fiscal year 24/25. Using this template going forward will put us on a path that will allow us to look at our other facilities, address them, and start looking at what the community may want in the future.

 

There have been a few questions and misconceptions that we want to clarify.

Frequently Asked Questions
 
 There have been a few questions and misconceptions that we want to clarify.

 

 

Answer – No. Based on the opinion of the professionals who can provide information based on their field of knowledge related to the structural condition of the building, it is the overall consensus that the building has been used beyond its useful life and needs to be replaced. The electrical is insufficient- 60amps, and not up to code.  We do not have enough power to heat or cool this building for the safety of our employees. The office and IT computer room are not ADA compliant.  We have leaks in the roof as discovered from this past weekend’s rain showers and running through vents and light fixtures.  

 

 

Answer – No. While it does not require a community vote, the board prefers to have input from the community regarding the replacement of the building.  This includes but is not limited to input from other community members who have the professional background to provide technical opinions regarding the structural integrity of the building and its interior. It must be done one way or another. If the budget doesn’t pass, we may have to charge owners with an assessment. We prefer not to do that.

 

 

Answer – Unknown at this time. Hoping not, but we are trying to anticipate all challenges. At minimum it would have to be inspected to determine if it is operating properly and meets current Health District requirements and the capacity to support the new office. If required to replace or upgrade, it will be funded from the reserve fund.  

 

 

Answer -The Pavilion. We should have an inspection report before the annual meeting to report out.

Does this increase include a Community Center build out in the budget year of 2023/2024?

Answer - No

 

Before spending more money, we are now meeting with the Grant County Planning Department, engineering firms and others for feasibility and constructability. We will update the community on this as we learn more.  We encourage community members to attend the monthly meetings to provide input, especially those who have a background and knowledge that can provide contribute information to making the decision that is best for the community.

 

 

A Reserve Study/Fund:
Association members have a vested interest in maintaining and preserving their investment.  To meet these obligations, the Association should prudently prepare for the future and contribute funds into a reserve account.  Periodic contributions provide the freedom to gradually accumulate funds for anticipated expenditures while limiting the need to raise large sums of money through alternative means such as special assessments.

Benefits of a systematic accumulation of funds include:

·         Having assurance that the funds for major repairs and replacements will be available when needed.  

·         Development of an equitable method of charging both current and future owners for ongoing use of assets

·         Preservation of market value of individual units

 

 

Sunland HOA Board of Trustees