May 2003 Bulletin

May 2003

The Past, Present and Future of Innis Arden

The Past--Bill Boeing implements his vision:
In 1995, the King County Office of Cultural Resources took a Historical Property Inventory, which included Innis Arden. References included several Sunset publications (1946, 1947, 1956), as well as an interview with William Boeing Jr. in March of 1994.

“Boeing, in developing Innis Arden, looked back thirty years to the ideals of the curving roadways, lots laid out to capture grand views, and shared open space at the shoreline and other areas unsuited for development which had been utilized in the plan for the Highlands”.

“Boeing strove to maintain the development’s expansive views through a rigid set of building restrictions administered by Mr. Boeing’s chief property engineer and attorney, D.R. Drew. The chief function of the building restrictions was to regulate building heights and setbacks on the lot in order to preserve the views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.”

Building restrictions include a 25 foot rear and 10 foot side setbacks. Street-side setbacks (“Building Lines”) vary between 20 and 50 feet and were established to minimize the impact a structure would have on neighboring views. A consequence of the building restrictions is that Innis Arden’s lots are relatively large.

Boeing developed covenants which restricted fences and hedges to six feet (unless the written permission of the Grantor is first obtained) and prohibited spite or nuisance hedges or trees to further protect views.

Boeing made sure that if one or more covenants were abandoned, that would not invalidate the rest. “Invalidation of any provisions, sentence or paragraph contained in these Restrictive Mutual Easements of Innis Arden by judgment or court order shall in no wise affect or invalidate any of the other provisions, sentences or paragraphs of said mutual easements, but the same shall be and remain in full force and effect.”

The Present--How has his plan prevailed?
Not all of the covenants are reasonable:

Other covenants have been difficult to enforce. In spite of Boeing’s best intentions, for the last fifty-five years, the community has faced major challenges with view preservation, and to a lesser degree, ‘noxious or undesirable’ use of property. The Innis Arden archives are full of grievances from shareholders who were frustrated by vegetation which blocked their views and violated the covenants.

To address this problem, in 1981 and 1982 over two-thirds of the shareholders signed the Tree Height Amendment, limiting the height of trees to roof height. While most residents heeded the amendment and many lost views were restored, some refused to conform, claiming the amendment was not legal. In spite of efforts by the Board, view reclamation came to a halt.

As a result, in 1986 a lawsuit was filed against some 20 residents who refused to observe the amendment (Innis Arden Club, Inc. v. Binns, Civ. No. 84-2-099622-5). The Superior Court held the amendment valid and enforceable. In the subsequent appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s judgment and declared that “protection of the area’s marine and Mountain View is eminently reasonable and such views very obviously are and always have been one of the principle attractions of the Innis Arden development.” The Superior Court appointed a judge (“Special Master”) to enforce the amendment in individual cases between 1989 and 1993.

With 78% of the 328 responses from the 2002 survey indicating that a view of the Sound and mountains is between very and extremely important, view preservation continues to be a concern. The Board has considered reinstituting the Special Master process, but this would be costly in terms of attorneys’ fees. Currently, the only recourse the Board and shareholders have to get an uncooperative neighbor to comply is through expensive litigation.

The Future--State Legislature offers a solution:
In 1995, the Washington State Legislature recognized that there was no statutory law that specifically addressed the organization, management, and powers of homeowners’ associations. “A bill is needed to deal with common complaints received from members of homeowners’ associations. The bill provides a set of basic rules and procedures by which homeowners’ associations must operate in order to protect individual association members. The board needs to be accountable to the members of the association and needs to make decisions based on the association’s interests.”* RCW 64.38 was passed to address these issues.

The RCW defines a homeowner’s association as “each member of which is an owner of residential real property located within the association's jurisdiction, as described in the governing documents, and by virtue of membership or ownership of property is obligated to pay real property taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance costs, or for improvement of real property other than that which is owned by the member.” By definition of RCW 64.38, Innis Arden is a homeowner's association.

The RCW describes association powers, including “… levy reasonable fines in accordance with a previously established schedule adopted by the board of directors and furnished to the owners for violation of the bylaws, rules, and regulations of the association”.

To be able to use this power, the Board is working with Club counsel in developing a hearing procedure that would ensure shareholders due process. After the procedure has been developed, it will be sent to the community for input. Stay tuned for more developments……

*House Bill Report ESHB 1471: Testimony

Agenda for the June 10th, 2003 7:00 PM
Board Meeting

Approve Minutes
Community Comments

The garden club has scheduled a tour to Ridgegarden on June 25th. This is a 7-acre site located in Kenmore. Go to their website at www.ridgegarden.org for more info. We will meet at the clubhouse at 9:00 am. All interested residents are welcome on the tour. —Shelley Watson

Street right-of-ways in Innis Arden are 60 feet wide on streets and 80 feet around at street ends. Under no circumstance should residents landscape to the street edge. These areas are for pedestrians and utility access.

The City of Shoreline is requiring residents to remove or cut back vegetation and landscaping growing into the right-of-ways. Illegal landscaping will be reported to the city. If your landscaping is beyond the street light poles or other utility facilities such as telephone circuit boxes, cable television junction boxes, or under ground electrical vaults, then your landscaping is on the street right of way and should be removed.

A big thank you to all who have paid their dues this year. Mandatory dues were due April 1st for this year. There are still about forty shareholders who have not paid their dues as of yet. We encourage you to pay your dues along with the late fee of $20.00. Remember that any residences/lots with unpaid dues will be subject to liens unless paid by July 30, 2003. Also, you cannot have Swim Club privileges, access to the tennis courts, or Boeing Creek, or receive a directory if your dues are not current. So, pay your dues and join the fun of Innis Arden activities. —June Howard, Treasurer

Innis Arden Club, Inc.
Board of Directors Meeting
May 13, 2003, 7:00 PM
Summary of Minutes

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m.
Board members present: Michael Rasch (President), Mike Jacobs (Vice President), June Howard (Treasurer), Carol Solle (Secretary), Ewa Sledziewski, (Clubhouse), Loys Lamb (Buildings and Remodels), Dave Fosmire (Reserves): excused: Maggie Taber (Grounds). Community members attending: About 20

Action: A motion to approve the April 2003 minutes was passed unanimously.
Stacey Peterson wanted to clarify a statement she made during the March 20th meeting. When asked if she had view blocking trees and answered 'yes', she wanted to make sure that it was clear that she was not answering for the Dillards.

Tom Averill asked if the Board would amend the bylaws to provide that a Board member would be disqualified from serving on the Board if s/he was not in compliance with all of the covenants.

Judy Allen reported that Blockwatch will be contacting shareholders requesting email addresses to improve communication.

1- Swim Club Sewer problem: During the weekend of April 26th, the pool water was flushed out and sent into the storm drain on the playfield which drains into Eagle Reserve. Previously, it had been assumed that the water was sent into the sewer, but on this occasion it was apparent that the storm drain was affected by the presence of diatomaceous earth (from the filtering system). The City of Shoreline informed the Board that Innis Arden would be subject to fines from the City and the Department of Ecology if immediate action was not taken. An emergency meeting of the Board of Directors was held on April 29th and the following action was taken:
Action: A motion to approve $1000 for the site cleanup, for which Innis Arden would be reimbursed by the Swim Club was passed 6-0. Since the meeting, additional cleanup has been done and a bill for $2,549.35 including tax of $206.20 has been received. The Swim Club is paying for the cleanup and has redirected the pool drain to the sewer.

2- Cottingham complaint to HUD- A special meeting of the Board of Directors was called in order to discuss the Board's response to a Housing Discrimination Complaint against Innis Arden by Wayne Cottingham. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Human Rights Commission sent letters regarding the complaint alleging that the Board failed to permit a reasonable modification for a remodel involving a ramp and an elevator for a handicapped person. The Board was given 10 days to respond.
Action: A motion was passed 7-0 that in our response to this complaint we enclose:

Another meeting followed regarding the Dillard litigation, at which the Board discussed its desire that the Dillards make application for their remodel. The Dillards have agreed to submit an application, but it has not yet been received.

3- Hearing procedure for enforcing covenants- This has been tabled until the next meeting so that the Board can review Eglicks recommendation that was emailed late in the afternoon. Fosmire suggested having a meeting with Eglick and if the procedure can be hammered out, having a special mailing to the community might be appropriate.
Action: A motion was passed unanimously to have a special meeting to review proposed changes to the bylaws with Club counsel and, if we make a decision at that meeting, we have a special mailing of proposed changes.

4- Traffic Update: Rasch reported that Jesus Sanchez and George Dicks said that there was nothing more that the City could do in Innis Arden to slow traffic. As a result, Rasch sent a letter to the city and will be meeting with them on May 15th along with other members of the community. There is concern that changes on Aurora and at Shoreline Community College will result in more cut-through traffic. Although volunteers spent 60 hours collecting license plate numbers at Innis Arden entrances and exits to help the City determine volumes of cut-through traffic, the City is not using this data.

4- Hiring off-duty officers for patrols: Last year off-duty officers were hired for 4 Fridays and 4 Saturdays during the party months of May and June, with good results. Sgt. Kevin Johannes said that City Police are starting their 'party patrols' this month.
Action: A motion to hire off-duty officers to patrol traffic and the reserves from 4-8 PM May 23, 30, June 6, 13 and 20 was passed unanimously.

5- Right of Way Update: Several weeks ago, it was reported that "Bruce" the transient was frightening children at the north entrance of Innis Arden (he was living there). Subsequently a work party has cleared the undergrowth and limbs to take away Bruce's privacy. Sgt. Johannes reported that recently Bruce has been seen east of Aurora.

6- Public Comment Policy: Currently there are 2 public comment periods during Board meetings: One at the beginning and one at the end. In addition, public comments are made during the meeting regarding Board agenda topics. Because Board meetings can run a long time the following action was taken:
Action: A motion to eliminate the last public comment period at the Chair's discretion if the meeting exceeds 2 hours was passed unanimously.

7- Shoreline Community College Master Plan
The earliest version (used for scoping) of the 'plan' is on the Shoreline College website at http://elmo.shore.ctc.edu/masterplan/ .Tentative Dates for Public Comment are

8- Message Board Policy:
Solle suggested that the following paragraph be added to the Message Board Policy which appears when a person first registers for the Message Board:
"To register, use a name that can be identified and verified in the Innis Arden Directory, for example, ssmith representing the first initial of the first name followed by the last name, or Sally Smith. If the name cannot be uniquely identified in the Innis Arden Directory, the userid will be deleted. Also, make sure that your email address is visible for other registrants."
Action: A motion to incorporate this paragraph into the Message Board Policy was passed unanimously.

9- Clubhouse proposal:
Question 7 of the neighborhood survey asked participants to allocate how they wished discretionary dues to be spent, as a percentage. "Improving the Clubhouse" got a score of 22 out of a possible 100. Sledziewski suggested that 22% of the Clubs discretionary dues would be over $11,000 and some of this should be used to hire an architect to decide what should be done with the aging building. It doesn't meet code and has major pending maintenance expenditures which will do nothing to make it more attractive. The inspection is report available on the Web site by clicking on 'meeting links'.

A motion was made that Innis Arden pay $5,000 toward an architectural review to do preliminary plans for remodeling and/or rebuilding the clubhouse. It did not pass with 4 yes, 3 no, and 1 abstention.

It was suggested that a notice be put into the Bulletin, notifying residents that a capital account has been set up and inviting them to contribute to this effort. If interest is shown by the community, the Club might consider matching funds at a later date.

Treasurer:
Forty members have not paid their mandatory dues.
Action: A motion was passed unanimously to add Russell Cole to our signers for our checking account at Washington Mutual Bank.
Richmond Little League will no longer be renting the playfield.
Action: A motion to return to Richmond Little League their $500 deposit was passed unanimously.

Activities:

A group of residents improved the area in front of the Clubhouse, with boulders and new plantings. Now the sprinkler system needs to be repaired so that the plants don't die. The activities committee wants a decision by September from the Board for expending Activities money on painting and decorating the interior of the club house.

Reserves:
Fosmire has received survey maps for Running Water, Blue Heron and Eagle reserves. He went to Boeing Creek with a certified arborist who identified 12 hazardous trees and 12 more that need pruning. Fosmire will obtain bids for removing the hazardous trees.

Action: A motion was unanimously passed not to consider amending the bylaws to require that a Board member be disqualified from serving if that individual was not in compliance with all the covenants.
Action: A motion to discuss pending litigation at a date to be determined was passed unanimously.

Action: At 9:15, a motion to adjourn was unanimously approved.
-Carol Solle, Secretary

Mark your calendar:
June 13, Friday 7-9 PM
Designing with Flowers with Sheri Miller

Would you like some ideas on how to decorate your home with the plants and flowers that grow in your yard? Come spend an enjoyable evening at the clubhouse with Sheri Miller, AIFD - an Innis Arden resident and an event florist with over 25 years of experience! Sheri will give you ideas for designing with materials from your yard.

Bring in an assortment and as much as you can (we will share) any flowers, branches, cuttings from foliage plants, herbs, hosta leaves, evergreens, cones, stones etc.. You can cut these ahead of time and just leave them in water. She will demonstrate, and then you will work hands-on with your own arrangement to take home.

Bring a vase or watertight container NO LARGER than 12 inches high and 9 inches wide to use; or if you let us know we can supply a vase for you. Remember to bring the clippers and your $5 supply fee payable on night of workshop.

Call Sheri Miller to RSVP at 533-9277 (work) or for questions call home at
533-9695. Register by Monday, June 9th at the latest. Drop-in supply fee is $10 so get your reservation in early!

The Activities Committee is still looking for someone experienced in brick work for small project to finish the landscape. Please call Lael Call at 546-2235 for more information.

"RAVE" for one of your neighbors, with complete name and one or two sentences for inclusion into the Bulletin. Send to csolle@earthlink.net or mail to 17061 12th N.W.

Innis Arden Swimming Club will be offering group swim lessons for children from ages 3 on up. We will be offering 5 sessions from June 23 to August 28. Each session is two (2) week in length from Monday to Thursday for a total of 8 lessons per session. Our teaching staff is trained in swimming and safety skills, which will provide the child with a safe and comfortable learning environment. Group lessons are available to the members of the Swimming Club, and are open to the public. Sign-ups are at the pool office.

	Dates	Members	Non Members
Session I	June 23 - July 3	Sat May 31-- 1:00 pm	Sun June 1-- 1:00 pm
Session II	July 7 - July 17	Wed July 2	Thurs July 3
Session III	July 21 - July 31	Thurs July 17	Fri July 18
Session IV	Aug 4 - Aug 14	Thurs July 31	Fri Aug 1
Session V	Aug 18 - Aug 28	Thurs Aug 14	Fri Aug 15

Group lesson rates are $30.00 for each child for Members, and $40.00 for each child for Non-members. Private lessons are available to members only.

Innis Arden Swim Club is hosting an "All Cities Swim Meet" on Tuesday, August 5th. The is the final meet of the season for 16 swim teams from the North and South Seattle Area. The meet will start at 4:00 pm, but teams will begin arriving at 2:00 pm.

We are expecting large crowds for this premiere event. We will be providing off-site parking and shuttling most of the crowds to the pool. We ask the residents near the pool to be extra tolerant and patient that day of cars and people walking to the pool. We believe Innis Arden will put on a class event and hope that you will come enjoy the festivities and cheer on our swimmers.

We need people to drive vans shuttling attendees from various parking sites (i.e. Sunset) to the pool. If you can help, please call Roger Lowell at 546-0128.

When Richard moved to Seattle in 1972, he lived in the United Cerebral Palsy Group home on 1st. For the last 13 years, he has lived in a house with 2 roommates in North Seattle. He takes the Access Bus to work.

He started working at the Museum in 1997. He uses a Dynovox Computer to communicate. Richard gave the ribbon cutting speech for the new elevator at the Museum and appeared in the Enterprise newspaper. He is currently writing his autobiography and has been on television. Richard likes visitors. He works on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 to 3:00.

Attention Ladies--Summer is almost with us and tennis fun is just around the corner.

Junior tennis follows right after. If you have any questions, please call Jane Blaylock at 542-2260.

Owen Bargreen, our instructor and coach for the junior tennis program, will be returning this year. We are very pleased to have him back!

Please send in your registration forms to sign up for the junior group tennis lessons for beginners to advanced (6-17 year olds). The lessons run from June 23 through August 4 and meet twice weekly. The tennis team for advanced intermediate and competition-level players is on Wednesdays afternoons beginning June 25 from 12:30-3:30pm. The team is in the North End Junior Tennis League. If you do not have a registration form, please call Heidi Nelson (542-3682) or Kimber Bang (533-9275). The registration form is available on the Innis Arden website.

For Sale: Refrigerator. Kenmore, nearly new, 29 inch width, bottom freezer, approximately 19 cu feet. $300.00 Give June a call at 2542-8177 if you are interested.