2024 CSA3 Board

Your CSA3 Board continues to hold monthly virtual meetings.    We last met this past Thursday, August 6 and we wanted to give you another update.  

We have spent considerable time during these last few months evaluating how we can maintain our current services (median maintenance and beach security/maintenance) within a very limited budget which has not increased for over 30 years. Much of our current concern focuses on the 15 medians within the CSA, which have been badly neglected.    

We hired our current median maintenance contractor, Coastal Landscape, Inc. (CLI), in March within the very limited budget being paid to the former contractor.  That former contractor was able to do nothing more, with such a limited budget, than remove weeds with a weed-whacker, allowing the weed seeds to distribute further.    

In this first summer, it has been possible to take only initial steps in reducing the existing weed seed bank that has built up over the years and killing the grass that was planted in some medians.  (This grass must be removed before Soquel Creek Water District will allow us to turn our irrigation system back on.) We have also had to spend some of our very limited available funds to remove one large dead pine tree on Seascape.  

We realize the medians are not looking good right now, and that is due mostly to some unanticipated conflicts between our needs and the limits of our County contract with CLI.  We are working through that now and hope we will be able to catch up on the weeds very soon.  In fact, besides more weed removal, we plan to do the following over the coming year: 

 ·      Remove the last large dead tree on Clubhouse,

 ·      Prune the unshapely Olive trees, 

 ·      Remove small unsightly shrubs, and 

 ·      Continue to use an organic herbicide to kill grasses and weeds.  

We have also received a permit from the County to remove all the large pine trees in our medians due to the damage they are and will be doing to the median curbs and roadways.  We have not yet decided when we will do those removals, due to limited funding.  

We have been working with CLI on developing a multi-year renovation plan that focuses on drought tolerant, low maintenance plantings.  Early thoughts are to retain the mature Olive trees on Seascape, replant with a new tree species on Sumner, and unify all medians with a repeating pattern of new shrubs and groundcovers.  Our completed draft plan will be shared with neighbors this Fall via email, Nextdoor, and during our annual meeting, as discussed below.    

In addition to maintenance of the medians, we are also charged with the security and garbage patrol of the “Trestle” or “Beer Can” beach.  With workplaces and schools closed during the pandemic, beach activity has increased beyond the usual weekends and holidays.   It seems we have more traffic from outside of our neighborhood and County.    

The new CSA3 Board is increasingly convinced we cannot effectively maintain the service responsibilities assigned to CSA3 within the current budget.  Unfortunately, the current pandemic has raised questions about the success of a fee increase vote this year.  In the meantime, we are considering a way to encourage private donations for earlier remediation and renovation where it will have the most impact on the overall appearance of the neighborhood.   

Our board was formed less than one year ago, in September 2019.  We have planned to hold an annual public meeting each year in the Fall.  This year’s annual meeting will most likely be held online in October.  At that time, we will present to the community our draft Median Renovation Plan which will detail the specifics, costs, and projected timeline for the multi-year project. We will want and need your feedback at that time, so watch for announcements of that soon.  

Don’t forget, we welcome questions and comments to this email address (seascapecsa3@gmail.com) and approved minutes of our meetings are posted on our website csa3seascape.org.  Please encourage your neighbors to join this email list by sending us an email with their name and address.  

Stay safe! 

Your CSA3 Board 

Dear Neighbors,

It's been awhile since we sent out an update on CSA3 board meetings, but despite the Coronavirus, our work has been moving forward. The Board met via Zoom on June 4, 2020 and we want to finally catch up on our updates. Remember that approved minutes of all of our meetings are available on the CSA3 web site @ seascapecsa3.org.

The Board reviews our expenses vs. our budget each month and is confident we will end this fiscal year on June 30 in the black.  We will give you more details on that after our July meeting.

The Board has been working with Matt Machado, Director of Public Works DPW) to resolve the street damage caused by the large trees in our medians.  You may have noticed that Public Works’ crews recently repaired the worst of the damage on Seascape and Sumner.  We and DPW have prioritized the removal of other trees according to their relative health and the impact they are making on the roads.  We will be using this list to begin the removal of these larger trees over the next few months or years.  We are also working with the Planning Department to obtain the required “Significant Tree” removal permits. 

Jeff Powers of Coastal Landscaping, Inc. updates the board at each meeting on median maintenance. In April and May, an organic herbicide was applied to turf areas in three medians, and weeding was done by hand in all medians.  Weeding has been a slower process than expected on the first couple medians on Seascape Blvd (coming from San Andreas) because a mesh weed barrier was installed there during the last renovation planting.  When weeds eventually grow through these barriers, it makes their removal much more difficult.  Simply cutting weeds down, as was done in the past, only spreads the weed seeds and creates a worse long-term problem.  Our long-term goal is to reduce the seed “bank” in our medians so that their removal can be done within a low-maintenance budget.  But this will take a couple years of growth after rains, organic herbicide application, hand removal, and diminished regrowth.  We will start more weed removal in the next couple weeks, but we ask for your patience while we work through this multiple year process.  

The Board also reviews each month our beach maintenance and security contract work.    With the Spring’s increased beach activity, First Security is back on the summer schedule for patrolling and trash removal. The number of garbage cans will soon be augmented to the required summer’s eighteen cans.

Finally, we've discussed reaching out to other organizations within the CSA3 area to discuss common goals and potential collaborations.   Board members will begin to contact larger home owner associations and businesses to explore their interest.

Our next scheduled meeting will again be via Zoom on July 2.  Thanks for reading and, as always, let us know if you have questions or comments at seascapeCSA3@gmail.com.

Harold Mancusi-Ungaro and Trink Praxel for the CSA3 Board

The CSA3 Board met via Zoom on June 4, 2020. All members were present: Margit Aramburu, Tom Jorde, Harold Mancusi-Ungaro, Christopher Modjeski, Denis Poole, Trink Praxel. Jeff Powers of Coastal Landscaping was invited.

We noted that the minutes of the May 7 meeting have been posted on the web site. We reviewed the budget based on actual and projected spending through June. We expect expenses for removal of trees in addition to the routine monthly expenses but should be within budget.

We have reviewed the problems caused by the large trees and their roots with Matt Machado, Director of Public Works. Trees have been prioritized for removal according to their relative health and the impact they are making on the roads. We are coordinating their removal with DPW as to repairing the affected roadways. We need to coordinate as well with the Planning Department because of regulations for permitting and eventual replacement plantings.

Median maintenance was reviewed with Mr. Powers. Weeding has been completed once on all the medians. It has been a slower process than expected because, ironically, the mesh week barrier that had been placed requires tedious pulling. Simply cutting or weed whacking would spread seeds and create a worse long-term problem.

Beaches remain officially closed except for surfers from 11AM to 5PM, and open only to walking outside those hours. Nevertheless, usage is up. Enforcement seems to be lax as long as there are no blankets and no alcohol. The sheriffs are patrolling on 2 ATVs from Rio del Mar to Manresa. With the increased activity, First Security is back on the summer schedule for patrolling and trash removal. The number of garbage cans will be augmented to the required summer’s eighteen cans.

We talked about trying to get the neighborhoods other organizations, HOAs, and Village owners involved to help set and achieve future goals. Communication with the homeowners and businesses is important. Depending on the budget and goals, we could consider fund raising in one form or other.

Our next scheduled meeting will again be via Zoom on July 2.

Thank you to Supervisor Zack Friend and Public Works Director Matt Machado for spending time with about 30 Seascape neighbors at our first official community meeting for CSA3 on January 6. They spent ample time reviewing some of the issues facing our Seascape community and answering questions.  Here are highlights of the discussion.

We discussed speeding on Seascape Blvd. First, Supervisor Friend explained that speed enforcement in the County is done by CHP, not the Sheriff, but he is happy to help us coordinator with them on solutions. He described what he calls the three E's of speeding solutions.

(1) Environmental Design: Adding islands, narrowing the road, installing speed bumps etc. to slow cars down. Not much we can do with this one since we already have medians, and unfortunately can't add speed bumps because Seascape is a "major collector" street, on which bumps aren't allowed. (2) Enforcement: CHP can and will do enforcement for us if we let them know when and where would be best, a particular spot, a particular day, a particular time of day when it is worse.  We could also consider installing a permanent radar speed sign, like what is on the north end of Sumner. They cost about $35,000 each and the County may be able to help with funding. But again, we would need to decide where it would best be placed. (3). Education: This may be our best option since it has been shown that most speeders are our neighbors.  More to discuss on this issue, obviously. If you have any ideas on this, we recommend adding your thoughts to our CSA3 website. We may also want to put together a small committee of Seascape Blvd neighbors to work on this issue, so let us know if you are interested.

We talked about the arroyos and fire danger. Supervisor Friend explained that the arroyo that is on the north side of Seascape Blvd is owned by the Seascape Sports Club up to Dolphin. When it crosses Dolphin, it is then owned by a nonprofit to whom it was gifted when the Uplands was created. The arroyo on the south side of Seascape Blvd was owned by the Seascape Improvement Association, but that organization is now defunct. Ownership of that arroyo may be able to be passed onto a successor organization, if the neighborhood is interested. The County has just hired a new property attorney and Zach will be discussing the legal implications of this further with him. In the meantime, though, Zach will be putting together a fire assessment for all our arroyos with the new Aptos/La Selva fire Marshall. Again, more on this issue in the near future. And again, if you are interested in being on a small committee to explore these options, please let us know.

Director Machado talked about how Measure D and the new California gas tax have provided some good additional revenues to address storm damage and deferred maintenance throughout the County. But unfortunately, it still isn't enough to stay on top of all road maintenance needs. They have and will continue to prioritize safety issues like filling holes in the roads and encourage us to notify Public Works of any road problems we see. They will also continue to repair the road bumps that have been caused by tree roots, coordinating with the CSA to do them as soon as we remove the offending trees.

He reported that the repairs going on at Sumner and Dolphin are finally coming to a close and should be done within the next month. Apparently, this was a 40' deep sink hole created from a crack in an old drainage conduit and threatened to wash out the whole road. It was a big $600,000 job. Director Machado said they are dealing with some similar problems with aging infrastructure in other areas of the County as well.

He also addressed the lack of sidewalk continuations on the west ends of Seascape and Dolphin, explaining that they would not usually be completed unless there was development along those areas. He said we could discuss a partnership to pay for them, estimating that they would each cost about $20,000 or more.

One resident raised the problem of trees in the medians growing into the sewer main that runs under some of the medians. Director Machado said he would look into this further and get back to us. 

Another resident asked how Public Works prioritizes their work and the Director said it is always safety first. So particularly let them know if we see a safety problem.

Neighbors are encouraged to report problems that need the attention of the county by using the mobile app or website called"My Santa Cruz County". Links are provided below. You can report things like drains that need clearing, trees that need cutting down, new holes in the roads, etc. It is particularly helpful if you can send them a photo of the problem as well since it will give them a GPS marking. If you don't know if it is something the County is responsible for, report it anyway and they will let you know. Of course, they have to prioritize and some problems are bigger than others, but they definitely appreciate the information.

 

Mobile App:  https://www.dpw.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/ReportProblem.aspx  (at the top of the page you will see the link to the app)

Desktop:  https://cconnect.santacruzcounty.us

Neighbor, Leann Bjelle, distributed information about the Fire Safety Santa Cruz County program.  Please take a look at their website for some great information on creating defensible space and other fire protection measures: https://www.firesafesantacruz.org

CSA3 Boardmembers Harold Mancusi-Ungara and Trink Praxel reported that we are currently in negotiation with a final respondent to our request for proposals for median landscaping. We have also been working on the 2020-2021 proposal and budget for beach patrol and garbage collection as well. The Board is beginning to discuss the possibility of presenting a fee assessment to homeowners in January 2021, but we plan to have multiple meetings before then explaining what the funds would be used for. We will keep you posted. Stay up to date on what we are doing on our new website: csa3seascape.org

Thank you again to Supervisor Friend and Director Machado, and thank you to all who came an participated. We need the community to have a community.  We will be holding another such meeting in a couple months with other County officials.  Please feel free to comment and suggest topics or questions by either responding to this email, or contacting us through the new website.

Thanks!

Trink Praxel

The CSA3 Board met on December 19, 2019.


We have arranged for two of the dead pine trees in the medians to be removed Thursday or Friday, December 26 or 27, weather permitting. The trees are located opposite 1505 Seascape Blvd and at 1806 Sumner.  Please watch for traffic being rerouted  around this work.


We are currently negotiating a new contract for maintenance and renovation of our medians and should have more to report on that soon. The current contract with Paradise Landscaping will end January 11, 2020. 


Thanks to Chris Modjeski, we now have a CSA website: csa3seascape.org. Check it out! It contains these updates, our minutes, certain documents, and allows you to post comments. Let us know what you think!


The current contract for beach security and trash removal expires at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2020. The board has adopted a new scope of work that adjusts the schedules for this contract slightly to ensure sufficient trash pickup after holidays and removal of beach fires after 10 pm, but stays within the same current budget. 


Finally, everyone is reminded to come to the meeting on January 6 at Aptos Community United Methodist Church, 221 Thunderbird Dr, Aptos, where County Commissioner Zack Friend and County Public Works Director Matt Machado will present.

Thanks