The regular meeting of the San Lorenzo Village Homes Association Board of Directors was held Thursday, August 16, 2007.

1.1 CALL TO ORDER -- President Wulf Bieschke called the meeting to order at 7:33 pm.

1.2 SALUTE TO THE FLAG - President Bieschke led the Board and the audience in the pledge of allegiance.

1.3 ROLL CALL - Directors Wulf Bieschke, Pat Pebelier, Margaret Wright Jim Sherman and Kathy Martins were all present.

2.O MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING -- Approval of meeting number 1153 and Work session notes from meeting number 1154. Director Pebelier makes a motion Director Wright seconded. The motion carries.

3.0 COMMENTS FROM PUBLIC AGENCIES

3.1 CHP Report -- Officer Rob Tuazon gave the following statistics:

CHP Statistics for July 2007

                                             Total for
Infraction               San Lorenzo      Unincorp. area
Collisions                        11              115
Tickets                           76              859
Parking Tickets                                         
Storage/Impounds                   5               78
Stolen Recoveries                  2               15
Traffic Complaints                                
Parking Complaints                                
DUI Arrests
Total warnings                    n/a             363                                       

Officer Tuazon noted that the majority of tickets given in the San Lorenzo area are on Bockman, Grant and Via Alamitos.

Tuazon stated that the beginning of the school year starts in two weeks and with this there would be many problems associated wit parking and jay-walking as parents try to drop off their children at school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. Traffic will likely get worse in all the school areas. He said that his office would be out in force to address parking and traffic issues that arise around these schools.

Tuazon also noted that in July and August 2007, his department had DUI checkpoints in the unincorporated areas of San Lorenzo, Ashland, Cherryland and Castro Valley. In the two months that they held these checkpoints they screened 457 vehicles and made 17 DUI arrests.

3.2 Alameda County Sheriff's Dept. -- Deputy Liskey reported that the statistics for crime in the area for the past month were not available for the meeting; he would be forwarding these to the Association office in the next few weeks.

Statistics for July 2007 [TO BE POSTED WHEN AVAILABLE]

                                      Change from
Crime                        Number   last month         Affected Streets                    

Stolen vehicles                              
Attempted Stolen Vehicles                     
Recovered Stolen Vehicles                    
Residential Burglary                          
Commercial Burglary                          
Auto Burglary                                 
Grand Theft                                  
Vandalism/graffiti                           
Robbery                                      

Liskey reported that his department is working with the District Attorneys(DA) office to deal with the strawberry vendors. The DA was originally not going to prosecute the vendors, but the Sheriff's Department worked out an agreement with their department. Vendors who are selling without the proper licenses will be ticketed with an infraction rather than a misdemeanor. This will enable the DA's office to prosecute these vendors in criminal court. The ordinance would have to be re-written and they are willing to do this. His department would be issuing tickets to vendors as they come across them and would be addressing ice cream vendors without licenses in the near future.

Liskey said that the Sheriff's Departments "National Night Out" was a success. There were over 200 people at St John's church in San Lorenzo. It was a great success this year. Liskey reminded residents that the Cop Shop Annual BBQ is scheduled for October 5, 2007, at the First Presbyterian Church in Castro Valley. This yearly event helps fund the rent of the Cop Shop and he encouraged residents to purchase tickets and attend.

The traffic technicians wrote over 300 tickets for the unincorporated area this past month and they continue to tow abandoned vehicles off the streets.

Resident Peggy Sheridan said that she noticed that there were two women last week going through her recyclables on trash day. She wanted to know whether this is a crime and who she would report it to. Liskey stated that it is a crime (theft) against the garbage company and she could call the sheriff's department. There has been an increase in the value of some metals, particularly copper. Any suspicious activity should be reported to his department.

Resident Keith Barros thanked the sheriffs for towing abandoned vehicles from the streets. He noted that after the sheriff's department ticketed some vendors there have been very few on the corners selling produce. He asked what happens if the vendors do not have any identification on them. Liskey said that they must be taken to the jail and fingerprinted like any other arrest. If officers confiscate the produce they are "stealing" from the vendors. His department is educating its staff in the proper way to deal with these vendors so that they can try and keep them off the streets.

Director Bieschke noted that he is working with the Alameda County Fire Department with respect to Earthquake Preparedness. This event will be announced in the upcoming Association newsletter and everyone is encouraged to attend.

The Administrator announced that she has been looking into the City of Cupertino's "E-Alert" program. This would allow the community to get information first hand when there is an alert in a certain area. This could be related to crimes, emergency efforts or other situations that the public should take not of. She has asked the sheriffs department to look into this program and see if it would make sense for our unincorporated areas. Cupertino's program has been very successful. She would report more as the sheriff's department explores the issue and gets back to her.

3.3 Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker -- Staff member, Kevin Dowling, is working with the San Lorenzo School District in disseminating information about the social host ordinance. This ordinance became effective with the Board of Supervisors approval in June 2007. Dowling stated that he had met with HARD about the BMX track. They are still working the specifics out about this proposal. He stated that the track would require a conditional use permit with a one year review. The volunteers coordinating the hours of the track would have to have a truck to water down the track once a week. Dowling noted that they have sent notices out to all the residents in the surrounding area.

Dowling reported that the Olson Company has started grading the area and there should be a ground breaking ceremony sometime in September 2007.

Resident Keith Barros asked about the status of the homeowner who wanted to pave more than 50% of his front yard in Nate Miley's District. The Administrator noted that there has not been a final decision as yet, currently his pavement is at 52%.

3.4 Zoning Enforcement Report -- Babcock was not present at the meeting. See Attachment C for monthly report.

3.5 Public Comment

Resident Keith Barros noted that the Bohannon Organization has been very good at taking responsibility for graffiti on its buildings. He thanked Nancy Williams, staff at Bohannon for her part in keeping the area clean. Barros went on to state that there were three things that he did not think would be appropriate in the development of the Village Square Area. First, he did not want a recycling center at the store. The current Lucky store has a recycling center that attracts the homeless, drunk and disorderly. Second, he would like a shopping cart lock-up for any grocery store in the area so that the carts cannot be taken from the lot. Finally the trash compactor that the store has currently is not working and creates a mess and a stench in the area.

Resident Jim Ready asked that the board make a decision about where to hang the Christmas decorations. The tree is getting too tall and the lights do not last year to year. Ready suggested using the flag pole. The board was receptive to this idea and would be formalizing what would be done in the next few months.

Lou Arecelli reported on the parking situation behind Arroyo High School. He stated that he had gone to School Board with respect to this issue and requested that the Association Board put this on their September 2007 meeting.

Resident Ilene Jose on Corte Enrico stated that she did not understand why the students are not required to park in the student parking lot and not the surrounding neighborhoods.

Resident Betty Krahn on Via Enrico stated that the situation in her neighborhood becomes very precarious when the streets are loaded with students cars during school hours and there is an emergency. The emergency vehicles have had trouble getting to areas.

Kevin Dowling stated that the Supervisor Lai Bitker dealt with this issue several years ago when neighbors were having problems. He stated that the school at that time did not even want to deal with the issue. He noted that they will be conducting a survey to area residents at the end of September to see what solutions they would prefer.

President Bieschke stated that he would like to discuss a web site committee and a newsletter committee for one of the next Association Board meetings in September or October.

4.0 FINANCIAL REPORT

4.1 Approval of July 2007 expenditures, including payroll, and discussion of significant variances -- Director Martins moves to approve the July 2007, expenditures, including payroll, Director Wright seconds, the motion carries unanimously.

5.0 ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT

5.1 Informational Items -- The Administrator noted that there are no items to discuss.

6.0 OTHER BUSINESS (Motion may be required)

6.1 Presentation from Lorenzo Theater (informational only) -- Nancy Shelvy spoke on behalf of the Lorenzo Theater Foundation. They need to raise $300,000 to purchase the theater from the current owner and they have until May 2008 to do this. They have sent letters out to everyone on their foundation list and to local businesses to help raise these funds. Two local businesses have donated funds, Fred's Flowers and Realtor Jose Diaz.

Lorenzo Theater Foundation Secretary, Kelly McGann, gave background on the foundation and the theater and updated the residents on the progress. She said that the Foundation's Mission Statement wanted to restore the theater as a performing arts facility. However she noted that there is over nine-thousand square feet of space in the theater and it could be used for a variety of uses as well as for performing arts. McGann said that the long term goal is to open the facility for performing arts, the short term goal is to make it look presentable on the outside and to have limited tours inside. It will take several millions of dollars to restore the facility. She asked that the Association board support the Lorenzo Foundation in its efforts and noted that she had brought information on how and where to donate to the Foundation. McGann stated that they having a fund-raising dinner-dance and casino night on September 29, 2007 and they are hoping to show another film on the outside of the movie theater at the end of September or the first part of October.

Director Pebelier suggested that the Foundation contact the alumni committees from the local high school to get more support.

6.2 Ways to improve San Lorenzo's control over land use decisions and neighborhood preservation of our community -- Director Bieschke stated that as an unincorporated community in the county, San Lorenzo only has representatives from two out of five Board of Supervisors districts. And in fact, there are 2 million county residents and 20,000 residents from San Lorenzo. Thus, our citizens represent 1% of the County Area. These Supervisors are responsible for major land use and community decisions for our area. He said that recently a neighbor on Delano Ave in the Ashland area had paved100% of their front yard and that the BOS. This goes against the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance which stated that you can pave no more than "50%"of your front yard. Bieschke said that there was much time and effort put into creating the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance. Many community members, board members and county personnel were responsible for drafting and finalizing the wording of this ordinance. The committee instituted a policy of paving only 50% of a front yard due to issues related to watershed, blight, and aesthetic issues.

In order to discuss better governance possibilities, the President and Administrator recently met with the Mayor and City Manager of San Leandro to see if they would even be interested in considering annexation. Bieschke noted that this meeting and any subsequent meeting with other cities would only be a "fact finding" meeting to see if it would work for our community.

The Board concurs that the way County government runs now, we do not have enough adequate representation. When decisions are made they often go through the Association Board and/or the BZA and Planning Commission and then onto the Board of Supervisors. Often times, the Supervisors for political reasons then overturn the decision.

Resident Kathie Ready stated that the MAC is an appointed committee and that these are often political appointments. The difference with the Homes Association Board is that it is elected and they do not get paid, they are merely volunteers. She was concerned with the amount of crime in San Leandro and the fact that if San Lorenzo annexed into their city, the representation would be taxed that much more than it already is.

Resident Barros stated that he would much rather have representation from the Sheriff's Department than from the San Leandro Police Unity. He does not think San Lorenzo would be a priority for San Leandro police officers. He agreed that San Lorenzo and the entire unincorporated areas do need more representation. He asked that the board look into finding a way to eliminate the appeal process that residents can take to the Board of Supervisors regarding planning/building issues. Barros stated that this is where the "damage" is being done. This is where "political favoritism" can be done. He noted that the Board of Supervisors "Veto" power needs to be eliminated.

The Administrator read a letter from resident Howard Beckman regarding his opinions about annexation- See Attachment D.

San Leandro resident Lou Filipovich stated that he feels the Association is putting "the cart way ahead of the horse". He noted that even if the community decided to annex into a nearby city, it would still take years to put the process together. He suggested working within the community to see if it would even be financially feasible and what burden it would place on local tax payers.

Resident Lois Mosher from Via Sonata stated that she has lived her for over 50 years and is against annexing with any other city. She asked what was said at the meeting with the San Leandro Mayor. She suggested that if representatives from the Homes Association attended meetings related to R1 and planning we would know more what is going on and how to prevent unwanted land or community plans from being instituted without our input.

The Administrator noted that she would be exploring several ways to get more information for our community. She is requesting that the Board establish a committee of local residents to discuss various options. Even if our community agreed to annex to another city, the process would take years to implement. She reiterated that her present actions are only to explore the possibilities of agreed it would be a long process -- just a fact finding. She noted the Association Board members have not advocated anything at this time.

6.3 Clean up days -- President Bieschke stated that at the last clean up day there were only a handful of people. They removed graffiti, litter and blight in some areas of the village. He encouraged more residents to get involved and noted that the next clean-up day is scheduled for the end of September. If residents see areas that need attention, please contact the office.

7.0 COMMITTEE REPORTS

7.1 Library Committee -- There was no committee meeting.

8.0 LIENS AND VIOLATIONS REPORTS -- No liens have been released since July 2007.

July 2007 Violation Report

Number  Violation                              No. of Letters

1/19    Inoperable Vehicles in driveway              15
2/22    Recreational veh/trailer in driveway          8
6       Lack of General Maintenance                  20
10      Lawn Height                                  48
11      Dead Trees                                    0
12      Overgrown Vegetation                          1
13      Holiday Lights                                1
14      No signs                                      0
15      Building Exterior                             5
16      Dirt Accumulation                             5
17      Attractive Nuisances                          0
18      Lean/miss fence                               0
20/7    Unpaved parking                               4
21      Working on vehicles                           1
23      Dogs/Cats more than 2                         1
24      Barking dogs                                  2
25      Prohibited animals                            0
26      Excess noise                                  1
27      No Home Business                              0
28/99   Other/ comments                              11
99      Multiple violations                          10

Total                                               133

9.0 HEARINGS AND VARIANCE ISSUES

9.1 Hearing Dispositions

1. 16188 Hesperian - Lawn height. Closing, lawn mowed, but asking owner to water on a more regular basis.
2. 17004 Via Andeta - Inoperable/Unlicensed vehicle. Refer to county code enforcement and recheck in 30 days.
3. 433 Hacienda - Lack of general maint. Owner removed fence posts, closing.
4. 15757 Hesperian - More than 2 dogs/cats. Tenant contacted Association, only had extra dog for 1 week; closing pending no further complaints.
5. 673 Via Mirabel - Attractive nuisance/lack of general maint. Closing, all debris removed.
6. 16161 Via Alamitos - Lack of gen. maint. Owner contacted Association and is removing all violations; recheck in 30 days if not removed.
7. 16122 Via Alamitos - Multiple/lack of gen. maint. Violations gone, close.
8. 15857 Via Arroyo - Lack of Gen. Maint./Lawn. Check status with county code enforcement; house vacant, check title and recheck in 30 days.
9. 15846 Via Arroyo - Inop vehicle in driveway. Refer to county code and recheck in 30 days.
10. 639 Via Potrero - Multiple lack of maint. Close, all violations cleared.
11. 687 Via Aires - Boat in driveway/lack of yard maint. Fine, refer to code and recheck in 30 days.
12. 980 Bockman Rd - Lawn height. Lawn mowed, but now getting dry; thank owner for mowing, but encourage more watering.
13. 908 Via Honda - Lawn height. Owner contacted Association and will bring property into compliance; revisit in 30 days.
14. 17285 Via Alamitos - Multiple lack of gen. maint. Owner came in to work session; has agreed to take care of car by 11/15/07 and will make sure lawn mowed. Revisit in November 2007 if necessary.
15. 1018 Bockman Rd - Lawn height. Violation cleared, closing.
16. 171 Paseo Grande - Multiple lack of maint. Fine and refer to attorney.
17. 192 Via San Carlos - Multiple violations. House vacant for several years; will do title search for owner; refer to county code enforcement and revisit in 30 days.
18. 17263 Via Chiquita - Lawn height. Working with owner who is installing sprinklers; recheck in 30 days; need time frame for landscaping.
19. 1676 Via Mesa - Trailer in driveway. Violation cleared, closing.
20. 1778 Via Natal - Multiple Violations. Owner present at work session with attorney; has agreed to bring residence into compliance by end of September 2007; Board and Administrator to do site visit.
21. 1920 Bandoni - Multiple Violations. All violations cleared except asking owner to remove couch off of porch.
22. 1975 Via Amigos - Paving. Refering back to county and fining owner.
23. 1933 Via Amigos - Multiple violations. All violations cleared. Closing.
24. 16018 Via Harriet - Lawn height. Better; asking owner to water lawn on a more consistent basis.
25. 16014 Via Harriet - Lawn height. Much better but now items stored on porch; closing out lawn file and asking owner to remove debris on porch; revisit in 30 days.
26. 2140 Via Amigos - Trailer stored in driveway. Gone, closing.
27. 16179 Via Alamitos - Lack of gen.maint. Lawn mowed, but needs to be watered on a more consistent basis; sending owner watering tips.
28. 1230 Via Lucas - Owner came in and is trying to locate a landscaper to work on his lawn; gave him 60 days; will revisit 10/07.

Legal Issues:

The Administrator noted that the Board discussed the Ratto case in closed session has agreed to non-binding arbitration with the Ratto's attorney.

The Administrator also noted that there was an offer of settlement from the estate of Mr. Curlett that the board reviewed and denied.

9.2 Variances

1. 1626 Via Mesa -- Fence proposal for around the front yard (cont from 7/07). Owner did not come back as directed. Denied.
2. 18090 Via Segundo -- Front yard fence on corner lot. Approved.
3. 706 Via Acalanes -- Front yard fence already constructed. Denied.

Director Martins makes a motion to approve the hearing and variances as read, Director Sherman seconds, and the motion carries unanimously.

10.0 PUBLIC COMMENT

Resident Keith Barros read a letter from Supervisor Miley which noted the issues that are not being heard by the Homes Association Board or the Unincorporated Services meeting. He is concerned that the unincorporated community is not getting the attention and representation it deserves.

Lou Arecelli asked about getting a new sign at the entrance of San Lorenzo on Hesperian and Post Office Dr. The Administrator noted that we recently painted the sign but that a larger newer sign is in the works with redevelopment.

11.0 COMMENTS FROM BOARD MEMBERS

Director Martins stated that the board developed an "Engagement Committee" and has asked for volunteers from the community. There has been very little interest in this committee. She asked that residents at the meeting try and get their neighbors more involved. Martins noted that she will not be present at next months meeting due to the birth of her baby.

Director Sherman stated that the San Lorenzo Little League hosted the all star tournament at their fields this year. This was an honor for the Little League and our community.

It was also suggested that the Association write an appreciation letter to the person responsible for the grounds around the Little League. The landscaping and entrance to the Little League Park look beautiful.

12.0 ADJOURNMENT -- Director Bieschke adjourns the meeting at 9:53 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Pat Pebelier Secretary-Treasurer

Recorded & Transcribed By: Kathleen Harrigan, Sr. Admin. Assistant
Reviewed By: Nancy Van Huffel, Administrator, Kathie Ready, Resident