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Greenbrae Property Owners’ Association (GPOA)
Board of Directors Special Business Meeting
Date: August 20, 2002
Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Community Report
1) The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. In attendance were
Michael Hillman, Mark Litwin, Patty Oxman, Scott Sherman, Paul Schwartz,
Bob Gilley, and Matt Dwyer.
2) Minutes from the April and July regularly scheduled meetings were
not introduced as neither of those meetings achieved a quorum of Board
Members, hence the interim "Special Business Meeting".
3) Mr. Matt Dwyer was nominated for, and elected to, the position
of First Vice President. Matt is eager to add new energy, and an impressive
talent for organization, to the Board's activities. His first order
of business will be to renew the Board's volunteer recruiting efforts.
We urge you to step up and get involved as the Board needs new blood,
particularly new residents. If you're interested, please contact Matt
at bb4med@aol.com.
4) A "Position Statement" regarding the Board's approach
to interpreting and enforcing the CC&R's was introduced and approved.
The text of the Statement follows, and can also be reviewed at www.greenbrae.org:
POSITION STATEMENT
September, 2002
The GPOA was incorporated February 11, 1948 to accept
from Schultz Company (the original developer of what was to become
seventeen subdivisions within Greenbrae) responsibility for enforcement
and administration of the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions
recorded on the properties within Subdivision Number 1 on May 2, 1946.
Subsequent CC&R Indentures were recorded between 1947 and 1967
on properties within each of the remaining 16 subdivisions as they
were developed. These CC&R's show only negligible modifications
from one to the next, and all fall under the authority of the GPOA.
The Greenbrae CC&R's are relatively non-restrictive
when compared with those of more modern tract-type subdivisions, PUDs,
condos, and townhomes. Also, the GPOA Board traditionally has been
pretty laissez-faire in its enforcement activities, and has performed
a role of educator and mediator among neighbors rather than acting
like a police force. Indeed, the Board has the legal authority to
enter your property and abate nuisances at your expense, but is extremely
unlikely to do so.
Greenbrae homeowners frequently contact the Board
(either via the "hotline" phone, US mail, or at info@greenbrae.org)
seeking complaint resolution. Questions, concerns, complaints usually
boil down to the following (non-exhaustive) list:
"My neighbors are too noisy"
"Trash cans left out all the time/garbage piled up"
"Neighbors park in front of my house"
"Junk car parked permanently (abandoned) on street"
"Water/leaves/branches from neighbors on my property"
"Trees need pruning"
"Neighbor's trees block my view/sunlight"
"I hate my neighbor's fence/landscaping/remodel"
"My neighbor is building something on my property"
"What do I do about Sudden Oak Death Syndrome?"
"Rat abatement"
As you can see, these break out into several categories
with regard to remedy and jurisdiction. The GPOA Board wishes to make
its position clear on what you should do when you have a beef with
your neighbor.
- Exert your best efforts to resolve the problem through direct,
responsible, and amicable contact with your neighbor. Try to see
their perspective and work out a compromise, if necessary. Be sure
to document your efforts with dates, times, copies of emails and
letters, notes on phone calls, and photographs.
- If direct communication and negotiation don't work out, take
a moment to reflect on your position/demands. Are you truly being
reasonable? If the answer is yes, then your next step is to determine
to whom you should turn for help.
- If the problem involves imminent danger or a threat or assault
to your person or property, call the police, fire department, sheriff,
or 911.
- If the problem involves vehicles or streets, call the police.
- The close cooperation among the Twin Cities and Marin County
police, sheriff's, and fire departments has certainly all but eliminated
any negative impact on Greenbrae homeowners that could result from
inter-jurisdictional gaps where emergency situations are concerned.
For non-emergency problems where it's appropriate to contact public
authorities, there is one somewhat pesky issue: part of Greenbrae
falls within City of Larkspur jurisdiction, and part within Marin
County (unincorporated) jurisdiction. Very roughly, Larkspur is
everything east of Almenar and Vista Grande, and north of Bretano.
(Refer to the attached Map).
- There are all sorts of nuisances-noise, odors, water, eroding
soil, leaves, garbage, etc.-generally, anything that enters your
property coming from a neighbor's (or public) property that interferes
with the peaceful use and enjoyment of your property. Usually, the
more sudden, unusual, or acute the nuisance, the more typically
you would turn to public authorities like the police for a remedy,
e.g. your neighbor's son is practicing on his new drum set at 1:00
am. Chronic or continuing nuisances-as well as a number of other
neighbor-to-neighbor and homeowner-to-subdivision issues-typically
find their remedy in the CC&R's.
- As stated elsewhere (see, for example, the published Minutes
of the Board's January, 2002 Meeting), the GPOA Board lacks the
financial and/or enforcement resources to become a litigant or police
power in defending one Greenbrae homeowner's rights pursuant to
the CC&R's over another's. The Board does, however, have a good
deal of familiarity with the terms of the CC&R's, and a good
deal of aggregate experience in interpreting them. Note that the
Board does not have the authority to grant variances. The Board,
and its Community Relations Committee, have traditionally helped
both parties to a dispute understand the terms, to interpret them
relative to a given set of facts, and to mediate and resolve the
dispute. This usually involves phone calls, personal meetings, site
visits, and letters. The Board also has been of counsel to Marin
County and City of Larkspur officials on permit and design review
matters.
- The long and the short of it is this: if you are unhappy about
something your neighbor is doing or not doing, you'll want to determine
whether you have rights under the recorded CC&R's. To do this,
you may:
a) refer to your copy of your subdivision's CC&R's,
b) refer to the CC&R Summary at www.greenbrae.org,
c) write a letter to the Board at the PO Box number, above,
d) write email to the Board (preferred method) at info@greenbrae.org,
e) call the Hotline number, above.
Keep in mind that, while the Board's ability to be
your advocate or defender is rather limited, you may always choose
to pursue a private cause-of-action under the CC&R's if the situation
is so bad that such a move is warranted (extremely rare). Through
the years we have found that, as a "Town Council" comprised
of well-meaning volunteers, we generally can accomplish the goal of
keeping the peace while pursuing our primary goal of keeping Greenbrae
green. Let us know if we can be of help.
5) Nancy Kenyon, Executive Director of "Fair Housing
of Marin" appeared and reported to the Board on her efforts countywide,
and in Greenbrae, to notify homeowners of certain racially discriminatory
language in the CC&R's. Our research indicates that this language
was stricken from the Greenbrae CC&R indentures recorded after 1948
(subdivisions 4 through 17). While current state and federal law makes
such covenants illegal and unenforceable, Nancy advised us of a Bill
currently before the California Assembly which would empower individuals
proactively to have such language stricken from the CC&R's recorded
on their property. We will advise further following our regularly scheduled
meeting on October 8, 2002. Interested individuals may contact Nancy
at
FAIR HOUSING OF MARIN
615 B Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
415.457.5025
6) Scott Sherman reported briefly on progress in scheduled
landscape improvements. The west end of Almenar has been planted. Work
on Los Cerros continues with substantial success. Some failures have
been experienced in the plantings on Via la Cumbre as a result of the
particularly hot, dry summer. Paul Schwartz (retired architect) volunteered
to provide a design for an entry marker for the top of Via la Cumbre
to match those at Eliseo, La Cuesta, and Manor. Bob Gilley volunteered
to find and manage a contractor.
7) PLEASE NOTE: The absence of minutes from the July
Meeting has resulted in this year's ANNUAL PICNIC announcement arriving
somewhat belatedly with this mailing. Please review the enclosed materials
and respond ASAP. Each year the picnic has proven to be a wonderful
opportunity to get out, have some fun, games, terrific music and entertainment
for the kids, and great food, and to get to know your neighbors and
community. Some 300 attended last year, and we'd love to improve on
that. Come on, say YES this year! Note that we ask you to bring a salad
or a dessert (see schedule). ALSO, WE VERY MUCH NEED VOLUNTEERS TO HELP
WITH GAMES AND DECORATIONS. PLEASE, WE NEED YOUR HELP.
8) Patty Oxman has arranged for future Board Meetings
to take place at Bacich School (either the library or new Multi-purpose
Facility). See you there October 8 at 7:00 PM.
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