Thursday June 28, 2018,6:00-8:00pm
Little Red Schoolhouse/Cobb Mountain Lions Club
15780 Bottle Rock Rd., Cobb, CA 95426
Draft Meeting Minutes
full agenda packet available at www.cobbareacouncil.org
PRESENT: Eliot Hurwitz (Chair), Cindy Leonard (Secretary), Ron Haskett
Absent: Cathy McCarthy, Jessica Pyska, Gary Prather
38 community members present
• CALL TO ORDER (shut down cell phones; sign in please) 6:03p.m.
• approval of agenda, Robert, seconded Ron
• Approval of Minutes from May 17, 2018 Motion Ron Hasked, seconded Robert Stark
• SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS
◦ Kelly reports family fun night at Lion’s Club on the 4th of July
New elections at the Lion’s Club:
Kelly Stuckey is new President
Camille Levasseur is Vice President
Robert is Director
Jon Meyer is Treasurer
Jo Cunningham Secretary
• TREASURER’S REPORT
-Gary Prather emailed report that bank balance is $3,005.93
PUBLIC and BOARD COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS (3 mins individual)
• Inez is wondering what to do about non-county maintained road, how to get rid of trees?
• Cindy heard from Liz Black (South Lake Fire Safe Council) reports that testing for sirens has been delayed because Cal OES found a problem with the sirens. New parts were ordered and should be installed next week. Then the sheriffs office will need to continue their part to set up the messaging.
• CalFire home inspections for defensible space are done piecemeal as personnel are available, which isn’t really during fire season. We can give a list of specific addresses to have them inspect. Give these addresses to your group captain and then we will make sure Chief Mike Wink gets them as priority inspections.
Short reports from CAC Committees as needed (none)
Supervisor’s Comments (not present)
PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
• Plans to re-open Boggs Mountain – Peter Leuzinger, Forest Manager
• Re-opening of Boggs is July 16th, as a limited, day-use. There are still lots of hazards to be aware of and many trails are still off-limits. Hiking will be on the roadways. Restrooms will be rebuilt in the next year. They will be working with Friends of Boggs Mountain on trail building. August 1st will re-open the shooting range area. Target shooting will be allowed on a limited basis but please call first so that all recovery personnel can be alerted to stay out of that area. He expects one year of the day use situation, with full camping and other use to re-open later.
• The Creek Trail still exists, but it still has dangerous conditions.
• For more information on the Friends of Boggs Mountain, to donate toward trail building or to volunteer, please go to: boggsmountain.net or their Facebook page is very regularly updated with information on the trail work parties. (public announcement below)
Firewise Community Organizing – update from Cindy Leonard, CAC
◦ ~Thank you to Lara from the Time Bank for organizing the Meet up on June 13th. It is amazing that we met, made a plan and already have done our first lot clearing!! Wendy and Kelly planned a great “after party” thank you luncheon for the weary workers.
◦ Glenneth reports the next lot clearing dates will be July 2 and 7.
◦ Wendy is working with Marilyn on another lot clearing party for Saturday July 28th. This can be a thank you for volunteers and also networking for those needing to have lots cleared. As we have learned from the time Bank, even if you feel physically unable to help clear lots, you can still assist in other ways, like helping with the thank you party!
Cobb Firewise Group Report….does everyone know their group number?
◦ Cindy has made more progress on the Group Summary to be posted at the CAC bulletin board at the Cobb Post Office. Four of the groups now have specific public Firewise email addresses.
◦ In general, at each meeting there have been more connections made among neighbors, more discussion and interesting solutions created!
◦ Group 1- First lots have been cleared with Neighbors Helping Neighbors, next meeting will be July 11 at Little Red (their third group meeting!). For more information, email Cathy McCarthy at 1firewisecobb@gmail.com
◦ Group 2- The initial Firewise application boundaries have been set and Kathy Blair and Cindy Leonard have almost finished walking the neighborhood to hand out information about the program and give clean up record sheets to neighbors. So far we have documented 84 hours of the 95 we will need to document for the initial Group 2 application!! For more information, email Cindy Leonard at
cobbfirewisegroup2@gmail.com
◦ Group 3 is in need of a leader
◦ Group 4 has completed their third meeting already. In particular they have been crafting a letter to send to absentee land owners who are not rebuilding and have unsafe conditions. Two letters were sent out this week for the initial test to see what response they get. At the last meeting they created the potential boundary for their initial Firewise boundary. At least one neighborhood has already been surveyed (by Debbie Bloomquist) and the plans have been made for the other areas. For more information, email Wendy Collins at
firewisecobbmt4@gmail.com
◦ Group 5 began work on first section application last November and is nearly ready to submit Firewise Application. This will be the first Firewise application for Cobb! We are grateful for their trailblazing and sharing their experiences with all the other Cobb groups. Debbie Doran is coordinating the Loch Lomond portion of Group 5 for Firewise. For more information, email Magdalena Valderrama Hurwitz at firewise@sscra.org
◦ Group 6 is in need of a leader.
Mel Mc Murran has programmed radios for each of the group leaders as a secondary communication (after your cell phone). The range is 1/2 mile to 3 miles in our terrain. Mel will be meeting with the Communications Committee in July.
Hobergs Resort project – update from Scott Schelenger, Hobergs Project Manager
• Karl Parker briefly reflected on his work today with the Pawnee fire and said it reminds him how important our emergency work is!
• Scott says that clean up is still on track to be completed by August 1st. This will not include concrete grinding. Then he can continue with the new project. Remaining wood on site will be ground for mulch and chips for on-site use. Concrete will be left on site until they get a grading permit. Then all the concrete will be pushed into a pile to be ground for road base.
• Future plan:
• 49 Single family home lots available uphill across HWY 175
• Resort homes 57 (duplex), smaller cottages (more affordable)
• Resort component with 25 Room Boutique Hotel
• It was pointed out that the current Cobb Area Plan requires one acre lot minimum, so it will not allow for 6,000 sq foot lots. The Friends of Cobb will keep an eye on the approval process of the application with the County of Lake.
• Hospitality component will include the historical objects found during clean up process, as well as 25 room hotel, spa/fitness center, restaurant/bar, pool, meeting space.
• Scott reiterated that the owners could have given up when the county gave the abatement order, but he feels that the owners feel like the project is worthy enough to continue to clean up and rebuild the resort.
Fire Hydrants and Rainbow Bridge Update – Ben Murphy, General Manager Cobb Water District
• Rainbow Bridge environmental report is on track. February the project will go out to bid, bridge should be complete about this time next year (June, 2019)
• The new Cobb Area Water District consolidation is progressing. August 1st is the official recording for the new consolidation. The first task will be to remove the locks on the fire hydrants. (County Service Areas are currently run by special districts, so they will all be consolidated) After three years this project will finally be complete. Approval for Alpine Meadows is on track and will be brought in. Hopefully Whispering Pines is to be done in the next phase.
• Fire Hydrants have different color coding. Bright yellow is the Cobb fire hydrant color and the blue reflecting tape indicator posted at the road so firefighters can locate the hydrants. American Water Works Association sets codes for different pressure at the hydrants.
Known as NFPA 291, it says fire hydrants using public water supply systems should be painted chrome yellow, and their tops and caps should indicate the available GPM. Below 500GPM should be red, 500-999 GPM should be orange, 1000-1499 GPM should be green, and 1500 GPM or more should be blue. Ben says this will be done for all our hydrants.
•
USDA Low Interest Home Loan Program – Jeff Lucas, Community Development Services
Kim Dolbow Vann is the new State Director of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD) in California and seems very dedicated to help us with Fire recovery and economic development. She has got approval to increase the cap amount on home purchase from $250K to $350K.
Two types of financing now available.
First: Single Family Housing Direct Home Loans 1-3% no downpayment
Second: Single Family Housing Home Loan Guarantees
This will help promote the construction of new homes for folks. Cap for the cost of a new home is $350,000. Approval is very quick.
Jeff Lucas announced a meeting that will be held at Cobb Elementary School on August 10 from 9:30 to 12:30 for people wishing to apply or just to learn more about this new loan program. Please spread the word to anyone you know that is wanting to rebuild or renters who are wanting to switch to home-owners. It is an amazing new opportunity!
(see flyer attached below:)
Next meeting of the CAC will be the July 19, 2018
Note: Elections for the Cobb Area Council will be at this July 19 meeting.
Positions up for election are Ron Hasket, Cindy Leonard and Jessica Pyska
Adjourn: 8:03 motion Cindy, second Ron all approve
