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Edited by
Kathleen Miller
I welcome contributions to the
neighborhood newsletter. If you have items for the next issue,
due out in March, please email me at Kathleen@blueemu.com
Also note that if you have changes to your email address, or a
new neighbor who needs to be added to the neighborhood directory
and newsletter distribution – please email our Sterling Woods
HOA board president
Steve Stone .
Sterling Woods Homeowners
Association Board of Directors update from Pam
Brown, Jim LeValley and Steve Stone
It has been
a busy and productive time since we last met in May with many
positive activities occurring in our neighborhood. Here is a
sampling of a few:
Website Launch – In June we launched the new Internet website at
www.sterlingwoodhomeowners.com. This website is
designed and managed for use by our community and features a
number of capabilities including:
Additionally, we launched a member’s only website
that can be accessed from the public site by clicking on
“Members Login”. This private and
secured site is available for HOA member-only use and offers a
number of features including:
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An archive section of all HOA documents
including committee, board, and financial information. This
enables a mechanism for maintaining an “organization written
memory”
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A contacts database of all members including
a mailing list capability
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A discussion center for multithreaded
discussions and
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A survey section where the board can survey
members for input on projects and actions.
If you wish access to this site, please send a
request for your username and password to
Steve Stone.
Secured Mailbox
On 6/30/2005, the membership of the SterlingWoods
Homeowners Association passed a motion to adopt a secured
mailbox system. Completed in October, we hope the
SterlingWoods secured mailboxes will provide a greater degree of
security for your mail. The board would like to recognize and
thank the following people who worked hard to make this project
happen:
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Albert Lee for managing this program. Albert
spent a considerable amount of his time in the evangelizing,
planning this project. Without his successful efforts the
system would not be in place today.
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Dan Jones, Ted Hawksford and Albert Lee for
driving the requirements and building a plan that could be
communicated to the members for approval.
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Scott Cosman and Scott Porter, last years
board members, for supporting the project in the early days
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Jim LeValley for pulling together the finance
and assessment plan to pay for this.
Amber's Bench
A
bench was installed this summer in dedication to Amber Hill in a
nice shady area under a future big maple tree along 205th Place
NE. During the course of installing it, a number of our
neighbors rode by as they returned from church and said that
they were pleased and touched by the memorial. They all smiled
when they saw it and asked us to send their best thoughts to the
Hills. In the end, Amber is still doing what she would have done
if she was with us….she is making us a community and causing us
to smile. The Hills wished to share the following with all of
the members of the community:
“Mark and I would really like to thank all of you from
the bottom of our hearts for this wonderful gesture. The
bench looks beautiful and the sentiment is amplified by the
kindness of the Sterling Woods community. Mark and I drove
past there yesterday and we took a long look at the bench.
Callan was so happy that he went and had a picnic there this
morning. Needless to say, thinking of your kindness while
typing this message has brought tears to my eyes. We are
grateful that the Sterling Woods community has been gracious
enough to facilitate this tribute to Amber. We are indebted
to everyone, and cannot thank-you enough. Please pass on our
gratitude to everyone involved in this endeavor. “
Thanks to Janaki Mehta and her committee for making this happen
and to the rest of the community for their support.
Endless Summer Nights Party
This year’s Endless Summer Nights in Sterling Woods neighborhood
party held on 204th Place was very special as it allowed us to
celebrate the 4th anniversary of our community as well as an
opportunity to welcome all of our newest neighbors. This was a
great event and highlighted what a great community that
Sterlingwoods is. It was a very well planned event, the weather
was awesome, and everybody commented that they had a tremendous
amount of fun. Events included a seminar for the children by the
Sammamish Fire Station team, children’s jumping toys, and
face-painting. Hamburgers, hotdogs were plentiful as was the
side dishes salads and deserts which were brought by the
homeowners. It seemed that everybody was having a great time but
the children really seemed to enjoy it the most. The highlight
was the evening outdoor showing of “ET” the movie for all of the
children. As you can see from the photos on the HOA website all
had a great time.
Of course, none of this was possible without the great team that
put this together: Sue Hawksford, Lisa Jones, Laurie Mott and
board member Pam Brown. So when you see these folks, please
thank them for putting on a great party and all of they time
they put into the planning. Also, we would like to thank all of
our 204th Place neighbors for sharing their street as well as
Kat & Spencer Gusick and Laurie & Salim AbiEzzi for allowing us
to use their electricity for the jumping toys. Finally, thanks
to Outback Restaurant and Jim Brown for the use of the outdoor
grill facilities as well as cooking all of those hamburgers!
If any of you took pictures, please feel free to send them to me
and I will post them. Also, it anybody came across a matched set
of tongs and hamburger flipper, please send me a note and I will
collect them.
Town Forum on Area Vandalism
In the early morning hours of 8/26 and 8/27 Timberline area
homes and property as well as Blackwell Elementary School were
hit with a number of acts of spray paint vandalism and other
destruction. The damage was extensive and includes homes,
monuments as well as school. The Sammamish police are
investigating and have recovered at least one of the cans of
spray paint as evidence. While Sterlingwoods has not been
affected by this incident, unfortunately we are not immune. This
summer several of our monument lights have been damaged and are
in the process of being replaced. In response, there was a
community “Town Forum” meeting on 9/12 at Blackwell Elementary
School to discuss the incident. The Sammamish City Manager as
well as chief of police attended and spoke to the status of the
investigation. Sammamish police indicated they have recovered
fingerprint evidence and are working to match these to
individuals.
Moving Forward
Moving forward, we have a full slate of projects that are being
developed and managed by the newly formed Social, Landscape and
Architectural Committees.
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The Social Committee is planning
an Easter Egg hunt for this April. Anyone interested in
participating on this committee or has an activity they wish
to champion, please contact Pam Brown or anyone on the
social committee.
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The Architectural Committee
is in the process of developing a set of guidelines to
better facilitate decisions regarding architectural changes
for our community. They have also set up a page on the
website to facilitate requests for architectural changes.
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The Landscape Committee is in
process of developing an agenda that includes improvements
of our landscaping to include new lighting, additional
landscaping as well as addressing safety issues involving
trees in the common areas. If you have any requests for
landscaping improvements, please send your request to Steve
Stone or anyone on the landscape committee
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Finally, beginning in 2006, the board will set up a
committee to review the CC&Rs and bylaws for the Sterling
Woods Homeowners Association. The current CC&Rs and bylaws
are a legacy of the Chaffey Corporation and need to be
refined to protect the interests of the Sterling Woods
homeowners. If you are interested in serving on this
committee please contact Jim LeValley
Shortly we will be scheduling a members meeting to discuss and
vote on these projects and any new projects as we continue with
the fiscal budget process. This process includes a description
and prioritization of projects, a budget forecast, and finally
the development of regular and special budgets to support these
projects.
Please watch your email for the announcement of our next
association meeting. Please contact us if you are ready to
volunteer for the board. We have only 67 lots in our
neighborhoods, so we need you to step up and volunteer to serve
and help make a difference in our community. So that is it
for now. We hope to see all of you soon.
Regards,
Pam, Jim and Steve
Preschool Information Night at Lake Washington Technical College
If you or a friend have a preschool age child and would like to
know about options for schools for next fall on the eastside,
you may want to attend preschool information night, tomorrow
night, January 12, 2006 from 7 to 9 PM at the Lake Washington
Technical College’s Auditorium. The college is located in
Kirkland at 11605 132nd Ave. NE. This event is free and open to
the public. You may bring friends but no children except for
nursing babies in arms or packs. The event is sponsored by the
college and the Redmond Toddler Group. More information and a
list of participating schools is available on line at
www.redmondtoddler.org
Address Changes
If you have changes to your email address, or a new neighbor who
needs to be added to the neighborhood directory and newsletter
distribution – please email
Pam Brown who edits the neighborhood directory, and copy
Steve Stone.
Thank you!
I welcome contributions to the
neighborhood newsletter. If you have items for the next issue,
please email me at
Kathleen@blueemu.com
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