A Publication of the Emerald Lake Homeowners Association
P.O. Box 620449 Woodside, CA 94062

16 March 2004

Notice of Annual Meeting
The 2004 Annual General Member Meeting will be held on 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 31st at the Elks Lodge (938 Wilmington Way, x Jefferson).

On the agenda, are voting on the proposed revision of the association bylaws and the election of directors (see Page 3 and our Web site for details). At the end of the meeting, we have arranged for a special presentation on disaster preparedness for residents.

Vote on amended corporate documents.
On the table is a proposal to change the association’s name to bring it up-to-date, to “Emerald Hills Homeowners Association, Inc.” This will necessitate a modification of the Articles of Incorporation. Also, following last year’s by-laws revision, the Board re-wrote the sole Article that failed to pass. For public record, current versions and proposed edits are provided on our Web site. The Board recommends all members review and vote to approve all proposals.

Election of directors.
As of the annual meeting, six board seats will be vacant. Of the seven existing Board members, three have served their terms and are running for re-election: Carolyn Chaney, Steve Harper, and Lee Lukehart. Two directors resigned early in their terms, and Debby Wallach will be resigning, as she is moving from the area. The nominations committee has located and interviewed three new nominees, Buck Hallen, Cathy Recht, and Vicki Tuite.

Entrance Markers for Emerald Hills?!
Many of you “old-timers” will remember discussions about installing entrance markers that announce Emerald Hills, at key locations around the community. The last open discussion was in 1998, but alas, nothing ever came of it. It seemed that the cost was too prohibitive for our budget.

Your Board of Directors has been reviewing past interest in this subject. We have done research on previous ideas, received price proposals, and assessed potential sites. We plan to present a discussion on entrance markers at the annual meeting on March 31st. Please come with an open mind to hear our recommendations and discuss the topic.

Why am I receiving this newsletter?
Along with a more accurate re-definition of the geographic boundaries of Emerald Hills, we are trying to improve our homeowner database. We obtain annual updates from the county, but these become dated. Additionally, we cannot tell conclusively what addresses are owner-occupied versus rental properties (although owner mailing addresses outside of EH provide a clue).

So, for this newsletter issue at least, we are mailing to all addresses we can find. If the name in the address block says “Emerald Hills Resident,” it means I drove the streets looking for street addresses not in our database. If “(renter)” follows your name, it means an address was in our database but the homeowner of record is different than the resident name in our database. Please email me with corrections.

Nominees’ Statements

Carolyn Chaney — “I have lived in Emerald Hills for 20 years, having moved from the flat land of Livermore in 1984. I’m married to Curt Nehring (a former ELHA director) and am "Mom" to Brian, a senior at UC Santa Barbara. When not gardening or reading or practicing ceramic art, I teach full-time at San Francisco State in the Speech and Communication Studies Dept. I have served as ELHA treasurer and am now president. I find the most interesting challenges in communicating with our homeowners about zoning issues.”

Buck Hallen — “My family moved to Emerald Hills 3 years ago and settled roots. I love the country feel, mature oak trees, and the natural habitat for wild life. The natural beauty of the area reminds me of my childhood home town in eastern Tennessee (a rocks throw from the Great Smoky Mountains). My business renovates distressed properties in keeping with their neighborhoods. My preference is to renew an old house while maintaining the neighbor ambiance instead of replacing the house with a mansion that maximizes square footage. The home I purchased in Emerald Hills has over a 50 years history with lovely old oak trees gracing the property. It is a privilege to live in EH and I would be honored to serve the community.”

Steve Harper — “I have been a board member for 10 years. During those years I have run our annual tree give-away and have found homes for over 2000 trees. Most recently I've been on one of our subcommittees working on entrance signs into our area. One of these days I would like to see all of our overhead utilities undergrounded to show the true beauty of our hills.”

Lee Lukehart — “I've lived in the Bay Area 20 years, and put down roots in Emerald Hills a few years ago. I'm an avid hiker and biker, and frequent the nearby parks and backroads. We have a special area here, that I wish to actively help preserve. The last two years on the board I have served as association secretary, vice-president,
webmaster, and newsletter editor. I also attended San Mateo’s Citizens Academy to become more knowledgeable as a participating representative. I introduced our credit card processing and other techniques to improve our fund-raising ability. I created the web site and online forums in the hopes that these will become a valued information resource and communications hub, as I believe a connected community is a stronger community. I wish to continue to lead these efforts.”

Cathy Kahn Recht — “I moved to Emerald Hills from Massachusetts in November with my husband, Larry and my daughter, Marissa. I have been an RN for 30 years. Prior to relocating I was Vice President for Community Affairs for UMass Memorial Health Care. In this position, I was the external presence for the hospital, interacting with city departments, residents, and state and local government working on access to health care, violence prevention and literacy. Currently I am a participant in the Community Builders program in Redwood City. Previous involvement with community building piqued my interest in participating on this board. I believe that a neighborhood where citizens work together for improvement is the most effective in creating positive improvements and the healthiest in building a strong sense of neighborhood.”

Vicky Tuite — “I have lived in Emerald Hills for the past 10 years. Before that, we lived on a boat in Penninsula Marina in Redwood City for 4 years. Prior to that we lived in Oregon. I am a software engineer at Sun Microsytems. Some of my interests are gardening, sustainability and alternative energy. My previous volunteer experiences have included being on the School Site Council for Orion Open Alternative School in Redwood City and being on the board of the Woodside High School Parent-Teacher-Student Association. One Emerald Hills issue I would like to see get more exposure is fire safety. I am also interested in finding creative solutions to disputes that don't involve litigation or legislation.”

Absentee Survey
The following is an unofficial, optional survey of your opinions.
Please return with the Absentee Ballot, or attend the Annual Meeting.

The Board is examining the possibility of requesting changes in the county’s zoning regulations:
__Y__N — Should there be a limit on the size (in square feet of floor space) of new homes in Emerald Hills?
__Y__N — Do you think that house size should be related to the slope of the property, so that steep terrain would have smaller homes than flat terrain?
__Y__N — Should our zoning regulations prohibit grading/building within a certain distance of streams?
__Y__N — Should our zoning regulations prohibit grading/building within a certain distance of heritage trees?

General interest topic: High Speed Internet Access (with intent of approaching providers to increase availability in EH) Note: You may alternatively complete the online survey accessible from our Web site home page, and/or discuss the topic further on the EH Forums (at http://www.emeraldhills.org/forums/).
__Y__N — Do you currently have or are able to get DSL (or other high speed Internet access) at your home? If yes, with whom do you subscribe? (not all companies listed are necessarily available in this area)
___SBC/Pacbell ___Megapath ___DirecTV ___Speakeasy ___Comcast ___Other ___________
__Y__N — If you answered No, to the prior question, are you interested in obtaining DSL at your location?

Absentee Ballot
Annual ELHA Member Meeting, 31 March 2004
(must be received at our PO Box by 3/31 5pm to be counted)
Note: this web page is not a valid absentee ballot; please download the PDF file here for that.

The following changes are recommended by the Board of Directors:

Article/Section Change Intent

Articles of Incorporation, ARTICLE 1 - Name
1. "The name of the corporation is Emerald Hills Homeowners Association, Inc." to reflect the area’s common name and official postal designation

By-Laws, ARTICLE 1 - Name and Location
1.1 definition of EH area;
and/or association name change, if prior item passes To include the name change as above, and to better define the boundaries of Emerald Hills

By-Laws, ARTICLE 3 - Board of Directors
3.1 Number of Directors from 9 only to any number between 5 and 9. provide flexibility when a shortfall of available volunteers occurs, due to either a lack of nominees or if a director should leave mid-term
3.2 Term of Office as now, about half of Board up for election every year to correct calculation of number of open Board seats due to 3.1
3.3 Removal change from "7" to
"majority plus 1" adjust majority calculation due to section 3.1 change
3.5 Action Taken Without a Meeting email acceptable streamline procedures
3.7 Conflict Of Interest new section; director may not vote on issues where conflict of interest is determined keep director actions community-oriented rather than self-oriented

Elections to the Board of Directors; six seats are vacant:
Carolyn Chaney (incumbent)
Buck Hallen
Steve Harper (incumbent)
Lee Lukehart (incumbent)
Cathy Kahn Recht
Vicki Tuite
Nomination from the floor, or write-in: _______________________

Voter Validation:
Member Name:_______________________Address:_______________________
Member Signature:_______________________Email: _______________________

The best way to stay informed: get on our e-mail list!
If you aren’t already one of the 370 homeowners "in-the-know," please send us your e-mail address. Just drop a message to our editor, at news(at)emeraldhills.org. Unless you request to not receive notices, you’ll be alerted to late-breaking community news and issues. You’ll also save the association money, since we’ll send you e-mail instead of a printed newsletter. (If you want to receive both the print newsletter and the e-mail–just ask!)

Updating Your Information
To revise or update your member information (how your name appears on the newsletter mailing label, for example) please contact the editor of this newsletter
Lee Lukehart, at news(at)emeraldhill.org.

ELHA Directors

Carolyn Chaney
Steve Harper
Carole Henley
Lee Lukehart
Sallie Martin
Phillip Quan
Debby Wallach
 364-5547 President
368-4254
365-8559
366-5335 Vice President
369-7494 Secretary
365-2499 Treasurer
369-4430
Board members and officers, eff. 7 April 2003.
View a timeline of past directors here.

Please Donate... Now Online!
We ask for your voluntary donation to help continue paying for the tree repopulation, beautification, political action, newsletters, community alerts, and other expenses of your homeowners association. We are now able to accept credit cards, securely online! Just go to http://www.emeraldhills.org/pages/donate.html. Thanks!! The charge will appear on your credit card statement as "fund(at)emeraldhills.org".

Yes! I will help preserve Emerald Hills.

___ I’d like to contribute the standard membership dues of $25.

___ I can spare a bit more to help. Here is my donation for $40.

___ I’m a resident of one of the most desirable neighborhoods on the Peninsula, and I want to keep it that way. Here is my contribution of $_______ to help continue/expand our efforts.

-------------

___ My check is enclosed.

___ Please charge my Visa or MasterCard: (All personal information is kept confidential.)

Credit Card #
Expiry Date:
Name on Card:
Billing Zip Code:
Name:
Street Address:
City, ST Zip:
Home Phone#:
E-mail address:

Mail to:

ELHA
P.O. Box 620449
Woodside, CA 94062

We respect your privacy. Your personal data is held in strictest confidence.