SPRING 2023 NEWSLETTER

 

ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE:

President's Message

Meet Jay Acevado, the New Maintenance Manager

Homeowners To Vote on 2024 Dues Increase

Nominations for KVPOA Board of Directors

Short Term Rental (STR) Committee

Architectural Review Committee

2022-23 2nd Snowiest Winter on Record

Fire Insurance -- Message from Tim Booth

 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Linda Garcia

 

                                                      Hurray! We are finally seeing the end of the record amount of snow in the Tahoe                                                             basin! It has been a long and hard winter, but spring has sprung. We can see the                                                           ground again and even the daffodils in our planters are starting to appear. What a                                                         welcome sight! The signs of spring bring a fresh start for everyone.

 

                                                      Kingwood Village is enjoying a fresh start as well. We have a new maintenance                                                             manager, Jay Azevedo. When you see him about the property, please stop and say                                                       hello. He will help us get our wonderful grounds ready for the enjoyment of all as we                                                       head into summer. Our pool will open very soon, people will be playing tennis or                                                           pickle ball, and folks will be out and about.

 

With the start of our summer season Kingswood board will be busy with the annual tasks of budget development, elections, and our annual homeowner meeting in September. Look for information about these topics in this newsletter.

 

Please feel free to get in touch any time you have a question at kvpoa.board@gmail.com. Board members are homeowners like you, who also love our home and value our investment.

 

Enjoy your time in Tahoe!

Linda Garcia

KVPOA President

 

IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Pool opening tentatively Memorial Day weekend (weather permitting)

• Sports court opening Memorial Day weekend (weather permitting)

• The boat lot will be opening in May. Please register your boat.  Forms are on the website and can be delivered to the office mail slot or emailed to tahoe.kingswood@gmail.com

• Phase 2 tree removal: In the next few months tree removal will be scheduled. Owners will be notified well in advance if this is near your property.

 

HELPFUL IMPORTANT REMINDERS:

• Only owners and their guests may have dogs. Renters may not have dogs. 

• Quiet hours are 9 pm - 8 am every day. Please remind everyone who stays in your home.

• Kingswood Village is a smoke-free complex. No smoking or vaping is allowed at any time in common areas.

• Limit the number of cars associated with your unit. KVPOA was built with only 1.5 spaces per unit, and we are all limited to three vehicles maximum at any one time.

 

Meet our new Maintenance Manager Jay Azevedo

 

After thorough due diligence and a series of interviews, the Board voted unanimously to

extend an offer of employment to Jay Azevedo to be our new Maintenance Manager.

Jay accepted our offer and his first day was on Monday, April 24, 2023. Jay has

worked in the hospitality business for over 25 years. He brings extensive HOA

maintenance management experience obtained while being responsible for the

entire maintenance management at Chinquapin, a 168-unit condo complex that is

situated on the lake between Kings Beach and Tahoe City. There, he was responsible

for maintaining the grounds, the tennis complex, a large swimming pool and clubhouse,

all exterior and interior repairs, maintaining defensible space, irrigation management,

snow removal utilizing various tools and equipment, along with hiring and managing

supplemental maintenance staff. Additionally, Jay is intimately familiar with Kingswood

Village as he supported maintaining several units within KVPOA while employed by

Vacasa.

Jay resides in Kings Beach and is both a father and grandfather. We look forward to a

long and prosperous relationship with Jay and we encourage you to offer a warm

welcome to him. When you see him around the complex, please stop to say hello and

introduce yourself. Jay can be reached at tahoe.kingswood@gmail.com or by phone at

(530) 546-5003.

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Homeowners To Vote on 2024 Dues Increase

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The dramatic increase in casualty (fire) insurance this year was a shock to all of us at Kingswood Village. We see in the news daily events that cause insurance companies to pay out more and more in claims for wildfire, flooding and wind damage (tornadoes and hurricanes). The result is higher premiums for many homeowners nationwide. The current budget for fire insurance was based on the prior year’s premium.  However, insurance companies did not give us a cost until March 2023, causing us to assess ourselves $4,200 per unit to cover the increase.

 

Your Board is now working on the 2024 budget.  In this process, we must realign dues to meet total expenses. Governing statutes limit HOAs in how much they can raise dues (20% of current dues or $108). This is insufficient to cover total expenses, and we have chosen not pursue a special assessment option. To bring dues to the proper level will require a vote by homeowners.

 

Kingswood Village homeowners can expect more on information on insurance, the 2024 budget, dues, and the vote in the next few weeks.

 

Bob Austin

Kingswood Village HOA Treasurer

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Nominations for KVPOA Board of Directors

Eric Marchand, Nominations

 

The Kingswood Village board is seeking nominations for volunteers to fill three (3) openings on the Kingswood Village Property Owners Association (KVPOA) Board of Directors.

 

How It Works:

The board is comprised of nine (9) members, all of whom must be lot/property owners (listed on the property deed documents or identified by name in legal documents such as a trust or LLC linked to the property deed) within Kingswood Village. Only one member of a family or single-unit ownership group is eligible to serve on the board at the same time. Individuals are elected to three-year terms of office and may run for re-election when their term is up. Every year, at the annual meeting in September, three (3) directors are elected. Once the director positions are filled, the board itself then elects the officers: president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. The five (5) other directors serve as at-large directors and participate on or chair KVPOA committees directly related to the effective operation of the KVPOA and facilities at the complex. The board typically meets ten (10) times per year and a hybrid meeting format (both in-person and Zoom) is in place to allow for flexible attendance at KVPOA meetings.

 

How You Can Get Involved:

If you are interested in running for a KVPOA board position, or would like more specific information on being a KVPOA board member, please contact our nominating chairperson, Eric Marchand, or any current board member listed on the website. Eric can be reached at eric.kvpoa.board@gmail.com.

 

Nomination/Election Timeline:

• May 23, 2023: The self-nomination process officially begins

  • ​Nominations may be submitted using the nomination form via email to kvpoa.board@gmail.com or via mail to the KVPOA office.  Click here to open and print nomination form.  The form was emailed to owners May 23.

• June 22, 2023: Nominations must be received by email or mail by this date.

• August 17, 2023: Last date for ballots to be mailed to KVPOA homeowners.

• September 16, 2023: Final date to vote; Ballot-Counting Meeting to occur during annual

homeowner meeting on Saturday, 9/16/23.

 

Short Term Rental (STR) Committee

Richard Rosemont, Chair

 

An STR Committee was recently formed to collaborate on ways to assist the KVPOA Board manage expectations related to Short Term Rentals. The committee consists of three Board members and six homeowner volunteers. There is a near even mix between owners who do not rent their units and those who are STR owners. The balance will allow the committee to address all topics related to short-term renting openly and collaboratively.

The committee held its first meeting earlier this year and the following topics were discussed.

• Reviewed the current inventory of units with STR permits visibly posted.

• Rules and regulations enforcement.

• Signage on property

• Doorbell cameras

• Community watch

• How to ensure compliance with Placer County’s STR ordinance.

• Impacts on insurance

• Managing proper occupancy limitations.

• New owner STR awareness.

• Placer County enforcement / hotline.

• Impacts on HOA infrastructure.

• Perceptions that KVPOA is a resort rather than an HOA.

• Costs associated with receiving a Placer County STR permit.

 

Since our committee meeting, Placer County Board of Supervisors addressed some of the STR permitting and inspection challenges it has been experiencing. As a result, the following changes have been implemented:

• The business license requirement has been removed as a condition for permitting. The County’s Tax Treasurer determined that the STR permit was sufficient.

• The deadline for STR permit holders to pass fire life safety and defensible space inspections to March 31, 2024.

 

The committee will meet again shortly after Memorial Day. An emerging topic for discussion will be if the HOA should levy a surcharge for STR’s. 

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ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE

Jack Belvedere, Chair

 

During 2022 the Architectural Review Committee reviewed, and the Board approved, seventeen projects submitted by Homeowners for approval. The projects were diverse in nature. They ranged from three furnace replacement projects to replacing all the windows and two sliding doors in a townhouse.  So far in 2023 the Committee has reviewed, and the Board has approved, five projects including an emergency water heater replacement.  If you are thinking of upgrading the inside of your townhouse, remodeling a bathroom or kitchen, or replacing a water heater, furnace or your wood burning fireplace, please review the Kingswood Village Association’s Rules and Regulations as a first step in the process. 

 

You can find the information you need on the Association’s website. Simply go to kvpoa.org home page. On the far right ,select “More” and select “Rules and Regulations” from the dropdown menu.

 

In the Rules and Regulations scroll down to page 5, “Homeowner and Association Relationship” for the rules regarding changes or improvements to the interior of your townhouse.  The forms you will need to submit for review and approval of your project are also found by going to the home page, select “More” from the dropdown menu select “Forms and Documents” and then select “Architectural Review Application Forms.”   

 

And please remember that the rules for townhouse improvements have been written around State and local laws and are intended for your safety and the safety and protection of others.

 

Enjoy your summer at Lake Tahoe and Kingswood Village!

 

 

2nd Snowiest Winter on Record

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This winter is the second-snowiest ever recorded by UC Berkeley

Central Sierra Snow Lab in the past 77 years since the winter of

1952-1953.

 

During March, ’22/’23 has passed ’82/’83 as the 2nd snowiest

season since the CSSL was built in 1946 according to the Snow Lab.

 

The total snowfall for this season was 56.4 feet (677 inches) as

of March 20, 2023.   In Mammoth, the 22/23 winter season is

officially the snowiest season on record with over 700" at Main

Lodge and close to 900" at the summit. 

 

California has been drenched by 14 atmospheric rivers since

December, according to the National Weather Service. 

The snow lab is located in the mountains of near Donner Peak

west of Lake Tahoe. It’s the only continuously manned snow research outpost in the Western United States. 

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Daily records from CSSL and monthly snow-depth measurements in

the Sierra Nevada provide vital data for state and federal water managers.

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The Northern Sierra snowpack is 178 percent of normal, Central Sierra is 227 percent, and Southern Sierra is 272 percent, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

 

(Data courtesy UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab)

(Information from KRON 4, the Bay Area’s Local News Station, March 21, 2023)

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FIRE INSURANCE

Tim Booth, Homeowner, and KVPOA Board Member

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It's fire insurance that's causing problems in California, reports Ryan Gesell, CIRMS, CMCA, vice president of Cline in Los Angeles, who specializes in the community association insurance market. This isn't a new conundrum. What's new are insurers' actions in response.

 

"California is a standard fire policy state," he explains. "An SFP is a named-peril policy that has been rewritten, and there's now nothing that allows underwriters to exclude the peril of wildfire. They can't do that without breaching the California insurance code. We need the legislature to address that problem.

 

"And you can't blame carriers for not wanting to write risk in a high-brush zone or near it," says Gesell. "That's prohibited to excluded, and insurers can't jack up the rates. In California, they're not allowed to increase rates above what's on file with the department of insurance without permission.

 

"So the preferred carriers are just not going to offer coverage," he explains. "That means the only option for community associations is excess and surplus lines, or E&S, markets. Those are nonadmitted insurers domiciled somewhere outside California, and they have the freedom to adjust their rates without approval from the department of insurance, which is notoriously difficult to work with."

 

Now, E&S carriers operating in California are completely overwhelmed with submissions, says Gesell. "A large number of community association insureds are turning to E&S carriers, who are staring to limit their exposure," he says. "These E&S carriers keep getting burned—literally.

 

"They have a set amount of capacity they can offer so they can manage their risk," he notes. "They have to limit their exposure to protect their AM Best rating and don't want to be on the hook for a massive risk. So they use risk-modeling software that gives them the score of the potential risk of wildfire for a particular community.

 

"The model keeps adjusting year by year as more data is acquired," says Gesell. "The scale goes from 1 to 100, with 100 being the very highest risk. Maybe before they'd insure based on a risk score of 40 or 50. Now they're offering risks only up to 20 or 30."

 

The problem for condos and HOAs in California is that E&S carriers aren't obligated to even offer a quote on insurance. So the ability to even get a quote for a policy from an E&S carrier is being extended only to the best-protected and positioned communities.

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