Kathy Gross, editor, information@sunlandnorth.org
Website: https://sunlandnorthownersassociation.com
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1655, Sequim, WA 98382
Business Hours: Monday – Friday; 9 AM – 3 PM
2024-2025 Sunland North Board of Directors
President: Gerry Hatler, president@sunlandnorth.org (returning member)
Vice President: Mark Anderson, vicepresident@sunlandnorth.org (returning member)
Treasurer: Betty Gwaltney, treasurer@sunlandnorth.org (returning member)
Secretary: Susan Hamman, secretary@sunlandnorth.org (former member)
Board Member-at-Large: Beverly Stern, member-at-large@sunlandnorth.org (new member)
Welcome to our new Board member, Beverly Stern. A big thank you to our continuing Board members, Gerry Hatler and Betty Gwaltney, as well as Susan Hamman, former Board member as well as Insurance Committee Chairperson since 2015. We want to thank Lawrence Charters for his terms of service including Vice President (one year) and Secretary (five years). In addition to holding these positions, he has been improving and managing our Sunland North website since 2018; and we want to thank Warren Hussman for serving two years as Board Member-at-Large.
Announcements
Homeowners Association (HOA) Office Hours: Monday—Friday, 9 am – 3 pm
We want to remind all new and current residents that we should adhere to the Sunland North (Division 17) Homeowners Association (HOA) Office Hours, except in an emergency. Contact information for each Board and committee chair member is on the Sunland North Website: (https://sunlandnorthownersassociation.com/about-us/); or use the generic “Contact Form” that is on the website (https://sunlandnorthownersassociation.com/contact-us/).
Keep in mind that we don’t have paid administrative staff, and people may be away from home or otherwise occupied; anticipate at least a few days for a response.
Upcoming Sunland North Board Meetings
Homeowner Association (HOA) monthly Board business meetings are open for all owners to attend. The Board meetings always include a separate “Owner Comment Period” in which owners are encouraged to participate. The meetings are also a good way to find out what is happening in the neighborhood and how our volunteers handle different aspects of our shared HOA life. The meetings will be held at “The Gathering Place,” 135 Fairway Drive.
The Sunland North Board Meeting schedule for the third quarter of 2023 is as follows:
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- Wednesday, October 9 (2:30 to 4:30 pm)
- Wednesday, November 13 (2:30 to 4:30 pm)
- Wednesday, December 11 (2:30 to 4:30 pm)
Note: Sunland Owners Association (SLOA) is a separate, overarching HOA that includes several other divisions, the pool and tennis courts, and all the individual homes in Sunland; their Board meeting schedule is separate from Sunland North Division 17.
Of Special Interest:
Annual Sunland North December Holiday Party
The Sunland North Holiday Party is an unofficial (non-HOA) event with a long history of fun for Sunland North members and their guests. This year’s dinner will be held on Wednesday, December 4th starting at 5:00 p.m. with no-host cocktails, and dinner at 6:00 p.m., at the Legend’s Room at the Cedars of Dungeness Golf Course. This is a new venue for us! Volunteers will distribute flyers with more information to Sunland North front doors on October 18.
Little Neighborhood Library on Mt Baker
Did you know that Sunland North has a little library on its premises, available to all Sunland North residents? Handcrafted by Eric Mahnerd, the library is located behind the Mt. Baker mailbox kiosk. It has a good selection of both fiction and nonfiction books, rotating in and out throughout the month and periodically culled by Kathy Mahnerd to donate to Sequim Friends of the Library. Have books that you no longer want? Bring them to the little library and select others to take with you (no magazines please!). Happy reading!
Neighborhood Puzzle Exchange
We have learned that many of our residents seem to like jigsaw puzzles. The Little Lending library works so well, that we decided maybe a Puzzle exchange would be an amenity used by some. Unlike books, puzzles are harder to “display” so the current “inventory” of approximately 80 puzzles is now housed in my Costco room in the garage.
Residents are welcome to come and choose or peruse what is available. No need to exchange a puzzle if you just want to use and return one from the inventory. The majority of puzzles are the 1,000-piece variety with only a few at 500 pieces. There are many different subjects for both novices and hobbyists.
I am happy to answer your call at 970-317-1070 (or email, see below) if you want to come and take a look at the plethora of puzzles. If you are less mobile, I can even bring a few to your home to see what you might like. There is no cost to any of this, we just thought it nice to share and have so many choices!
Thanks for your time.
Pam Leininger
970-317-1070
pamleininger@gmail.com
2025 Sunland North Calendar ($10.00)
Don’t miss the chance to get one. Please Pre-order by October 15th by emailing BettyGwaltney@icloud.com or signing up at the Mt. Baker mail kiosk. Make checks out to “Sunland North” and deliver or mail to Susan Haman at 61 Mt. Baker. Calendars will be available by November 1.
Messages and Reports from Our Volunteers
President – Gerry Hatler
We held our Homeowners Association Annual Meeting on September 11. Of the 139 units in the Association, 108 submitted ballots. The budget for 2025 was approved (97 yes, 7 no) as was the use of a Financial Review (95 yes, 11 in favor of a full audit). The revised CC&Rs were approved by the members of the HOA, 103 approved them out of the 139 homeowner units which represents 77.7% approving, well above the 60% required. The revised CC&Rs will be filed, as required, with Clallam County.
Betty Gwaltney, Susan Hamman, and Beverly Stern were elected to the Board. I would like to thank Board members leaving the Board, Lawrence Charters and Warren Husman, for their service to the Association and the Board.
The Board held an organizational meeting following the Annual Meeting and assigned the following roles: Gerry Hatler – President, Mark Anderson – Vice President, Beverly Stern – Member At Large, Betty Gwaltney – Treasurer, and Susan Hamman – Secretary.
I would like to thank all the volunteers that have made our association successful. We have folks who have been volunteering since they moved into the community and have served on the Board as well as Committee Chairs and Committee members.
We have a volunteer form you can complete on our website: (https://sunlandnorthownersassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/sunland-division-17-community-volunteer-202012.pdf). You can send the form to me at president@sunlandnorth.org or mail it to me at:
Sunland Division 17 Owners Association
P.O. Box 1655, Sequim, WA 98382
For people who have moved in recently, welcome to our community, and for everyone else, thanks for making this a welcoming place!
Treasurer – Betty Gwaltney
As we start the 4th Quarter of 2024, I want to thank all of the owners for their overwhelming support for the 2025 budget. Maintaining our units is vital to maintaining the value and investment we have each made and the budget provides the funds to accomplish that. As of the end of September, we are less than $1300 over budget for this year! Our CD investments continue to provide additional funds to our Reserves – $21,795 so far! Please remember to send in your 4th Q Assessment ($1048) and be sure to mail it to Sunland Division 17 Owners Association at PO Box 1655 – every quarter the SLOA office calls with a few checks they have received intended for Sunland North HOA. Thanks again and Happy Fall!
Insurance Committee – Susan Hamman
Owner’s Obligation to Maintain – Did You Know?
Did you know that as a Sunland North HOA unit owner you have, under the CC&Rs, the obligation to maintain the interior of your unit in good order and repair? This includes redecorating, painting, and varnishing which may at any time be necessary to maintain the good appearance and condition of the interior of your unit. Unit owners are also responsible for the maintenance, repair, or replacement of any plumbing fixtures, water heaters, fans, heating equipment, lighting fixtures, fireplaces, refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges, or other appliances that may be in their unit. This is a contractual obligation between you and the HOA’s governing documents that you assumed when you purchased your unit in Sunland North.
If you plan to travel or be gone for an extended period, take preventative measures by shutting off your unit’s water (do you know where the water shut-off valve is outside your unit)? Have a friend or neighbor check on your unit regularly, especially after a storm or prolonged cold spell (frozen pipes!). Disconnect your outside hoses and use hose bibs over the spigots (hose bibs are very inexpensive). Fix inside leaks promptly to prevent damage to your unit’s floors.
Our homeowners’ association is responsible for any damage to a unit’s interior that is caused by an exterior problem, such as a leaking roof. However, the unit owner must report any such problem to the Board or the External Maintenance chair as soon as possible so the problem can be investigated and repaired. If a unit owner neglects to report the problem and interior damage is not repaired promptly, the unit owner may end up financially responsible for all interior repair work that must be completed, even if the problem originated from the unit exterior. It is a good idea to periodically check around the interior of your unit and look for any signs of water damage to the ceilings, walls, and carpets that may have been caused by an exterior structural leak.
Protect your unit’s investment by being proactive in taking care of it!
A summary of CAU’s insurance presentation to Division 17 on August 23, 2024, is available on the Sunland North website: https://sunlandnorthownersassociation.com/presentation-by-dianna-kaspar-cau-agent-for-hoa-insurance-august-23-2024/
Developed Landscaping Committee – Tom Steffen
As reported at the Annual Meeting, I have completed my third year as Landscape Coordinator and continue to enjoy working with Paul West (and his crew), who is the owner/operator of Cutting Edge Landscaping, our landscape contractor. I have also relied on the support of the Board and owners who care for our plants, lawns, trees and irrigation systems.
Trees and Plants:
Town and Country Tree Experts made three trips to Div 17 in 2024, trimming several trees and removing three trees that were diseased or a risk to property or irrigation or electrical lines. We are still removing dead, diseased, or unwanted plants; to date, we have removed approximately 250 of the 400 that need to be removed.
Irrigation:
I estimate that we have approximately 2,000 sprinkler heads for our lawns and 1,700 for our plant beds (around our 67 buildings). Several sprinkler heads were repaired and replaced this year by the volunteer labor of owners and by our contractor’s crew. I estimate that several hundred additional sprinkler heads require repair, replacement or adjustment.
An irrigation plumber was required five times this year to address issues. In addition to this year’s required inspections of our backflow preventers, we will be replacing three preventers and repairing one of those flagged last year.
Irrigation control boxes were activated in April and will be deactivated between now and the end of September. Seasonal adjustments were made in spring, summer, and fall for the purpose of reducing irrigation water usage.
Sunland Water District continues to be a good partner and resource for alerting us to irregular water consumption when it shows up on their instruments.
Escallonia Hedges:
Our escallonia hedges, mostly around electrical and water boxes, were damaged again this past winter; a few owners have worked to reenergize new growth and several are flourishing. A wait-and-watch plan is in effect for our approximately 25 escallonia hedges.
Pruning:
Summer pruning will soon be moving into fall pruning; our contracted crew stays busy almost year-round.
Moles/Voles:
Last year’s landscaping nuisance (and danger) seemed to be bees; this year we were reminded of our dislike of moles and voles. I’m hoping that both will leave us alone in 2025. Owners have tried a variety of methods to remove them.
Please continue to use the Landscaping Link/Portal on our website to report, request assistance and ask questions about landscaping issues.
Natural Habitat – Sarah Miller
A memorial tree (a beautiful Fraser fir) has been planted by Bill Bombardier in the tree line near the roundabout. This tree is in honor of Mike Bresnahan, volunteer extraordinaire for Sunland North.
We will be transplanting more young trees from the detention pond behind Cascadia Loop this winter. These will replace four trees, recently transplanted north of Mount Baker Drive, that didn’t survive their move.
We will be preparing for the effects of winter storms in the Natural Habitat area by soliciting volunteers willing to help with clean up of deadfall branches. We especially need a pickup truck and driver, along with several people to help cut up and load branches for hauling to Cascade Soils. Please contact me if you are able to help out. Contact: sarah0458@gmail.com or 206-947-1347
Thank You!
It takes a great deal of time and effort to keep our HOA operational and maintained so as always, we thank all our Board members, coordinators, and committee members for their ongoing support and the volunteer time they donate to our community – we couldn’t do it without you.
