NBA Annual Meeting, April 23, 2016

On April 23, 2016, the NBA held it’s Annual Meeting of the Membership at 3 Capri Ct.

BryonBassaddressingNBAmembersOn the agenda was an NBA Update, Financial Update/Budget Approval, Dredging update, voting for NBA Officers, and Open discussion.

During the NBA update, President Bryon Bass shared that Lloyd Watson’s home at 9 Sorrento Way was in escrow. He also shared that the lot at 1 Capri Ct has been purchased by Queenie Zhang. Queenie and her family were in attendance during the final minutes of the meeting.
NBA Meeting

Treasurer Gary Scheier provided a financial review and budget for 2016. The NBA is in solid financial shape, especially considering the $100 special assessment many homeowners paid last year. The special assessment funds have not yet been utilized for dredging matters, so the Officers will come to the membership for approval of fund usage as projects arise. The membership approved the budgPeterBuettnerSigningLetterset as proposed.

Dredging committee leader, Sam Ferguson, shared the latest updates with respect to dredging. Over the past few years, more than 40 meetings have been attended with various politicians, the City of San Rafael, and other parties interested in dredging the San Rafael Canal. The City of San Rafael has entered into an agreement with Napa, Petaluma and Vallejo to explore a P3 arrangement to find solutions to the dredging needs of shallow draft waterways in the region. Sam stressed that even with a P3 arrangement, many projects are not being funded. So, it is more important than ever for us to keep this matter in front of our politicians. To that end, a letter was drafted for Congressman Huffman, Assemblyman Levine, and SenatLillianTracDredgingLettersor McGuire asking for their support to find fundsPeterGregorySigningLetters to dredge the San Rafael Canal. Those in attendance at the meeting signed the letters and they will be sent on April 25. If you were not in attendance and your would like to send a letter with your support, a PDF of the letters is available by clicking here.  More to come as the P3 arrangement kicks-off.

 

Also noted was it is time to assess what the maintenance dredge needs of each basin. The dredging committee will meet to discuss the matter in coming months and reach out to your basin captains with information and action needed for our community dredging.

 

Secretary Lillian Trac led the voting for Officers for the 2016 and 2017 year. The existing officers were nominated to continue their roles and the membership voted to approve President Bryon Bass, Secretary Lillian Trac, and Treasurer Gary Scheier to another 2-year term.

Secretary Lillian Trac led the open discussion and asked if NBA members were interested in a community garage sale, at the request of Bill Jones. Many stated yes and asked that it occur prior to Memorial Day or in July. Lillian will be in touch with specifics. Keep you eyes peeled for news.

LettersreadyformailingStacksofdredingletters

Dredging Matters discussed at Point San Pedro Road Coalition meeting – 10/24/15

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Today, I spoke at the Point San Pedro Road Coalition meeting regarding dredging for the San Rafael Canal. I represented both NBA, as your president, and the Friends of the Canal as the interim co-leader.

 

Also representing NBA interests were Sam Ferguson and Arlene Sukolsky. Jerry McNulty and Mia Bernt, Friends of the Canal members, also attended.

You can learn more about the Point San Pedro Road Coalition at www.sprcoalition.com. The Coalition’s purpose is to promote the interests of the residents of the Pt. San Pedro Road corridor in east San Rafael, CA in collaboration with homeowner’s associations and residents, to enhance and preserve the beauty and environment of the area, to promote the health and safety of the residents, and to protect the peaceful enjoyment of their residents’ neighborhoods.

FullSizeRender-1Among the more than 60 participants in the meeting, were representatives from the City and County, including: Mayor Philips, Supervisor Connolly, Jim Schutz, and Dean Allison.

Originally scheduled for 15 minutes on the agenda, my time was cut to a short 6 minutes. In that time, I was able to reinforce the importance of our goal in finding a sustainable way to keep the Canal navigable for flood control, public safety, environmental, boating/water sports, and homeowner values.

FullSizeRenderI also stressed that without funds from the US Corp of Engineers, an alliance among private, public and partnerships will be necessary to fund the dredge of the central Canal. The meeting we had with the City on August 20 was our first step in this regard, and the new Public Works Director, Dean Allison, will be scheduling a follow-up meeting by year-end.

Yours in community,

Bryon Bass
President
Newport Boating Association

Coastal Clean-Up 2015 – September 19, 9 – 11 am

Hello NBA homeowners:

Saturday, September 19th is Coastal Clean-up Day. Last year, NBA members and friends picked up over 100 pounds of recyclables and trash!

The NBA will be hosting a site again this year, and would like to find out how many homeowners are interested in participating so that we can get the right number of grabbers and bags from the City of San Rafael.

Those who are interested in participating, please send an email to greenthumbl@yahoo.com and provide her with a head count of participants. We will meet at Lillian Trac’s house at 8 Portofino Road at 9:00am.

Homeowners who can’t attend due to schedule conflicts, but who would like to contribute, please let her know if you have kayaks or other non-motorized water vessels that can share with the group.

Dredging Update – August

Today, August 20, the City of San Rafael is hosting a small meeting to discuss the Canal.  Mia Bernt, Sam Ferguson, Jerry McNulty, Arlene Sukolsky and I will be in attendance.

Mayor Gary Phillips, Councilmember Kate Colin and Supervisors Steve Kinsey and Damon Connolly, and Jared Huffman will attend.  Additionally, Jessica Burton-Evans, US Army Corp of Engineers will attend.

This is in response to the Statement of Concerns paper written by the Friends of the Canal  (link to paper below).

An update of the meeting will come out this weekend.

Friends of the Canal Statement of Concerns

Dredging Update – July 2015

AN UPDATE FROM YOUR DREDGING COMMITTEE
July 2015 Update

 

What’s New?

A new coalition has been formed, Friends of the Canal, comprised of homeowners and businesses along the San Rafael Canal. Bryon Bass, NBA President, is the coalition leader. Many members of the steering committee have been involved in past efforts to raise awareness of the importance of the Canal to our community and to assure dredging occurs. These members include: Bryon Bass, Mia Bernt, Peter Buettner, Matt Butler, Dan Duarte, Sam Ferguson, Marty Komitopoulos, Jerry McNulty, Catherine Orman, Aline Perry, Lillian Trac, Gary Scheier, and Arlene Sukolsky.

On July 12, the Friends of the Canal will have a general membership meeting at the San Rafael Yacht Club. At the meeting, we will provide a fact-based presentation on the state of the San Rafael Canal and outline why it is important to maintain the integrity of the waterway for homeowners, businesses and the community as a whole. Additionally, we will be seeking open comments from those in attendance.

We have been in communication many representatives from the City of San Rafael. Based on these conversions, we expect to have a meeting with the Mayor and Department of Public Works sometime in July. Our objective is to learn what the City plans are to maintain the Canal, to share our fact-based presentation, and to offer our support to the City in identifying sustainable funding sources for now and into the future.

What can you do?

Attend the NBA BBQ at Gary and Colleen Scheier’s home (27 Sorrento Way) on Saturday, July 11 at 3:00PM.   We have invited representatives from the City of San Rafael, US Army Corp of Engineers, Jared Hoffman, Steve Kinsey, and Salt River to join us. Additionally, the steering committee from Friends of the Canal will also be in attendance. Please RSVP by July 8 to Bryon Bass (bryon.bass@icloud.com or 415-418-4782) if you haven’t already!

Also, join the Friends of the Canal on July 12 from 1 – 3 at the San Rafael Yacht Club.   Details are on the reverse of this page.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or would like to help, please let Bryon Bass know.