Dear Neighbors,

Some good news indeed on the legal front. On November 18, the court ruled completely in Sea Pines' favor concerning the case of our abutter's claim that the kayaks and boats stored on the beach and in the water unreasonably interfered with his easement to use the beach in front of his property. Of course, the decision can be appealed but the fact that it was ruled so decisively and quickly in Sea Pines' favor is very reassuring.

Bob Grogan was selected to fill Jim Dalton's remaining term on the FMB. Welcome (back) Bob!

Got Sea Pines pictures? I'm looking for pictures of Sea Pines showing how it has changed through the years. For instance, I received a couple pictures from 1992 of the beach path landing taken from the water, showing the 5 additional full steps which are now completely buried under sand. I'd love to get pictures of the property, buildings and the beach from the beginning in 1972 through 2002. If you've got any such pictures you'd be willing to let me scan and return to you, please contact me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the scanned images yet. I've already scanned everything of value from the picture books at the Sea Pines Inn but those were only from about 1915-1930 and mostly of the beach. There are a good number of high quality aerial shots, mostly of the beach front, from 1974-1982 at the Kelsey and Kennard shop in Chatham, but they cost $60+ each for reprints and I'm not willing to shell out that kind of money for this.

Snow shoveling and plowing just became a challenging issue in Massachusetts due to a recent court ruling which now places a large burden of liability on places like Sea Pines to keep their roads and common area pathways free of snow and ice, essentially all the time. This will probably necessitate a substantial increase in the snow removal budget and will make it much easier for people to sue Sea Pines (or just about anyone else...) for injuries they sustain because of snow and ice accumulation. It will be very helpful if you know you're not going to be using your unit for a period of time in the winter (even just a weekend) that you call or email Mercantile (508-759-5555, maint@mercantileproperty.com) to let them know when you will NOT be there so that should snow or ice happen, plowing, sanding and salting can be concentrated only on those common areas where people are actually present.

There was a fellow still swimming off the beach path as of October 30. I saw him take 2 extended dips in what was then brisk weather. Hardy soul!

There is an FMB meeting this Saturday, December 4 at 8:30am in the Clubhouse. Stop by, say hello, stay a while and see what's going on.

Let me know if you have comments on this newsletter or thoughts on future ones or the Sea Pines web site.

Sincerely,

Christopher Wroten, 19 Landing Lane