May 1, 2016

Dear Neighbors,

Spring's been a little late getting to the Cape this year. There's really been only one nice warm day so far and a lot of temperate/chilly/cold days otherwise. Still, it's better than snow and ice and it is getting more pleasant.

Big doing's on the beach path recently as the effort to remove invasive species was finally approved and started in earnest. I'd guess that most folks did not realize that about 90% of the beach path vegetation was invasive. It's all been removed so the path is far more open than it has been in decades. It looks rather naked right now but the desirable low-growth native plantings have taken root and will fill in within a couple of years.

The clubhouse has also seen big changes as the old library and exercise room have been combined into a new larger, cleaner, more effective exercise room. It's expected to be complete around the end of May. It will have new flooring, new a/c and additional new equipment.

The clubhouse hallway work to repair all the rot, replace all the windows and the front and back doors should be complete by mid-May. New hallway furniture is expected as well. The kitchen will be spruced up by Jeff and Ken. And YES! The Godzilla shrubs in front of the clubhouse will be removed and replaced with new and more appropriate plantings. We'll finally be able to see the clubhouse exterior not being slowly eaten alive by monster plants.

The clubhouse meeting room is getting a bit more attention with sound-deadening acoustical panels which are hoped to be in place sometime in June. This should make the room much less painful to talk in when there are more than a few people in it.

The front entrance asphalt work has been completed and looks very nice. I hope all the street work being done on 6A and Underpass Road will be completed or put on hiatus by Memorial Day weekend.

Work to install the new street lighting continues, albeit more slowly than hoped. The new poles have been installed and the new lights are hoped to be in place and working by the end of May.

There will be changes this summer to beach path parking. There are now several marked parking spots in front of the beach path shed. The big change is that the right side of Sea Pines Drive just after the main parking area will now be cordoned off - parking is now forbidden along the south side of the street there and cars will be towed if parked there. This is being done to ensure adequate access by emergency vehicles, which was not possible last summer with cars parking on both sides of the street.

Yippee! The first bank loan taken out to do the first phase of the residing project on the Bluff several years ago has been paid off - 2 months early!

Unit resales, although few in number, are closing rather briskly right now. For a few days a couple weeks ago, there was nothing for sale at Sea Pines, which is the first time I've seen that happen in 13 years. People seem a bit anxious to purchase at Sea Pines. Even a 1 bedroom unit in Landing was on the market for only about a week before accepting a full-price offer. Four units are for sale now of which one has a pending offer.

Do you have any toxic stuff (including items containing mercury) in your unit or garage you're not using that should be properly disposed of? Consider taking it to one of the free toxic waste disposal events offered by Brewster, Chatham and Harwich. The dates this year are May 14, June 11, July 9, Aug 13, Sep 10 and Oct 8, all at the Harwich Transfer Station at 209 Queen Anne Rd. For more information: http://www.capecodextension.org and click on the "Household Hazardous Waste 2016 Collections".

The Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday May 29 at 9:30am at the Brewster Ladies Library. Since the library parking area is undergoing renovations, please pay attention to where the new entrance is (the old entrance will be the new exit and the old exit will be the new entrance) and where you may park. It is planned to be completed by Memorial Day weekend, but that is considered optimistic. See the library's web site for information about this project.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!! Fill out and send in your proxy ballots for the Annual Meeting, even if you plan to attend. If you do attend, they will be returned to you. These proxies are critical to ensuring we have a quorum in all four phases so that elections can be held. Sending them in ahead of time also means that the four condo phase presidents don't have to scramble on that Saturday and Sunday knocking on doors to ensure that there will be quorum in their phase. We'd much rather avoid the stress and anxiety such efforts generate and be on the beach, thank you very much.

The next FMB is scheduled for Saturday May 28 at 8:30am, followed by the Annual Meeting the next day.

Sincerely,

Christopher Wroten
19 Landing Lane