ABOUT HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE VACANT LOT OWNERS

This is a site for Hidden Valley Lake Vacant Lot Owners (and all HVLA Members) to get information that is important to them.  The Vacant Lot Owners are taken for granted by HVLA.  The Association collects their Assessment money but otherwise expects the Vacant Lot Owners to be seen and not heard.

HVLA has FAILED to seek restoration of the legitimate property rights of the Vacant Lot Owners - during the five years of the Water Moratorium HVLA has invoiced the Vacant Lot Owners over $5.5 million dollars and has put liens on their property if they are delinquent in their payments.

HVLA should have been advocating for the rights of the of the Vacant Lot Owners by DEMANDING that Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District  (HVLCSD - the local water district) respond promptly and fully to the Compliance Order requiring HVLCSD to "secure a reliable long-term supply of water".  The Vacant Lot Owners have been failed by both HVLCSD and HVLA.

According to HVLA there are 894 Vacant Lots in HVL.  What does this mean?  It means as a group the Vacant Lot Owners are a Sleeping Giant with the ability to significantly influence future events in HVLA. But in order to do so YOU MUST START PAYING ATTENTION AND YOU MUST VOTE IN THE ELECTIONS - and when you do you will be amazed at how fast HVLA will not only start paying attention to your legitimate rights as Members of this Association but will also start RESPECTING your rights.  You will continue to be treated as doormats only for as long as you allow that to happen.  That stops now.

It is time to stop being passive, apathetic victims and instead start actively asserting your rights and your interests. It is not hard to do:

1. Pay Attention to Events by Subscribing to HVLVLO
2. Vote!

In October of 2014 the State Water Control Resources Board (SWRCB) issued a "Compliance Order" to HVL Community Services District (HVLCSD - this is our local Water Company).  This Compliance Order requires HVLCSD to take the necessary steps to secure a reliable long-term supply of water for all in the HVLCSD water district.  Therefore, the responsibility to resolve this matter resides entirely with HVLCSD.

The Compliance Order resulted in a "Water Hook-Up Moratorium" being imposed on 679 Vacant Lots in HVL and rendered these properties both unbuildable and unmarketable.  These 679 Vacant Lots constitute 20% of the 3,271 total properties in HVL.

If and when SWRCB determines that HVLCSD has accomplished the task of securing a reliable long-term supply of drinking water it will rescind the Water Moratorium it imposed with its Compliance Order.

Unfortunately for the Vacant Lot Owners HVLCSD has NOT taken the steps demanded of it to secure a reliable long-term supply of water required of it by the Compliance Order.  Instead its strategy has been to deny the appropriateness of the Compliance Order and of the Water Moratorium in the first place by claiming there is sufficient groundwater already.  

HVLCSD first made its assertion of sufficient groundwater in its May 2015 Directive 6 response to SWRCB.  But it did not seek a Civil Engineering firm to document that assertion until December 2018 and HVLCSD did not submit the documentation prepared by the Civil Engineering firm until May 2019.  So HVLCSD made its initial assertion of sufficient groundwater in May 2015 - but did not provide documentation of that assertion until May 2019 - a full four years after first making the assertion of sufficient groundwater!

There is no official response expected by SWRCB to the study before February 2020 at the earliest.  Four years wasted - and $4 million dollars of assessments invoiced to the Vacant Lot Owners by HVLA during those four years!

And here's a very important question to ask - what happens if after studying the documentation prepared by the Civil Engineering firm SWRCB rejects the study's conclusion of sufficient groundwater and therefore does not lift the Moratorium?  If that happens that will put us back at the exact same position we were on October 17th, 2014 when the Moratorium was first placed into effect when SWRCB ordered HVLCSD to secure a reliable long-term supply of water - but it will be nearly five and a half years later at that point!

HVLA for its part has made no discernible effort to try and resolve this matter on behalf of the Vacant Lot Owners (other than efforts made during my Board Presidency) but has nevertheless continued to require the Vacant Lot Owners to pay their full Annual Assessments.   HVLA has additionally put liens on the Vacant Lot Owners who are delinquent in payment of their Annual Assessments and Special Assessments on these properties!

To date, the Association has invoiced the Vacant Lot Owners of the 679 Vacant Lots subject to the Water Moratorium approximately $5.5 Million Dollars!  This total increases with every passing month - this is an outrage!

There is nothing within the ability of the Vacant Lot Owners to resolve this matter individually by themselves - they cannot drill wells to find water - it can only be resolved by HVLCSD - and it is 100% HVLA's responsibility to do everything it can to DEMAND that HVLCSD promptly resolve this matter on behalf of the Vacant Lot Owners.

This has been a Failure of Effort by both HVLCSD and HVLA.  HVLCSD took four and a half years before submitting substantive documentation prepared by Civil Engineers purporting to rebut the underlying assertions and assumptions made by SWRCB in instituting the Moratorium in the first place.  And not a peep out of HVLA to advocate for the rights of the Vacant Lot Owners while invoicing them those millions of dollars!  Shame on both HVLCSD and HVLA.

The Revolutionary War was started on the premise of "No Taxation Without Representation" - exactly the situation the Vacant Lot Owners are facing - HVLA continues to tax us (our annual assessments) but does not represent us in recovering our property rights.  This is an incomplete equation and is totally unacceptable.

The HVLA Board of Directors is proposing to build a $7.8 Million Dollar Restaurant with Your Money.  No matter whether you are a Vacant Lot Owner or a Homeowner this is an absurd amount of your money to spend on one amenity when there are so many other HVL amenities in equal need of attention

How Will The Board Pay for This?

1. They will largely deplete the Reserve Fund intended for ALL of HVLA's amenities.
2. They will raise your Annual Assessment next year by 13% (this is the percentage increase the Board is using as an operative assumption as they are beginning work on the 2020 budget).  This increase alone will cost the Members approximately $1 million to $1.2 million per year going forward - next year and every year thereafter unless you believe that the Board will ever reduce the Annual Assessment.  On this basis this 13% increase will add a total cost to the Members of $10 Million to $12 Million Dollars over the next decade.
3. They have also said they will assess you an additional $10 per month for three years to help fund the cost.  This works out to $360 that will be charged to every member over the next three years for a total of $1,117,560 (multiplying the $360 Assessment over three years by the number of properties (3,271).

As Directors they have a duty of Fiduciary Responsibility to the Members - this is a legal obligation of one party (The Board) to act in the best interests of another (The Members).  In my opinion using the Member's money to build a $7.8 Million Dollar Restaurant cannot be considered a faithful exercise of Fiduciary Duty when there are so many other projects currently in equal need of funding in HVLA.

The icing on the cake?  After paying $7.8 million to build the restaurant the Members will then have to PAY to eat there!  Anyone else driving down the road who decides to eat there will also have to pay for their meal - but they get to skip the part where you pay $7.8 million before getting the meal.

Building a $7.8 million dollar restaurant is a Fool's Errand.  There are other projects in HVLA (Community Center rebuild, dredging of the Lake, Maintenance Building rebuild, storm drains,, etc) with equal claim on the limited Reserve Funds available to do so.  Emptying the Reserve Fund to build the Restaurant will dangerously deplete the funds required for all of these projects and will jeopardize our financial position going forward.

This is a very bad idea and it needs to be actively opposed by Vacant Lot Owners and Homeowners alike to protect the financial well-being of HVLA.

I am Doug Berman.  I own a home and five Vacant Lots in Hidden Valley Lake. Three of the Vacant Lots are subject to the Water Moratorium, and I will be paying approximately $14,000 in total to HVLA in 2019.

I was an HVLA Board Member between October 2015 and June 2017, and served as Board President between January 2017 and June 2017.

The main reason I joined the Board was due to my concern at that time that debt to finance construction of a $6 million to $8 million (or more) restaurant was going to be foisted on the Members without their approval.   I felt that was not only unfair but would also gravely threaten the financial stability of HVLA.

In response to this I played a leading role in amending HVLA Bylaw 11.05 - the language of Bylaw 11.05 was ambiguous and the Boards in 2013, 2014 and part of 2015 were using that language ambiguity to suggest they could encumber the Members with debt to finance the rebuilding of the restaurant without the necessity of first requesting approval of the assumption of this debt from the Members by a vote.  The amendment to this Bylaw was put to a vote of the Members in September 2016 in order to eliminate the language ambiguity and the Members voted in favor of the amendment.  The passage of this amendment ensured that future HVLA Boards may NOT encumber the Members with debt (of over one year in duration and in an amount in excess of 5% of the HVLA annual budget) without first getting approval from the Members by a vote.  I am very proud of the role I played in accomplishing this important protection for the 3,300 Members of HVLA.  

In January of 2017 when we were having major storms as HVLA Board President I was called to an Emergency Meeting with Lake County Officials to discuss the potential breaching of the levees of Putah Creek and the flooding danger that posed to HVL homes in the vicinity.  During a field visit to the levee I introduced myself to District I Supervisor Moke Simon and invited him to meet with the HVLA Board of Directors in Executive Session to discuss the Water Moratorium and he agreed.  I instructed our then Interim General Manager Rod Wood to coordinate with Supervisor Simon to arrange that meeting.  We met with him in April of 2017 and he assured us he would do whatever he could to help regarding the Water Moratorium.  This subsequently lead to a letter written in September 2017 by the Lake County Board of Supervisors to the State Water Resources Control Board requesting a lifting of the Moratorium.  Since that time the HVLA Board has made no discernible effort of which I am aware to seek restoration of our property rights.

I believe the HVLA Board needs to stop concentrating its efforts on building a $7.8 Million Dollar Restaurant and needs to start concentrating its efforts on restoring the legitimate property rights of the Vacant Land Owners as well as focusing equal attention to the other problems confronting the Members of HVLA.