October 2014 — N 1410
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Next HOA Meeting
The next HOA meeting will be the first Tuesday of December 2014 (12/2/14) at 7:00PM at the Depot (at Pass and Katherine Rds.)
County Encroachment Enforcement
At our October 7th meeting David Fieisch, Director of the Ventura County Transportation Department, made a presentation on the recent changes in what encroachments in the county road right-of-way (ROW) the county will prohibit and those it would allow.
The County considers an encroachment to include any object of any kind on, in, along, under, over, or across the ROW. All work and all encroachments in the ROW must be authorized by an encroachment permit procured from the transportation department.
Dave Fleisch stated at the meeting that his presentation and the county's new guideleines would be posted on their website and that letters would be sent to homeowners who may have a ROW issue. None of this has happened as the date of this newsletter. We will send out a special email once we have the info from Dave Fleisch. In the meantime here is a brief summary of the guidelines:
The new standards will evaluate existing encroachments for their level of risk and liability versus the severity of the encroachment. This evaluation will be grouped into three categories as follows:
Significant Risk - Encroachment must be removed immediately or modified to make it a lower risk and permitted,
Low Risk - Encroachment will be permitted as is with a hold harmless agreement included,
Trivial Risk - County will take no action at this time.
The County has already done a study in the Knolls and have identified areas of encroachment. Letters will be going out to those homeowners that are affected. In general the homeowner will be required to sign a ‘hold harmless’ document for the County. If you receive a letter please read it thoroughly and call the County if you have any questions.
Additional information on encroachment can be found on the Ventura County Transportation Department website.
Will SSFL (aka Rocketdyne)
Ever Be Cleaned Up?
Troubling developments suggest the SSFL cleanup agreements will not be carried out and the vast majority of contamination will remain on site. Many community members believe that the Boeing Company and government agencies responsible for overseeing the cleanup are intentionally subverting the agreements already made to clean up SSFL. Since we live within 50 sq. mi. surrounding the SSFL, we need to get involved now.
Things we all should do:
- Learn about the history of the SSFL and why the clean-up is on the verge of being completely gutted at
http://www.ssflworkgroup.org
AND
http://www.rocketdynecleanupcoalition.org - Write to our elected officials by first downloading the mailing list at
http://www.savetheknolls.com/downs/SSFL-mail-list.pdf - Share this information with your neighbors!
NOTE: If you want an on-line version of this notice with active clickable links please download at http://www.savetheknolls.com/downs/WillSSFLnotice.pdf
Ex FireStation 43 Update
At their October 13th meeting, the Simi City Council finally approved the sale of the former fire station facility (Engine Company No. 43) at the northeast corner of Sylvan and Cypress streets to the Rancho Simi Parks District. The Acorn published an on-line report of the meeting and the city council's decision which you can read on the Acorn's website. After 3 years with the station's status in doubt, it was the right thing to do. The residents of the Knolls look forward to working with the Park District to make the Station a park district resource that can benefit everyone.
Newsletter
The Newsletter of the Susana Knolls is published monthly and provides information of vital importance to the neighborhood. Occasionally we also provide interesting stories about living in the Knolls. We encourage everyone in the neighborhood to submit articles that would be of interest to our community. Please send your articles to susanaknollshoa@roadrunner.com.
Living With The Wild
Halloween critters!
Ah! It is finally October! Longer autumn nights mean more time for the Creatures of the Knolls to get ready for Halloween!
The spiders are spinning webs, catching all manner of insects (and humans, should they walk through a web delicately straddling the hedges!). The bats are busy into the wee hours, catching hoardes of flying insects, and the coyotes are prowling for meals on heels, noisily celebrating their feasts.
Trees now devoid of leaves form eerie silhouettes against the night sky, casting twisting, turning moonshadows on our twisty, winding roads.
Screams in the night...owls search for nocturnal rodents hapless enough to cross their paths.
And on the ground, male tarantulas gently, ever so gently, knock on the burrows of ever-hungry female tarantulas (pictured above), hoping to find a receptive mate, hanging tight to her fangs lest she should devour her suitor. A new, macabre take on Trick or Treat!
The Knolls is a natural Halloween Haven!
This newsletter is a production of the Santa Susana Knolls Homeowners Association (SSKHA). If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, please let us know. Please share this newsletter with your neighbors. You do not have to be a member of the SSKHA to be on our email list. To subscribe to this newsletter click here. If you are a member of the HOA we really do not want you to unsubscribe but if you must, you can use this link: unsubscribe. The newsletter is produced from the spacious Santa Susana Knolls town center offices at 1409 Kuehner, No. 5, Santa Susana, CA 93063.