Oyster Harbor Citizens Association ~~~ Annapolis, Maryland ~~~ Our Association: President's Report

Our Association

President's Report

ian mackinnon March 2010 —Well at last Spring seems to be on the way. Hurrah! As you can imagine the snow has slowed down our road, drainage and bulkhead repair projects apart from causing individual chaos.

Our contractor Jose Lemus did an outstanding job in clearing the snow. After the second fall, neighbor, Jim Sturman from Shore Drive helped to move snow around to clear road junctions and excessive build up in neighbor’s drives using a backhoe and bobcat. We are very grateful for their efforts. Individual members helped less able neighbors to clear drive ways and we are very grateful for their assistance. What a great community we live in.

On the roads project, the permit application has been submitted to the county for the drainage work and as soon as the snow clears we can start resurfacing. The cold has caused a rapid deterioration of our roads and we are fortunate we have a strong balance sheet and can react quickly to these unforeseen events.

We have been focused on the compromised bulkhead at the entrance to Oyster Creek. We now have 4 bids for the work and are waiting for one more. When we know exactly what we are going to do we will contact Venice and Highland Beach leadership to discuss their contribution to the repairs.

We are getting a quote for extending the beach wall at Shore Drive up to the vacant lot. This will ensure that sand does not get into our new swales when they are redone later this year. Later in the newsletter, Dan Craig gives a detailed report from the beach committee including some new rules to help us all enjoy our common resource.

This newsletter (March 2010) is first one to carry paid ads. If you object to ads please send a note to Claire in the office.

I apologize to any community members who sent us e-mails over the last two weeks as our community computer crashed and e-mails were lost. We are now up and running.

Finally, our thoughts go out to board member Bob Eyster over the tragic death of his daughter, Becky.

Best wishes for an enjoyable Spring.
Sincerely,
Ian MacKinnon
President

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November 2009—On page 3 of this newsletter [November 2009, ed.] you will find an opportunity to vote to change the charter of Oyster Harbor. We need to change the charter to allow us to develop, buy and sell property and to potentially raise a mortgage. Many residents and property owners over the past several years have expressed interest in developing the community’s lot on Harbor Road; others have talked about selling it to give the community the opportunity to invest in purchasing other property. In addition, we’ve heard several residents inquire about our ability to "buy" a home here in the community and use it for a clubhouse. None of these options can be pursued, however, until we, as a community, change the county tax charter.

Your board is unanimous in urging you to sign the form and return it to our community manager as soon as possible. I stress that signing the form will give our community an opportunity to develop more facilities but absolutely does not commit us to any expenditure or decisions on expenditures—no decisions can be made without OHCA approval.

Ian MacKinnon
President