In October 2021, the Sudden Valley Community Association’s (SVCA) Board of Directors voted to approve a change to the current structure of the transfer fee charged to the buyer of the sale of real property sold within the Association. The transfer fee was last revised in 2016. At that time, it was revised to be comprised of the following two elements: (1) a base fee of $125, and (2) ¼ of 1% of the sales price of the real property. In October, the second element of this transfer fee (¼ of 1% of the sales price of the real property) was discontinued by the SVCA Board of Directors for all real property transactions that close on or after January 1, 2022, and the amended transfer fee will now exclusively be a base fee of $125.

There was some lively debate within the community regarding the Board’s decision on this matter. As a result, I felt that some additional context could help provide the membership better insight into this decision. The Association’s attorney has written a memo that I would like to share with the membership to help everyone better understand the circumstances of the decision. Please see the attached memo from Richard Davis, dated Jan. 4, 2022 regarding the transfer fee.

The Board also made the decision to develop a program that would provide refunds to individuals that paid the 1/4 of 1% portion of the fee. The details of this refund program are still being developed in conjunction with the General Manager, Accounting Manager, and the Association’s attorney. Additional details will be shared as they become available, and we appreciate your patience while we continue to develop and implement the refund program.

AJ Tischleder, SVCA Board President

It seems as though SSC has been able to reach most of Sudden Valley’s residents for garbage collection today. However, we are learning that they couldn’t reach quite everybody today.

Sudden Valley Community Association will open the Area Z Maintenance location on Lake Louise Road this coming Monday, January 10th for garbage drop-off. The hours for this drop-off will be from 9am to 3pm. If you were missed today, please bring your bags of garbage to Area Z and we can dispose of it for you.

Recycling and garbage collection should continue normally next Friday (and hopefully we’ll have a reprieve from the weather).

Update: We’ve just learned an additional option is to take garbage to SSC’s facility at F Street and Roeder in downtown Bellingham. They will not charge for this drop-off.

Friday’s garbage pickup with SSC is still happening. If you have additional trash from last week’s missed pickup, please put that out with your regular garbage and SSC will collect it at no additional fee.

They will get to everything that they possibly can reach with their trucks. If there are any cases where they cannot collect, we ask that residents keep an eye on the website or our Facebook page for updates on how to safely dispose your trash. We are aiming to have a solution in place for the weekend should there be any missed collections.

One of the reasons we’ve been able to keep SSC on schedule here is due to the great results we are seeing from our snow removal teams. Snow crews have been working hard since Christmas and we greatly appreciate all of their efforts.

Like many parts of Whatcom County, the “Cascade Cement” type of hard packed snow is causing some challenges for our snow removal teams. Crews will be working on trouble spots such as snow berms and persistent hard-pack that may have formed in places. They will be working into the evening tonight and start again early tomorrow morning.

Please, continue to exercise caution if you need to venture onto the roadways as conditions can vary around the County. Should the forecast hold, it appears we are nearing the end of this long snow event.

Thanks to the snow, we were able to see some cougar tracks in Sudden Valley this morning.

Sudden Valley resident Eric submitted this picture taken by his wife near the Community Center (Dance Barn). Please take care when encountering any of the local wildlife. If you want more information, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has an excellent website that includes tips about living with wildlife. The entry for cougars is linked here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/puma-concolor#conflict.

Take care and be safe!

Garbage pickup that was interrupted last week should resume normally this Friday (1/7). If you have additional garbage, you can leave the extra bags with your normal trash and SSC will collect it at no additional cost.

Please do not come down to Area Z to dump garbage during an active snow event as this could create unsafe conditions for snow removal crews and residents.

Time is Running Out

It is not too late to apply for one of the two open SVCA Board of Directors seats. Don’t delay. Make your application a New Year Resolution. The application period ends Tuesday January 11, 2022 at 2:00 pm .

The two open director positions will be filled by appointment.   Candidate interviews and appointment will be held at the January 13, 2022 Board meeting. The positions are for 1 year terms ending immediately following the 2022 Annual General Meeting.

Members interested in serving should complete a Candidate Application and Disclosure Jan 2022 BOD Vacancy form. The form is available for download linked here. Paper application forms can be found in the pamphlet file at the Administration Office.

Instructions are provided with the application form. Contact BODAlyanak@suddenvalley.com if you have any questions or need additional information on how to submit the application form.  Applications will be accepted until Tuesday January 11, 2022 at 2:00 PM. Don’t miss this opportunity to represent your community and work with our new General Manager.