In the past, all building plan submittals/approvals have followed a certain process in order to be reviewed and accepted for building in Timber Lakes.  Two sets of plans (prints) were required so that we could use these in determining whether your building project was acceptable to the standards of Timber Lakes CC&R’s and Architectural Control Regulations.  The paper sets were cumbersome, required pick-up and delivery and were somewhat inconvenient.  We had to store these and unfortunately, sometimes they were lost or misplaced by mistake.  Future references to these plans were difficult if they were no longer available.

With the new building season about to start in a few months, we are changing our review process in order to simplify and bring Timber Lakes up to the new ‘electronic’ age.  Just as Wasatch County has gone to electronic submittals, we are doing the same at Timber Lakes.  We believe this will help to expedite the submittal/approval process.

We are now requiring that all plan submittals be in electronic format.  We no longer accept paper submittals (sets of paper drawings).  We ask that you submit your plans to the office electronically (PDFs) by email or a CD delivered to the office.  You will still be required to fill out the required application form as found on the website and provide both the $20 Filing Fee and the $80 Review Fee prior to your plans being accepted for review.

Once we have reviewed your plans, and you have paid the required fees as determined by our review, we can either email the approved drawings back to you or forward them on to the County.  You would be ultimately responsible though for checking with the County to insure that they have received them.

We hope that this new system will streamline the process and be more convenient for all.

Should you have any questions please feel free to email me at buildingplans@timberlakesutah.com.

Rob Roueche’
Board of Directors-Plan Approvals
Timber Lakes Property Owners Association

Change is good, and in this case, the changes benefit all Timber Lakes owners.

At our meeting tonight, we announced that the Board has appointed two new directors to complete the terms of two members who resigned earlier. In addition, several board members received new assignments.

We welcome Andy Berry and Shane Olson to the board and thank everyone who applied to serve. We are glad to have a full board again, and appreciate the willingness of all the applicants to get involved in finding solutions for Timber Lakes.

The specific board assignments, effective immediately, are as follows:

Mike Durr               President, State Fire Liaison

Gary Hume             Vice President of Operations (Roads, Water Company Liaison)

Ole Smith               Vice President of Administration (Wasatch County Liaison, Heber Valley Camp Liaison,
Fire Safety Projects)

John Blickenstaff     Treasurer, Webmaster, Office

Craig Allen              Secretary, Security, Risk Management, Insurance Program

Andy Berry             Safety, Construction Compliance, CC&R Compliance, Annual Meeting

Rondo Fehlberg       Legal Issues

Shane Olson           Construction Compliance, CC&R Compliance, Common Area Improvements

Rob Roueche’          Cabin Plan Approval, CC&Rs, Newsletter

I have served on the Board for two years and as the president of the Association for the past 18 months. I appreciate the support I received from most of you. Although everything that I said or did as President drew criticism from a few owners, many of you expressed your approval of how we are trying to resolve issues. I want to thank those of you who follow the issues and express your opinions. We always make better decisions when we hear from our fellow property owners.

I also want to thank the members of our Board, who work tirelessly to improve the quality of life on the mountain. I appreciate all their hard work and anticipate working with them and our new President to make additional improvements.

I look forward to working with our accountant to complete the process of straightening out our financial records. Our goal is to have sound, appropriate controls for how we purchase goods and services. We also want to provide owners with accurate, timely and relevant information about how our money is spent. This is a crucial, and long-neglected area on which I will now focus.

Thank you,

John Blickenstaff
Treasurer, Webmaster, Office

A Big Thank You to Connie Hadley and Changes in the Timber Lakes Office

The new year always brings change of some type to our lives and this year the Timber Lakes office is participating.

As the new year commences we extend a huge thank you and vote of appreciation to Connie Hadley for serving the Timber Lakes community for the past two years as our office representative.  Connie stepped in during a time of transition and turmoil, and gave us help just when we needed it most.  Now, at the start of 2010, Connie and her husband, LaMar, have put their cabin on the market and have told us that it’s time for her to hang up the saddle.  With her departure we extend a heart-felt thanks for her time and dedication to making Timber Lakes a better place.

Stepping into the office responsibility is our newest Timber Lakes employee, Martha Lackman.  Martha and her husband have been full- time residents on the mountain for the past 10 years and she comes to us with a wealth of experience.  She has been involved in successful advertising and marketing businesses for many years, including work with Clear Channel, Bonneville, and Fox networks.  Martha has a positive can-do attitude and we expect her to be a great presence in the office.  She is now to a position in life where sticking closer to home is an advantage and we look forward to having her handle our office affairs as well as helping in other capacities, where needed, on the mountain.

In an attempt to accommodate the needs of more Timber Lakes residents we are announcing that the office (and Martha) now have new hours, effective immediately, as follows:

• M, Tu, Th, F   8:30 am – 5:30 pm           (lunch 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm)
• Wednesdays   10:00 am – 7:00 pm        (lunch 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm)
• 2^nd Wednesday of each month (date of monthly board meeting) 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
• 1^st Saturday after monthly meeting         9:00 am – 12:00 noon

This new schedule makes the office available to owners into the early evening hours on Wednesday each week, plus offers a morning schedule on one Saturday each month.  We hope this makes things more convenient for everyone.

Once again…..Thanks Connie and welcome Martha.

Ole Smith
VP Administration

Now that the Holiday Season is past, I would like to plead with the certain group of our owners who leave stuff behind for the rest of us to pick up: Please clean up your own trash.

The garbage dumpsters by the mail house are for household garbage only. Every holiday, a few owners get ambitious and do some remodeling or repair work; they then bring their construction project trash to the dumpsters. They read all the dumpster signs that say “Household garbage only” and solve their problem by throwing all their non-complying trash on the ground. Some of them stack it neatly, hoping this will make everybody happy. It doesn’t work.

This year, a thoughtful owner threw an old water heater out there on the ground. Another owner left several boxes and buckets of old metal machine parts. In the past, we have had engine blocks, washing machines, furniture and lots of construction trash left on the ground next to the dumpsters. It appears that some owners believe that a magical trash-eating gnome pops out at night and devours all this stuff.

Do you know how the illegal trash is removed? Your fellow property owners pick it up and take it the Wasatch County Waste Disposal District, where they have to pay to get rid of it for you. This is not fair and we plead with the minority of you that are causing the problem to be considerate of the environment and your neighbors.

You can take large items to the County Waste Transfer Station at 1891 West 3000 South in Heber City. This includes things like washers, dryers, water heaters, couches, refrigerators, tree limbs, construction trash, etc. Generally, the only things they will not take are dirt, rocks, concrete or tree trunks.

Last week, every owner received an invoice that looks like a postcard from the Wasatch County Solid Waste Disposal District. This is the annual bill from the County for taking care of the dumpsters. On this card, in the lower left-hand corner, there are three cleanup punches. If you have this card with you, you can take three (3) loads of trash to the County Transfer Station free of charge, between April 1 and June 30. This is a good bargain and a great way to dispose of items that don’t go in the dumpsters.

Also, as you are well aware, during holiday weekends, we generate more household garbage than can fit in the dumpsters. We try to address this by making sure the dumpsters are empty at the beginning of the weekend, but the fact remains, they fill up before the County can get back here to empty them. When they are full, please DO NOT pile your garbage on the ground. The County does not pay any attention to stuff on the ground. Your fellow property owners have to pick it up and throw it in the dumpsters after you leave. If the dumpsters are full, please take your garbage with you. I know this may seem unfair to the entitled among us, but please be considerate. Your weekend retreat should not require your neighbors to cleanup your garbage because you are too important to bother with it.

Timber Lakes is a great place. Let’s work together to keep it that way.