Agenda from September 19 meeting
Introduction: John Morrison, who made critical design and organizational decisions for Canterwood before the Baker heirs took control, has been researching all available public and partial HOA documents to discover why the Peacock Gate entry was sold off. It was depicted clearly as open space owned by all of us when he left in 1995 after Elbert died. He plans to discuss the entry desecration, new discoveries as to why the STEP owners were dropped from the HOA responsibility, the relevancy for STEP of the collapse of Well #5, the imperative of annexation, what caused the increase in scrutiny at the main gate and why roads for cluster houses are not supported by the HOA.
The meeting is Tuesday, September 19, 2023, starting at 5:30 at the Clubhouse.
Here we go:
My favorite business thinker, Peter Drucker, observed that “the pertinent question for the executive is not how to do things right but to decide what are the right things to do and concentrate resources and effort on the right things to do.”
After reviewing what is left of available documents, I can say the HOA has done a commendable job of managing Canterwood over the past 28 years but a shockingly pathetic job of providing leadership.
When I left after my backer, Elbert Baker, died and the next generation took over, it was crystal clear that the Peacock Entry was entirely the property of the HOA and the Country Club, with the exception of an old house parceled out to John Kerr. (If there had been even a flicker of plans to retain the two lots for future sale, that would have been the legal document to clearly call out that the Development Company was retaining ownership). Kerr was the originator of an equestrian development called Grand Moundes. The long shallow lot on the south was the continuation of the second-growth timber found throughout the area, and the lot to the north, where the logs piles roost, was simply additional entry carrying a connected storm drainage pond and various underground utilities and horse trails connecting to the equestrian trails. I remember with my wife Ronnie buying a deer topiary from Rosedale Gardens that enlivened the area north of the pond.
If you were to study landscape architecture for large developments, you would see that entries are considered to be a way of putting your best foot forward. The larger the planned development, the larger and more eloquent the entry. We were 390 acres with intentions to grow, and I finished at 750. We were by far the largest development in Pierce County, and the new PUD ordinance was adopted with the large equestrian feature in mind. How could anybody have thought that in 2023 we would be daily forced to pass a ridiculous mess and a homeowner’s rural dream, which someday will be filled with three more big boxes with windows?
The only comparison to what happened to us is found in Mexico, where it is standard practice to retain in the fine print the pool or parking structure for a 10-story condominium and then drop it on the new owners that they have a chance to keep the pool they all thought was part of the package for only an additional $50,000 per condo owner. Yes, it is very much like Mexico because we were offered the chance or the right of first refusal by the Canterwood Development Company to buy both lots in the desecration for $300,000. Imagine, in this case, we had just passed the billion-dollar mark in combined tax assessments, and we had the chance to protect the key Peacock entry for $300,000. We may have the broker who represented the Development Company at the September 19th meeting. In directly, I heard the Board passed on this most incredible deal more than once. The reason, of course, is “we are not authorized to make the deal.” Simply incredible.
Look at this fiasco from another perspective. When I was working with the landscape architects on the course and the streets, we had numerous opportunities to create many additional fairway lots. We left, just to the west of the twin ponds, a 3-acre woodland to accentuate the flowing open beauty of the course that you see looking out from the Clubhouse deck. In today’s market, that amounts to 5 lots worth maybe $4.5 million dollars. Why would we make this contribution to the memory of Fredrick Law Olmstead and still intend to defile the Peacock Entry for relative peanuts by selling off the entry someday? Walk along the park that creates the entry on Nuthatch: Imagine 3 additional lots. The point is that my mandate was to create the most beautiful development possible commensurate with a solid middle-class market.
The STEP System: This tale has been told before to the two STEP boards as well as the overall HOA, but a powerful conformity strangles everyone in leadership in Canterwood. STEP is simply the public sewer connecting around 350 of Canterwood’s 750 homes. It got started by the massive failure of the on-site septic system at the Peninsula School complex. I do not remember who initiated the connection to Canterwood, but Mike Wilson, who was the Gig Harbor city manager, has offered to attend our meeting on September 19 so we can ask him. Who brought it up first is not critical, but the point is it was not instigated by Canterwood because even in the 1980s, Cities in Washington were adverse toward any utility extensions outside of city boundaries. With Mike’s leadership, the City agreed to extend, provided we signed repeated guarantees that we would not fight annexation once we were built out. The city also imposed a 50% per month surcharge as an incentive to annex, which has cost STEP members over one million dollars in unfair charges since we tried to annex 12 years ago but were rebuffed by the city council.
The big reason we represented to all buyers going on STEP that annexation would follow and, in the meantime, you would be inside the responsibility envelope of the greater HOA is that STEP problems can be big and complicated. For years, the STEP Board has just refused to acknowledge the potential liability. The first thing the HOA did after I left was repudiate any responsibility for STEP.
Why would the STEP boards not support annexation when all this was known 12 years ago? I believe, once again, the decision-makers in Canterwood hang out together on cold February mornings, drinking coffee at the pro shop, and because of this strong desire to get along with their friends, they have shed any connection to independent thinking. It really boils down to force you find in the Balkans where those who have on-site septic not worrying about their neighbors on STEP. They (STEP Directors) stick to the argument that I am overwrought about the peril because nothing big has happened yet.
But something big did happen last summer. It just didn’t happen to STEP. The number 5 well for Canterwood experienced “a geological event” resulting in water rationing and in the collapse of a few real estate deals. One allowed me to buy a first fairway townhome. I questioned the head of the water department for Penlight, who was very forthright about the likely cause and the eventual solution. I asked if anyone in leadership in Canterwood had interviewed him to find out more about the geological event they reported. Surprisingly, or maybe not surprising at all, no one had even called. I asked, “well, how much did it cost to repair?” and he said he did not have the exact number, but it “was just south of $500,000”. The last time I checked STEP for most of Canterwood had $200,000 in reserves.
Not long ago, the Canterwood Water Company was owned by the Development Company. Imagine, if you have the stomach for it, that they were still in control when the number 5 well failed. Now ponder that our two STEP systems must have over 3 miles of underground piping they are responsible for maintaining. They employ no technicians; they have no equipment and basically know very little compared to the staff at Penlight and Gig Harbor. Suppose a tiny shift in the soil after a long rain combines with the disruption caused by a massive horizontal drilling operation in the area (how about the new gas lines being installed), and the entire system, excluding Division 12, is shut down. That moment, your tanks start filing, and the fur starts flying. Subcontractors are frantically called, and the finger-pointing begins. One of the STEP members files suit that they were told they were part of the HOA and when did it change. Another goes directly against the Board, charging that they ignored this problem on the horizon and how in the world could the Board, fully aware that this system should be the City’s responsibility, had not pushed for annexation to avoid the giant predicament we are now in?
When the STEP was jettisoned from the HOA, there was no attempt to understand the point of view of our friends and neighbors who were on STEP. There was a comment that Mr. Boyce, who was working for the HOA as a manager, argued that it was unfair to STEP members to be cast out of the larger group. There was no discussion about what was promised by us or what makes sense as an integrated community. I have seen this callous attitude toward all the sub-groups inside Canterwood who are expected to pay full dues as HOA members but to be strictly on their own when it comes to cost sharing. This is what happens when one group has more devotion to controlling the BOD and there is no leadership willing to speak for our common good.
Annexation: We collected signatures around 2012 to begin the process. The city council simply did not want to dilute their power by bringing in a large group of “type A Republicans “and simply sand bagged the effort by hiring an outside consultant who came up with a number of bogus extra costs for the City. Because we mistakenly allowed our BOD to represent us, there was no advocacy for those seeking annexation, and the process was tabled. If we had achieved annexation, the Peacock Entry would still be its lovely sylvan self, and the STEP would be owned and operated by the City.
We are still extremely lucky to have an outstanding consultant, Mike Wilson, who was the city manager of Gig Harbor during the years when I was building Canterwood. Mike will present an overview and cover questions. Mike has no connection to me and provides a first-class representation of the issues for no charge because he feels strongly that it is in the best interest of Canterwood and Gig Harbor. I urge you to study our revived Annex Canterwood site for a comprehensive look at the issues.
Incidentally, certain residents never cease harping that I will benefit from the 40 acres, and I will even add another 5 acres that will dramatically increase in value after annexation. I have never hidden the fact of ownership. What outcome could be better for Canterwood than to have the property bordered on two sides by Canterwood be made as part of Canterwood with a low-density old Canterwood beauty? Every other alternative would entail denser housing or luxury condos. No one can say I have slacked off in any of my efforts to enhance Canterwood.
New Main Gate Protocols: The greatly stepped-up gate screening is a giant nuisance for everyone. Imagine with endless deliveries (every year, online shopping increases) combined with sharing the gate with a separate entity that wants availability for the public; what a burden the BOD dropped on the community. The actual security threat to Canterwood is the rare but dangerous situation when a crime against property requires immediate police action. We rely on the Sheriff’s Department, so thinly covered in Pierce County that nobody comes at all for most situations. If we were part of Gig Harbor, we would have a real police force like the residents of Fircrest and Gig Harbor enjoy. Our annexation would create additional income covering the new hire of three police officers, just another example of the BOD’s inability to see the right thing to do for Canterwood.