I. Board decisions in 6B will impact you

Many property owners in Dover Bay have become increasingly alarmed about decisions being considered by the current Board of the Dover Bay Property Owners Association (DBPOA) that could affect your property.

Your road may be impacted by their decisions so we are providing you some background on what your neighbors in Block 6B (Slaveck, Spangle and Bergstrom) are doing to stop the nonsense.

Some Historical Background

When the Dover Bay Plan Unit Development (PUD) was established, the maintenance costs for the roads, trails and common areas in the neighborhoods without sub-associations were all covered under each lot owner’s quarterly dues to the DBPOA. That practice has continued for 19 years. 

The Developer had established a dues system that included an Assessment in Lieu of Taxes (AIL) based on property values and a Property Management fee (PM) -- the dues structure for the maintenance and care of the streets, roads, trails and common areas throughout the PUD. In the summer of 2023, new DBPOA board members, many of whom owned high-value properties that were located on the river or on Browns Inlet, were determined to remove the AIL. They sought legal counsel (at the expense of DBPOA members) and said they had legal approval to suspend the AIL from the dues method that has been in place since 2005.

Once they removed the AIL, this board began to look for ways to offset the costs of maintaining the PUD. One solution was to begin deferring road maintenance costs on owners of properties on, what they consider, "private roads" where property lines extend into the streets adjacent to their lot. Those properties are on Olson Drive, Eskridge Pl, Opal Ct, Shannon Lane, Bergstrom, Slaveck, and Spangle.

Further, the board has indicated that the financial obligations on these owners could eventually include repaving and repairing the so-called private roads, already in disrepair after decades of public and commercial use.

How It Affects You

For nearly two decades these so-called “private” streets have been maintained by the DBPOA as well as the trails and common areas located there. The board now wants lot owners to take over the maintenance of these streets where their lot lines fall, adding costs beyond the dues we pay. In total, there are more than 60 properties/lots whose owners would be impacted by the actions of this board.

Those of us that own properties on these roads pay plenty of dues to take care of roads, common areas and public trails now and in the future. We do not need the other home services that the five neighborhoods with sub-associations pay for with their sub-association dues, i.e. home maintenance, home staining, lawn care, etc. We have faithfully paid our dues, some for more than a decade, for very limited services. Part of those monies have gone into DBPOA reserves and should go towards the repair of our roads.

Property owners in Block 6B have been working for more than a year with our own attorney to stop the board from pushing us to form a sub-association and from imposing additional maintenance fees (for snowing plowing, mowing common areas and eventually repaving.) This is important to you because if Block 6B succumbs to the DBPOA over-reach on this issue, property owners on Eskridge, Opal, Shannon and Olson will be affected by the board’s flawed plan. We thought it would help if you were aware of what we are doing about it. 

Efforts and a Recommendation

Ten property owners in Bayside

South Homes (Block 6-B) have sought counsel to determine if the actions of this board are legal.  You will find our attorney’s letter HERE. It was sent to the DBPOA board and explains (on the second page) the “course of practice” of the maintenance of our roads and common areas. The letter also explains that our neighborhood never agreed to establish an unnecessary sub-association with the limited services we receive and was/is therefore managed by the master Association.

In July of 2024 the Roads and Trails committee, a group of neighbors from several areas in Dover Bay, was organized by the board to make recommendations for how to care for roads, trails and common areas. The committee unanimously supported a recommendation for a universal road maintenance plan in Dover Bay. At that meeting, the DBPOA board president said he needed to investigate this idea with the association’s law firm, Smith + Malek. 

After repeated requests for an update on the committee’s recommendation, eight months later neither the DBPOA president nor the DBPOA board have followed through on a legal opinion of this recommendation. The committee has not met again since last July and since then, has had no input from the committee members. 

How the Committee’s Recommendation Helps

The committee’s recommendation, a universal road maintenance plan for all roads, which would include our roads as well as those within the sub-associations, would maintain the course of practice that has been in place for nearly two decades. The recommendation would benefit the entire community with equal assessments and a uniform quality of care. It brings the community closer to the “uniform rate of assessment” (CC&Rs article 7.5) that the board sought in the elimination of the AIL. It will bring all residents including those on arterials and so-called public streets closer to paying for their roads (that we help pay for) with that uniform rate.

The recommendation would also help sub-associations by diminishing their sub-association road maintenance costs (excluding private driveways and parking spaces) and all those neighborhoods without a sub association. Why put the burden on 60 properties? Why not help everyone? That is fair to all friends and neighbors.

Please understand this critical point. If we, as Block 6B property owners, agree to a separate assessment for the maintenance of our roads and common areas, or even agree to forming a sub-association, then we will forfeit our legal position of "course of practice.” By our actions we would agree to a new "practice" going forward, changing the agreements we understood when we purchased our properties.

The 6B property owners who have taken action do not want this issue to escalate and end up in the courts. But, we should be heard by the DBPOA. And, we are concerned that it will affect your properties. 

Neighborhoods Would Be Siloed

The Dover Bay PUD was never established as separate, siloed neighborhoods, to fend for themselves. The Board’s attempts could result in owners installing gates to protect “private” roads from public use and damage, thus forming veritable enclaves. The Dover Bay we all enjoy was established as a resort community that allowed owners to purchase properties in neighborhoods with the specific amenities they valued and that warranted their investment in dues.

We hope this information helps you. The more people who object, the better.

If you object, please express your unique concerns directly to the board. It is critical that the board hears from you. Please tell them how their decisions affect your property.

Some relevant points to help you:

1. As an owner on a so-called private road without a sub-association, DBPOA is your governing board as they have been for 19 years. They are therefore responsible for the maintenance of your road.

3. Your road is completely open and used by Dover Bay residents, visitors, public traffic and pedestrians and commercial traffic.

4. After all the use and traffic, your road should be maintained and repaired as you have paid your dues for many years.

5. And, if you would, please ask the board to consider the Roads and Trails committee recommendation to cover all (universal) road maintenance in Dover Bay. Ask them to reconvene the committee to hammer out the details to benefit the entire community.

Contact the board by sending an email c/o Alex Millan at amillan@sentrymgt.com and asking her to forward the message to the board.

Thanks for your help and concern as a neighbor in Dover Bay,

Several Bayside South Homes (6B) Residents

If you would like to know more about our efforts, just click on Info Access.