XXII. Tree Debacle Caused by Mismanagement

This unsightly mess will be here for at least a year and there is no design plan yet for replanting.

We have heard from many neighbors throughout Dover Bay who are upset about the eyesore on the corner of Lakeshore and Dover Bay Parkway. We wanted to update our community with the facts as we currently understand them:

• At their September meeting, the DBPOA board addressed the mismanagement that resulted in this tree travesty. The DBPOA president said there had been discussions with Bayside South Condos about removal of the trees but nothing had been approved by the Design Review Board (DRB).

• The DBPOA president took little accountability for the debacle--the violation of our CC&Rs that resulted in the cutting down more than 30 trees by Dirk's Tree Care without DRB approval required by our CC&Rs. (Click on link for our previous article.) At the meeting, the president asked Alix Millan of Sentry Management, why the project moved forward without approval.

  
  

• Alix said that the Board had authorized the removal of the trees at their June 9th meeting "to have Bayside South do what they were supposed to do" and that "the board had communicated to her previously" that the Board was "over the DRB." She went ahead with the project doing "what the Board required" of Bayside South.

  
  

• The board president instructed Alix--who also manages Bayside South Condo Association in addition to the DBPOA--that it is important to follow the procedure required by the CC&Rs. But, he said the outcome would not have been any different.

  
  

• Dirk's Tree Care applied the herbicide Sightline, (see page 2, Environmental Hazards) to the stumps, an actual toxin to kill roots. It can harm riparian areas and can contaminate groundwater where the water table is shallow. A license is required to apply the herbicide, and it will take ONE YEAR for the soil in the area to be safe for planting.

• There is confusion as to why the trees were removed in the first place. The current DBPOA president communicated that they were dead and diseased. Others said the trees' roots caused tripping on the pathway. The former DBPOA board president actually instructed the DRB that the post-project arborist report should address "not necessarily the health of the trees" but that they never should have been planted in the location.
  

• Those trees were never planted by the developer. They were existing vegetation that the city of Dover zoning ordinance required to be retained for a visual buffer and screen.

  
  

• According to Dover Bay design standards the trees must be replaced by those of comparable size and maturity.

  
  

• A Bayside South Condo resident on the board said that the leadership of their sub-association has "washed their hands of the project" though it is their common area and the removal of the trees was at their request. She said Bayside South does not want to pay to replace the trees.

  
  

• We have also seen written communications that the board plans to remove more cottonwoods throughout Dover Bay. Read about our Cottonwoods here.

  
  

• The DRB is backfilling now with applications, information and requirements for this project ONLY AFTER THE TREES HAVE BEEN CUT DOWN and the herbicide applied. There has been no apology to the community for this travesty.

  
  

Many members of DBPOA are tired of the Board's over-reach and unilateral decisions that are ruining our Dover Bay community, dividing neighbors and devaluing our investments.

Please help by sending your thoughts, questions and opinions to the DBPOA board by emailing Alix at Amillan@sentrymgt.com. Also we only email 50 people. Please forward our email to your concerned neighbors! Better yet send us your opinion to possibly publish!

The following opinion piece was submitted by Dennis Hall, a former president of the DBPOA who served on the board for more than 6 years. He is a business communications expert who spent years learning the history and governing documents at the foundation of Dover Bay.

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What the actual Hell is going on??

By Dennis Hall

We’ve all driven by the corner of Dover Bay Parkway and Lakeshore to see the latest work of the DBPOA…all the trees next to the Bayside South Condos have been clear-cut, gone, eliminated from existence.

All that’s left are stumps and the strange odor of a poison that was applied to sterilize the ground. Some people living in the adjacent Condo building absolutely hate what’s been done.

In a recent meeting, the DBPOA acknowledged the tree removal happened, but HOA President Peter Anastassiou refused to accept Board responsibility, claiming it was all an unfortunate lack of communication.

The DBPOA, Sentry Management and Bayside South sub-HOA all claimed it was everybody else’s fault.  The Design Review Board, who was supposed to review it, wasn’t even contacted for approval.

The result? An eyesore we get to enjoy for another year until the sterilization poison wears off.

The other result?  The DBPOA expects the entire expensive affair to just go away…disappear into the blue ether. For some reason, they feel they’re not responsible for the unfortunate outcome.

Except…the native trees (not planted) were part of a city requirement to retain the existing trees for the PUD to provide a visual buffer between the road, buildings and electric wires.  The Design Review Board wasn’t contacted for approval and a number of CC&Rs were violated. And if Sentry is operating without adequate guidance, property owners have bigger problems to address.

While Sentry was hired to protect all our property rights, it answers not to the Bayside South sub-HOA, but to the DBPOA.  The DBPOA is supposed to “manage” issues like this and the Design Review Board should give final approval to make sure CC&Rs are observed and it’s all done legally.

The mostly waterfront-living DBPOA Board has projected that they are about $24,000 over-budget on their 2025 legal bills due to their poor decision-making.  That’s $24,000 YOU/WE will pay. 

Possible solutions:

• The DBPOA Board needs to own up to its mistake and pay for the remediation of the treeless site.

• Every member of the DBPOA should actually READ and UPHOLD the CC&R’s, rather than make changes that benefit waterfront board members.

• Dover Bay is home to a large group of intelligent people with varied skill sets…attempts to mislead, ignore or just plain bullshit them just aren’t going to be tolerated.  Please just be honest. 

• Work toward filling the Board with a more representative, more thoughtful Membership that represents ALL neighborhoods…not just the waterfront owners.

This master-planned community is on a much grander scale than most with its diverse properties, neighborhoods and amenities. It requires more complex governance than a typical residential HOA. This is proving to exceed the skillset of the current volunteer board members. 

The current DBPOA’s lack of attention and community knowledge will only create more legal problems, generate more legal fees and result in more division among property owners…unless they’re more accountable and transparent.

While it’s not believed the DBPOA Board members are inherently corrupt or dishonest, they are, at the very least, self-centered, ill-equipped and ill-informed.

Time for a Board that represents us all well.