Attendance: Board Offiders: President Dan Wexler, Treasurer Ron Kolbe, Secretary Pat Malberg,

Board Members: Starr Hurley, Sara Taillon, Jim Thomson, John Kirrene

Guests: Terry Tuggey, Pat Rogers, Dick Mead, Ed Hurley, Steve Cook, Maria Montano

(Note: items marked with * involve some action by the person named.)

1. 501(c)(3) Status: DSAA has received non-profit organization status from the Secretary of State’s office, id. #2801828. Sara’s neighbor, Bob Williams, is an attorney who has offered to help gratis in any legal matters, such as obtaining tax exempt status. His email address is robert.j.williams@excel.com It was suggested we ask him to draft a standard Sunshine Act letter for use in requesting data for our demographic and development studies.

2. Donner Trail School: Maria Montano, 7-year resident of Serene Lakes with two children, one who attended the school and has now gone on to Middle School, and the other currently enrolled at Donner Trail, reported on the school’s status. Last May was the most serious threat to its continued existence because of funding issues. A local task force was formed at the time and it now seems less likely the school will close. The Superintendent’s focus group is scheduled to hear a presentation on October 24 regarding demographics, and Maria is part of the committee responsible for that material – she requested input from anyone who has access to demographic information. The school is conducting a survey of households with student-age and younger children. *Dan Wexler volunteered to make the presentation to the focus group. It appears the school is safe through the 2006-07 school year; with a new Board President there is less pressure to close, but the allowed number of students has been raised to 65-67 so as to meet the average cost per student that is standard for the entire district.

This brought up the point that more statistical information about the area covered by DSAA should be sought. It would also be good to know how much money from the growing property tax income is going to support schools.

3. Logo Contest: Sara reported that the contest has begun; there has been one entry only thus far. There will be a Thanksgiving event at Donner Trail School which might be a good opportunity to promote the contest and get kids involved. There are also raffle tickets available for that event.

4. Treasurer’s Report: No change from last meeting

5. President’s Report: Todd and Mark Foster (same family as that which founded/developed Foster City) and other partners have purchased all of Royal Gorge’s holdings (the management of Royal Gorge will remain the same) and Rancho Monterrey, over 3000 acres in all, including Ice Lakes Lodge (pending), Rainbow Lodge, the land behind Hillside (which is planned for additional development), Parcel 35, on the other side of Soda Springs Road, up to the top of Crow’s Nest and all of Lake Van Norden. They also own the bottom of Ice Lakes and some of Negro Canyon on the other side of Donner Summit. The Foster-et-al holdings also include the commercial property next to the flashing light in Soda Springs. There is also an offer on Soda Springs Ski Resort. There is acreage zoned multi-family which includes the meadow and behind Hillside, which could sustain 2000 – 3000 units, but the sewage system is at full capacity. Todd Foster owns a house in Sugar Bowl, has for a long time, and he states his interest is in maintaining the “beauty of the land”. With future development, there will be a need to address traffic concerns, which will probably involve establishing another route in and out of Serene Lakes, probably with a continuation of the county road through to Cisco. If Crows Nest is to be developed it will require access permits from USFS. Sugar Bowl has talked of placing a lift on Crows Nest, and the question is whether it will be developed on the back side as well.

Terry gave Dan the lease agreement for Royal Gorge’s Cross Country permit, which expires this year, as well as the parcel maps for the area.

*Starr will inquire about Sugar Bowl’s plans for development and the overlap of that with the plans of the new owners.

*Terry suggests consulting with Todd Foster to get the facts about their plans (not just the rumors) and to publish this for general knowledge; also, it would indicate DSAA’s desire to be good neighbors, as the organization represents a much larger area than SLPOA, for example.

*Terry will follow up with USFS to find out if they have been contacted regarding any new development in the area.

Again, the subject of the need for data came up, both for Donner Trail School and for DSAA interests. This could be obtained from the tax base, population figures, traffic plans (EIR for Royal Gorge), trail studies – i.e., obtaining a trail counter from USFS – and traffic counts. One can rent counting strips (so as to have the count be certified) and set them up, for example, two weekends/year, one in summer and one in winter; perhaps this can be done through the county representatives. Other sources of data might be the real estate offices.

*Dan stated that a committee is needed for this project.

*Sara will contact both counties, via email to begin with, to see what is available in regards to data mentioned above. Another study that would be worthwhile is traffic on old 40 by Rainbow Lodge (or Rainbow Bridge?).

*Don will contact USFS to see how they get their numbers regarding usage of trails.

*John will contact the Supervisor about getting a crosswalk at the General Store and a sign that requests “Yield for Pedestrians”.

6. Community Development Plan: Dan urged that we get started on this sooner rather than

later, given the rapid changes that are occurring in the area. Starr stated the existing

economic development plan could be used as a template and starting point for the process and suggested that we host a workshop.

*Dan volunteered to take the ED plan and cut out all the text, leaving nothing but the headings, so that we could fill in details as our discussions progress.

*Pat will research the Sierra Nevada Alliance and Sierra Business Council for grants to help create and carry on the study. Also, she and Don will contact Perry Norris from Truckee Donner Land Trust to inquire about grants and for information as to how they went about securing land/rights for the Donner Lake Rim Trail.

Jim handed out information about the Tahoe-Truckee Community Foundation Grants which he obtained from their website. The next deadline for grant applications is on January 17, 2006. We might consider writing a grant for any or all of the following: a local newspaper, the development plan, trail usage count.

John mentioned the boulders that have been placed in Cisco Grove in preparation for their building of a community park by the river, with grant money.

Pat mentioned that Placer Legacy might be a source of land set-aside for a park for Soda Springs.

7. Meeting Dates and Frequency

Steve requested that some of the meetings be held on weekends so that second home-owners might attend and participate. It was agreed that “general” meetings should be held quarterly, on a weekend, and that monthly board meeting should be called Working Meetings, with the clear intention of having them open for attendance by members and interested parties.

In order to encourage everyone to consult the website, we might consider another mailer and ask for membership, now that we are a 501(c)(3) organization. We might also ask that a flyer with that information be inserted into the DSPUD, electrical and phone bills, and the SLPOA newsletter.

*Starr will contact the phone and electric companies to request the insert.

*Dan will contact the DSPUD about the insert, and also inquire about vacancies on the board – which seats are coming vacant and what the requirements are for candidates. He will also request a copy of their bylaws.

*Jim and Ron will send announcements to the local papers – Truckee Trader, The Lowdown, The Sierra Sun -- and post an announcement at the General Store.

There was discussion following Terry’s offer to deliver flyers door-to-door in Serene Lakes; the conclusion was that it might not be the right time now, between seasons.

*Sara will cost out the printing and paper for the flyer and add a tear-off membership form to it.

8. Next Meeting

The next “working meeting” will be on Thursday, November 3, at Ice Lakes Lodge.

*Maria will ask Susan Phoebus about use of the Donner Trail School gymnasium for a general meeting, and another possibility is the Auburn Ski Club. In the interim, we will explore locations and announce at our next meeting when and where the next general meeting will be held.

The following “working meeting” is planned for Thursday, December 1, place to be announced.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15.

Respectfully submitted by Pat Malberg, Secretary.

The Donner Summit Area Association just received its official non-profit status as a 501.C3 corporation! We can now accept tax-deductible donations and membership fees. You can even sign up online via the Amazon Honor System, but please make sure to send us your info so we have a record of your payment (anonymous by default). Without a record, your donation is not tax-deductible.

You can also join by sending us a check via USMail at P.O. Box 674, Soda Springs, CA 95728. Or feel free to stop by our next Working Meeting on November 3rd, at 6:30pm at the Donner Summit Lodge (DSL).

I've added links to the Serene Lakes Zoning (Big PDF file) map and the USFS Property map, which shows which parcels in our region are owned by the USFS and which are privately held.

A new T-Mobile cell tower was just erected adjacent to the Soda Springs Ski Resort maintaining shed. The tower is designed to look like a tree, similar to the one behind Safeway in Truckee. Although this is below the ridge leading into Serene Lakes, it should help improve reception both in Van Norden/Soda Springs and Serene Lakes (according to the non-T-Mobile contractor who was sitting in his truck next to the pole).

All of the holdings of Royal Gorge and all of the Rancho Monterrey land and the Ice Lakes Lodge have been sold to a new company headed by Todd and Mark Foster and Kirk Syme. It is unclear, but it seems that this same group also may be in negotiations to purchase the Soda Springs Ski Resort and additional commercial property in Soda Springs. The Fosters also own a house in Sugar Bowl.

Royal Gorge, Ice Lakes Lodge and Rainbow lodge will continue to be open under the current management for the foreseeable future.

The Fosters are grandsons of Jack Foster of Foster City and manage Foster Enterprises while Kirk Syme manages Woodstock Development in Burlingame (no website!).

The Rancho Monterrey properties include large parcels of land adjacent to Soda Springs Road leading up past Bogus Basin to Crow's Nest and down into Van Norden. It also includes land to the west of Hilside adjacent to the Summit Station and going down toward Long Lake. In total, the purchase includes approximates 3000 acres.

The DSAA is trying to set up a meeting with these new owners to hear a bit more about their plans. Over the next year, the DSAA is developing a Community Development Plan which will try to express the desires of the community to help guide new projects. We hope to work with developers, residents, and business and homeowners in this process with the goal of improving our region in a manner that benefits everyone.

More details and conjecture to follow after the next DSAA board meeting on Thursday, October 6th at Ice Lakes Lodge (open to the public). Just the facts for now. The Sierra Sun has an article on the deal as well.