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| One of Mesa Dunes' most recent newcomers: Rebecca Mora |
The picture they both paint is of a park which has been frequently upgraded and improved over the years and is now unique in location and amenities. To weave together the document provided by Sharon and the interview with Joanne, each will be identified with the information they contributed.
Joanne: In 1998-1999, 118 units were added plus the lower clubhouse and a new sewage treatment facility. This new development also required widening Highway 1 to create a turn lane and lowering the hill. With this expansion, we also focused on upgrading the older section of the park and 42 homes that were not being adequately maintained were replaced. Replacing these units resulted in an increase in value for the entire park.
NOTE: Realtor, Connie Winstead ran a report of all listings since 1999. Here are the median prices and average per square foot prices for each year. It shows the improvement of prices as the park was expanded and improved ... also the decline in prices as the real estate market declined beginning in 2007-2008.
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| Sales in Mesa Dunes 1998 - 2013 |
Sharon: Since 1984 our organization was involved in numerous issues that have affected our residents. Many of the amenities of the Park we all enjoy are here because we fought for them: re-aligned front entrance and added turn lanes (there had been many accidents there and we pushed Cal Trans to put in turn lanes), we worked to get emergency access with a break-away gate near the north-east corner of the Park.
Expansion of the Park (1993-completion) - We worked with Management to fix street lights in the old section, get a park directory, get the name on the front entrance, correct street signs, fix items at Upper Clubhouse, improve drainage problems, etc. Most important: we got them to eliminate 6 proposed home spaces which would have taken away most of the beautiful park area in the center of our development except for the children's play area.
Sharon: We worked to get renovation of the Upper Clubhouse and the addition of a water storage tank to provide water in case of a water outage.
Joanne: We renovated the upper club house and pool area. Tore out the old indoor hot tub, renovated the bathrooms, added new tiling and a concrete deck. Also, the homeowners requested an exercise room and a library so those were added.
Water & Sewer: We also renovated the water holding tank and added a back up reserve tank. We have a geologist who comes out periodically and reads the water table. Just recently we upgraded the sewer system filtration system. This past month we had a water line break (an accidental break caused by a workman). Some residents may have noticed a pressure decrease after this was fixed. The pressure to the water is applied slowly when turning the water back on in order to not blow out faucets and stools.
Sharon: September 2000 - We sought legal help and fought against a Hardship Rent Increase of $50.33 per month that was reduced by the County to a $4.55 increase as most of the charges were related to deferred maintenance.
HOA Contributions: For the last 11 years we have had a December Food and Toy Drive;
we donated hundreds of pounds of food collected to the SLO County Food Bank and many, many toys to the Cal-Fire Toy Drive. In the years since 2000 we have donated about $1800
to the SLO Food Bank, $750 to Meals on Wheels,$775 to Senior Nutrition Programs, $375 to the Battered Women's Shelter, $500 to the SGK Cancer Fund, $250 to the Jacqueline Palchak Cancer Fund, $250 to the Central Coast Kidney Association, $250 to the Oceano Senior Center, $125 to Vets Ride-On, and over $4500 to other local charities, local fire victims, other non-profits, etc. to support our local nonprofits and charities.
HOA Activism: In 2006 we worked with the County on the MH Park Conversion Ordinance. We work continuously with GSMOL & SLOMAP on items of county-wide and state-wide interests to mobile home residents. We distribute flyers and postcards for members to mail when there is a law or regulation we believe would benefit all our residents.
A couple of years ago we joined with other neighbors here on the Mesa to protest the closing of the Halcyon Extension and we attended many meetings when the County was considering traffic circles down at the junction of Hwy 1 and Halcyon Road. In April 2011 wecirculated petitions to stop the Oceano Card Room from moving to the vacant building next to JJ's Market. Residents from Cypress Ridge, Rocking Horse, the Point, and all of the homes near the market were concerned about the possibility of increased crime in our neighborhood from such a business and worried about it being so close to the elementary school.
Sharon thanks Volunteers: In conclusion, there have been many other things we have done over the years. Our volunteers have given hundreds of hours to this community and helped to make it the beautiful place we all enjoy today. I am very proud of all of our volunteers and the things we have accomplished. We have never pushed residents to join the Association; the things we've done were done for everyone who lives here to enjoy.
Joanne: Some of the above expenses were required by the County as part of the expansion but many of them were not "mandatory" but were funded by the owner because of his commitment to creating and maintaining a high quality park. Obviously this was a good business decision, however, it's not a decision that all park owners make.
We recently did a comparable study of other parks and found none that had our level of amenities … two pools, two clubhouses, a spa, exercise room, parks and playgrounds, walking trails, well kept streets and a high standard of maintenance for individual units. All of this keeps our park a great place to live … and maintains the equity we have in our units.
Thanks to both Sharon and Joanne for reminding us of what it takes to create a great place to live.
