The Board regularly communicates with the owners and will use this website to provide interim updates on topics of interest to the owners. Some of the most recent letter to owners are listed in the box to the right. In addition, a number of relevant documents are posted on this site for easy access. See the box to the right. To obtain a copy of other Association records, please call CAMCO at (800) 916-2262. Peter Miller will provide copies by e-mail or US Mail.

Current Events (January, 2009)

The next meeting of the Ski Trails Condominium Owner's Association Board will be on January 21st at 12:00Noon at NOLA http://www.nolas.com/ in Palo Alto. Homeowners are invited to attend the meeting. Homeowners should feel free to address any questions that have to the Board via e-mail (Board@SKITRAILSCONDOASSOCIATION.COM) or in person at the meeting. You can attend either physically or by phone at 559 733-6743. If you plan to attend, please let Peter Miller peter@camcotruckee.com know so that arrangements can be made. The agenda for this meeting begins with a review and approval of the 2007-2008 audited financial statements. We will then move to discussing the various replacement plans that are proposed and/or in progress. There will be a discussion of unapproved venting. The meeting will end with a review of the status of our agreement with Northstar and maintenance plans for the winter and spring. There will be a time for homeowner comments.

Past Events and Other Information

Ski Trails Owners Annual Meeting

The Ski Trails Annual Homeowners Meeting was held from 1-3 PM at the NPOA Adult Clubhouse on Saturday, August 30. The Ski Trails Board (as it has done for the last several years) sponsored breakfast on Saturday morning around the picnic tables on the new path between North Coyote Fork and Northstar Drive. There was Coffee, Juice and Muffins and an opportunity to talk to your neighbors and Board members from 8:30 to 10AM.

In July, the Board of Directors approved the Operating Budget for fiscal 2008 / 2009. Due to inflation, an increase in maintenance costs as our buildings age and the need to keep a reasonable level of funding for our replacement fund, there was a 10% increase to the monthly assessment for fiscal 2008 / 2009. A total of $581.84 from your assessments will be used to fund the Replacement Fund in 2008 / 2009. No special assessment is planned for the year.

July 10 Ski Trails Board Meeting

The last meeting of the Ski Trails Board was a telephone meeting on 10 July at 4:30PM. The agenda for that meeting is posted on this website.

July 29 Ski Trails Board Meeting

The last meeting of the Ski Trails Board was a telephone meeting on 10 July at 4:30PM. The agenda for that meeting is posted on this website.

August 30 Ski Trails Board Meeting

TheSki Trails Board held a meeting on 30 August at 12:000Noon at the NPOA Clubhouse. The agenda for the meeting is posted on this website. The key topic for this meeting was preparation for the Annual Homeowners' meeting.

Water Heaters

Last year, one second floor Ski Trails Condo had a slow leak from its water heater that caused significant water damage to the unit below it. Fortunately, much of the cost of the damage was covered by insurance, but the use of the downstairs unit was lost for a significant period of time due to mold having to be removed from the affected area. The water heaters in these units, especially if they have not been replaced, are will outside their expected lifetime. It is wise to have the heater inspected and to insure that a drip pan is installed below the heater to catch any slow leaks.

The Board has been asked about replacing the current water heaters with Tankless Water Heaters. Tankless water heaters cannot share a vent with any other device, such as a furnace, as the current water heaters do. In fact they seem to require special vent piping due to the condensation that occurs with this type of heater. There is also concern about the production of carbon monoxide from the vent. It seems that the preferred method of venting for the tankless water heater is a horizontal pipe of short length. Because the water heaters are all located (as are the furnaces) near the entrances of the units, these vents would be on the entry sides of the buildings. Therefore, the Board is looking at where the vents could go and how would they change the facade of the building. Finally, it appears that installing a gas tankless water heater may require a larger bore gas line than is currently installed for the water heater. The cost of replacing this line could make installation of the gas tankless water heater not be cost effective.

Fall Activity 2007

It was a quiet fall at Ski Trails at Northstar. Outdoor construction works has ground to a halt with the annual October 15 deadline to complete grading activities. The permits for the walkway to the Village did not arrive in time to complete that construction so it is now scheduled for next spring, after the May 1 grading start-up date.

Annual Condo Owners Meeting

The annual Ski Trails Condo Owners Meeting was held on Saturday, September 1 from 1:00 PM to 3:00PM at the Adult Clubhouse of the Northstar Swim and Raquet Club. The agenda was posted on this website. The meeting discussed the actions of the Board and described several upcoming opportunities for Ski Trails. The architectural committee described the "look" which is being proposed for future updates to the Ski Trails property, whether from the replacement fund or by other funding. There was a discussion of parking in the Ski Trails parking lots and a number of opinions were expressed. The Board continues to work toward finding a workable solution the keeps unwanted visitors out of our parking lots. Director-at-large, Gavin Moynahan, retired after a number of years of much appreciated service and Glenn Steiner was elected to fill the spot which Gavin vacated.

Lighted Path to the Village

As part of our Final Agreement with Trimont Land Company et al, there was an agreement that Trimont would build a lighted, all weather path to the Village. We had several meetings that developed a plan for that path to the Village. We have identified a route that is likely to be safe and usable through out the year.This route is shown, in detail, via this link.. This plan has be submitted to Placer County for construction approval. (When you open this link, use your vertical scroll bar to move the diagram up until you can see both the Coyote Fork and Ski View parking lots, and move the diagram to the right until the path is centered in the window.

Ideas for Architectural Improvements are surfacing

Last October, the Board approved a contract with Brendan Riley, an associate in the Ryan Group Architectural firm in Truckee. Brendan undertook to provide some ideas for improving the exterior image of our units that could be reviewed by the Architectural Committee. In May, The Architectural Committee met and discussed these ideas and selected some of them for further refinement. The goal is to be able to have a discussion of the range of options and costs at the Annual Meeting on Sept 1. This range also includes a range of costs. Recall that we were looking for an overall design plan that could be followed as we do normal maintenance and replacement of deteriorating parts of the buildings. For example, roof replacements are coming up within the next 10 years.

The Board has also been, with the help of Peter Miller of CAMCO, investigating ways to reduce the cost of preventing the pipes that go through the crawl spaces of our building from freezing. Currently, we heat the entire crawl space and that is very expensive. We are discussing using heat tape on the pipes, together with pipe insulation over the heat tape, to reduce the heating costs. This has been tried in two of our buildings and they show reduced electricity costs. The Board is reviewing bids to install the heat tape and insulation.

Agreement signed with Trimont Land Company, Booth Creek and Northstar

In July 2006 we announced a tentative settlement agreement. Since that time, your Board, the principles from Booth Creek and the attorneys from both sides have been working to produce a final written settlement agreement. Like many tentative agreements, there were unforeseen details that needed to be filled in and the wording had to be reviewed by both sides. This process has recently completed. We are pleased to announce that a written agreement was signed, by both sides on January 16, 2007 and that our lawsuit and their counter claims will be dismissed by Jan 19. The settlement is in written form because the issues involve property and because the participants want to replace and remove the confusing documents that lead to some of the problems to date so that our successors are not faced with these problems at some time in the future.

The agreement document is somewhat lengthy, having 7 pages; therefore, the key aspects of the agree are broadly outined below:

1. Liability - Trimont Land Company will provide an agreement to defend, indemnify, hold harmless and insure Ski Trails for any lawsuits, claims or settlements arising out of its operations on the areas within the easements, excepting any acts of misconduct, recklessness, or negligence by Ski Trails, its individual members, or its agents. Its operations of the areas include usage by the owners, employees and clients (e.g. skiers) of Trimont Land Company.
2. Use of Village Express and Gondola Easements - In return for some broad limits on the use of these lifts, we agreed to drop any other constraints on what the lifts could be used for. The broad limits primarily control the hours of use, but Northstar will also undertake actions to reduce the noise generated by the lifts and the people using the lifts.
3. Skier Tunnel into the Village - The Ski Trails Board agreed to grant an option for an easement for a skier tunnel between the end of Home Run and the new Village. The easement will exist only if Trimont Land Company builds the tunnel. In compensation for this grant, Trimont Land Company agrees to construct, within two years after the agreement is signed, a lighted path to the Village and Ski-in/ski-out access to north Coyote Fork (that Northstar will maintain as it does Condo Run). Should the skier tunnel be built, and only in that case, Trimont Land Company further agrees to make payments worth a total of about $740,000 over the twenty years following initiation of construction of the tunnel.
4. Adaptive management - There is a clause in the agreement that provides procedures to work out any problems that may arise in the future in a timely way. The intent of this clause is to insure that both sides work together to resolve issues before they become problems.

Ski-in/out to North Coyote Fork

In conjunction with the negotiations for the final written agreement, we had some joint meetings that developed a proposed plan forthe ski in/out to North Coyote Fork. With respect to the ski in/out trail to North Coyote Fork, the trail would primarily follow natural cuts in the existing forest and would end at the North Coyote Fork parking lot.

The Architectural Committee.

At the Board meeting on May 27th, 2006, the Board approved a motion to create an Architectural Committee. The purpose of this committee is to consider all the issues that will reflect on the appearance of the units, such as roof replacements, window replacements, the cement blocks, etc. and lay out a plan for making our units better match the new Northstar style. That is, the role of the committee will be to develop a plan for architectural enhancements and changes that will upgrade our units to current Northstar architectural standards and do so staying within the constraints of our budget and reserve funds. The committee has solicited architectural ideas from a Tahoe area architectural firm and expects to have their proposal for discussion at the up-coming Ski Trails Board meeting.