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Sudden Valley reports about $300,000 in windstorm cleanup so far; board to revisit possible assessment in January
Summary
General Manager Michael Bennett reported $266,395 spent on outside vendors for hazardous-tree removal and roughly $40,000 on roadside cleanup, with additional pending costs. The board previously authorized up to $479,000; staff will return with a refined estimate at the Jan. 23 meeting.
General Manager Michael Bennett updated the Sudden Valley board on costs incurred to date from the recent windstorm. Bennett said outside vendors—xpenses for hazardous-tree removal total $266,395 and roadside cleanup has cost roughly $40,000, putting the association—xpenditures just over $300,000 so far. He said the operations team had processed 244 tree requests and that 154 of those had been resolved internally by association crews.
The board had previously authorized up to $479,000 to fund storm-related cleanup; Bennett told directors the current spending trajectory appears likely to fall well short of that ceiling but that more invoices remain pending. "We're a little over $300,000 right now," he said, and staff—stimated that, in a worst-case scenario that includes pending requests and work that will fall into the 2025 budget year, the final amount could reach about $350,000.
Bennett noted that, if the board ultimately needed to recover the full $479,000 through associationwide collection, the estimate discussed at the meeting would equate to a special assessment of about $161 per owner based on the 3,119 lots in the association ("about $13.50 per owner per month" was cited in the meeting materials as a context figure). He told the board staff would return with a more detailed and refined estimate at the Jan. 23 meeting, at which time the board would consider next steps for member notification and any funding mechanisms.
Directors discussed the mix of internal crew work and contracted removals; staff reported that much of the hazardous work had been handled in-house by certified sawyers and that an excavator had advised on suitable pump-track and trail sites in a separate public-comment item. Staff also said several large piles of wood chips from removals were scheduled to be hauled off at no charge by an interested contractor, which may reduce disposal costs.
The board asked staff to return with an updated cost schedule and options for communicating any required member funding, including the scale of a potential special assessment and alternatives for phasing work through the 2025 budget year.
