Join South Kitsap Fire & Rescue for Wildland Wednesdays, a homeowner wildfire educational series in July 2024. The image below is provided by South Kitsap Fire & Rescue.

Email Trace Richard trichard@skfr.org for the link to join these virtual events.

Calling all kids of Strawberry Hill!

Please join in the fun on July 3rd from 5-7 PM at 7938 Cabrini Dr (The Gaska home) to decorate your bike, scooter, wagon, stroller, or other wheeled vehicle. Enjoy a hot dog while you deck out your wheels in red, white, and blue! Decoration supplies provided.

Then show off your patriotic wheels in the second annual bike parade! Start at 7938 Cabrini Dr at 10:30 am on July 4 and make a full loop.

All neighbors are invited to come to the curb and wave at the riders and walkers. Join us in cheering the kiddos on while we celebrate America’s birthday!

1. Garage sale coordinator – As agreed at our annual meeting, we need one to two people to advertise neighborhood garage sale on social media; inform neighbors about sale hours on July 20-21; and place signs at neighborhood entrance.
2. Architectural Control Committee – As agreed at our annual meeting, this is a three-person committee who oversees change requests to neighborhood lots as well as tree removal in the common areas. The purpose of this committee is outlined in a memo to the membership from January 2023 (read here). We have one vacancy in this committee.
3. Fence quotes – There has been some storm damage over the years to the chain link fence that borders the park and Bielmeier Road. We need one person to coordinate evaluating the damage, seeking quotes from at least two fencing companies for repairs, and presenting to the membership for approval at the annual meeting.

If you are available to take on any of these responsibilities, please let the officers know at officers@strawberryhillhoa.org. Thank you!

Happy spring, neighbors! The HOA Board has been accumulating some updates and reminders for everyone.

Most importantly, our annual membership meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 22nd in the park. We will plan for tacos again, by popular demand! Mark your calendars for 5:30 PM to join us for food and gathering, followed by the membership meeting. We have some special fun planned – like announcing the winner of the holiday lights contest!

Next, we voted at last year’s annual meeting to host a neighborhood garage sale the third weekend in July. This year that is July 20-21. We voted to instate a committee to oversee the garage sale advertising, including hanging a banner at the neighborhood entrance and posting on social media for awareness. We have one volunteer so far – one more would be great. Please email officers@strawberryhillhoa.org if you are willing to help.

In the world of park maintenance, thanks to two neighbors for reporting storm damage to the fence line on the border of our park and Bielmeier. We will be researching options for restoring the fence. We have also renewed our contracts for weed control at the park and neighborhood entrances as well as mowing. Thanks to everyone for keeping litter, pet waste, and lost items out of the park. It’s a team effort!

Finally, a reminder that any concerns or questions can be directed to the officers via this website or our email address. If there are business items that cannot be decided by the HOA Board or cannot wait until the annual meeting, the Board can call a special meeting of the membership to discuss and possibly resolve the issue. Community awareness topics (emergency preparedness, fire safety, home security, weed prevention, litter management, etc) can be handled via digital communication through our website or on the Facebook page. Any homeowner is welcome to organize a community awareness meeting (in person or virtual).

See you in July, if not before!

Melanie Schmidt posted the following message to the HOA Facebook page.

Hey Neighbors! Come celebrate with the hood. Bring your friends.

We are looking for donations of individually wrapped candies that we can stuff in the plastic eggs!

If you’d like to donate, please contact Melanie Schmidt at (206) 383-7825 or drop off candy at her house: 3515 SE St Pauls Ct by March 27.

As announced in the annual letter, the HOA Board decided to run a friendly competition for the most festive holiday display. This is your voting form. Please complete the form just once per household.

Use this form to vote.

Voting is due by December 31, 2023.

Many of you may have noticed the stop and street sign at the entrance of our neighborhood is missing.

It was reported to our HOA Facebook page that the sign had tipped over (the wood had been reported as rotten). The sign is now missing as well.

The County roads department is responsible for the sign and its maintenance. Since it is a stop sign, this is an urgent repair request.

The missing sign was reported to Kitsap County public works on Monday, November 27. The roads department received the request and will update the officers when the work order to replace the sign is complete.

Also, it will be obvious. 🛑

Update 4 PM on Nov 27, only one hour after this notice: new stop sign is already installed!

Update 3 PM on Nov 29, new street sign is installed with the stop sign on a metal post. All set!

The fall Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 28.

Homeowners who have agenda items for the board to discuss should submit them to officers@strawberryhillhoa.org by September 27.

Contact a board member if you need to discuss anything in person prior to the meeting.

Thank you!

Dave Epperson, director of operations at KPUD, spent half an hour on the phone with me (Becky) this morning answering questions about the progress of the water filter.

Short story: the water filter went online on time on Monday, July 17. Water mains are being flushed today, Tuesday, July 18, and individual home lines will be flushed by six KPUD crew members tomorrow, Wednesday, July 19. This is the planned and communicated timeline on the door hanger we received.

More notes on this topic are below.

Why does it seem like there is a part near the well that isn’t hooked up yet? That’s true. Part of the new filter process is a backwash water tank that lives outside the filter. The filter vessels trap iron and manganese in their core materials. On a schedule, the filter automatically reverses 10% of the flow of water into the backwater tank for storage so these minerals are flushed out of the filter. Water must be discharged from this backwash tank at intervals. In most systems the water is dumped into a wastewater pond constructed near the tanks. Our system will recycle the water instead, which is the most up-to-date way to conserve resources. The backwash tank was delayed in delivery and is not yet plumbed in. The work for that is scheduled for next week. Meanwhile, the filter system is completely online.

What is flushing the mains supposed to do? KPUD will use a higher flush pressure than usual in an attempt to proactively dislodge mineral build up in the main line and house lines. This should break free excessive inorganic materials that accumulate inside the pipes. Removing this material allows for a higher flow rate and helps speed up the process of cleaner water flowing to the homes. KPUD recommends homeowners run an outdoor hose for 5-10 minutes (at a water cost of about 50 cents) after the lines have been flushed to aid in the cleaning process.

What’s with the chlorine comment? Previous to the water filter, our chlorine level was 0.1 parts per million (ppm). After the water filter came online, our chlorine level is 0.5 ppm. While this is higher, it is still one half of one part chlorine per million parts water and the iron and manganese levels will be much lower at only 0.2 ppm. Yes, there is a possibility some more sensitive palates will notice the change in taste due to the reduction of minerals and increase in chlorine. This is uncommon. Adding lemon slices to a pitcher of water will neutralize any chlorine and is recommended for people who are highly sensitive.

What are the next steps? After the backwash tank is complete next week, KPUD will continue monitoring the levels in the filter monthly and will flush water mains quarterly for approximately one year. Water main flushing will reduce to semi-yearly, yearly, and then biyearly after that. The surcharge for the filter system has not yet been distributed to our water bills because the work is not officially complete. Mr. Epperson will continue to communicate with the officers on that point.

Further questions can be sent to officers@strawberryhillhoa.org or left as comments on this blog post. We’ll do our best to get your questions answered.

Thank you to the 36 homeowners from 21 homes who attended our 2023 annual meeting!

The tacos were a big hit, and there were plenty of yummy sides and desserts. Even the weather cooperated, as it wasn’t too hot or cold.

The meeting lasted about an hour and we got a lot accomplished. View full meeting minutes here. Here’s a quick recap:

• Park is being maintained and updated as needed. 20 families reserved the park in the past year.
• New play structure is too expensive; we’re going to paint the tires and continue saving for this or other updates (like new roofs for the shed or picnic area)
• Pickleball lines on freshly washed courts; join a clinic by contacting Jim Cole
• Budget approved for July 2023 – June 2024 fiscal year
• All board members and officers were re-elected unanimously, unopposed (although several people offered to help Mary stuff dues notices in the fall)
• Everyone is invited to a movie night on Friday, July 21 at the Price/Benefiel home. View the invitation and RSVP here.
• Our annual garage sale is now set for the last weekend in July, every year beginning in 2024.

As a point of interest, Becky made a chart and pointed out that our expenses had a large jump between 2018 and 2022, while dues have remained fairly level. While our spending has been stable for the past few years, our current dues income just covers our expenses. We will not be able to save for any larger projects like we have in the past. See chart below.

*In 2018, we received a lump payment of unpaid dues with interest with the sale of a home. The normal dues income would have been below $12,000 otherwise.