October 2015

This fall continues to be an amazing season in the mountains with brisk mornings, warm afternoons, and cool evenings, often considered by those who live in this area as their favorite time of year. It also marks the start of our 2016 budget planning cycle leading toward a solid map for next year’s programs and activities, which impacts the annual assessment and is conducted with the board of director’s annual guidance. The 2016 budget process includes a careful annual validation and review of existing program offerings, along with board-approved strategic initiatives to benefit the membership. Currently, while we continue to see overall pressures on the budget and annual assessment from many fronts, including minimum wage increases, worker’s compensation insurance increases, and cost of goods increases, I believe they are manageable with a balanced approach in our service offerings, and an equitable relationship between our assessed and non-assessed revenue. Thankfully, after the lost revenues from our difficult winter, refocused staff efforts, better than forecasted member utilization of our amenities, and budget recovery efforts, we are back on budget for the year going into this winter. This has resulted in an overall positive membership equity balance in the operating fund.

This year the board of directors updated our strategic plan, identifying four key driving goals for the next five years:

1. Execute the board-approved capital plan on time and within budget.
2. Balance operating revenue and expenses with the need to provide first-class services for members, member guests, and where appropriate, the public.
3. Execute effective approaches to maintaining the association’s architectural, covenants, and communication standards.
4. Establish a proactive approach to maintaining the health of our natural resources and defensible space.

These four goals, in addition to their supporting goals, can be found on the board of director’s website under the members tab of the main tahoedonner.com homepage. Establishing these priorities assists me in focusing our staff’s efforts in order to deliver the service level and overall quality community our membership desires. Specific to the first goal, the general plan committee has just finished a rather robust effort to solicit member feedback to develop an update to the long-term General Plan, our Capital Development Fund Plan to reinvest in our amenities and overall infrastructure for our semi-private resort community. The overall results of the survey will be published shortly after staff, general plan committee, and board of directors fully review the data with our third party consultant. The initial results indicate a strong ownership participation in the survey with over 1,500 respondents, a contribution ratio similar to the ownership interest.

This summer we’ve seen record numbers of members and their guest participating in the wide variety of offerings at Tahoe Donner. There are many indicators that value and utilization of our amenities and programs at Tahoe Donner are top among the meaningful measurements.  Utilization is composed of countless exchanges and interactions that include our budget recovery program, sold-out day camps, aquatics classes, golf rounds, beach rentals, mountain bike rentals, lunch and dinner at the Lodge Restaurant & Pub and Pizza on the Hill, tennis lessons, fitness classes, concert on the driving range, along with many more programs and services utilized by the membership, their guests, and some public usage. And, these do not include the countless opportunities exercised by members who enjoy our trail system, bingo nights, free concerts at Northwoods Clubhouse, and movie nights, just to name a few of the more popular activities and programs. Perhaps the most popular program to return this summer was the free Tahoe Donner shuttle to Truckee Thursdays — now averaging over 500 riders each week.

Another important indicator of the health of Tahoe Donner is the increase of new construction in our community, along with existing home sales and overall community architectural standards. Currently, of the 6,471 privately owned residentially zoned properties within the Tahoe Donner subdivision, 250 homes are scheduled to be inspected for compliance with our architectural standards via a grid-based system each year, which will eventually cover every home. Additionally, the association executes a transfer-based home inspection program for community architectural standards – which is often incorrectly referred to as a point of sale inspection program. Now, completing our second full year with this program, versus the old complaint-based program, we are inspecting close to 1,000 homes each year. This is significant in maintaining our homeowner association architectural standards, and is now a core part of our strategic plan, and ultimately a service to our community in maintaining the established standards of the community and property values.

Substantial progress has been underway to finalize our new Alder Creek Adventure Center in time for our 2015/2016 winter operating season. We will be announcing plans for a grand opening  for the entire membership. Plans for our improved equestrian campus have also been reviewed by Nevada County and will be undertaken in 2016 around the normal operating season as finalized and approved by the board of directors this winter.

The Town of Truckee Trails and Bikeway Master Plan trail no. 13 from Tahoe Donner to downtown, now known as the Trout Creek Trail, is almost complete! See page 17 for an update, and keep an eye out for the ribbon cutting ceremony and opportunity to ride and walk this new community connection to downtown Truckee before the snow hits. I want to thank the entire Town of Truckee team who has led the planning, implementation, and oversight efforts on this amazing project for our community. Thank you!

Lastly, take a look at the top of Eagle Rock Chairlift at the Downhill Ski Area. There you’ll notice a new pine “tree.” However, this mono-pine is masking our new cell tower (thank you,  American Tower Corporation) with T-Mobile as the anchor tenant. As the project gets powered up, I hope all our networks see an amazing improvement in coverage.

Robb Etnyre | General Manager