President's Letter - Spring 2019
Dear Members,
Oh my gosh, it’s been one nasty winter with the wind storm in December and the never ending cold and snow of February. However, it is time to renew our memberships, moorage contracts and tennis fees.
We did a fair amount of work at the marina, again this winter, fixing storm damage, repairing docks and fingers etc. Thanks so much to our enthusiastic volunteers, and the marina directors, Glenn Henderson, Marina Manager, Ian Syme, Projects Manager, Art Curtis, Maintenance Manager and Bob Coulson, our new Operations Manager. Also, we re-floated the work shed and rebuilt the fish cleaning station. Sadly, the fishing has been largely shut down but hopefully, that will resume before too long.
We also continue to have a great tennis facility, thanks again to the volunteers led by Mike Wiley. Thanks to the autumn and winter winds, the tennis courts will be sporting a new wind screen this year as well as at least one new net. The court resurfacing has proven to be a challenge to get a contractor on site. Stay tuned on that one. The good news is that, thanks to the rigorous work of Kathy Gilbert, the property assessment for the tennis park was reduced from $44,000 to $10,000.
The marina and tennis crews are the backbone of the society so, thank you all for your contributions.
I’d also like to thank the rest of our outstanding MLPOS board of directors, firstly our indispensable Secretary, Kathy Gilbert, our brilliant Treasurer, Jean Deschenes, our dedicated Director at large, David Reed and last, but never least, our amazing Office Manager, Joanna Rogers.
A special mention and thanks to our previous marina manager of many years, Wally Foster who has returned to the board as Vice-president. Welcome back, Wally.
Although we acquired some new materials for the playground, last year, technical difficulties delayed the work, but we plan to get that underway this spring. We will be doing maintenance on the playground as well as researching a possible expansion.
Our MLPOS directors have been discussing ways we can better serve our members and all residents of Magic Lake Estates. As a volunteer organization, we manage Thieves Bay Marina, the tennis courts & park, represent residents at CRD, Water and Sewer boards plus other government bodies plus work with Pender Parks and Rec on common interests. We’d really appreciate members and residents giving us suggestions at (notifymlpos@gmail.com) on how we can help make Magic Lake Estates a better place to live.
Finally, the emergency access route through Lively Peak Park between Ketch and Scarff roads was completed last year, just in time for the monster wind storm in December. Due to dozens of downed trees and power lines, much of Magic Lake access was cut off but many people were able to “escape” via the new route including my sons, who were here visiting for an early Christmas. That storm caused some fairly major erosion damage along the marina breakwater, but the marina team will have it restored this spring.
Don’t forget to check out our website at magiclake.ca. You will find lots of information about the society, marina, tennis courts and life in Magic Lake Estates. We post minutes of our directors’ meetings here plus the option to pay some of our member dues via PayPal. We are trying to make things easier for you.
Have an amazing summer.
Jeremy Harwood
President, Magic Lake Property Owner’s Society.