Category: Urgent

Board Transitions, November 2024

Hello Camino del Prado Community,

It is with sadness that I share with you all that Susan Sandstrom has decided to step down from her role on the Board. Susan has been instrumental in getting our massive repainting project underway, and – very understandably – wants to reclaim time to spend with her family. Please join me in thanking her for her service, and looking forward to her future input and advice.

With that said though, I am excited to welcome Margaret Hoenemann to the Board. It’s always great to have new people volunteering in our community! Here’s what Margaret wanted to share about joining the Board:

Hello everyone! I am truly excited and honored to be joining the Camino del Prado board. I am a Bay Area native and have been a part of this community since August 2023. I live here with my husband Tom and our small Cavapoo dog named Alfie (please say hello if you ever see us on our morning walks). I look forward to getting to know even more members of the community through my role and am excited to support my fellow board members as well.

With these changes, the Board also decided to rearrange our responsibilities to better match our experience. Going forward, Barbara Smith will be president, and I (Chris Shull) will be taking on the role of treasurer.



Painting Issues – last call!

We need you! Everyone, painting is now complete and the painters have indicated that they have addressed all previously reported issues. Inevitably, a few things will still not quite be correct. You have until Sunday Dec 8th to report issues for the painters to fix.

If you previously reported an issue, we need you to verify that it is addressed. If your issue was not addressed, please help us by re-reporting it in the form.

https://forms.gle/2mdtcNtgHRNLZXxc9

Please report painting issues

While the painters and the board endeavor to review all the work being done, the community is large and we only have so many eyes. The best people to notice if something is off are you who are living in each unit.

If you see anything amiss, please make sure the painters finished with your unit (it takes them several days to finish a building in each color). Then report the issue here: https://forms.gle/2mdtcNtgHRNLZXxc9

Thanks!

Action Required – Door Colors

All homeowners should have received a link to a form for selecting their front door color. Also note that a new option has been added for those with varnished doors who do not want them touched up.
Doors in good condition can be painted for no added cost. The Board has chosen paint colors similar to our currently approved colors, but which match well with our new paint scheme. Paint color samples are available on the west side of the clubhouse. Links to the colors are also listed below, but please check the painted color samples – any changes after painting will come at an additional cost.
If you have a varnished door you may select to have it painted (as a limited time offer, our Varsity Painting is including this at no added cost as a part of our broader painting project). Varsity Painting can also lightly sand and varnish existing varnished doors at no added cost during this project, or provide a quote for a complete refinish (stripped, stained, and varnished or painted).
All submissions are due by October 15th. If we do not receive a submission by then, your door will be painted/varnished with one of the options below that we think is most similar to your existing door color.
In terms of scheduling, Varsity Painting will post notice to all units ready for door painting (completed buildings). They will post this door notice as they’re ready to schedule them. The notice will provide their email and phone number to schedule a specific 3 hour period for your door painting.
Paint colors:

Bell Plaza Townhomes Project

Residents likely received a letter about a planned housing development replacing the Bell Plaza shopping center at Henderson and El Camino (East of Henderson, South of El Camino).

While this is not the official city hearing for this development, the board encourages anyone with concerns to attend this meeting. Earlier feedback is always easier to address.

Balboa Retail Partners proposes to develop 46 new, 3-story, attached townhome condominiums including seven affordable homes. The proposed project includes 92 parking spaces in private garages. The site will also provide four guest parking spaces as well. Our goal is to design units that fit into the existing neighborhood while also contributing to the look and context of the area. If you are interested in learning more about this proposal and seeing the conceptual plans, we invite you to drop in for our informational open house…

Date: Thursday, October 3, 2024

Time: 6:00PM-7:00PM

Location: Bell Plaza- 1054 E. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale

The developer has shared additional information with us, which you can download here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/62m086donu87gk39gdqx5/Bell-Plaza-4th-Full-Design-Review-Submittal-Set_COMBINED_20240726.pdf?rlkey=439isqqrxx4sf08k7omkvea47&e=1&dl=0 



Painting has Begun!

As some of you have noticed, as a final step before painting we had a sample painted on the side of one of the buildings. This was a final check to ensure the final result is accurate to the mockup we voted on. Upon reviewing the sample, the stucco color did not accurately match the expectation set by the mockups (and we heard similarly from some of you).

Therefore, and in consultation with our painting company, the stucco color has been tweaked a little darker to better match what the mockups portrayed. In fact, it will be the stucco color from Color Scheme D – the runner up in our community wide vote. While the foremost goal is to respect the community vote and remain true to that, I hope that those who preferred Color Scheme D will appreciate this particular choice. This is the color that is now going up through the community.

I understand that not everyone will be completely happy with the final result, but we need to respect the consensus of the community and move forward. In fact Color Scheme B was not the first choice of any board member (we figured it might be a good “middle ground” option between some of the other options), but we know that we are here to serve the community, and are excited to have narrowed down a final selection. The board has done its best to make this a decision for the community by the community, while also ensuring an efficient process to reach a decision so that we can fulfill our duty to complete this project on time and within budget. 

Sometimes change can just feel “off” for a little bit – I, for one, will be keeping an open mind as I get more accustomed to these changes.

Paint Vote Winner

The voting has concluded and Color Scheme B has won! (To help refresh people’s memories I’ve attached below a photo I took, but note that this is not properly color calibrated at all.)

Thank you everyone who took the time to review the mockups and vote – we had 33 members participate. We really appreciate everyone ranking their preferences. For those who might be curious Ranked Choice Voting is also known as “Instant Runoff Voting”. It’s a way of running “primary” elections and the “final” election in a single go. Most elections boil down to 2 real candidates because that way you don’t “waste” your vote (e.g. voting for an independent for President – we know an independent won’t win). By gathering people’s ranked preferences, we instantly know the following:

  1. Color scheme E is people’s least favorite option overall, so we can eliminate it (moving those votes to their second choice).
  2. Of A, B, C, and D: A would be people’s least favorite option, so we can eliminate it too.
  3. Of B, C, and D: C would be people’s least favorite option, so we can also eliminate it.
  4. Then, between B and D: B wins. We know we could re-run the vote again, with just B vs D, and B would win.

A good video explainer of Ranked Choice Voting is here: https://youtu.be/gq7N2hmX9FI

And the full results for our color vote are here: https://www.rcv123.org/results/5SfPZs6GcGFUCE5mWFPDS7/ff8juhBbA2ETyzfUAtWWnG?_secure=xwxIoedJlD

As next steps the board will be selecting a matching color for the front gates, and updated door color options for each unit to choose from. Stay tuned!