January 11th, 2023 Swansboro, CA
Context and Opinion by Tom Harris
The purpose of this article is to inform the dues-paying residents of the Swansboro Country Property Owners Association (SCPOA).
It has come to the attention of the Sentinel that Swansboro residents are being led to believe that the upcoming SCPOA Board of Directors election is all about the airport. In other words, if you are for the airport, you’ll vote for the new candidates, and if you are against the airport, you’ll vote for the incumbents. This is childish nonsense. The airport issue is a red herring. Here’s why:
The Swansboro Airport is a permanent asset of SCPOA. The airstrip and the adjacent aircraft tie-down parking area are a SCPOA Common Area owned by dues-paying residents, and subject to regulations set forth in the Davis-Stirling Act, California law and SCPOA by-laws.
For example, Civil Code § 4510. Access to Separate Interest states:
Except as otherwise provided in law, an order of the court, or an order pursuant to a final and binding arbitration decision, an association may not deny a member or occupant physical access to the member’s or occupant’s separate interest, either by restricting access through the common area to the separate interest, or by restricting access solely to the separate interest.
The remainder of the airport is privately owned by dues-paying residents.
What’s more, California state and El Dorado county land use regulations do not condone any activity on or near an airport that creates a hazard for flight operations. (See https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/aeronautics/documents/californiaairportlanduseplanninghandbook-a11y.pdf)
For the past two years, Swansboro pilots, property owners, hangar tenants and airport supporters have been unjustly vilified and demonized by the majority on the current SCPOA Board of Directors. Why? Apparently so they can be used as imaginary scapegoats for their re-election campaign.
So that’s it? There’s no other issue that the incumbents are running on, such as say, protecting property values, supporting the fire department, respecting the opinions of residents, more transparency in dealing with SCPOA finances and budget or restoring community harmony? For a discussion of these and other relevant issues, please go to (oneswansboro.com) for more information.
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