A proposed pool renovation puts neighborhood at odds

By Nathan R. Huff

Members of the Belwood Homes of Los Gatos Association have reached a crossroads with their communal pool and cabaña. The facility needs $100,000 in repairs and upgrades, which has set off a debate within the association over whether the facility should be saved or sold.

Years of wear and tear coupled with increased local and state safety regulations for fences and drains left the association facing a $100,000 upgrade on the 35-year-old facility. The association board's proposal to cover this cost includes raising annual membership dues by $48 to $288 and assessing a one-time fee of $350. Members' votes on the proposal are due on Dec. 10.

Sy Corenson, one of the original homeowners in the association, spent Sunday going door to door distributing a rebuttal to the association board's explanation of the pros and cons of upgrading the facility.

Corenson said the board has failed to give adequate voice to a group of homeowners who want the association dissolved and the cabaña and pool sold. He said the board also failed to include all members' input in the ballot explanation, refused to release the addresses of association homeowners and would not fund Corenson's mailings unless they were able to review the material.

"Sometimes facilities outlive their usefulness," Corenson said, adding that the meeting hall and pool were used by relatively few homeowners. "They excluded [our view] very purposefully," he said, referring to the voter material mailed by the association board. All I believe in is the democratic process."

Ron Santilli, association treasurer, said the pool receives extensive use during the summer and the cabaña is booked often during winter months. He also said that when a group of residents presented the option of dissolving the association at an Oct. 19 meeting, the board responded by putting that option on the ballot.

"As a result of the Oct. 19 meeting, we tried to take in all the pros and cons," Santilli said. "We did try to consider all the input."

But Corenson says the ballot explanation is anything but objective. The explanation gives one pro and four cons to closing the facility, while giving four pros and one con to increasing annual dues and creating a one-time assessment to pay for the needed repairs.

In response, Corenson and several other residents came up with a rebuttal letter offering a lengthy list of "forgotten" cons for maintaining the facility and a point-by-point rebuttal of the association's arguments for keeping it. Corenson said when he went to the board to ask for the same postage and paper supplies they used in their mailings, they agreed only if they could see the letter first.

Corenson said he then asked for the names and addresses of association members. He was refused. At that point his group began canvassing the neighborhood on foot. "We had a perfect right to that information," Corenson said. In his revised rebuttal letter, he writes, "... since when does the Board of Directors have censor rights?"

Santilli, however, said the board was only acting to protect the community. Although the board saw no particular threat from this group, he said "we can't give the mailing list to anyone for mailings." The same was true of paying for the rebuttal letter to be mailed, Santilli said. "We're happy to do it, but we wanted to make sure the wording was appropriate," Santilli said.

Corenson said he believed the board was using community safety to obscure other points of view. "We were promised we'd be brought into the process," Corenson said. "We weren't."

The homeowners' association currently takes in $92,000 a year in dues from its 285 members. The board says operating expenses for the facility total about $82,000 annually, leaving $10,000 for maintenance.

Photo: Lake Vasona Fantasy of Lights

The Big Game rivalry used to be innocent and fun

PTSA fulfills teachers' wish lists

Photo: 'big, the musical'

Picture From the Past

Sports Briefs

Los Gatos wins field hockey title

Wildcats finish fourth in cross country finals

LG football team suffers season-ending loss

Branham Hills Bobby Sox win championship