Bear Valley Community Services District

CL Ferrell

CSD is violating their Codes (1-5-1C and 1-5-7H) by joining with Bear Valley Springs Association (BVSA) to take property away from certain residents with property parallel to equestrian easements. Resident's fences are not on the equestrian easements, but BVSA has been telling residents they are in order to obtain additional land along the trails. Unable to force people to move, BVSA has enlisted the CSD to demand fences be removed from drainage easements where the fences have stood from over 35 years and do NOT block drainage. This is forcing owners to give it up private land for public use. This is disgraceful conduct from the current CSD.

Amanda MacIntire

When comparing the cost to value in regard to HOA fees, we definitely DO NOT get much bang for our bucks. The fees are high and are difficult to justify when it seems we get very little in return. Homeowners still have to pay to use facilities despite paying $2000+ per year in association fees. Our roads are constantly in need of repair and more trees are dying from the Borer Beetle. What exactly are we paying for? Salaries of administrators, office personnel and other employees who do ...? I wish I knew because we truly do love living here. The clean air, the views, the wildlife, the mountain atmosphere are to be treasured. It is a shame that enjoyment of those things comes with greed attached.

Cynthia Ellis

The CSD of Bear Valley Springs has taken it upon themselves to cancel the rights of the residents to benefit from the grant program to have the dead trees removed from our property that will enable us to create defensible space around our homes to protect us not only from wildfires but also from falling trees that could take out a portion of our home and heaven forbid possibly kill residents inside. According to a CSD employee I was told the dispute and the reason CSD has chosen to forbid the logging trucks from coming into BVS to cut down and remove these trees and any remaining wood that poses a threat to all community residents is because it is tearing up Deertrail road. As a resident who commutes up and down Deertrail everyday I can assure you that the road was definitely in need of repair long before the logging companies started hauling dead trees off of vulnerable residences up here. So the cost of repairing a road that was in need of repair to begin with means more to the CSD than allowing the residents who elected these men and women to represent our best interests trumps the importance of doing everything possible to save the homes and possibly the lives of the residents who elected them! A small tree has already fallen and grazed the side of our house causing minimal damage to our roof, gutter, and slicing the screen. This happened to the outside of my 83 year old mom's bedroom. The worst tree and threat to our lives and property has a huge widow maker resting in the top branches. We purchased our home because we were assured that Governor Brown had declared a State of Emergency due to the damage caused by the bark beetle and that a grant had been approved so the dead trees that threaten our property would be removed at no cost to us. The Government of California has stepped up and taken a proactive approach to a serious situation. They have done the right thing. Kern County took the lead and were actively mitigating the threat to our community, now CSD believes that they have the power to squash this program that was put in place to protect the residents of California which does include us because they are too cheap to repair a road that already needed repairing! But residents want to spend over a million dollars to put in locked mailboxes, but CSD can't repair a road after their residents have benefited from a free program (well not entirely free. But at least we would be benefiting from our tax dollars). An employee at CSD told me when I informed her that if CSD was going to forbid me a free, legal citizen of this country and state from benefiting from a program our government deemed to be necessary then I would send the bill for several thousands of dollars to cut down and remove these trees from my property to them. She informed me that there was no way CSD would pay for that expense. CSD has already set a precedent by allowing some of the residents of our community to have their trees cut down while they refuse this right to others. We all have to deal with the torn up roads, but some of us are being prohibited from benefiting from what caused the roads to be further torn up? Just think of what this does to our property value for all the homes in Bear Valley Springs. This grant program is being implemented throughout the State of California where the dead trees pose a threat to homes and communities. Why would someone purchase a home here where they will have to be told that they will have to pay for the removal of trees that threaten any perspective home themselves (which could be upwards of $10,000 or more) when they could find another mountain community that is allowing their residents to protect their families and homes from this very grave and very serious threat! We pay our state income tax, property tax, and HOA dues and we pay the exact same percentage and amount as the residents who were allowed to benefit from this program and as all the other California residents across the state. No government organization should have the power to take away our basic human rights.