2017 Budget
The proposed 2017 budget is now available for all homeowners to review before the board votes on it at their next meeting on October 15, 2016. Please take a few moments to check it out, and contact our Board Treasurer, Cheryl Jones at cherylaj@charter.net if you have any questions. The budget can be accessed by visiting the Owner’s Only section of this website and scrolling down to “Owners-Only Documents.” A direct link to the budget document can also be found in the Capes News – October 2016 email that went out to all owners on October 1st. Contact the office if you have any trouble opening the document, and we’ll help you out!
Brats and Brews
It’s Ocktoberfest at The Capes! Join us for the annual Brats and Brewfest at The Bridge House, from 4-7 pm on Saturday October 15. Put on your lederhosen and enjoy your favorite beer and Tillamook home-packed brats. We’ll have brats with all the fixings, potato salad, root beer and water. All you need to bring is your appetite, favorite side dish or dessert and beer to share. [Come on now – be creative…potato salad is great, but we don’t need a dozen of them!]
If you’re interested in manning the grill, or want to help decorate or clean up, just let the office know – we always love to have the help.
Road Sealing Update
Northwest Asphalt was here last Monday to seal the portion of Capes Drive between the front entrance and the stop sign as well as the driveways of those homeowners who signed up to have theirs done. Due to the amount of shade that portion of the road receives, the first side did not dry in time for them to seal the other (they seal one side at a time so that traffic can still get in and out), so they will be coming back out sometime in the near future to finish the job. They also still have a few driveways left to finish, so if yours isn’t done yet, fear not. To paraphrase Arnold, “They’ll be back!”
As usual, their return date will be dictated largely by the weather, so we will let you know when they’re coming as soon as we do!
Helicopters and Flying Trees
The helicopter tree removal project that was mentioned to homeowners in a mid-September email is still in the works. The latest word is that the trees slated for removal could be cut as early as this coming Wednesday, 10/5/2016, and the resulting logs flown out via helicopter one day the following week. On the day that the helicopter is here, vehicular travel on Capes Drive and Promontory Lane will be extremely limited for a period of approximately 6-8 hours. Cars will not be permitted to drive on those roads while the helicopter is in the air, so traffic will only be allowed in or out during brief periods while the helicopter is on the ground and/or refueling. (We really don’t want anyone to be squashed by a falling tree…can you imagine the paperwork???)
As soon as we have a firm date for the helicopter we will let you know so that you can plan accordingly – so watch your email for updates!
Are You Prepared?
Unless you live under a rock (not that there’s anything wrong with that, if you do!), you’ve heard of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and you know that The Capes is right smack in the middle of it. You probably also know that if and when it ruptures, it is predicted to produce an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 or higher…and that there’s a 30% chance that it will rupture within the next 50 years. The ground will shake for 4 to 6 minutes. A large percentage of the bridges in Oregon will fail. Roads will buckle and become impassable due to liquefaction of the ground beneath them. Buildings constructed of non-reinforced masonry will collapse. Landslides will be triggered in elevated areas, and a mother of a tsunami will be triggered in the Pacific.
If you’re sitting there nodding at your screen right now saying, “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before…” let me ask you this – if it happened tomorrow, while you were visiting your beach house at The Capes, would you be prepared?
How much food and water would you have? Long enough to last a couple of days? A week? If the roads are closed for weeks or months, what will you do when the food runs out? You can’t rely on your neighbor to feed you in that situation – things are going to be tight for him as well. Are you prepared to be without electricity for weeks? Without a cell phone? The internet? What if you’re injured during the quake – do you have first aid supplies? If there’s no running water and no electricity, where will you go to the bathroom? If you’ve gone into town for dinner or to go to the grocery store and it happens – do you have a plan? Are you ready to walk the 8 miles back to The Capes if you can’t use the road?
I know right now those of you who don’t live here full time are thinking, “I’m only there 2 or 3 weekends a year…it won’t happen while I’m there.” What if it does? If you loan out your place periodically to a friend or a relative, what if it happens to them? Are there supplies available to them in your home that will help to keep them alive?
These are just a few of the questions that the Emergency Readiness Committee is here to help you answer. Watch the Emergency Readiness page of this website over the next few weeks as we update it to provide links to resources that can help you get prepared.