Security Report-Nov 21
John C. Dettle, P.E.

The Beachwalk HOA and Securitas have been busy converting over from hand written Daily Reports to e-mail Daily Reports.  This will save some trees and makes communication between the guards and Board members much faster.

The new guards Paul and Luis are working out great and have learned our rules well, especially the procedures for towing vehicles.  The biggest problem we have now is high school students parking at Beachwalk.  They are being ticketed and we have hired Securitas to do an extra early morning patrol to tow these cars.  If you know any high school students parking at Beachwalk please let them know that they will be TOWED.  The same goes for cars parked for 96 hours, your vehicle will be TOWED.

We have also had complaints about residents walking their dogs without leashes and not picking up the poop.  We have instructed the guards to keep an eye out for this behavior and take down the names of residents who are walking their dogs without leashes and not picking up the poop.  This will result in a hearing and possible fines.  Please, everyone, pick up the dog poop.  We live so close to the beach that leaving dog poop on the ground causes bacteria exceedences at the beach which causes the Beach Closures.

Security Report-July 20

John C. Dettle, P.E.

Hello everyone.  I have been on vacation the last couple of weeks and I hope everyone that called me while I was gone was helped out by Sari and Keystone to their satisfaction.  Please send your requests for replacement keys directly to Keystone.

I have been working on the cost saving proposals I laid out in the last Breeze and they will be included in a proposed survey in an upcoming issue of the Breeze.  You may recall one proposal was to eliminate security guards altogether and form a Neighborhood Watch program to keep on top of parking violations etc.  Maintenance activities handled by the guards now would be handled by maintenance staff and there could be a cost associated with that.  Otherwise this would represent a cost savings of about $60,000 per year.  I am writing now to ask for volunteers for our Neighborhood Watch program.  Ideally the volunteers would have the time to help and would have a strong desire to keep up appearance of Beachwalk.  From my short experience most CCR issues are parking related and were written to keep commercial and recreational vehicle parking out of Beachwalk.  My number is listed in the Breeze, so please call me if you are interested in volunteering.

Security Report-June 20

Hi, my name is John Dettle and I am a new Board member and have volunteered to head up security issues for Beachwalk.  I stated in my ballot write up my desire to reduce our annual costs be eliminating the approximately $70,000 a year we spend on security, so I could hardly refuse to head up security.  I am doing my research and have identified the following issues that need to be addressed:

• Locking open pedestrian gates for the high school and elementary school students
• Opening and locking the pool gates at night that allow us to legally turn off the pool lights at night to save electricity
• Putting on and removing the main pool cover that again saves energy, and
• The parking of trailers and RV’s on Beachwalk streets.

Possible options to reducing our costs are as follows:

• Set up a Neighborhood Watch volunteer group to report on illicitly parked vehicles and add gates and pool covers to duties of maintenance
• Removing the locks from pedestrian gates to the high school and elementary school, and
• Reducing the security contracts to only morning and evening patrols and they would keep doing pool covers and gates and reporting on illicitly parked vehicles.

The Board is discussing putting these options, with associated costs savings and the do nothing option, on the ballot during the next election.  The Board is considering action to remove the locks from the pedestrian gates since people already can walk into our neighborhood from Goldenwest Street or when cars come through the gates on 17th Street and combining the morning patrol contract with the evening and weekend security on-site contract.

Additionally I have put on the Board’s agenda for vote at the next election a proposed path and gate to the Seacliff Shopping Center, with a lock.  I believe that direct access to the Seacliff Shopping Center, without having to walk along Goldenwest will be a great selling point and benefit to the residents and increase our property values.  Funding could come from cost savings from security budget, if that is approved.

The Beachwalk Gate Committee has completed a review of design and permitting requirements to install a gate at the Goldenwest Street entrance to Beachwalk.  The Committee did a great job of preparing a preliminary design and reviewing it with the Public Work, Community Development and Fire Departments at the City of Huntington Beach.  The feed back from the City is that the project is totally doable.  The Committee’s recommendation was for swing gates with block walls and pedestrian gates on the sides.  The project would require shortening the median at the entrance to allow for a turn around and the removal of some trees.  The estimated cost, based on similar projects, was $200,000.  The Board has decided not to pursue the project at this time because it would either require a significant special assessment or dues increase and would add to our annual operating budget.