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14 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2016 By Leighton McLaughlin The Home Owners Association Board has formed a new committee to look out for the future of Four Seasons. The Community Planning and Transition Committee has as its immediate goal a smooth transition at build-out, when developer K. Hovnanian Homes leaves. "The bottom line is, we don't want any ugly surprises," said committee chair Willis Fagan. But the committee has longer range aims as well — to see that Four Seasons remains "a community that is a vital, desirable and friendly place to live, and where homeowners are involved in community affairs," according to the Vision Statement of the committee. Fagan has been charged with forming the committee from scratch. So far he has completed the Mission and Vision Statements, written a committee charter and recruited two members — Colin Taylor and Pat Wayne — and is looking for more. "Colin has been very active in the community on many levels," said Fagan, "and he understands how to write a problem statement — that's very important. If we don't know what and why, we can't get to the how and when and where." Then, he said, he and Taylor "had a job description," for the next member. "We didn't know who, but we wanted someone who could relate to people: the committees, Board, and community, especially the homeowners — we want the community to tell us what they need." He said Wayne agreed to fill that job. "She has a background in community and cultural planning — an excellent portfolio. She will be a very real asset to us and the community." Fagan said other members will be recruited, but only after new job descriptions are developed. "We want people who can help us with all the landscaping, the grounds, streets, plants — we'd like to find a horticulturalist, somebody who understands our particular piece of dirt — not the Pacific Northwest." "It's sometimes hard to find people who can be of practical help to us and the community — we have all kinds of issues… legal matters, structural defects, insurance, outside vendors and how all these things work together. The list goes on and on. "We are trying to discover what we don't know — we're still exploring. "We will be meeting with homeowners, committees, clubs, groups, interest groups, community activists, Board members, the developer, and FirstService Residential — the management company. Our first objective is to get information — that's what we're doing right now." He said he expects to rely on focus groups of two or three people — not necessarily committee members — who will look into particular areas of community needs and functions and report back to the committee, which will discuss the issues and set priorities for further action, if any. From this they hope to come up with a laundry list of projects, "both niceties and necessities." Another consideration is the "cost-to-benefit ratio — we don't start with that, but down the line it becomes important." Eventually, the committee will hold Town Hall meetings to present ideas and get feedback from the community at large. Fagan hopes the presentations will have been narrowed to significant issues by the focus groups and "we can have an amiable give-and- take and not a gripe session — we hope to stay focused. We hope to have good support and a good base for everything." He said the committee's aim is to have its final proposals "reasonably accepted by those in the community." In addition to the Town Halls, Fagan said his committee plans to make regular presentations to the other committees involved in any particular issue, "so they know firsthand what's going on — keep rumors at a minimum." "The more we inform people the better it will be for everybody." "I want to emphasize," he said, "that we are not just going to inform the committees, but we are going to cooperate with them. Together we can do a good thing." Planning & Transition Committee Being Formed SPOTLIGHT ON FOUR SEASONS

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