Well, you learn something new everyday. At least I do! Sometimes. Anyway I heard this story about an issue that’s currently transpired in one of Foster City’s larger townhouse communities and I thought of it as new news. I won’t mention specifically where this place so as not to start World War III, but suffice it to say that it’s a two story townhouse built on a slab foundation. Just in case you’re thinking that narrows it down a tad…you’re wrong. That out’s just about all of the two story townhouses in town.
The townhouse in question was listed for sale and in the inspection it was disclosed that the place has a 4 inch crack on the slab foundation that’s noticeable on the floor downstairs. Obviously, the foundation crack is a structural problem. Here’s my discovery…the HOA takes no responsibility for this type of issue. It’s entirely up to the homeowner to resolve this on their own. In this case, unfortunately, the crack not only effects the unit in question but at least one other unit adjacent to this one. When a contractor looked at the issue it was suggested that if this crack was going to be repaired it would need to be repaired in the adjoining townhouse(s) as well to insure the job was done right. The adjoining homeowner wouldn’t allow access to his place even for an investigation by the contractor. As a result the home had to be sold at a significant discount since there doesn’t seem to be an opportunity to fix the problem and the new buyer is going to have to live with a 4 inch crack on his/her floor until there’s some kind of agreement.
Seems sort of like a huge pain to me. Also seems like a marketing nightmare that I hope I never have to endure! I guess the thing that most surprised me was the fact that the HOA isn’t taking responsibility for this structural problem. If there’s a problem with other exterior structural elements they certainly do. Maybe none of the local HOA’s include foundations in their coverage…I intend to look pretty hard at the fine print in the homeowners docs in the future, that’s for sure. I also wouldn’t hesitate to have an engineer look at any floor element that looks out of level or seems irregular. If a townhouse has a foundation problem, particularly one who’s fix would include another neighboring unit’s cooperation, I sure want to know that going in.
One of the unfortunate side effects of the economic downturn when it comes to Foster City is the recent demise of the ever vigilant patrol of the dog service that was employed to disperse the large families of Canadian Geese that tend to congregate in Foster City’s parks. You see, the city had a contract with a gentleman by the name of Henry Losee who has a small army of border collies. Henry’s collies have been around town for the last 5 years to control the Geese…mostly because all that poop left by said Geese can be a real nuisance if you happen to be strolling around the parks in this town.
Seems that the Geese are so vast in numbers that it doesn’t take a whole lot of time for these critters to cover a pretty large area…with poop. The dogs chase them away. Mr. Losee calls the work his company does “humane harassment”. These birds used to be migratory but the good weather and the abundance of food ( they must LOVE the fact that Edgewater Place has so many waterfront restaurants!) has caused a bunch of them to call Foster City home.
Now, due to budget worries, Mr. Losee’s biggest customer is pulling the plug (so to speak) on the dog business. An alternative could be to hire somebody to chase the Geese away with a chemical spray but Mr. Losee thinks that’s a short term solution at best. Dogs are the best deterrent, in his opinion. Here’s an article from the San Mateo Daily Journal that goes into more depth about this potential poop problem:
Perhaps we could prevail upon Foster City’s finance director, our friend, Steve Toler to shed more light upon this issue? Let’s hope some kind of alternative both presents itself…and works! I don’t look forward to future real estate disclosure forms that will have to include “Goose Feces Issues” on Foster City properties. And you thought Flood Insurance was a problem?
One of the key features of living in Foster City is the opportunity to live in a waterfront home. There’s really no discriminating here either…you can live in a waterfront home whether you’re in a single family home, a condo, townhouse or apartment. It’s an equal opportunity lifestyle! My family always lived on the water here and I remember from an early age just how much fun that lifestyle was. You could take a boat to Edgewater place and have dinner or go shopping. You could sail to the main lagoon in front of the Metro Center and watch fireworks. It was great!
Now we’ve entered a new era of features related to living on the water…you could get shot while on the water! I don’t know if you saw this story in the media, and I rarely post about a local news story here…but I couldn’t resisit in this case. Here’s the Chronicle story:
Seems like some folks were goofing around a tad much in their canoe in the water east of Shell behind the Beach Cove Apartments around midnight last week. An outraged tenant took offense…and then took a gun out to confront the noisy boaters. During the argument the cranky tenant shot two men with his .22 handgun…both are going to survive and Mr. Crank is in jail facing two counts of attempted murder and five counts of assault with a firearm.
Maybe I shouldn’t make light of all this…but what a world! I just hope this isn’t the beginning of a trend! I want to sell waterfront homes!
The FC city council seems to be moving in the direction of outlawing smoking in all of the city’s parks. It was on the table to be discussed last night and it would seem to be the right time to make this move. Cigarette buts are the most common form of litter with the inevitable clean-up being expensive, not to mention how many butts end up in storm drains and thus the lagoons, streams and the bay itself.
This isn’t a new trend as more than 90 cities and/or counties have adopted ordinances making local parks smoke free. Interestingly, only 14% of Californians smoke according to California’s Clean Air Project.
For some more info on this check out the SM Daily Journal’s story from yesterday.
In case you’re looking for something fun and interesting to do tomorrow there’s a pretty cool sounding Earth Day fair happening in front of City Hall at Hillsdale and FC Blvd. It takes place between 11 and 4 and there’s vendors, food and activities for the kids. Check out this video and head on over!
Remember that old flood insurance topic…the one we thought was resolved and finished? Guess what, it’s not. About 6 months ago Jackie Speier asked FEMA to delay the implementation of their new map to give time for San Mateo to complete their work on the levees and eliminate the need for flood insurance. Well, FEMA essentially said no. Actually they said their hands are tied, we’re real sorry. A few days ago, Foster City issued a press release stating that FEMA doesn’t have the authority to withhold the publication of maps and that Foster City residents are going to need to purchase flood insurance.
This may be a little confusing, (or maybe alot confusing) but you’ll get a better rate if you buy just before the deadline than you would now…or certainly after the deadline. There’s an important point here, CALL YOUR INSURANCE AGENT AND ASK THEM WHEN THE BEST TIME TO BUY THIS INSURANCE. To minimize your costs on this issue it’s going to be really important to be proactive here. Supposedly, when the levees are completed the need for the insurance won’t be necessary…but who knows. That’s another question to ask.
The biggest question for me, one that I don’t have an answer to, is what does this mean for HOA’s? If you live in a condo or townhouse, I suggest you contact your management company and ask them what impact this will have on your monthly dues.
Again, make sure to look at this press release and certainly call your agent to make sure you’re on target.
Have you see this new Foster City newspaper? It’s (obviously) called “The Lagonian” and it hit the news stands this week here in town. It’s the product of 20 year old Alexa Hemken who took some time off from attending the College of San Mateo to begin this entrepreneurial dream. In this high tech, internet friendly age, Alexa is going old school by creating a print newspaper and distributing it…pretty much by herself. I found it at the convenience store that used to be 7-11 in Charter Square, but it’s available in shops and restaurants around town, while supplies last. Alexa also got some help from her old boss at Cold Stone Creamery (who bought ads) and her parents (who are acting as editors).
This is really great stuff folks! Alexa has an entertainment section, movie reviews, food reviews, puzzles, a police blotter, a calendar and a whole bunch of stories about things Foster City…including one about this blog! I really take my hat off to Alexa…it’s a bid deal to me to write a couple of posts on this blog where it’s the easiest thing in the world to do…much less lay out an entire newspaper, publish it and distribute it!! Way to go Alexa!
Last week it was pretty gloomy around the San Mateo-Foster City school board and the word was out that there was going to be layoffs of more than 100 employees. Well it seems that Measure A has passed by the narrowest of margins. At one point it appeared that it was leading by 3 total votes.
Passage will mean $6 million annually to the district but will not necessarily eliminate the need for more cuts. The district folk are still expecting to cut more in the future.
The new tax essentially renews a parcel tax that had previously been renewed in 2003 provides about $2 million in district revenue and it was set to end in 2010. A vote is going to occur on March 4 over a plan to cut various positions and the new tax plan will be a part of that decision making process. The final decision on cuts will be May 15.
Here’s a link to the Daily Journal’s story on this topic:
Not sure how that title relates to the post itself…but it sort of sounded good, so what the heck! Anyway, the point is that Foster City’s own Gilead Sciences has officially gained approval for nearly doubling it’s Vintage Park campus. It’s going to grow from a little over 629,000 square feet to over 1,200,000 sq ft in a total of 17 buildings. Construction is expected to take place over the next 10 years. Gilead also purchased an additional 30 acres of land adjacent to it’s current campus.
To me at least, this all means a continued healthy Foster City economy and yet another reason to feel optimistic about the maintenance of home values in this area. Gilead’s plan is to expect an increase in employees from 1200 right now to more than 3000 in 10 years. This, in a town where there are currently only 10 single family homes actively listed for sale. It seems obvious to me that this kind of growth is going to keep home values stabile at the very least. I wrote a post in 2008 about a great book by a guy by the name of Richard Florida called Who’s Your City? that really nails the strength of this area and why it’s dynamic energy bodes well for our futures here. What we’re seeing with Gilead is living proof.
Chris Canfield 
Robert Amato 
anonymous 
Alex Cortez 
Guru 
Julia Mitchell 
AR 
