Home Care In Sun City, CA

SCC Community Association, Kings Point seek friendly resolution to fee conflict

By STEPHEN FLANAGAN JACKSON

A problem or a misunderstanding between erstwhile good neighbors in South Shore has not yet reached the point of a feud a la the Hatfields and the McCoys, and the two major HOAs (Home Owners’ Association) factions are looking to resolve their problem in a civil, neighborly manner.

The mild controversy focuses on a proposed fee of $125 a year that the residents in one neighborhood or homeowners association, specifically Kings Point, must pay effective 2020 to use some of the facilities and clubs in the neighborhood or in Sun City Center Community Association on the north side of Sun City Center Blvd. The matter has spilled out into the public realm and has been much bandied about lately by residents of each of these communities.

Through their leadership, residents of both Kings Point (KP) and the Sun City Center CA are working toward an amicable solution. A spokesperson for each released a statement regarding the minor flap. The president of the SCC CA is Sam Sudman. He said: “For many years a perceptible ‘we/they relationship’ has existed between Sun City Center and Kings Point. Scc Community Association (SCCCA) residents have stated that they resented that they pay dues to use CA facilities, but Kings Point (KP) residents come over and use them free.”

According to Sudman, there is no reason not to live in harmony. “After all, these are our retirement years, and why should they be stressful because of practices that have reasonable solutions?” Sudman pointed out that other subdivisions in the area, including Aston Gardens, Sun Towers and Freedom Plaza residents, pay dues or a fee to use the CA facilities, a practice that was implemented years ago. The CA board took this proposal as an initiative to charge an annual non- resident fee model to simplify the process, according to the sccca president, Sudman.

On June 12, 2019, the community association board of directors voted to charge an annual $125 fee to Kings Point residents for access to CA clubs effective Jan. 1, 2020. No exceptions to this fee were approved by the CA. The KP resident, not the club or organization, would pay the $125 directly to the SCCCA.

The proposed fee is only for KP residents wishing to participate in SCC CA clubs. The fee would apply whether the KP resident belongs to 1 or 10 or more CA clubs. Each CA club, at the club’s discretion, is open to KP residents, subject to space availability. The pools and the fitness center will not be open to KP residents. A separate arrangement exists for the CA library.

Sudman added that it would be an unrealistic undertaking to track and assess this on an individual person, club or per diem basis so the decision to assess this without regard to club or organization affiliation was made. The fee would not apply for attendance at public events, such as the Entertainment Series.

“It is worth noting, that while some individual CA residents and individual clubs take exception to this action, others support it,” said Sudman. He quickly added “The issue of someone’s using CA facilities without charge while CA members have to pay to support their participation is and has been a divisive factor between the two communities for many years.”

Sun City Center Community Association headquarters, SCC, FloridaSTEPHEN FLANAGAN JACKSON PHOTO

Sudman said the SCCCA does not have specific numbers but does have an indication of the magnitude from the 2012 survey conducted by University of Tampa and Dr. Matulich.

Sudman said that of the 11,002 surveys mailed to SCCCA members, 4,715 (42.89 percent) valid surveys were returned. Of those, 71.65 percent expressed a preference for charging a fee. “While we do not, nor would we likely ever have 100 percent of CA members vote on any issue, as past experience has demonstrated,” said Sudman, “we can safely extrapolate from the above known results. We conclude that CA members overwhelmingly support a reasonable use fee. This is why the SCCCA board made this business decision, a decision it is empowered to do per the bylaws.

“It is our joint hope that the two communities will move closer together. Who knows, some day we both may agree to full reciprocal access, without fees,” pointed out Sudman. He added, “one step at a time.”

Responding in a positive manner from the south side of Sun City Center Blvd. was D. Ryan Setzer, president of the Federation of Kings Point. “The Federation of Kings Point, Inc. Board of Directors hasn’t yet decided where, as a board, we stand on this suggestion or the program structure or pricing as proposed by the CA of Sun City Center,” said Setzer. He said the Federation of KP feels the idea has some validity and that it makes an effort to address and attempts to resolve an ongoing debate that many citizens on both sides of the street have regarding ways to offset the cost of visitors using amenities and clubs, but making no financial contribution toward the larger cost and long-term expense of upkeep and replacement.

Setzer added, “So, while we do feel the concept has merit and could provide a needed equity to the situation, the Federation has stated its support for the concept, but it has not expressly endorsed this (official) version as has been stated. The SCCCA has done an excellent job assimilating information and data on the SCC side of the street,” according to Setzer, “but Kings Point has not had an opportunity to do adequate research on the topic to commit to a course of action at this time. “Therefore, while we (the Federation) are positive on the concept, we still have research and data to collect and analyze to determine its feasibility and effect on property value and marketing efforts for our community,” said Setzer.

In Kings Point, the Rules and Regulation Association essentially develops and initiates the rules for our recreation facilities. The Kings Point West Recreational Facilities Rules Association, Inc. (KPWRFRA) was formed for the purpose of giving unit owners, through their association presidents, an avenue to assist in the establishment of reasonable, proper and necessary rules and regulations on use pertaining to Kings Point recreational facilities. That includes rooms and property used by clubs. Setzer expects that the KP promotion committee will be starting immediately to dig into the details and look at the logistics of this type of offset. They will be examining the pros and cons as it relates to the citizens, clubs, and events of KP and any SCC members currently using our facilities or participating in our clubs. Setzer is quick to point out that, “Of course, we will keep everyone in our community in the loop. I encourage everyone not to rely on social media for information. As you know, it often isn’t based on fact.”

Maintaining a civil and friendly tone, Setzer said, “We do appreciate that Sam Sudman and the members of the CA board let us know their thoughts and intentions. We thank them for starting this conversation and including us in it. We look forward to continuing this discussion and working together with the CA and all clubs in both the CA and KP to develop a program that can accomplish the necessary and productive outcome and be acceptable to all the members of both communities.”

Combined with two other desalination plants already in service, they will now be able to treat 14M gallons of water per day.

Combined with two other desalination plants already in service, they will now be able to treat 14 million gallons of water per day.

MENIFEE, Calif. (KABC) -- Neighborhoods throughout Menifee and Sun City show evidence of water conservation.

Front yards are no longer covered with grass, but are covered with decorative rock instead.

Not to be outdone, the water agency that serves the area just unveiled its third water desalination facility.

The plant will allow Eastern Municipal Water District to treat underground water that's too salty to drink and make it safe to consume.

"One of the things we have in our service area is a lot of unusable ground water because of the mineral content," said EMWD Board President Phil Paule. "With the opening of this facility this week, we will add the ability to service 15,000 households now with water we're not importing from the Colorado river or state water project.

Paule said the plant will be able to treat 5.4 million gallons of water per day.

Combined with two other desalination plants already in service, they will now be able to treat 14 million gallons of water per day.

This is water that will no longer need to be pulled from the Colorado River.

"The water is at the lowest since the Hoover Dam was built," said Paule. "That should be cautionary to everybody in Southern California that we need to be able to figure out how to use local resources for our water."

Eastern Municipal Water District officials said the opening of the plant now means that approximately 10% of the water used in their service area comes from their desalination programs.

"Facilities like this are what show that there is a different path," said Joaquin Esquivel, chairmen of the State Water Resources Control Board. "When we're in settings like this where we have communities and ratepayers that can contribute, and thankfully the state and feds that can contribute dollars to ensure the affordability of water supplies like this, you can do great things."

The new plant was funded in part by approximately $22.5 million in grant funding made available from Prop 1, the 2014 voter-approved water bond.

EMWD officials said while the cost of operating and maintaining the facility will be paid by ratepayers, the hard costs of the facility that weren't covered by state and federal funding were supplemented by the developers of new homes in the service area.

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Menifee Councilwoman Darcy Kuenzi and misstated the title of Sun City Civic Association General Manager Jim Rush.

The retirement community of Sun City, part of the new city of Menifee for three years, will turn 50 next year.

Community leaders are planning a huge celebration, with parties and other events to take up most of June. Residents, who enjoy a slower lifestyle than their mostly younger neighbors in “New Menifee” subdivisions, want to have fun but also want to send a message: Sun City hasn’t gone away.

“A lot of residents want to make sure the city knows we are a very powerful group of people out here,” said Jim Rush, general manager of the Sun City Civic Association.

A 55-and-older rule is strictly enforced in the Sun City “core,” a community of nearly 5,000 tidy, ranch-style, single-family homes. The easy pace of life, marked by the golf carts many residents use to make their way around town, stands in contrast to the hustle of the younger families shuttling kids to school and commuting to San Diego and Orange County from newly built housing developments elsewhere in Menifee.

“We are a world apart,” Sun City resident Ruth Goulet said.

Independent and governed by a homeowners association for decades, Sun City was absorbed by Menifee in 2008 when voters approved cityhood, creating a city of 77,000 that straddles Interstate 215.

Many saw cityhood as another step in the march toward having their small-town retirement community crowded out by Menifee, where officials are eager to establish the new city’s identity. They fear the old Sun City is getting lost as fast as strip malls and rooftops have risen in a city hungry for new amenities and development dollars.

Greg August is a retired military pilot and one of the few dozen Sun City residents who have become amateur government watchdogs who keep highly critical eyes trained on Menifee’s new government. August said he watches lots of Fox News and said he knew that more politicians would be bad news.

“I don’t need any more of these politicians in my life — I’m sick of it,” August said. “I see it all day long on TV and I don’t need it.”

The list of grievances is long and varied: Menifee officials, eager to brand their new city, irked some residents by lobbying to replace Sun City with the Menifee name. City officials fought an effort to create a system that would guarantee Sun City a seat on the council. And in the minds of critics, they’ve prioritized rapid development over sensible planning.

As general manager of the civic association, a position that makes him like Sun City’s city manager, Rush spends a lot of time mediating between upset members of his community and the city of Menifee. A Sun City resident himself, Rush said he thinks Menifee officials are doing a fine job and honestly try to respond to the community’s needs.

Recently, work has started to beautify some center dividers in main roads, a major gripe for a few years, he said.

Councilwoman Darcy Kuenzi downplayed the unrest in Sun City, saying it was a disgruntled few who complained loudly out of “fear and misunderstanding.” Most residents appreciate the benefits of cityhood, including planned improvements to sewers and new developments, she said.

“Becoming a city was about improving the quality of life and improving the level of services, and I think we’ve done that,” Kuenzi said.

Haven for retirees

Sun City was built is 1962 as a retirement destination. It was developer Del Webb’s second Sun City, built two years after the original in Arizona. Dozens of other Sun Citys now dot the western U.S., including Palm Desert.

Sun City residents favored cityhood, but at a lower rate than the rest of the city. Overall, Menifee’s incorporation was approved by 62 percent of voters. Less than 56 percent in Sun City voted to create the city.

Later, many Sun City residents bristled when freeway signs were relabeled to direct drivers to Menifee, not Sun City, and when officials asked the post office to replace “Sun City” and other communities with “Menifee” in official addresses. A suggestion by a former council member that the Sun City post office be renamed the Menifee post office, also drew criticism.

Rush said the post office idea is dead and he’s lobbying Caltrans to have the freeway signs changed back.

Growing pains

But the weakening of the Sun City name isn’t the only gripe. Incorporation annoyed Sun City residents like Goulet, who saw it as another move toward over-development in the area.

The land surrounding Sun City, once mostly rural, is now populated by tract homes. Shopping centers have followed, and more are on the way. Traffic-choked intersections near the 215 freeway make getting around town a chore.

Goulet said incorporation was a way for developers and their allies in county government to pave the way for more homes, shopping centers and big-box stores. More shopping means more sales taxes to pay for city services.

Having a couple of more restaurants would be nice, Goulet conceded, but for the most part, development is just a hassle. Goulet takes the freeway to City Hall because, she said, bumper-to-bumper traffic backs up intersections along the way.

When Walmart wanted to build in Menifee, many residents loudly urged the council to reject the project. In the end, Walmart got enough signatures on a petition to put the matter to voters, who last year approved the new superstore.

“I had four Walmarts within five miles of me,” Goulet said. “Did I really need five?”

Others are happy with more development. Carmelita Rood, a Sun City resident since 1978 who’s been active with the Chamber of Commerce, said she appreciated the city and the growth officials want to bring. Most of her neighbors were positive about Menifee, and she tries to avoid listening to those who are negative, she said.

“Like anything that is new, there are going to be mistakes. Good and bad,” Rood, 84, said. “But on the whole they (the City Council) have resolved a lot of the bad.”

Political battles

The hard feelings manifest themselves at Menifee City Council meetings, where a small, vocal group of Sun City residents have made themselves a presence.

“They just beat this poor council to death,” Rush said.

During a not atypical event in November, August took to the council podium to demand Kuenzi be formally reprimanded for pushing to replace the city’s attorney without involving other council members. Kuenzi swiveled her chair around to face the back wall while he spoke.

One of the most contentious issues in Menifee’s young history has been council voting districts. Sun City residents pushed for voting districts, which would guarantee the community representation on the council. Now, none of the five council members, elected from across the city, are from the retirement community.

Sun City’s Anne Pica, who led an effort to get a district initiative on the ballot, said the city isn’t responsive to residents. The only time they’re not ignored, she said, is when they’re insulted.

“They’re more like dictators up there, thinking that we don’t have a right to complain about things going on in the city,” Pica said. “These are my tax dollars and I gripe about it because I don’t think they’re doing a very good job of it.”

If you thought Sun City was the first and only city of its namesake, think again.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first of many active retirement communities — building contractor Del Webb’s “Sun City” community — being built. The “Sun City” community was an idea first introduced and built in 1960 in Arizona and was geared toward retired couples over the age of 50.

Webb quickly learned that the combination of a warm, sunny climate, social and recreational activities and low-cost, quality housing was a hit among retirees and expanded his business to Riverside County in 1962.

According to historical documents, the first homes ranged in price from $11,950 to $17,950, with the option to pay an additional $1,900 to live on the golf course.

Local historian and author Steve Lech said one of the first businesses to pop up in the area was the Kings Inn: a motel and restaurant Webb designed to accommodate potential homeowners.

Webb offered a package deal of a week’s stay at the Inn to retirees for $50, which included full use of the new community’s facilities, including the swimming pool and shuffleboard courts.

The Inn, famous for $1.25 buffets and fish fry’s in its heyday, was located at Bradley Road and Cherry Hills Boulevard, near present-day Boston Billie’s restaurant.

“The Kings Inn was the initiator of the ‘try and buy’ concept,” Jacque Petroulakis, spokeswoman for Pulte Group, the Del Webb brand overseer, said.

Petroulakis said the communities have changed since the 1960s, and are now evolving to meet the social changes and desires of homebuyers over 55 years old, offering more social opportunities and facilities.

“The three Del Webb communities in the Inland Empire definitely embrace this evolution,” she said by phone Wednesday. Communities in Hemet and Apple Valley were established after the Sun City location, which is now part of the City of Menifee.

Though no longer standing, the Kings Inn is still remembered fondly by some Sun City residents and visitors.

Joan Ring, executive assistant for the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce said her aunt and uncle used to visit the Inn every summer.

“They always raved about how much they loved that place,” she said. “It’s too bad its not there anymore because we could definitely use someplace like it today.”

America’s 242nd birthday celebrated in lively fashion

The Sun City Center Community Association-sponsored July 4th Family Fun Day included a pancake breakfast at Community Hall. Then at the Central Campus, partygoers enjoyed music, dancing, food, games, free ice cream, a model railroad exhibit and fun in the pool.

The breakfast drew 1,310 people eager to start celebrating the holiday with friends, neighbors and family. Against a backdrop of lively chatter and music by the SCC Organ and Keyboard Club, 176 volunteers moved with precision and smiles to serve the delectable breakfast of pancakes, eggs and sausage, toast and drinks. The 50-50 raffle table was busy offering tickets “by the arm’s length” and the drawings made two lucky winners very happy. Kathy Norton won both first and third totaling $290; Peter Aluotto took home $150 for second.

Organizers Bob and Pat Sullivan attributed the breakfast’s smooth operation and cheery atmosphere to the unwavering support of volunteers and CA staff members. “This is a community event — for the people, by the people,” they said. “Nearly 200 people are willingly giving a few hours of their holiday as a service to their community. It is amazing to watch them work together to get so much done — from planning, to setting up, to cleaning up afterward. We have been asked why we don’t have the breakfast catered, but no way would we change it; it just wouldn’t be the same.”

On the Central Campus, food was plentiful, and music wafted continuously as DJ Leanne Williams entertained with karaoke and dance music, followed by duo Cyndi Burger (vocals and guitar) and Thor Stevens (vocals, keys and sax) at the grandstand. The SCC Model Railroad Club’s exhibition of a new portable N Scale modular railroad known as T-Trak proved to be a popular addition to the event. It was an operating display of individually owned modules in various stages of development, from bare plywood to completion.

Community Association President John Luper called this Family Fun Day, the third since the first one in 2016, “a day of fun to celebrate our country’s independence.” He extended congratulations to the Sullivans for another successful breakfast and thanked his fellow volunteers and CA staff for their efforts.

This and other CA events are funded by proceeds from CA-sponsored holiday breakfasts. That fund will also be tapped to help defray costs of the December 8 Golf Cart Parade. Want to see more July 4 pictures? Go to the Friends of Sun City Center Facebook page.

At the CA Central Campus poolside, music by DJ Leanne Williams brought line dancers to their feet and Karaoke singers to the mike.BILL / PHYLLIS HODGES PHOTO