The six-year battle to get the only park in the Highlands built has suddenly become overshadowed by a power struggle to determine who will manage the now-completed site. Accessed by a small turnoff at 1950 Palisades Drive, the park is hidden from the street. The security gate can only be opened with a computer-coded card. Inside there are almost three acres of open green space (some of it hillside) and a jogging track. Adjacent to the parking lot are bathrooms and a small playground, complete with a slide, climbing ladders, swings and two rocking horses. Mostly children use the park, as well as residents with their dogs, who are allowed off-leash twice a day (between 9-10 a.m and 4-6 p.m.). While there is a baseball backstop there is no organized play allowed on the 85-yard long grass field. However, that has not stopped local AYSO teams from using the lush field to practice, which is just one of half a dozen contentious issues now enveloping the park. The recent mudslinging began in February when dissidents began a campaign to oust the entire board of directors who oversee the park. A special meeting of the Palisades Drive Recreation Association called for 7 p.m. Tuesday night at the Palisades Hills Club House, 16721 Monte Hermoso, will determine whether the five members, including president Dave Powers, Howard Lee, Steve Abraham, Andy Caster and Angie Cloke, will be voted out in the recall election on a variety of charges. According to the February letter distributed to homeowners in the area, the board is guilty of ‘fiscal irresponsibility, violation of the bylaws, and non-responsiveness to the members, allowing for a small minority to obtain control of the association.’ It is signed by Highland residents Peter Bos, Mitch Chupack, Peter Culhane, Alan Rubin and Art Zussman. Next came a letter (‘Urgent’Save Your Park’) signed by board member Abraham and Caster, who at the time was not yet a member of the board but won in this month’s elections (along with attorney Angie Cloke). ‘Are you aware that a small majority of Highlands homeowners strongly oppose the park?’ read the letter. ‘Some want to shut the park down!’ Bos’ group responded with: ‘It is time to take charge of a board that has mismanaged the affairs of the PDRA and has continuously conducted themselves improperly.’ That letter, in April, accused Abraham and Caster of making ‘misleading assumptions,’ and declared that ‘No one on our slate has ever advocated shutting down the park or preventing children and families from enjoying it!!!’ There are 1,500 homeowners in the Highlands, a third of whom belong to PDRA, which represents owners in four of the 19 local homeowners associations: Palisades Hills, Vista del Mar, Vista Catalina and the Summit, where Powers lives. ‘These 525 households are assessed $20 a month to use the park,’ which is basically used for upkeep. Besides the use of the park, there have been ongoing disputes in the last two years regarding assessments made by the PDRA board to improve the site and questions regarding maintenance, liability, security, even what kind of fence will be built around the new playground. And most recently, some 50 accounts were sent to collection by the current board for non-payment of fees. Some residents said they did not want to pay for a park they didn’t use. Others claimed they were not even aware it existed, even though there is a reference in the CC& R’s to the establishment of an ‘open space area’ for the use and enjoyment of residents. It was, in fact, the reference to the ‘open space’ in the CC& R’s that got Debbie Schem asking, when she moved into Palisades Hills 10 years ago: ‘So where is it?’ In her research with her husband Greg, who would become PDRA’s first president, the couple discovered that while the developer, Headland (then headed by Charles Chastain), was mandated to build a park ‘all he had done was put up a bond for $100,000 in 1978, which was sitting in a non-interest-bearing account,’ Debbie explained. ‘Basically, the area designated for the park was where the construction company used to be. When we first saw the site it looked like a dump.’ Powers, who has been on the board for eight years, feels a turning point came about two years ago when a small group of residents, including several who live facing the park, began to question ‘our every move, insinuating that we are a group of incompetents,’ said Powers. He pointed out that the present board consists of ‘a medical doctor who owns his own business, an attorney, a consultant for IBM, and a retired bank executive.’ Powers, who is a physical therapist and has an MBA, said that some of the residents above the park are now upset that the site is starting to be used more, especially since the new play equipment was installed in April. ‘My wife, for example, was at the park recently with my 8-year-old son and his 7-year-old friend and one of the condo owners came out and yelled at them to be quiet,’ Powers said. ‘My wife informed her that the boys are allowed to play in the community park. The woman told my wife that the park was, in fact, in her back yard.’ In the last year it has been determined that Section 14.03 of the Highlands CC&R’s provides that any owner of a lot or condominium in the planned development has the right to join PDRA and thereby use the park. While only two residents from outside the four designated homeowner groups have joined so far (paying a one-time fee to have the title recorded, plus $20 a month), membership is, in fact, open to all 1,500 households in the area. Tracy Landau, who lives on Michael Lane, joined six months ago and now visits the park daily with her 2-year-old daughter Sophie and her dog, Chloe. The same goes for Angie Cloke, who lives in the complex below the site and walks Bailey, her Wheaton terrier, twice a day in the park. ‘He’s the official greeter. Everybody knows him,’ said Cloke, who joined the association in the last year. The current battle over the park has not stopped Debbie Schem, who is grateful that there is now a park nearby that she can visit with her three children (ages 8, 11 and 13) and her golden retriever, Cubby. ‘The play area still needs a shade canopy and there’s more planting to be done,’ Schem said Monday. But that doesn’t seem to bother her as much as ‘this small group of people who are now trying to dictate what should happen in this park. I’m not going to let that happen.’ Running for the board on Tuesday night are Bos, Culhane and James Keefe, who lives in one of the condos adjacent to the park with his wife, Leslie. Nominations will also be accepted from the floor. Attorney Cloke, who is seen by both sides of the dispute as neutral, is expected to be renominated should the whole board be voted out. (Editor’s note: See today’s Real Estate News & Views on page 19 for a history of PDRA’s role in developing Highlands Park.)
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