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Sky Blue denied grading permit

By Sharon Rice
The Friday Flyer Editor

     The Canyon Lake Property Owners Association Architectural Control Committee (ACC) maintains it was continuing to hold Sky Blue Investments, Inc. to the standards for development established by the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) when it denied the corporation’s request for a grading permit for Goetz (Goat) Hill during a hearing on January 15.
     At the POA Board meeting in September 2008, Directors denied Sky Blue’s request to have almost 30 acres of the Goetz Hill property de-annexed from the jurisdiction of the CC&Rs; therefore, in order to move ahead with its plan for development, Sky Blue was asked to submit the application for a grading permit to the ACC.
     Sky Blue maintains it is necessary to excavate the hillside in order to prepare a pad that would accommodate the up to 16 residential lots allowed by the CC&Rs. The grading application initially came before the Architectural Control Committee on December 4, 2008; however, based on a request for additional information from the Association’s engineer, the Committee postponed consideration of the application until its January 15 meeting.
     At the conclusion of last week’s hearing, ACC member John Stelzner read from a prepared statement recommending the denial of Sky Blue’s grading application, after which the three-member committee voted unanimously in favor of the denial. This came after more than an hour of comments, questions and answers on the part of ACC members, the audience and David Carlton, one of three principles of Sky Blue.
     Operations Manger Paul Johnson attended the first part of the meeting to explain the findings of Scott Hildebrand, the Association’s engineer, regarding his review of Sky Blue’s application. The denial of the permit appeared to be based, in large part, on the engineer’s concerns.
     Among those concerns was the fact that Sky Blue indicated it would turn over some of the common areas of its development such as slopes, retention basins, drains, roadways and gates to the Canyon Lake Property Owners Association for maintenance. The POA engineer and Operations Department felt this would be burdensome to the Association.
     Other concerns included the difficulty of re-planting vegetation on the slopes created by excavation and grading in such a way as to blend aesthetically with their surroundings; the possibility of large boulders high on the hill breaking loose; the possibility of water runoff overflowing retention basins and getting into Cottonwood Creek, which is protected by various environmental laws; and the concern that excavating and selling decomposed granite from the hill could violate the CC&Rs.
     David responded to each of these concerns with reassurances that experts retained by Sky Blue had addressed these issues in response to an earlier Environmental Impact Report.
     For procedurals reasons, the ACC was not able to provide the engineer’s comments or the ACC’s written statement recommending denial of the permit to The Friday Flyer until the ACC publishes its minutes of the meeting.
     Following the hearing, David made it clear Sky Blue has the right to develop its property and would press forward until it gets the necessary approvals.

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