I read with much dismay Jonathon Randles article, “Seal’s Habitat Endangered” in Saturday’s, June 19, 2010 Signal and I remain troubled with its numerous omissions and lack of accuracy.  Clearly, Randles’ article was intended to champion the swim team’s perspective but in the end, I fear it further stokes an atmosphere of personal attacks by certain homeowners against those who question the Summit swim team’s activities. 
 
My first posting here Monday, June 7th, on this subject was a rebuttal and a correction to Signal’s columnist, Tim Myers, who wrote an erroneous opinion column the previous day.  Sure enough following Randles’ slanted Signal article, Tim Myers posted yet another erroneous report using an obscure local blog, a less than forthright media outlet called scvtalk; hence I must correct the record once again. 
 
First of all, I do not wish to broad brush swim team parents as being despicable people, because it is absolutely true that the vast majority of these folks are really nice, decent people who want the best for their kids.  However, there are a few Summit swim team advocates who will stoop to any level to protect their hobby.  It is truly alarming the extent that some will go, even to the degree, we now learn, that one of them falsely claimed to the Sheriff’s Department that a fellow Summit homeowner is a child molester.  These people will employ any radical measure necessary to shut down another person’s point of view.  They’ve been known to actually contact employers to bring undue pressure on those who question swim team’s activities.  One such homeowner is currently dealing with harassing accusations while his wife suffers a life threatening illness.  I would urge the decent swim team folks to purge their ranks of several scurrilous characters that have brought tremendous angst to our community and are not helping resolve these important matters. 

The history of questionable behavior by swim team activists dates back to our 1994 earthquake when our main pool was heavily damaged and had to be reconstructed.  The pool was originally built with standard coping… the type you would find at most pools.  The Summit HOA Board members at the time decided it was prudent to spend extra homeowner HOA dollars far beyond earthquake insurance coverage to construct a cantilever deck, wave less pool strictly designed for competitive swimming.  This major project included relocating our children’s wading pool and the gazebo, which was completely unnecessary had the pool simply been replaced to its original configuration.  This massive and very costly project was accomplished without benefit of a homeowner vote and capital improvement rules were disregarded to accommodate their mission to construct a competitive swimming pool for their swim team.  This action, which decimated our HOA accounts, brought tremendous angst into our community and several board member recalls were implemented. 

As you can see, this current swim team flair up is not a new Summit HOA controversy.  We’ve had other controversies too, notably the willingness of board members to go after a homeowner for installing a majestic “Bronze Horse” statue in their magnificent front lawn.  Tens of thousands of HOA dollars in legal fees were wasted fighting that homeowner and in the end, our HOA was again broke and the bronze horse was moved a mere 10 feet.  Things got so bad that we couldn’t even pay our bills.  By the time I became a first time board member in January 2009, it was obvious that maintaining our facilities had been the furthest thing from anyone’s mind for at least 15 years.  Our recreation center shade structures were riddled with dry rot to the point that serious safety hazards existed.  Had an earthquake occurred with people there, serious injuries could have easily resulted.  During demolition, a number of posts literally fell right over from dry rot.  Our tennis courts were also shabby and run down. 
 
By the way; the home with the majestic “Bronze Horse” mentioned above actually graced the front page and was featured in Santa Clarita’s magazine, “Inside SCV”, in its April 2009 edition.  Don’t you find our HOA’s selective policy enforcement interesting?  Does “The Bronze Seals” era lie in our immediate future?                              

Be advised that “NO DIVING” signs have always been posted at our pools since the beginning of this fine community and despite those signs and our no diving policy, diving has always been the practice of the Seals, even into the 3½ foot shallow end of our pool.  To read Randle’s Signal article you would automatically believe there has never been any diving.  He would also have you believe the swim team always had been properly insured and now the Stratfords are outrageously demanding a $20M insurance policy; I find this incredulous. 

As a former Summit HOA Vice President I can tell you that when I personally contacted our insurance carriers last March I was informed that our $15M umbrella policy did not apply to swim team activities.  And when I pursued details of a $3M liability policy, I was told that if they knew swim team activity was happening they would NOT renew our policy when it expired May 2010.  As of today, I do not know if adequate swim team insurance coverage has been obtained or not, however based on my findings last March I would suggest caution. 

Entitlements beget dissension.  This defines the Seal’s (a so-called separate entity) $1.00 annual contract to use our facilities.  All other homeowners have to rent the clubhouse, but the Seals have always had free usage on predetermined dates during prime months of the year.  If you are a paying homeowner who wishes to rent/conduct a summer wedding reception or baby shower at our clubhouse, you will likely be superseded by the Seals.  This represents a loss of revenue to the HOA.

To reiterate, I resigned from the Summit HOA last month for reasons previously reported and I did not choose to go public with this swim team controversy.  Going public to attack others is a pattern we’ve seen here before.  Those extremists who made this a public issue have done nothing more than diminish the image of our Valencia Summit community – how does this attract new homeowners and enhance property values?  I have been forced to respond publicly here because my name and reputation is under siege.  It is common knowledge by those who have lived in the Summit for any length of time that when you question swim team activities, you will be promptly demonized and personally attacked.  

I believe Signal reporter Jonathon Randles was used unwittingly to support radical elements here.  In my opinion, Tim Myers, a non Summit resident, is a willing participant and is being used to continue the frantic behavior of swim team extremists. 

I also firmly believe that while both boards were attempting good faith negotiations to resolve differences, radical elements disrupted that process and forced the Summit Board to violate a written agreement it had with the Stratford Board.  This led to a complete breakdown in communications and it seems, I fear, a legal course cannot be avoided at this point. 

In deference to Holly Thompson’s view (Seals Manager) that certain people want the Seals to go away, I do not believe Summit homeowners are striving to eliminate them.  Rather, I believe there should be appropriate insurance coverage and equity in their use of our facilities.  Having previously discussed the favoritism aspect of the Seals activities with swim team officials, I believe there is much common ground here and compromises could be reached if cooler heads prevailed.

William L. Reynolds- Commentary
Valencia Summit Homeowner since 1986

William L. Reynolds is a community volunteer who has served on the Summit HOA board. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.