Jerome, I agree wholeheartedly with you. We need a Secretary who gets accurate notes and publishes them quickly to the Board for approval and distribution.  Thank you.

This is my 2 cents

The club over the years has put alot of effort into making the LZ/Ranch what it was a few years back when camping, fly ins and membership breakfasts thrived. There was members who volunteered to install the sprinklers and run electric lines from John’s house up to the pond and back down to the shade structure and wifi was installed for our members.

Unfortunately all that has gone away due to the last five years board of directors.

5 years ago the BOD said “We can police our selves” So we got rid of the site monitor. Why? The site monitor not only checks pilots for CSS and USHPA membership, but also collected day use fees and promoted club membership to non members.

How much money has the club lost over the last 5 years?

If the club brought back a monitor instead of “Self Policing” and brought back Fly ins, which we had 4 a year, those funds could help pay monthly payments and possibly contribute towards the purchase of the Ranch.

So we cut ties with the Ranch and they decide to sell, we no longer have water (potable and sprinklers) Electricity, WiFi and future camping and pond usage.

This should decided by the members and not BOD!

The money spent on the new shade structure could have made a down payment!

Opportunity Cost

An earlier post suggested that the owners accept something less than fair market value for the XCR. That is unreasonable and unfair. I do not know the fair market value of the land but $530,000 invested a generic S&P index fund in 2005 would be worth around $2,400,000 today. That includes the market decline of 2022 but does not include the cost of money, which was remarkably cheap the past 15 years.

The owners of the XCR are intelligent adults who understand time and money, and they understood their opportunity cost for this acquisition. Clearly, they did not buy the XCR for profit. For CSS to offer less then fair market value for the land is unreasonable and unfair, and possibly vindictive.

I heard at the last Board meeting and seen posts claiming that if we quit paying the XC ranch, the owners will sell the ranch to a developer who would be able to get a zone change and build multiple units on the ranch. Then, the homeowners would sue us to prevent us from flying over their properties to land at the LZ. I don’t think this is a real possibility. When the ranch was for sale, I was considering buying it along with another pilot. I went to the county to see what development potential there was. The county told me that they would not allow a zone change to allow more than two homes because there is no sewer system serving that area and everyone is on septic tanks. The county said they would not allow more than two homes because the increased septic systems would threaten and likely contaminate the aquifer below. This means there is no real possibility of a developer having an interest in buying the ranch, and even if one did, it would only be able to build a second home at the max. Besides the new owners could be as friendly as the neighbors east and west of the XCR. Like we built a training hill in the next door neighbor’s property along with a trailer park and they haven’t said a word. The club does not have the funds to buy the ranch even if mass donations would be handed to the club. So why all the fuss. The ranch has enough water to keep green grass all year long, but not enough to keep the pond full to the max for swimming during the summer so we need to pick a priority either grass or swimming.

I vote for grass in the LZ per Marcello’s post.

I agree with Tom, to much bitchin going on.

There has been a lot of good posts and information brought up on this subject matter by the pilots. All great things to consider when trying to come to a direction the members would like to aim for.

This club has a huge and vast variety of talent that volunteers their time and efforts for all of us. It sure seems with all of the smart people around, eventually, we’ll have an agreement that works with the Ranch & CSS.

Have some patience and give it some time.

KEEP VOLUNTEERING, IT ALL HELPS!

Dave, where’s the flip-flop? I haven’t heard or read it. Just because someone said there was doesn’t mean it’s true. Ideas are discussed and decisions are made. Sometimes those ideas and decisions change after discussions. Just like what we went through for a new shade structure. Then after the dust settled and all the unnecessary bickering we now have an amazing and beautiful shade structure.

Dave, that’s past history. There are two sides to every story. I didn’t vote for the current structure either. I’m happy with the way it turned out. Where’s the flip-flop on the current discussion?