Here is another opportunity to get involved. Even though we reach many people via word of word of mouth, Town Square, and the BLOG, there are still a lot of owners who are not aware of what is going on with the golf course. We need volunteers to head up or participate in forming a small committee. the committee will create and publish an awarwness flyer or newsletter, get it printed, and distribute it door to door to everyone in Morgan Creek. . We did this a few years back and it was easy and quite effective. We used local teens to do the distribution.

If you are interested, please fill out the “Contact” page on the BLOG ( it’s confidential), and indicate whether or not you’re willing to lead. I will take your contact email and put you in touch with each other. I’ll also give you my contact info to help you get started.

For those who have complained about not being active enough, here’s your chance to start. There will be other actions in the coming weeks needing volunteers as well.

In our May 22 Post we announced the golf course owners filed a formal application with the county.  That’s our trigger to ACT NOW.  Here is the first step. You need to write personal letters to everyone involved in the application approval process.  Hard copy letters are most effective (no DELETE key), but email works as well.  The following PDF contains names and addresses of people you should write to.  If you can think of others to add, please use the “Contact Us” page on the BLOG and we will add them to the list.

Please don’t put this off.  Your letters should be powerful, personal and call for action by the recipient.  Please do not send form letters or copy someone else’s.  Below are some suggestions for concerns you can discuss.  You may, of course, want to raise others not listed.  We suggest you limit your letter to three or four of your main interests.  Too much information can get lost on the reader.  Don’t be afraid to ask for a reply.

This BLOG probably reaches about 2/3 of our community.  We encourage you to contact your neighbors and, if the are not signed up, encourage them to do so. Ask them to write letters too. We are not limited to Morgan Creek.  If you know others outside the community in the greater Dry Creek area as well as users of the golf course, encourage then to sign up and write.

Here are some suggested topics in no particular order:

• Morgan Creek, LLC’s application alleges golf is in significant decline and they are losing money.  Since 2020 and COVID there has been a surge in successful courses in the area.  Morgan creek is very busy and preferred tee times hard to get.  If you have any specific facts or statistics, lets cite them.
• Homeowner values will likely decline significantly if the project is approved because…
• Morgan Creek was permitted in the 1990’s after exhaustive review as a complete integrated project of open space, a golf course, and planned housing areas.  Its approval was based on maintaining this balance.  It must not be broken up.
• The community not only serves Morgan Creek residents but was designed for public access to the open spaces including the golf course through numerous foot path and bike trails.
• Additional housing and less maintenance on newly created open space could have an impact on the County designated riparian sanctuary along Dry Creek.
• Newly released and poorly maintained open spaces can present an expanded fire hazard to existing homes.
• Access to the proposed housing would be on our private roads, especially on the north side.  They were designed for the current traffic levels.  We don’t need more.

We will be rolling out many other mobilization efforts you can help with in the coming days and weeks.  Stay tuned.  But, for now, WRITE THOSE LETTERS.

As always, please leave comments.  Tell others what you are doing.  If we all pull together, we will succeed.

The golf course owners have just filed their formal application to develop homes on the property, and it has been accepted by Placer County. This, finally, is the actionable milestone to bring the community together with a strong, hopefully United, response.

The golf course committee, our legal advisors, and our board will be active with recommendations the coming days. Each of us can play a role, but United we can make a difference. This BLOG stands ready to provide the most potent response. Please stand by for action.

as always, your thoughts are welcome.

On Wednesday, March 24, our Placer County Supervisor, Bonnie Gore, will host a town hall meeting via ZOOM. The meeting will focus on development and construction in the West Placer area.

We urge everyone who can, to attend and voice their specific concerns over turning the golf course into homes. It is very important that our government knows where we stand. Follow the link below and complete the form.

Click here to register for the West Placer Virtual Community Meeting: Development & Construction – March 24, 2021 at 5:30 p.m.

We need a good showing here to show we are serious.

The following are highlights of the HOA meeting held via ZOOM last Tuesday, March 16.

• Golf Course (GC) update:  This issue is important to all owners in MC whether they play golf or not.  It will impact the entire community.  This Board has been working on it for 3 years now, searching for a win– win solution. The GC may be interested in moving forward with plans to build on the GC, but this is only the first step on their part, exploratory maybe. We have extensive plans in place to combat this possibility but can’t divulge those plans now as it would tip our hand. Certainly, the GC monitors our HOA meetings as they should. We had a very good turnout for the recent MAC meeting, and they heard our concerns about closure of the GC and home building. It has been determined that the asking price is much higher than what the course is worth (in relation to what it may cost if we wanted to buy), but there has been no agreement with the GC for a monthly rate should we want to keep it open.  It was noted that it took 7 years to get the GC approved for development. -We still want to meet with GC to see if we can come up with a viable solution to keep it open, but they have not responded. In the interim, we have built a team of legal and land use experts to guide us.  We have had a good response from the community to get involved, and they will be called on when the time is right. There is a new law that was passed (SB3) to speed up the process to build new homes due to the shortage in CA. That means the time is shortened for new developments. The preliminary application submitted to the County was the first step, but the FORMAL application is what starts the ball rolling and when we need to take action. However, it’s important to advise your neighbors of what’s going on and continue to let elected officials know what we want. That step is being taken by individual emails, and by our attendance at the MAC meeting last week.  The Board will notify all of us when appropriate and all information will be shared with owners. Some questions were raised: The Board of Supervisors has the right to block an application, but is it a legal requirement? Answer is, maybe.  Is there a timeframe for the GC? No for pre-application, but yes for formal application.  How will we know if a formal application was submitted?   The Board of Supervisors will tell us and that’s when the Board will ask us for help and discuss a strategy.  We have a plan in place.  WE CAN’T START THE RACE BEFORE THE GUN GOES OFF!   The Board will ABSOLUTELY keep us informed. Everything will need to be approved by the community. Have we approached the GC for a price? Yes, but they did not answer. The Board has formally requested the GC to present the HOs with their plan – no response.
• Vicky Lentz, our new HOA Community manager,  and her assistant, Sarah Wilson were introduced.
• We had a net loss on collections of $75K and uncollectables of $199K.
• We are continuing to investigate digging a well at the lake to reduce our dependence on high-cost water.
• -The landscape committee has developed RFPs for Landscape, but no new contracts for either landscape or trees have been approved. It was late in the process and the Board has elected to retain Procida until 2022.  They are looking to refurbish the Villas greenbelt area. It is in sad need of repair.
• The safety committee is looking at getting speed signs deployed and is working with a vendor on software design upgrades. In a short period of 1 hour, it was observed that 5 cars entered thru the wrong gate. Parking Rules & Regulations in our CC&Rs are illegal and the CC&Rs need to be revised.
• Driveway expansion on the Pinehurst side has been discussed and denied 2 times. The HOA does not understand why it needs further clarification. The Board is willing to work with the ARC for a solution. They have agreed to review and dig deeper into this situation.

There will be an HOA Board meeting via ZOOM on Tuesday, March 16 at 6 PM Meeting details are:

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/98621124911?pwd=QVVlQ08vZlhrU20ybm8zS1ExVUdyQT09
Meeting ID: 986 2112 4911 – Passcode: 186291
Dial by your location: +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

There will be an update on the golf course development activities and an opportunity for public discourse. Things seem to be starting to move and it is close to time for community involvement. We strongly encourage anyone who can to attend to do so, especially those willing to help.

If you wish, you should email all five on the Board of Supervisors with your concerns. If you do, be specific. Their email addresses can be found on the County website: https://www.placer.ca.gov/Directory.aspx?did=103

As always, comments welcome.

At the West Placer Municipal Advisory Council meeting on March 10 Morgan Creek owners spoke out unanimously in opposition to the proposed plan to close the golf course and build 79 homes. Our HOA Board president as well as a dozen or so owners made public comments against this proposal. Our County Supervisor, Bonnie Gore, and her staff were in attendance. The following message was delivered loud and clear by the HOA.

There will be many more opportunities for you to get directly involved in the coming days. One is a Town Hall meeting for West Placer held by Bonnie March 24 at 5;30 PM via ZOOM. This will be another opportunity to speak out. We encourage everyone to attend. Details will follow. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 6:30 pm the West Placer MAC will meet via Webinar. Although Morgan Creek LLC’s golf course plans are not on the agenda, one of our HOA Board members plans to address our Community concerns and opposition.

For those not familiar, the West Placer Municipal Advisory Council is a long standing formally organized citizens group set up to advise Placer County government on the community’s views on development plans. It has significant input to the County’s master plans, both general and specific. Anyone with an interest can get involved and should do so. We encourage you to join the meeting.

The public may observe and participate in this meeting by accessing the following: https://placer-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/94562617149. Members of the public may access meeting audio by calling 1-877-853-5247 (Toll Free) or 1-888-788-0099 (Toll Free)
Conference ID: 945 6261 7149.

The following link is the full agenda for the meeting.

The recent development plan filing by Morgan Creek LLC has stirred up a firestorm of comments from our community. While most are heartfelt and show an accurate grasp of the history and facts, many are inaccurate and misleading. This can be counterproductive and provide ammunition to supporters of the golf course development..

There are currently two community sources of accurate information; One is from our elected officials usually via Town Square. The second is through this independent BLOG. The former is one way. The BLOG is two way allowing your thoughts to be heard. Most of the community are subscribers. Please use it. Have your neighbors sign up if they haven’t. http://www.mcowners.com. Use the registration page.

The following was posted on Town Square recently. We support it’s intent. If we are to be successful in trying to keep the golf course open and preventing housing development, we need a strong, fact based, united voice. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts.

“In response to the postings that have been made because of the email originally sent by Mark Baker.

The golf committee has been involved for nearly three years in preparing for virtually every action suggested in these posts. To reiterate what was posted on Town Square, the HOA has retained the services of a highly knowledgeable and experienced land use attorney and development consultant. The Board and golf committee have consulted with them continuously and the Boards approach is based largely on their expert recommendations.

The LLC has filed its third predevelopment plan in as many years. The latest and most complete plan was posted on Town Square where official information from the Board is posted. No actionable developmentplanhasbeensubmittedtotheCounty. TheHOAwillknowwhenthathappens.This latest action by the LLC appears to have been an update of a former submission but was in response to a new CA law passed late last year (SB330). This law affects many timeframes which must be met by a potential developer, the governmental response to such developers, and the response and meetings allowed by the law for community input.

We need to be unified in our response, and the timing to act will be when there is something that can be acted upon, the actual “Development Application” to the County.

For those of you who think you know what has been going on between the Homeowners Board, the Golf Course Committee, the County, the owners of the golf course (LLC) and the legal and land development advisors for the past several years and can jump in at this point and act without any authority to negotiate on behalf of the Homeowners, you may want to brush up on the structure of HOAs. While anyone can speak for themselves, self-appointed or self-proclaimed representative of the community have no authority to negotiate on behalf of or speak on behalf of the community, only themselves. The structure of the HOA is established by law, not some ad hoc group of individuals. Many of the comments posted reflect that the posters have not been paying attention for the past few years as the Board has, with some restrictions for negotiation and legal purposes, been trying to keep the community informed as much as possible without violating any of the rules, regulations, and confidentialities. While some may not agree with the tactics or strategy of the Board, they have been receiving input and advice from professionals in the respective fields. Most of the points raised in the postings have been explored by the Board. It is not like no one has ever thought of them, and some have been discussed with the LLC owners and explored in other fashions. While the posters focus on one supervisor, there are a total of 5 supervisors who may vote on the proposal if it passes through the planning department and planning commission.

Some of what has been posted reflects a lack of awareness of the structure and circumstances we find ourselves in. The golf course has been a separate entity since its inception. The HOA has never owned it and therefore could never transfer ownership. The HOA has never maintained the golf course. There are agreements in the CC&R’s about some of the perimeter maintenance. The golf course has some easements over owner’s lots which are on the course and at other locations. If you have not read the CC&R’s, which you should have received upon purchase of your home, you are encouraged to do so. Also please note that the proposal is being submitted by Morgan Creek LLC, the partners are Joe Syufy and Charlie Gibson.

If you want to continue to receive accurate information, please sign up on Town Square. This can be done by calling Sarah at 916-474-5627. Comments can be made on the mcowners.com blog which is a homeowner driven bulletin board. “

The HOA has published on Town Square an update to the Golf Course development status. See the following PDF.

One of our owners wrote to our Placer County Supervisor, Bonnie Gore, with his concerns about golf course development. His full letter and Bonnie Gore’s response can be found as a comment to our last Post, GOLF COURSE CLOSURE THREAT – WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW. Her office’s response is repeated below.

“Reply from Bonnie Gores Office:
Thank you Ken for reaching out to express your thoughts on this project. Supervisor Gore is also very concerned about the potential development of the Morgan Creek golf course. Supervisor Gore has reached out to the project developer and requested that they hear out the residents’ concerns.

If you have any neighbors or friends who would like to opine about the issue, please have them reach out as well.

I hope you have a good rest of your week. Thanks again.

Regards,
Landon Wolf
District Director
Supervisor Bonnie Gore
Placer County District 1”

Her office wants to hear from us. Please, everyone who has concerns about closing the golf course to build 79 homes, WE URGE YOU TO EXPRESS THOSE CONCERNS NOW. If possible be specific about how it would affect you (e. g. Traffic access, loss of green belt, wildlife, etc. ). This is a chance to be heard. Her email is

SupervisorGore@placer.ca.gov

If you prefer snail mail, her mailing address is in the above PDF.

For those of you unfamiliar with Morgan Creek, LLC’s plans, you can find them detailed in our Post from August 7, 2020 in this BLOG.