A Tale of Two CID's

Chapter One:  
  The first topic I have to tackle is the thing that brought this blog about. (Let's get the boring stuff out of the way.)  A discussion about the two associations during Fall Festival preparations led to a lot of stories about past happenings in PMC. which ultimately made this blog a reality.
     A lot of PMC members and/or residents don't know (or care) that there are two associations in Pine Mountain Club. Everyone who owns property in Pine Mountain Club is automatically a member of PMC-POA. But the Village Center is run by the Pine Mountain Club Commercial Property Owners Association. Why? you ask?
     Well, it's a long story. 
     As originally planned, PMC is divided into Tracts. (Legal documents for club members always refer to "Lot and tract number")  Tract 3402 had a large lot (13+ acres), number 526, which was designated on the original Precise Development Plan as a commercial lot (the only commercial lot on the original PDP.) After the PDP was recorded, the developer (Tenneco,) sub-divided 526 into 26 commercial lots, dubbed Subdivision 527, and formed a new Precise Development, and a new Commercial POA. The property owners within 527 own their lots individually, and also own the remaining area (Common Area), as tenants in common. This new common interest development (CID) has its own CC&R's, Bylaws, and Articles of Incorporation. The members each paid an assessment of $50 to the new association for insurance costs, corporate taxes, etc., and the association paid one assessment (also $50 then), to PMCPOA, for the one lot (526).
     So far, so good. 
     I told you this was a long story.
     Pine Mountain Club was originally pitched to Kern County as a "summer resort". (More on this later). Since no one would want to be here in the winter (!!), no provision was made for snow plowing. (If the county road - Mil Potrero- was snowed over, close it). The businesses in the Village (Commercial Center, then) would be seasonal, so no need to plow the roads there, either. Once it became obvious that access to all of PMC would be desirable year-round, some arrangements had to be made. The POA security vehicles and a couple of maintenance trucks and the pickup truck for the Stables were fitted with snow-plows, and did a reasonably good job of clearing most of the streets (keep in mind, there were a LOT of streets with NO homes). But what about the lanes and parking lots in the Village? The Commercial Association had no vehicles (and no employees, and nowhere to store a snowplow). The developer group, who also effectively ran PMC-POA, decided that charging each lot-owner in the Center a fee equal to the POA assessment ($50), would cover the cost of snow-plowing, and minor street maintenance (patching pot-holes, etc.) This was billed annually, and was called an assessment, but nothing was ever recorded to make it legal. It was a "working agreement".  At that time, the amounts were nominal, and no one really worried about unintended consequences.
More soon!