Covenants and By-Laws Meeting

Just wanted to inform everyone that the meeting held on September 22 covering the covenants and by-laws was very informative.

Ken read each paragraph of the Declaration of Covenants pertaining to section I. Then Neal did a good job of explaining what they meant and why they were written into the Covenant.

There will be another meeting sometime in November to cover the Covenant for section II and the By-Laws that govern the affairs of Whiteplains Plantation.

Pilots Meeting 9-17-2007

We had a good turn out for Monday Night Pilots Meeting that was held in Jim Wheat's hanger. Guest speaker was from Columbia's Tower Traffic Control. Mike gave us an insight on how they manage the flow of traffic into and out of Columbia's class C airspace. Mike also provided us with a map that shows the boundary areas that they control.

Larry told his story about his emergency landing from Owens Field that resulted in a crash landing on a building roof top just west of the runway. Larry's pilots skills and lots of luck resulted in a safe landing with only a few bumps and bruises. Least hurt was James, and Joanne came out the worst, with a broken arm. Crash was caused by a broken mixture cable, that caused fuel starvation to the engine.

Safety is the Pilots Association number one concern and several safety items were brought up. One is the difficulty in seeing people that walk at night on the taxi ways. Especially people
that are dressed in dark clothing with no reflective markings or light that can be seen from cars or aircraft at night. The speed limit on all roads inside Whiteplains is 15 mph. So, please dress to be seen, and keep the speed down especially when driving at night. Lets make safety everyones concern.




In October; we are going to have a runway repair/clean up day. Date to be announced soon. Volunteers needed are for runway edge filling, edge spraying with roundup, blowing off the runway with the blower, and trimming of bushes and tress from taxi way between end of Runway 9 and the hangers. Right now it looks like it will be a Saturday in late October.

Hope to see you at the next Pilots Association Meeting.

Whiteplains UNICOM #14: Covenants and By-Laws

There are two principal documents that govern the way things are done at Whiteplains: the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&R) and the By-Laws. Every property seller is supposed to provide a copy of each of these documents to every buyer at settlement (if not before). All too frequently, this does not happen… so the Welcome Committee has taken upon itself to ask all new residents if they have copies. If they don’t, copies are provided.

The CC&R (sometime called simply “the Covenants” or “the Restrictions”) may be thought of as the Whiteplains Constitution: Written by the founders in the very early days, it sets forth both the privileges and the responsibilities of the property owners. It is very difficult to amend, requiring 80% of home lot owners and 80% of hangar parcel owners to change. The founder (Niel Bonacum) can, however, amend the CC&R at any time. The CC&R are filed and recorded with Lexington County; in effect, they have the force of law.

The By-laws were written because the Whiteplains Plantation Association is a corporation under the laws of South Carolina. As such, by-laws must exist “for managing the business and regulating the affairs of the corporation…” (SC Code of Laws Section 33-2-106). The By-Laws address topics such as the duties of officers, holding of meetings, maintenance of funds, and the like. The Board of Directors may change the By-Laws at any time.

Neither of these documents is what anyone would call “light reading.” In fact, they are very complicated reading that easily give rise to misinterpretation, or differing interpretations, among those who read them and try to understand them.

In order to develop a broader understanding of these critically important governing documents, your Board has been considering having a familiarization session some evening for all interested parties. At the last Board meeting, we decided to schedule it within the next month. Everyone is welcome to attend, but it should be of immediate usefulness for current Board members, officers, committee heads, and potential candidates for future leadership positions.

The date is Monday evening, September 24, at 7 PM. We’ll do it in my hangar, unless a more suitable place can be found. Niel has promised to attend to help us over any rough patches.

The format will be a seminar, not a lecture. We will read the documents aloud, paragraph by paragraph, and anyone is welcome to ask a question or offer an example. The objective is to come to a common understanding of the contents, not to champion any specific individual’s personal viewpoint. If consensus cannot be reached on the meaning of a particular sentence or paragraph, it will be flagged for further research at another time… then we will move on. If we are disciplined about this, it can all be done in 2 or 2½ hours.

Hope to see you on September 24th. Fresh copies of the CC&Rs and By-Laws will be provided, so please let me know (by return e-mail prior to September 22) if you are planning to attend so that enough copies can be made and enough chairs set up.


Ken Plesser, President
Whiteplains Plantation Association

WHITEPLAIN'S PILOTS ASSOCIATION MEETING

A friendly reminder

Date - Monday, September 17, 2007

Time: 7:00 PM

Place: Jim Wheat's Hangar

Guest speaker - Mike Moore, ATC - Columbia Metro

PLEASE MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO ATTEND

THANKS,
JIM WHEAT

Whiteplains UNICOM #14: Covenants and By-Laws

There are two principal documents that govern the way things are done at Whiteplains: the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&R) and the By-Laws. Every property seller is supposed to provide a copy of each of these documents to every buyer at settlement (if not before). All too frequently, this does not happen… so the Welcome Committee has taken upon itself to ask all new residents if they have copies. If they don’t, copies are provided.

The CC&R (sometime called simply “the Covenants” or “the Restrictions”) may be thought of as the Whiteplains Constitution: Written by the founders in the very early days, it sets forth both the privileges and the responsibilities of the property owners. It is very difficult to amend, requiring 80% of home lot owners and 80% of hangar parcel owners to change. The founder (Niel Bonacum) can, however, amend the CC&R at any time. The CC&R are filed and recorded with Lexington County; in effect, they have the force of law.

The By-laws were written because the Whiteplains Plantation Association is a corporation under the laws of South Carolina. As such, by-laws must exist “for managing the business and regulating the affairs of the corporation…” (SC Code of Laws Section 33-2-106). The By-Laws address topics such as the duties of officers, holding of meetings, maintenance of funds, and the like. The Board of Directors may change the By-Laws at any time.

Neither of these documents is what anyone would call “light reading.” In fact, they are very complicated reading that easily give rise to misinterpretation, or differing interpretations, among those who read them and try to understand them.

In order to develop a broader understanding of these critically important governing documents, your Board has been considering having a familiarization session some evening for all interested parties. At the last Board meeting, we decided to schedule it within the next month. Everyone is welcome to attend, but it should be of immediate usefulness for current Board members, officers, committee heads, and potential candidates for future leadership positions.

The date is Monday evening, September 24, at 7 PM. We’ll do it in my hangar, unless a more suitable place can be found. Niel has promised to attend to help us over any rough patches.

The format will be a seminar, not a lecture. We will read the documents aloud, paragraph by paragraph, and anyone is welcome to ask a question or offer an example. The objective is to come to a common understanding of the contents, not to champion any specific individual’s personal viewpoint. If consensus cannot be reached on the meaning of a particular sentence or paragraph, it will be flagged for further research at another time… then we will move on. If we are disciplined about this, it can all be done in 2 or 2½ hours.

Hope to see you on September 24th. Fresh copies of the CC&Rs and By-Laws will be provided, so please let me know (by return e-mail prior to September 22) if you are planning to attend so that enough copies can be made and enough chairs set up.


Ken Plesser, President
Whiteplains Plantation Association

Whiteplains UNICOM #13: Entry Gates

It’s been a while between communications from your Board… time to catch up a bit.

You have probably noticed that the entry gates at Phase I are not functional, beginning to rust, and are looking pretty shabby. The cost to install a completely new set of gates, using new high-quality electronics, is on the order of $20,000 per entrance! This kind of money we don’t have (and won’t have).

A recent survey of residents showed that a majority preferred that we have operational gates so, at its last meeting, the Board agreed to take the first step of a multi-year plan to upgrade our entry gates using as much existing hardware as possible.

This fall, the Phase I gates will be removed, sandblasted, cut in half (vertically), painted black and re-installed. By cutting them in half, we will have a configuration with a hinge on either side of the road so that the gates swing open from the center. This will eventually require more gate actuator arms, but will reduce the load on each actuator, thereby prolonging equipment life.

The plan calls for activating only the “in” gate for now, and evaluating its reliability and suitability. The “out” gate will remain open all of the time.

Assuming that results are satisfactory, and assuming the 2008 Board wishes to continue with the plan, some additional actuators will be purchased next year to allow the Phase I “out” gates to be activated. The reliability will continue to be monitored.

If all continues to go well, in 2009 the plan calls for a similar set of gates to be installed at the Phase II entrance, replacing the barrier arms. It has been suggested that one of these barrier arms might be relocated to the service entrance to provide access control there as well.

Input on this topic is always welcome. Please contact any member of the Board, or Bill Como, with your thoughts.


Ken Plesser, President
Whiteplains Plantation Association

Get together

In support of our neighbor pilots James, JoAnne, and Larry, Jim Wheat is hosting a Hot Dog cookout in his hangar starting at 6:30 this evening. All food will be provided just bring yourselves. Eric Demaray


http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/952-full.html#196108

Video http://www.wltx.com/video/newsVideoPlayer.aspx?aid=36831



More information at: http://senduit.com/c2840e













WLTX report at http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=53326






(Columbia) - Officials say a plane made an emergency landing on a warehouse Sunday morning after taking off from Owens Field.Deputy Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins says the plane was on top of Boineau's Warehouse on Commerce Drive. He says three people out of the plane, and those people were taken to Lexington Medical Center.There were two pilots on the plane, Larry Ross, of Gilbert, and James Keisler, of Lexington. James' wife, Joanne Keisler was also on board. Both pilots only suffered bruises and Joanne has a broken arm.Jenkins says there is a small leak in the plane that they are watching, but no fires have started.The plane hit a telephone pole before landing on the warehouse, officials say.Jim Hamilton, with Owens Airport, says the plane, a Cessna Single Engine 177, was taking off and had an engine problem that forced it to land on the unoccupied building. He says there were two pilots in the plane, and one female passenger, who all suffered minor injuries.

Whiteplains Stork Report

Here are pictures of brand new Delaney Brooke Harvey. She was born on Thurs 8/30/07 at 3:30pm. Shew weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches. We are now home and she's doing wonderful!

Thanks,

Brett & Aprille Harvey

Whiteplains Calendar September 2007

Member Birthdays:


September 9 - Barb French Adam Skenes
September 12 - Joanne Keisler Jim Franklin
September 13 - Michael Branning
September 15 - John Gardner Sherri Murphree
September 24 - Therese Mackay
September 27 - Debbie Froese

SC BC :

September 9 - Owens Field (CUB) Update: James and Joanne with passenger Larry crashed on take-off from Owens Field. All survived.
September 23 - Laurens (34A)

Other Dates:

September 3 - Labor Day
September 9 - Jim Wheat has a hot dog get together tonight at 6:30 in his hanger in support of James - Joanne and Larry.
September 17 - Pilots' Association Mtg. 7 PM Jim Wheat's Hanger