YLOA and YSPUC General Manager Jonathan Penrose invites members of the YLP community to email him questions about YLP matters and he will answer them in a live chat at 6 p.m. each Tuesday at yosemitelakespark.org. Just email to QA@yloa.org or QA@yosemitelakespark.org. Questions and answers that would be of interest to the whole community will be archived here.


When will the unsightly eyesore on the corner of Yosemite Springs Pkwy. and Hwy 41 be dealt with?

My husband and I have been residents of YLP for 20 years and always questioned the mock statue of liberty on the corner as well as the miserable looking sign and the broken down retaining wall. This unofficial entry to Yosemite Lakes Park is a sad representation of the community. If I was new to the area and saw this corner as I traveled north on Hwy 41, I would think to myself; “what a dump”. So besides the “Fix Our Stuff” program, how about “Fix Our Entrance”?

Even though this property does not belong to YLOA, surely something can be negotiated.

Thank you,
Nancy & Scott Moore
Lot 654

Hi Nancy & Scott,
First, thanks for your question.
You are correct, that the property on the corner of 41 and the Parkway does not belong to the association – it is privately owned. We have had discussions with the owner and I do think we could reach an agreement to provide maintenance to the area, but at the time, the owner wanted to rent the sign/area to us – and the price, in my opinion, was a little steep. It is on my list to revisit this, but I don’t have a date/time yet for doing so..
I did ask about the mini Statue of Liberty, as it also seems to me to be a bit of an odd landmark, however, this has personal meaning to the owner as it was installed by his father.


Hello! have questions for tonight’s Q&A

Thinking back to the budget meeting:

Q1.  Was a solar heating system considered for heating the pool?

Q2.  It was mentioned that the cost of Workmans Comp increased.  Is that because the insurance premiums for workmans comp increased or  have there been increased claims due to injuries?

Other Questions:

Q3.  The fax number is still not working.  Fax is VERY OLD technology, why not provide an email address to send candidate info too?

Q4.  The link to public documents is broken on the YLOA website, when will that be fixed?

Thank you
Sue Beck

Thanks for the questions Sue…

We did look at solar options for the pool, but there is limited space in which to install solar panels with the right orientation. The hill behind the pool is used as a leach field for our water treatment plant and there is also the consideration of visual appeal.

In our situation, the cost of heat pumps appears to be comparable to a solar solution when you evaluate all the various factors.
Here is a link to a Department of Energy website that explains some of the trade-offs: https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/solar-swimming-pool-heaters

Workers Comp Insurance Cost is impacted by four primary factors: Wages, Type of Work, Experience Modifier, and Market Pricing.

In our case, the two biggest factors impacting our WC Costs this year are market pricing and experience modifier. Workers comp rates have come down over the last several years due to more carriers in the market space, but that trend appears to be reversing. The experience modifier is based on our actual claims over the last three years.

Typically, average claims are small, but we have had a few larger claims that have boosted our rates this year. One of those should drop off our experience modifier next year and I expect the overall costs to decrease.

Fax is old technology and we actually only receive a few faxes a week. We do have email addresses that can be used to communicate with the office, however, there are special considerations for communicating with board members via email – namely that the board is to act as a unified body, not as individual advocates.

There are a couple solutions to this that we are evaluating.

Thanks for the heads up on the link to public documents. I’ve forwarded that to our webmaster and it should be resolved soon.


Hello Jonathon,

First I think you are doing a great job as GM; and I hope you stay with us many more years.

 I wonder why our Blue Heron closes on Holidays such as Mothers day.  We could make so much money if it stayed open on Holidays.  Also, Chef Pauls idea dor family meals is a great idea that we enjoy a lot.  

Thank you

Sue Durst on Horseshoe Drive

Hi Sue,

Thanks for the comment. We usually do stay open on holidays like Mother’s Day – in fact that is typically one of our busiest days of the year and Chef Pol pulls out all the stops for a beautiful brunch.

This year we chose not to for two reasons: first, it is difficult to provide a quality take out experience for the type of food that we like to provide for this kind of event. Second, Chef Pol and staff rarely get to spend Mother’s Day with their families (I believe it has only been 2 times in the last 18 years) – given those factors, we decided to close for Mother’s Day this year to let the staff celebrate with their own families.

I am hopeful that for next Mother’s Day we will be able to host our normal exquisite brunch. 


Please explain to me the voting process. Why do we have two votes per person?

hatchigan1@aol.com

Thanks for the question.

Each homeowner receives 1 vote for each open board position. They can divide those votes up among the candidates of their choice in whatever manner they choose.

There are numerous ways HOAs can handle voting, but this is the particular voting procedure outlined in our governing documents.


Will the Blue Heron and Fairway explore the possibility of YLP delivery?
Thank you, Grace Bubulka, RN, MSN — April 7

Hi Grace,

We have looked into this but the logistics and liability insurance make it challenging and expensive, however, we are continuing to evaluate potential options for this.
For example, we have considered programs like Uber Eats, but that does have a delivery charge, and we would be relying on the availability of other people, which makes it difficult to know when delivery might or might not be available.

Header text

Header text


What does it look like for the concert series by the lake?
Smile, it’s contagious!
Ellen — April 15

Hi Ellen,

Thanks for the question. I would love to be open for the concert series this summer and we are closely following the state guidelines.

While no dates have been set yet for lifting the shelter-in-place order, the governor has outlined the steps that will need to be accomplished before that happens.

We will work under those guidelines to provide as many of our services and programs to residents as we can!


I’ve noticed , golf is open, equestrian center is open, saw people playing tennis yesterday as well as people in the spa . Why is Blackhawk closed but nothing else?
Mike Gipson — April 15

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your question. There are a number of reasons for this.

The biggest is that we own and control access and set the rules for the use of all our amenities except Blackhawk Lake.

We do not own Blackhawk Lake and the use of the lake by community members is subject to a number of restrictions. If we do not comply with those restrictions, the right to use Blackhawk Lake could be permanently revoked.

Among these, we are required to charge a daily fee, hand out permits, restrict the number of daily users, patrol the premises and dispose of trash.

Initially, we kept the lake open, but many of those that checked out keys did not return them and continued to use the lake without a valid permit. This places at jeopardy the right for all of us to continue using the lake.

Additionally, people are gathering in numbers and not practicing social distancing, taking motorcycles onto the property and leaving copious amounts of trash.

From a practical aspect, administering the passes and patrolling the premises is challenging at this time with reduced staff and given the small number of daily passes allowed by our use agreement affects a small number of residents.

While I would like to keep the lake open, the logistical issues and the resources needed to comply with our use agreement (and preserve our future right to use the lake) are not feasible at this time.

We do not make any of these decisions lightly and I know this is disappointing to some, but I believe that closing the lake at this time is the best way to preserve our future use and the best use of our currently limited resources.