Questions and Answers (FAQs)

Contact the community office.

Per RCW 64.38 and SB rules…that Executive Sessions being conducted by the SB Community Inc Board and Committees are disclosed to the extent that we quote the RCW that allows the Board to use ES such as discussions with legal, personnel matters, contracts, liability, pending legal, etc.  We do not disclose or make public anything in executive session, as that would be a violation of the Good Faith Conduct under confidential disclosure the directors agree to, but the decisions (Motions) they make will be ratified publicly.  

Washington Law (RCW 9.73.030) Prohibits recording conversations including private meetings without all attendee consent.

Shelter Bay bills for the following items:

• Water Usage + State and Tribal taxes
• Water Base Rate + State and Tribal taxes
• Sewer Base Rate + State and Tribal taxes
• HOA Monthly Assessment (covers day to day operations of the community)
• HOA Capital Assessment (capital reserve funding for capital expenditures)
• Supplemental Rent Assessment (fixed rate that adjusts every 10 years)
• Lease Admin Fee (provides funding for professional fees and shortfalls in Lease payments)

Changes to the HOA fees are approved annually by the Shelter Bay Board and are then provided to the Community for review and approval in the annual budget.

Your lease rent is paid in two parts. There is a monthly amount called “supplemental rent” charged by the Community and an annual fee billed by the Shelter Bay Company. These are adjusted every 10 years according to the Master Lease agreement. The next adjustment will be in 2033.

Owner/Buyer Information on Monthly Billings

Williams and Nulle completes our annual audit.  The last one received had not findings or anomalies.  The latest audit (for FY21/22) will be completed by June 2023.

Contact Riley Reynolds, Compliance Officer: rreynolds@shelterbay.net 360-466-3805, ext 4

Additional Firewise information can be found under Green Task Force on Committees page.

The Communications Committee is responsible for the signage at the front gate. See Communications Committee under Governance – contact chair or Committee Secretary.

Shelter Bay’s playground will be closed for renovation starting August 31st through the end of September. If you have any questions, please contact Lawson Earl, the project manager.

Contact the Office (360) 466-3805

Residents/homeowners in Eagle Nest Association are associate members of Shelter Bay, per their contract. They pay two HOA dues, one to each Association. Eagles Nest members pay Shelter Bay HOA dues (Monthly Assessment and Capital Assessment) and the same sewer charges as Shelter Bay residents. Their water fees are billed directly to the Eagles Nest Association which in turn bills the Eagles Nest residents. Eagles Nest residents pay a monthly and capital assessment, same as Shelter Bay residents. Eagle Nest residents have access to Shelter Bay facilities but are not eligible to vote in any election.

Contact the Office (360) 466-3805

The new lease group has made a lot of progress this past year. We studied prior negotiations and determined that one major fault was the failure to address the rights included in the current subleases under which we all hold our lots. We have been advised by our legal consultants that we cannot force anyone to relinquish their current sublease.

To address this problem, we produced a proposal to create a new lease that runs in parallel with the current lease/subleases. This concept was presented to our Swinomish partners from the Senate and their legal department. This proposal would allow for current sublease holders to stay on their current subleases or move to a new 75-year lease. While a new lease would most likely have higher rates than the current lease, the new lease would be more desirable due to its longer term.

This is a novel concept that required a lot of discussion with our attorney. We finally reached a point where both the Swinomish and Shelter Bay teams thought the parallel lease concept might work. The next hurdle was to discuss the concept with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

Our group had an initial meeting with BIA officials in November and presented the parallel lease concept to them. This is a unique proposal, and it isn’t apparent how it fits into their current lease models. By the end of the meeting, we had made enough progress that they wanted to bring the idea to their solicitors (attorneys). We are working to get that meeting scheduled.

If all parties in these negotiations can come to some agreement on the parallel lease idea, then we can move to valuation and operational issues. Our goal is to make a new lease available in 2024. As new information is known, we will update the Shelter Bay residents accordingly.

1. Now at the stage of involving the BIA who must approve any new lease. They will consult with their attorneys now about our complex lease structure and get back to the Negotiating Group.
2. At this point the Tribe’s and the Communities Lease Negotiating Committees have agreed upon a “framework”.

Wendy Poulton, Louise Kari, Debbie Galbraith, and Jack Galbraith.

Riley Reynolds, Shelter Bay’s Compliance Officer, is the perfect resource for all questions and concerns about trees in the community.

Yes. If you believe the valuation is substantially incorrect, dispute your assessed property value, you must preserve your right to dispute by mailing a written Notice of Appeal to the Swinomish Tax Authority. The notice must be postmarked no more than 60 calendar days from the date of your Valuation Notice. Send your appeals VIA MAIL to:

Alicia Neely, Tax Administrator
Swinomish Tax Authority
P.O. Box 679
La Conner, WA 98257

Specific instructions can be found on the valuation notice mailed to you.

Residents can easily set up a user name and password by contacting the community office. (360) 466-3805

You can search the website by entering your keyword, or subject, into the search tool (the little magnifying glass) located on the far right of the menu bar at the top of every page.

If that does provide an answer, send an email to the Webmaster for help.   sbwebmaster@shelterbay.net

The Shelter Bay website https://shelterbay.net has a public website and a secured private website for its members. The public website provides helpful information to both residents and the general public that might be curious about our community. Anyone can access the public website to learn more about Shelter Bay.

The private website is for residents only. It has all secure, private documents (i.e. minutes, agendas, and finance), member’s account information, and correspondence from Shelter Bay Community to its residents.

Access to the private portion of the website requires residents to login to their personal account with their user name and password.

The quickest way to access this private website is by using the “My Account” login button located at the top right corner of the website. Other ways to access the private pages is to choose the “Member Profile” option in the “Members” menu dropdown list or to select the “My Account Login” link located in the website footer.

Fill out a Greenbelt Action Request Form https://shelterbay.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Greenbelt-Action-Request-form.pdf pick up marking tape at the Office.

(Board) In recent years, board meeting were held starting at 1:00pm. Because board members may also work, they were moved to 4:00pm.  Town Halls are on Sundays at 7:00pm and the annual community meeting is held on a Saturday. 3/21/23