Message From the SMPOA President

November 15, 2025

I would like to take this opportunity to explain what I see as the purpose and philosophy of this board. Seven of the eight board members elected in June, myself included, are new to the board, and we had no idea what to expect. Personally, I had very little interaction with the SMPOA, other than paying my annual dues, reading the Sunset Mesa-Ge and voting when asked to do so. However, I, like all the board members, had a deep connection with the neighborhood. Our two children were born and raised here. We have had five dogs that helped us explore every street, from the bottom of Coastline to the top of Shoreheights. After the disaster, when the smoke had cleared (literally), there was no question that we would be rebuilding our home and I am now very glad to also be part of the greater effort to rebuild our neighborhood.

The role, responsibilities, and the legal authority of the SMPOA are all laid out in detail in the CC&Rs and by-laws of the association.  But the most important duty of the board is quite clear: to protect the ocean views of our members!

Sunset Mesa is unique.  There are very few other communities on the California coast where homes are so close to the ocean but don’t cost tens of millions of dollars and don’t contest with each other to get the best possible view to the detriment of their neighbors.

This was clearly the intention of the original developers of Sunset Mesa. Both lot and home sizes are modest, and the tiered layout of the streets gave almost every home some view of the blue Pacific, even though most of the views are over the rooftops of other homes. This meant homes were affordable to the middle class (at least back in the sixties and seventies), and as land value increased, many families passed on their Sunset Mesa properties from one generation to the next, knowing that they had hit the jackpot, owning a house with an ocean or canyon view, on a quiet, safe street in one of the best locations in Southern California, if not the country.

For the past 60 years, Sunset Mesa homeowners have protected this neighborhood and we have thrived. The Architectural Committee is a respected institution, and pre-fire, on a Saturday morning, one would see a group of volunteers walking together, with clipboards and sunhats, heading over to look at a planned remodel and make sure it did not interfere with neighboring homes ocean views.

Then on a terrible, hot, dry windy Tuesday in January the thing we had all feared, the thing we had avoided for 60 years, finally happened. But within months, the Architectural Committee, all of whom were literally homeless, swung back into action. Their goal then, and our goal today, and one that we believe has largely been achieved, was to ensure that homeowners wanting to rebuild could do so without being delayed by the process of getting Architectural Committee approval for their rebuilds, as legally required by the CCR’s, which we are all a party to.

For some people, the fire and the prospect of having to rebuild from scratch was too daunting a task and they decided to sell their lots. However, the vast majority of homeowners have made the decision to rebuild and return. Since January, 140 homeowners have submitted plans for new homes, while approximately 35 have sold their lots.

As the rebuilding commences, we will encounter cases where homeowners are less than delighted with the rulings of the Architectural Committee and the Board.  Of course, it is only natural that after everything we have gone through, we all want the best possible homes we can afford. When a homeowner receives pushback from the AC because of OVI it is because the AC has objectively determined that the rebuild will create new OVI for other homes in the area. How can they be sure of this when these other homes may not even be standing, you may ask?

The answer to that question is really quite simple. Because the vast majority of homes’ ocean views were looking over a rooftop or down an ocean view corridor, any increase in height or width will necessarily cause OVI to other homes, standing or not. The AC will have spent considerable time and effort to establish how the height of the new home differs from what was there before, and how this will effect homes’ views from behind and above. Not just the immediate neighbor but also homes on higher tiers looking over the home’s rooftop. Now, this is not the case for every home in Sunset Mesa, and the AC is well aware of that, but there are very few circumstances where an increase will not cause OVI. In those circumstances the AC will know about it and of course, will allow it.

Ocean View Protections are the foundation of our lifestyles in Sunset Mesa , An exception made for one home may affect houses all the way to the top of the Mesa. It is for this reason that this Board is committed to protecting your views, up to and including filing lawsuits to enforce our CC&R’s.  But we will attempt to avoid this outcome whenever we can. 

To that end, we want to provide homeowners with new tools to protect their own rights without the need for us to get involved. The fire has shone a bright light on our CC&R’s which were last updated in 2012.  The board has been working hard to formulate several amendments that we believe will help homeowners to protect their views further, as well as to address some long-standing issues that are of concern to many of our members.  We believe these changes should be overwhelmingly popular, and over the course of the next month, these proposed amendments will be explained, debated and your feedback and support will be requested.  We hope to then schedule a vote for all homeowners by the end of the year, or soon after the new year.

But the above issues are only a starting point.  The Board is also committed to addressing legitimate concerns about safety and security in Sunset Mesa.  We are committed to holding the managers of the public lands around us accountable for ensuring that future fire risk is better managed. We are committed to making sure the agencies and utilities that support life in the Mesa are aware of our needs and working hard to solve our problems. We are committed to being a good neighbor to the Getty Villa and ensuring they are a good neighbor to us. We are committed to communicating constantly with our members and listening to your concerns and priorities.

However, none of this is possible without you.  We are your neighbors who live in Sunset Mesa and we are trying to preserve what makes the neighborhood such a special place.  We don’t ask anything from you except that you pay your annual dues and respect your neighbors’ rights. Occasionally we will ask you to vote on a change to the CC&R’s or by-laws to address an issue that you will agree is important and needed. And, if we’re not doing the job the way you want, you will have the opportunity to vote us off the Board and  even volunteer yourself.

Thank you for your support,

Jonathan Markiles

SMPOA President