Community Update for June 2020
Category : General
Feeling most fortunate to be at Estling right now. Having to deal with all the Covid19 restrictions, it is nice to be doing so here. Those of us now “in residence” spend a good deal of time outdoors walking, biking and just sitting on the beach, always keeping a respectful distance from others. And conversations when we interact with others seem to last a little bit longer. This will be a different summer for sure, but it’s a positive change from being in Florida.
Activities at Estling this summer will be driven primarily by the executive orders from governor Murphy. Such orders are law and the ELC board has the fiduciary duty to follow the law. There are nearly 50 Covid19 related executive orders to date (https://nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/). The Executive Orders which most directly impact Estling are EO #143 dealing with opening of our beach, EO #149 covering outdoor sports, including Hub Lakes sports, and EO #152 pertaining to indoor and outdoor gatherings.
Following EO #143, we submitted our plan to open the beach (https://www.test.estling.org/private/committees/beach-committee/). The Denville public health department will inspect the beach this week in anticipation of opening the beach Saturday. As local lake beaches open, I have been in regular contact with Indian Lake, Rock Ridge Lake, Arrowhead Lake and Cedar Lake. The biggest concern that we all have is the 6’ minimum social distancing requirement. This will be difficult but for our beach to remain open we need to make this work.
EO #152 gives us the ability to have indoor organized gatherings of up to 50 people subject to a list of other requirements like all participants need to wear face masks, and all objects need regular sanitizing. So, for now the Community House will remain closed.
There will be a ZOOM-based townhall meeting July 1st. The major agenda item is a report from the Bylaws Committee, as reviewed with the Board, of nine (9) recommended changes to our governing documents. There will also be time for questions about summer at Estling. Who knows, by then there might be other Executive Orders that provide additional flexibility.
Additional details concerning the townhall meeting to follow.
I intend to provide regular updates throughout the summer.
– Rick