Dover Shores News, June 1, 2026

Our Dover Shores Summer Season has officially arrived! Memorial Day to Labor Day, and this year is the earliest Memorial Day and the latest Labor Day calendars allow. So on behalf of everyone on your Dover Shores HOA Board, please have fun this summer enjoy our neighborhood beaches, and please always try to keep the noise to a respectful level for our beach neighbors.

THANK YOU – and here’s the latest neighborhood update:

May 19, 2026 HOA General Meeting

Beach Committee

The Ring Camera at Larry’s Beach is in the process of being upgraded to have a Virtual Guard option, to support an on-line monitoring service.

Patrol Service: The Beach Committee also contracted with Citiguard - an On-Call guard patrol service that promises quicker response times. The cost is $150 per month plus $55 per service call. This will commence June 1. Should residents believe security needs to be called to investigate any given situation that does not require a police call, they are to telephone BHE Management at 949 363-1963 or after hours at 949-922-6779. BHE in turn will contact the on-call security company.

The Proposed Beach Policy Changes: These were sent out to the Community for comment following the last Board meeting. Few comments have been received thus far, and no resident came to the Homeowners Forum to express pro or con opinions on the new proposed policies. The Board is expected to meet in June to formally adopt the new policies.

Social Committee

Dates for summer BBQs have been finalized:

• June 27th – Kick off Party - Saturday
• July 7th - Pizza - Tuesday
• July 28 - Mo Bites Burgers - Tuesday
• August 4 – Fiesta Party - Tuesday
• August 15 – Closing Party - Saturday

More details and reminders to follow during the summer, but it sounds like a great continuation of our traditional Tuesday Night BBQs. Please note that two of these dates are not on our traditional Tuesdays but rather on Saturday.

North Star Beach Update

Under the leadership of Tim Hawke, plans for the construction of a new restroom and storage room at North Beach were submitted to Newport Beach at the start of this year for review and approval. Several departments must review the plans. To date, the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing plans are approved. Grading has been approved. Public Works and Fire have approved the plans. The Building Department had a few minor note corrections, which are easy corrections to address.

The Planning Department, however, is now requiring a Coastal submittal, which requires a third-party report. We have engaged a vendor to provide the report. If the Coastal submittal was not required, we would have had a permit in hand by now. The Coastal submittal came as a surprise as our architect had asked about this potential when we submitted plans to the city, and the city initially stated that it would not be required.

At this time, we don’t have a definitive date when we think a permit can be issued, but we are hoping to have a permit issued in the next 3-4 months, but this time frame could be longer if the Coastal submittal requires a public hearing. We will update everyone when we have a solid 1-2 week window when a permit can be issued.

Beach FAQs

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about our beaches from our Dover Shores residents:

Q: With the new Beach policies eliminating some blackout days for residents to make reservations at the Beach, won’t there be too many reserved parties at the beach?
A: Based on last year’s statistics on the number of reservations made for the beach, no, it is very unlikely. A total of 29 reservations were made in 2025, with 6 in June and 5 each in July, August and September, and just a few during the other months. So even in the summer months we had slightly more than 1 reservation per week. Based on observations from the past year, it appears the overwhelming majority of reservations were not adult type beach parties, but children’s birthday parties, and family gatherings. However, if demand substantially increases and disruptive noisy parties occur, the Beach Committee and the Board will consider bringing back blackout dates.

Q: Why do we no longer have a beach attendant/lifeguard?
A: HOA Boards should not hire their own employees because of liability – it is better done by the Management Company by their hiring of independent contractors.

When our HOA attorneys became aware, 3-4 years ago, that our HOA had been hiring beach attendants as HOA employees, they advised us we were opening ourselves up to substantial liability, particular as the attendants’ duties involved oversight of the beaches including the water. Some attendants were also implying they were certified lifeguards when they were not. We checked and adding employee liability insurance coverage to our policy would be very high.

Due to so much demand to bring back our beach attendants, BHE has been looking into various options. For BHE to contract with a company for a standing guard for 6 hours per day for 3 months in the summer, the cost would be approximately $15,660. Further, there are limitations on how much supervision they could reasonably provide and how much residents would be willing to tolerate.

Instead of hiring someone to have beach users sign in on a clipboard, there are small things each of us can do to ensure non-residents do not use our beaches. One easy thing is remembering to close the gate both when you enter and leave the beach. If you walk by the beach and see the gate open, please close it. No one should be able to come in without their own key, and the gate should never be propped open. Little things like this help keep our beaches safe and need everyone’s participation.

Trademark News

The Board voted some funds to engage a trademark attorney to help us enforce the "Dover Shores" trademark. If you see any ads listing homes under our name that are not actually part of Dover Shores, please forward them to board@dovershoreshoa.org so we can start sending cease and desist letters.

Airport Committee

We attended Airport Working Group (AWG) annual dinner in May and received a good overview of airport and noise concerns. They had good news and bad news to report.

The good news is the most of the airlines are committed to next generation aircraft such as the Boeing 737 Max series and the Airbus A320neo family. These have quieter engines to reduce our noise burden. Currently about 30% of takeoffs are nextgen planes. This will increase substantially when SouthWest, the carrier with the most traffic, receives their new Boeing 737 Max 7s pending FAA approval. Alaska has not yet committed to these aircraft at John Wayne and has the reputation of being airline cowboys, flying low, fast and loud.

The not so good news is that the settlement agreement that enforces the passenger limits expires in 2030. If this agreement is not renewed, there will be no limits on the number of flights. There is a separate agreement that extends the curfew to 2035 but the two are related so not extending the settlement agreement will eventually affect the curfew too. The previous extension took 3 years of intense negotiations so AWG needs to start now. They city is helping and is on our side but AWG drives these negotiations. They will need legal and technical help during the negotiations and these cost money.

To support their work, we strongly encourage people to donate generously to AWG. You can click the donate button on their web site here. Two long-time Dover Shores residents, Tony Khoury and Esther Fine, are on the board of AWG but it is time for a younger generation to step up and get involved. Contact AWG for more information.

A Message From Our HOA President

Dear Neighbors,

Living in our community is something special, especially during the summertime! As temperatures rise, so does anticipated usage at our Association beaches. I hope to foster an environment where all residents feel welcome and comfortable at our beaches.

Community living among 310 homeowners requires flexibility, grace, and understanding from all of us. While some value peace and quiet, others value gatherings and the energy that comes with younger families and guests. Both perspectives are understandable and deserve respect. Our neighborhood will thrive when people choose patience over hostility, communication over assumptions, and community over division. Not every gathering is an unreserved party, not every inconvenience is a crisis, and not every annoyance requires escalation. The continued ask is for all sides to be reasonable at the beach.

Let’s continue striving to be the kind of community where longtime residents feel respected, younger families feel welcome, and everyone remembers that we are neighbors after all.

In closing, I look forward to seeing many of our neighbors this summer at the beach for our Tuesday BBQ’s and I’m particularly excited for two new events: a summer kickoff and closing party! Bring your kids and your grandkids to the beach for some good old-fashioned family fun.

With gratitude,
Emily Leach

Still Wanted: Dover Shores Photographers:

We always like to open our Newsletter with an interesting photo of Dover Shores, and we need your help If you ever take a picture of our community that you would like to share with our Dover Shores residents in our Newsletter, please submit it by replying to this newsletter, and hopefully we will be able to use it in the future. Of course, our photographer neighbor will be given credit. Thank you.

A Message from BHE Management Corporation:

June Gloom, Go Away!!

So nice that we had spectacular weather over Memorial Day weekend! Don't forget to get out and enjoy any sunny days before our annual "June Gloom" fog sets in...!

It's crazy how time flies, but we are already nearly half way through 2026 and as you have seen we started our 2026 Election process! The first Call for Candidates notice was sent out early April, and we will again have three seats up for election (as we do annually!).

The deadline for candidate submittal is July 16, 2026 and self nomination is encouraged! If we do have more candidates than spaces available, then we will hold the election in the traditional manner; we will send out ballots, and the election will occur in October. If, however, we have three or fewer candidates by July 16th, we will not be sending out ballots and we will elect by acclamation as we did last year. If you need to have a candidacy form sent to you, please contact Management!

PLEASE REMEMBER that June is when school ends, so lots of little kids will be running around the streets, be cautious with your driving and patient with your neighbors. Hoping to see a GREAT turnout for the summer barbecues coming up, too!!!

BHE Management Corporation
home.bhemanagement.com - new web portal
Lisa Parra, Community Manager, LParra@BHEManagement.com
Melissa Mora, Assistant Manager, AP@BHEManagement.com
We also still welcome phone calls at (949) 363-1963

Architecture Committee

The Architectural Committee would like to remind all owners that plans for home improvement, remodeling and major landscaping projects must be submitted and approved before any demolition or work starts. Minor external projects of replacement, maintenance or painting require the simplest application. This type of application (Level 4) does not require a fee and serves to alert the HOA that work is being done. There have been several recent major projects started without any plans submitted. These were brought to the HOA’s attention by concerned neighbors. If you see work underway and want to confirm that the project has been through the approval process you can contact BHE management to inquire (phone 949-363-1963). BHE will contact the owner and may send a “stop work” letter if the project has not been approved. These are the links to the Architectural Guidelines and Application pages on the BHE website.

Did you know that the City of Newport Beach website has a way to report concerns about building code violations, graffiti, sidewalk maintenance and other problems. These reports are promptly attended to and follow up is emailed to the one initiating the report. To report a concern, click on the “REPORT A PROBLEM” box on the upper right corner of the City of Newport Beach website.

CERT and Neighborhood Watch

Go Bags

The recent chemical incident in Garden Grove is a reminder that you may have to evacuate your home on short notice for many reasons, so you should create and keep up-to-date your family "go bag." There are a wide range of scenarios that might force you to evacuate so it can hard to prioritize what things to keep in your bag. Guides on the web tend to focus on camping-like scenarios with first-aid kits, food and water etc. but, realistically, a more likely scenario is that you may be forced to move to an evacuation center, similar to what happened to people in Garden Grove. Put yourself in their shoes. If you had to spend a week or more living on cots in a gymnasium, what would you need? Remember that after a widespread event such as a major earthquake, we might not have water, power or internet restored for days or even weeks.

You can find recommendations for go bag contents at many sites such as the Red Cross, Ready.gov, or Cal Fire. Similarly, you can find emergency supply kits on Amazon or other sources. These are useful but we strongly recommend that you focus on your own unique needs:

• Prescription medicines - without power and internet, pharmacies will not be able to access your prescriptions online. If you can show them a pill-bottle, they might refill it for you if you can find a pharmacy open and have cash to pay for it.
• Medical equipment & supplies - If you need a CPAP machine, an oxygen bottle, a walker or other special equipment, make sure you have plan on how to bring these with you and let the evacuation center know about your needs ASAP.
• Special dietary needs - evacuation centers will have food but it might not be gluten-free or otherwise meet your needs.
• Personal care products - soaps, lotions, creams. Hygiene at a shelter is rudimentary at best. Having some of your familiar stuff will reduce stress during your stay.
• Pet supplies - all of the above for your pets...
• Eye glasses / contact lenses - if these get lost or broken, how will you see? Bring along spares.
• Essential documents - we recommend that you keep paper copies of IDs in your go bag, a scan of important documents on your phone and another copy on-line in case something happens to your phone.
• A list of phone numbers - keep a paper copy of important phone numbers in your go bag in case something happens to your phone.
• Cash in small bills - without internet we revert to a cash economy for however long it takes...

Keep everything in a duffle bag, preferably one with wheels so you can leave in minutes. We recommend that you create another go bag that you keep permanently in your car in case you are away from home when an incident occurs that prevents you from returning home.

During the Garden Grove incident, 60 people from Newport Beach CERT, who were trained in shelter operations, deployed for mutual aid. The 6 initial shelters quickly reached capacity so some people were sleeping in their cars or in tents until 2 additional shelters opened. People arrived confused and stressed, many without their meds, many with pets so the shelter operators had to care for people and animals. The people who volunteered to help represent the highest standard of neighbors helping neighbors and deserve our respect and thanks. If you would like to get prepared to help, sign up for training at NB CERT or the Red Cross.

Super El Niño

El Niño is a global climate phenomenon that emerges from variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño events typically, but not always, result in heavier rains for Southern California, with strong and super El Niño events having greater impacts. There have been 5 super El Niño events in recorded history. The one in 1997-1998 gave us twice our average rainfall. The most recent one in 2023-2024 likely triggered the slope failures on Galaxy. The current probability for an El Niño is 82%, for a strong El Niño is 67% and for a super El Niño is 50% with the most impacts to us likely to occur during our normal January - March rainy season. These are just probabilities but you "probably" should make sure that your gutters and yard drains are working properly.

Next Dover Shores HOA Board Meeting: July 21, 5:00 PM

The board is continuing to offer Zoom access to board meetings. All meetings will use the same credentials listed below. The general session for homeowner participation for these meetings begins at 5PM.

Join Zoom Meeting with your browser

Meeting ID: 880 4927 2107
Passcode: 940601
One tap mobile: (669)900-6833

For the foreseeable future, those wishing to attend in person can attend at the principal office of the Association which has been designated by the Board as the place of business of BHE Management, located at 30011 Ivy Glen Dr., Ste.118, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677. BHE Management will be present.

Board meeting occur bimonthly on the 3rd Tuesday. Dates of the remaining board meetings for this year:

• July 21
• September 15
• November 17

Committees

Finally

If you would like to submit an article for publication in the Newsletter that you think might be of interest to Dover Shores, please let us know by responding to this Newsletter by email.

Please let your neighbors know how to contact us at board@dovershoreshoa.org if they are not part of our email list and would like to join. Or please forward this email to them. Our goal is to reach every Dover Shores neighbor.

Note that past newsletters are always available at our archives.