2023 Budget and Assessments
The board has prepared and approved the 2023 budget. Notably, this budget included a $2/month increase to each homeowner’s monthly assessments (dues). Starting in 2023, the new quarterly assessment will be $144 /month ($48 per month).  A primary consideration for this assessment increase is the incremental increase to common area maintenance costs, such as sprinkler and landscaping which has been affected by the hot dry summer. The 2023 budget also includes an increased monthly contribution to the HOA’s reserve account, which will be used to fund longer term projects such as new tree plantings or monument renovations. For the past several years, increasing water rates have had a major impact on the budget. In 2023 we expect the water bills to increase by 3%.

2022 Budget and Assessments

The board has prepared and approved the 2022 budget. Notably, this budget included a $1/month increase to each homeowner’s monthly assessments (dues). Starting in 2022, the new quarterly assessment will be $138 /month ($46 per month). 

A primary consideration for this assessment increase is the incremental increase to common area maintenance costs, such as sprinkler and landscaping which has been affected by the hot dry summer. The 2022 budget also includes an increased monthly contribution to the HOA’s reserve account, which will be used to fund longer term projects such as new tree plantings or monument renovations.

For the past several years, increasing water rates have had a major impact on the budget. In 2022 we expect the water bills to increase by 3%.

Setting up Automated Assessment Payments

Speaking of assessments, we’d like to encourage homeowners who haven’t done so already to set up automated, electronic monthly payments for assessments.

Currently, 60% of property owners are using automated payments.  Automated payments save homeowners the cost of a stamp and provide added convenience.

Our website page for financial information has been updated with instructions and a form to setup automated payments:

Click here for instructions and form for automated assessment payments

Reminder

It is that time of the year when we celebrate different holidays.  We encourage yard and house decorations but want to remind you to remove them in a timely manner.  Thank you. 

FYI

The City of Tempe has ordinances that trees and bushes should not hang over the sidewalks unless there is an 8 foot clearance.  Please ensure that trees that are close to the sidewalks are kept trimmed to allow both bikers and walkers access.  
The city also has an ordinance that all election posters and signs be removed within 3 days of the election.  Please remove all signs from the recent election.  

Longer-term Planning for Common Areas

Our community is over 30 years old, which in itself has introduced numerous problems and challenges for the maintenance of our common areas. For example:

• ​The irrigation systems in the monuments and greenbelts require frequent repairs. Some of the systems will require replacing in 2021.
• Over the past several years, many trees which were planted 30 years ago have died. This summer has been brutal for the trees. Other trees have become overgrown, whereby their roots cause damage to sidewalks or common area walls, or the large canopy causes a nuisance to adjacent homeowners.

In October, the landscape committee met with an arborist and our landscaping contractor to solicit recommendations for longer-term maintenance of our common areas and trees.  Initial findings and recommendations were presented at the HOA’s November board meeting.  The intent is to help the board plan, prioritize and budget for the next 3-5 years. Items under consideration include the following:

• Remove dead, dying or overcrowded trees – This past year, we lost several trees to drought and heat and insect infestation. Several other dead trees are pending removal. Moving forward, the board is considering a more regular and proactive program to periodically remove and replace old or overgrown trees.
• Planting new trees – In the future, the focus will be on drought tolerant trees which don’t require significant maintenance (trimming). To this end, we recently planted 6 new trees in the large greenbelt; more tree plantings are under consideration.  
• Water conservation – Expecting future water rate increases, the board will continue to focus on water conservation. The goal is to water the grass just enough for it to look presentable. However, we don’t water the grass to the point point we get diminishing returns for increased watering.
• Monument renovations – A number of options have been under consideration to improve the monuments’ appearance. A short-term option is to simply add new plants to the monuments; this will add color and fill in gaps where other plants have died. The board has also considered alternatives such as architectural improvements or new lighting.

Trash Container CC&R Violations

Homeowners in our neighborhood take pride in the appearance of their homes, and our neighborhood has a small number of serious CC&R violations. However, a challenging aspect of our neighborhood is a twice per week trash and recycling pick-up schedule. This pickup schedule requires homeowners to be vigilant to place the container on the street just before pickup, then remove them promptly after pickup.

​Our CC&R’s state that trash receptacles should be on the street for the “shortest time reasonable” for collection. For practical purposes, the board has provided guidance to our community management company to enforce the CC&Rs as follows: 

Trash and recycling bins – these should be placed on the street no earlier than the night before pickup and removed from the street the same day/evening after pickup.

The rationale for the above is to try and limit the visibility of trash containers to 2 days (Tuesday and Friday). Without enforcing the CC&Rs this way, there is the potential for trash containers to be visible up to 6 days per week; in other words, there could be containers visible on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for Tuesday pick-up and Thursday, Friday and Saturday for Friday pick-up. The board appreciates these guidelines are somewhat stringent, but has erred on the side of keeping up the overall appearance of our neighborhood.

This project turned out to be a simple and low-cost solution to improve the appearance of the utility boxes. Since painting the boxes, the HOA has also received positive feedback from several homeowners.

Common Area Maintenance Update

This year, there have been relatively few maintenance projects. However, one area of ongoing maintenance has been repairing the damage from mature trees’ roots on our sidewalks and common area walls. Below are some pictures of sidewalk damage which was repaired earlier this year.

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The next major project will be to replace the sprinkler and electrical systems in each of our monuments. These systems are over 25 years old and have been prone to failures.

Coyote Sighting

A homeowner recently saw a coyote near Carver Rd. and Mill Ave. Coyotes have been known to attack small pets, so please be on the lookout. The Humane Society also has some useful information about protecting pets from coyotes. 

Common Area Maintenance Update

Several board members recently completed another comprehensive inspection of our common areas. Work has already begun to prioritize and resolve issues from this inspection.

The previous inspection from 2 years ago also identified numerous major issues which have now been fixed; for example, there was structural damage to the common area walls and sidewalks. A final outstanding issue was the large and overgrown Oleander hedge on Maple Ave and Warner Rd. The board entered into an agreement with our neighboring HOA to take turns trimming this hedge. Pecan Grove (our neighboring HOA) completed the first trimming; the results before and after are shown below.

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Water Conservation Update

Starting in the fall of 2016 and leading into this year, the board has also been focused on water conservation. A 20% water rate increase in 2016 prompted this conservation effort.

The goal is to conserve 15-25% of water versus prior years, while keeping the grass looking good. Our conservation program consists of specialized watering schedules for summer and winter grass, along with an organic soil treatment to prevent salt buildup.

Our landscaping contractor has been keeping a detailed water usage report. Comparing with 2016 and based upon this report, we reduced water usage by 14% from January to March of this year. 

Board Members Greg Lind (Vice-President), Dan Corsetti (Secretary) and Marsha Speicher (Board Member) conducted an inspection and identified the following areas requiring attention:

Mill Avenue East Monument:

1. Add soil/compost or mulch (nutrients) to the bare areas (see below picture #1).
2. To minimize water & Monument deterioration of paint/stucco on monument, place a rock perimeter around monument is recommended. Example: 6” – 12” rock boarder around front and sides with a 2 -3 foot on backside with boarder because of slope.

Mill Avenue West Monument:

1. Add a plant to the front to hide light and match East side Monument (see below pictures  #2 & #3).
2. Missing bulb – of the two slots only 1 bulb is there unlike the Mill East & Maple West Monuments which have 2 bulbs.
3. Add soil/compost or mulch (nutrients) to the bare areas.
4. To minimize water deterioration of paint/stucco on monument, place a rock perimeter around monument is recommended. Example:   6” – 12” rock boarder around front and sides with a 2 – 3 foot on backside with boarder.

Mill Avenue Large Green Belt Area:

1. Overall greenbelt looks very good and the new board is keeping the rocks off the grass.
2. The back East side has a couple of overhanging tree limbs from the adjourning property that needs to be trimmed (see below pictures #4 & #5).
3. There are two areas East and west side where water is not reaching the grass next to the boarder (see below pictures #6 & #7).
4. There are a couple of trees where branches protrude significantly out onto Warner Road that need to be trimmed (see below picture #8).
5. Ask the City of Tempe to remove “Road Work Ahead” sign. Has been there for a couple of months (see below picture #9).

Green Belt Wall between (Mill Avenue West Monument and Maple Avenue East Monument) Area:

1. Greenbelt overall looks good.
2. There are two pine trees on Warner Road (closest to the East Maple Monument) protruding out onto Warner Road and need to be trimmed (see below picture #10).
3. Ask the City of Tempe to remove “Work Zone and “Speed Reduced Ahead” signs. They’ve been there for a couple of months (see below pictures #11 & #12).

Maple Avenue East Monument: 

1. Monument light sensor or timer requiring adjustment or replacement – light is on ALL the time.
2. Missing bulb – of the two slots only 1 bulb is there unlike the Mill East & Maple West Monuments which have 2 bulbs.
3. Add same type of existing bush type to make a “U” and hide light (see below picture #13 and #14).
4. Add soil/compost or mulch (nutrients) to the bare areas.
5. Overall not in bad shape. To minimize water deterioration of paint/stucco on monument, place a rock perimeter around monument is recommended. Example: 6” – 12” rock boarder around front and sides with a 2 or 3 foot on backside because of slope with boarder.

Maple Avenue West Monument:

1. Planter areas – add soil/compost or mulch (nutrients) to the bare areas.
2. To minimize water deterioration of paint/stucco on monument, place a rock perimeter around monument is recommended. Example: 6” – 12” rock boarder around front and sides with a 2 – 3 foot on backside with boarder.

Maple Common Area HOA Boarder Between Pecan Estates Village:

1. Area could use some additional work i.e. Remove outlying renegade plants, Review Bare ground and boarder containment options (see below pictures #15 & #16 – review with Landscaping Service).

Ash Avenue: 

1. There are two concrete blocks on wall adjacent to mesquite tree that are lose – NOT being held in place by concrete (see below pictures #17 & #18).
2. Rake rocks back to wall area where required to eliminate dirt splashing on wall (see below pictures #19 & #20).
3. Wall crack near Ash & Pecan Pl sign – needs to be filled/sealed – light coming through – lose blocks (see below pictures #21 & #22).

Walkway Be-hind Address 194 Buena Vista Drive:

1. Rock needs to be added along sidewalk as there is too much of a drop-off – 4” – 6“or more. This is a safety issue and could result in damaging walkway due to a lack of support (see pictures #23 # #24).

 
Carver Road:

1. Minor tree trimming required on a couple of trees (see below pictures #25 & #26).
2. Overall area looks very good.

Carver & Mill Greenbelt Area (West side):

1. Paint seal filler area to match wall color (see picture #27).

Having completed the large greenbelt xeriscape project, the board agrees the next major project will be the repainting of the common area walls and monuments. This is tentatively planned for the fall of 2016, pending final approval from the board, getting several competitive bids from contractors, etc.

Looking Forward to the Fall

Up until now, the homeowners association sent a mailing each fall with the next year’s budget, any changes to the assessments (monthly dues), and a newsletter. This year, we’re transitioning to a single postcard to announce this information, and instead will direct homeowners to our website to retrieve copies of the budget, the latest news, etc. The intent is to reduce both postage and duplication costs and continue transitioning to the website as a primary means of communication.

Finally, we had a good turnout at last year’s snow day, and will likely plan another snow day this year. We typically plan this for the Friday after Thanksgiving; however, for confirmation, please stay tuned for the fall mailing.

Crime Awareness and Prevention

We fortunately live in a low-crime neighborhood, but it’s always important to be vigilant for crime awareness and prevention. Throughout this year, several board members have become aware of criminal activity in proximity to their own properties. 

We’ve added some links to the crime prevention information from the City of Tempe and 3rd party resources like Raids Online. By utilizing Raids Online, you can retrieve a crime map showing when and where criminal activity occurred; they also have an email list you can join to receive weekly crime reports. For example, the following shows 4 burglaries which have occurred thus far in 2015 (versus 2 in 2014 and 2 in 2013) :

Common Area Landscape Update

You may have noticed many bottle trees along Ash and Carver have gone missing over the past few years. After maturing for over 20 years, the roots of these trees have been damaging the common area walls and sidewalks. In the past 2 years, we’ve removed at least a half-dozen of these problematic trees, with a few more on our watch list.  Here’s an example of one such tree:

Suffices to say, we’ll never again plant this type of tree near common area walls or sidewalks!

With the extreme summer heat, the grass in our greenbelts often suffers during the summer. We also had a broken sprinkler valve earlier this summer, which interrupted watering until the valve was fixed. As a result, you may have noticed bare spots in some of the green belts earlier this summer, but the grass looks somewhat better now. For example, below are some pictures of the large greenbelt in July and August:

Looking Forward to the Fall

Leading into the October 12th board meeting, the board and our community management company will be focused on formulating a 2016 budget. In general, the financials for our community are looking good, which helps:

• Maintain a healthy reserve fund
• Keep monthly dues low
• Fund some longer term projects such as the xeriscape project in the large greenbelt or repainting the common area walls (planned for 2016)  

Finally, thanks to the homeowners who have already signed up for our mailing list. We hope to build upon this mailing list and web site as a primary tool for communicating with homeowners.