The project to replace the perimeter of the large greenbelt with xeriscape landscaping has been completed. Notably, we passed the final inspection from the City of Tempe and received 50% matching grant funds. Several board members have already received positive feedback on the completed project.
The xeriscape perimeter reduces our water usage, prevents water damage to the walls, and improves the greenbelt’s appearance. In addition to the landscape rock and concrete perimeter, the project included the planting of over 50 new plants of different varieties. As these plants mature over the next few years, the greenbelt’s appearance should improve even further.
The pictures below show the greenbelt before and after this project (click on the pictures to enlarge them):
Common Area Maintenance Update
Back in February, 2015, our landscape committee performed a comprehensive inspection of the common areas. Since then, the board has been coordinating with our management company and different contractors to prioritize and address the issues found during this inspection.
One issue was the sun-damaged and rusted-out utility boxes throughout our community. This spring, SRP finished repainting the last of these boxes along S Ash Avenue.
Another ongoing issue has been the roots of mature trees damaging sidewalks, common area walls and greenbelt perimeters. Over the last few years, we’ve unfortunately had to remove at least a dozen mature trees to prevent further damage. However, in some cases, rather than removing the whole tree, cutting some of the roots to prevent further damage is an option. The pictures below highlight some of the damage from these tree roots.
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.
We’ve recently been notified by the City of Tempe that our HOA’s neighborhood grant application for the Xeriscape project in the large greenbelt off Mill and Warner has been approved! With Tempe’s matching funds, the project’s costs will be split equally between the City of Tempe and our HOA. Kudos to board members Marsha Speicher and Sharryn Kuhlman for spearheading every aspect of this project.
The project entails replacing the grass along the perimeter of this greenbelt with rock and desert plants. There will still be plenty of grass in the middle of the greenbelt. The goals of this project are to:
Prevent further water damage to the common walls
Enhance the greenbelt’s appearance by mixing grass and xeriscape landscaping
Reducing water usage
The project is tentatively planned for completion this fall. We’ll be sure to take before and after pictures so stay tuned.
Common Area Maintenance
Since the common area inspection in February, the board has been working with our community management company to prioritize and fix many of the outstanding issues, including but not limited to broken electrical boxes and rusted-out utility boxes. For example, as shown in the before and after pictures below, the SRP box on Carver has been nicely refurbished:
What a big improvement! The utility boxes in the greenbelt off Maple and Warner have also been refurbished. Credit for these improvements goes to board members Dan Corsetti and Greg Lind, who completed the property inspection, and our community manager, Scott Darnall, who found the right people at the utility companies to get these improvements done.
Moving forward, we’re still planning to address many of the items from February’s inspection, including sidewalks along Ash Ave, which have been raised by the roots of nearby trees. At the last HOA board meeting, the board also tentatively planned to patch the stucco and paint all the common area walls in the fall of 2016.
New Paint Color Schemes
The architecture committee recently coordinated with Dunn Edwards to update and expand our HOA’s paint palette. Over the past couple years, they’ve noticed a trend towards darker and bolder colors, so the updated paint palette adds 10 darker color schemes, while keeping the existing schemes. This now brings our total number of color schemes to 24, which offers homeowners a wide variety of choices.
The updated paint palette can be seen on the Dunn Edward’s web site:
As a reminder, if you plan to repaint your house (or make other architectural improvements), please be sure to submit a modification approval request form prior to making these changes. The appropriate forms and guidelines are available on our property changes page.
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.
With our newly launched web site, it seems fitting to use this new medium to discuss developments from this past year and share what the board is working on for 2015.
Much of the board’s attention last year focused on transitioning to a new community management company. This included interviewing several management companies, then coordinating the transfer of HOA records and financial accounts to our new company, Kinney Management Services (KMS).
Thus far, our experience with KMS has been good. KMS is in close proximity to our community (Rural & Guadelupe), allowing them to closely watch our neighborhood, and provide a convenient location for board and annual meetings. Consistent with the board’s preferences, KMS also provides a hands-on, personal style of service; for example, if you contact KMS with a question or issue, you can expect to speak 1:1 with our community manager.
After finishing the management company transition, the board has been focusing on longer-term community projects; for example:
With input from the board and homeowners, Marsha Speicher and Sharryn Kuhlman are submitting a grant proposal to the City of Tempe’s neighborhood grant program. The proposal is to transition the perimeter of the large greenbelt off Mill & Warner into desert/xeriscape landscaping, while preserving the large grass area in the middle. If this grant proposal is approved, the project will be completed in the August/September timeframe.
In the beginning of February, our landscaping committee (Greg Lind and Dan Corsetti) also completed a detailed common area inspection to identify areas needing touch-up paint, minor repairs, or other “TLC”. The list of issues is currently being reviewed and prioritized; then we’ll proceed to address the high priority issues, such as community walls needing structural repairs and failing electrical boxes in the monuments.
A goal of this web site is to keep homeowners informed about community projects, HOA finances, and community events. To this end, please stay tuned for news and other updates!
An inspection occurred on February 7, 2015 by PGE II HOA Board Members Greg Lind (Vice-President) and Dan Corsetti (Secretary). All Board Members will review and discuss at the March 9, 2015 Open Meeting. Comments & Input by PGE II Home owners is welcomed.
The purpose of the Annual Inspection by Board Members of PGE II is to review and identify areas requiring attention. These items may be short term or long term in nature. A Short-Term Example: A major frost occurred where replacement of dead plants in the Monuments is required. A Long-Term Example: Identify that corking & painting of Common Area Walls & Monuments will be needed in 2 years. Long-Term items are generally considered major in nature and require multiple bids, planning and budgeting.
Mill Avenue East Monument: 1. Replace electrical outlet box cover or whole box if required located inside the planter. 2. Red brick restoration – Power wash, Sand blast or cover with new red brick facing. 3. Monument light sensor or timer requires adjustment or replacement. Light was still on at 8:15AM. 4. To minimize water deterioration of paint/stucco on monument, consider having a rock perimeter around the monument. A 1 foot boarder around front & sides and a 2 or 3 foot boarder on the backside because of slope.
Mill Ave. East MonumentElectrical OutletLeft front side of monumentSlope behind monument – When grass is wet lawn mowers cause damage
Mill Avenue Large Green Belt Area: 1. Drainage cover significantly recessed. 2. A number of areas have cracks in wall and in need of corking and a few areas in need of re-stucco with matching color of existing wall color. 3. Red brick restoration – Power wash, Sand blast or cover with new red brick facing on all common area walls. 4. Rock boarder surrounding green belt walls – Consider having a 1 to 3 foot rock perimeter at base of common walls to protect walls from watering and lawnmower damage to walls. Rock width dependent on terrain. East wall and back corner are especially in need of attention. 5. Sweep rocks back within the two brick boarder areas and add additional rocks.
Recessed drainage coverEast Wall some areas needing re-stucco and paintingEast Wall cracks, re-stucco and paining required
East wall corner of HOA & Warner RoadEast wall boarder plant area in need of additional rocks
Mill Avenue West Monument: 1. Red brick restoration – Power wash, Sand blast or cover with new red brick facing. 2. Replace electrical outlet box cover or whole box if required located inside the planter. 3. To minimize water deterioration of paint/stucco on monument, consider placing a rock perimeter around the monument. A 1 foot boarder around front & sides and a 2 or 3 foot boarder on the backside because of slope.
West Mill Avenue MonumentElectrical box current status – suggest replacement
Green Belt (Between Mill Avenue West Monument and Maple Avenue East Monument) Area:: 1. Recommend adding a 2 -3 foot rock boarder against Common Wall between the two existing brick & rock boarder areas. 2. Heavy spray paint or matching re-stucco color to blend wall variations.
Area between two brick boarded areasWall in need of re-stucco and painting to properly blend
Maple Avenue East Monument: 1. Red bricks on Monument restoration – Power wash, Sand blast or cover with new red brick facing. 2. Monument light sensor or timer requiring adjustment or replacing. Light was still on at 8:50AM. 3. Monument over all exterior not in bad shape. To minimize water deterioration of paint/stucco on monument, place a rock perimeter around monument. Example: 1 foot around front and sides with a 2 or 3 foot perimeter on backside because of slope. 4. Left front inside planter area in need of work.
East Maple Avenue Monument
Maple Avenue West Monument: 1. Red bricks on Monument restoration – Power wash, Sand blast or cover with new red brick facing. 2. Breaker box located on SRP electrical box in need of replacement. 3. Large SRP electrical boxes on Maple reflect a lot of rust and need of painting or replacement. 4. Esthetics of all SRP, Cable and Tel-com boxes? Any solutions? 4. Soil under large SRP electrical box is eroding and a gap between soil and cement slab is missing. 5. Water value boxed on right side of monument need boxes raised. 6. Planter areas in need of raking of junk, rototilling of soil, adding some new soil and adding a new tree on right side to balance with left side of monument. 7. Monument light sensor or timer requiring adjustment or replacing. One light still on at 9:00AM.and one bulb burnt out. 8. Sidewalk needs repair.
Right front side in need of tree or large bush to balance monument vegitationRight inside planter – Raking, remove junk and add tree or large bush to balance out monumentBreaker box exterior has seen better days. Further investigation to be purpose and who’s responsibilityThe “Boxes” near Warner Rd. & Maple Ave. entranceRusting SRP electrical boxesGround erosion support SRP boxSidewalk in need of repair by City
East HOA Property Maple Avenue and Warner Road: 1. Shrub line of oleander’s in need of clean-up. Is it actual boarder? Which HOA responsible? . 2. Common wall rear of oleander’s needs repair.
East Oleander property line in need of cleanout and shrub trimmingOleander’s in need of trimmingCommon wall behind oleander’s
Ash Avenue: 1. Wall beside house #195 in need of corking, re-stucco & painting. 2. Observed one or two drip hoses missing heads and thus, spraying water directly on wall. 3. Many areas on wall in need of corking of cracks, re-stucco and paining along base of wall. 4. After repainting, rocks in need of being raked back up to top of slope. 5. Sidewalk has an adjourning higher & slow slab abutting which consider to be a hazard and in need or being fixed by City. 6. Wall besides house # 194 in need of corking of cracks.
Common wall along sidewalk next to house #195Missing water head – wall erosion and wasting waterMissing water drip head – Wall erosion?Wall corking required – loose concrete blocksre-stucco, paint and rake rocks back-up along all of AshSidewalk repair by city required
Carver Road: 1. Cracks in wall behind house #194 in need of corking and painting when common area walls are painted. 2. SRP large electrical box base rusting and in need of painting or replacement. 3. Rake rocks back into brick boarder areas and add rocks where required. 4. End of common area on Carver raking and adding of rocks required in brick boarder area. 5. The corner area between PGE II neighboring other HOA property wall in need of re-stucco and painting. Also, a 1 foot rock boarder is required to eliminate lawnmower scraping of wall and is in need of patching and painting. 6. Replace dead shrubs /plants
Corking required on common walkway wall behind Lot # 194 – Far East end on CarverSRP Electrical Box at West end of Carver. Box rusting and needs painting. Also, Common wall in need of power wash or paintingOn Carver West of Mill – Rock Areas need raking, redistribution and additional rock in some areasCarver – East Wall Adjourning other association wallWall deterioration – closer viewWall damage – possibly by lawn mower?East side of Mill on Carver – Additional rock requiredDead shrubs/plants removal, replant or disconnect water as is currently being wasted
Below is a gallery of pictures highlighting several of our community’s projects and events of this past year. Click on the photos to see them in full-size and with descriptive captions.
Snow Day was a success. We estimate the turn-out was around 30-40 kids, plus many parents, grandparents, friends and even a few dogs. It was great way to start off the holiday season and for neighbors to get to know each other.