The board has prepared and approved the 2021 budget. Notably, this budget included a $1/month increase to each homeowner's monthly assessments (dues). Starting in 2021, the new quarterly assessment will be $126 /month ($42 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 2021 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 2021we expect the water bills to increase by 3%.

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

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. 

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.  

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.

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.

The board has prepared and approved the 2018 budget. This budget includes a $1/month increase to each homeowner's monthly assessments (dues). Starting in 2018, the new monthly assessment will be $40/month (an increase of 2.5%).

The primary consideration for this increase is an expected water rate increase from the City of Tempe. In particular, the city is expecting to raise rates by 7% in 2018 (on top of the previous rate increase of 20% in 2016). Water bills represent over 25% of the HOA's expenses, so rate increases have a major impact on HOA finances.

Over the past few years, the board has discussed several ideas to improve the appearance of the utility boxes on the corner of Maple Ave. and Warner Rd. For example, we considered putting in xeriscape landscaping with bushes to conceal the boxes. However, the utility boxes require a set-back of several feet, making this option infeasible.

This year, board member Jeff Johnson was visiting NAU and saw how they improved the appearance of utility boxes using students' artwork. He proposed to the board that we do something similar for our neighborhood. As shown below, the board decided to go with a camouflage color to give the boxes a uniform appearance and partially conceal them. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

Over the holidays, we had another good turnout for our 6th annual snow day social event. We look forward to having this event again this November. It was the first year we had a table for hot chocolate and donuts, and the kids loved it. Below are some pictures from the event.

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.

 

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).

Picture #2 - Current

Picture #3 - Desired

Picture #4

Picture #5

Picture #6 -East side

Picture #7 - West side

Picture #8

Picture #9

Picture #10

Picture #11

Picture #12

Picture #13 - Current

Picture #14 - Desired

Picture #15

Picture #16

Picture #17 - Location

Picture #18

Picture #19 - Location

Picture #20

Picture #21 - Location

Picture #22

Picture #23

Picture #24

Picture #25

Picture #26

Picture #27

The board has prepared and approved a budget for 2017. This budget includes a $1/month increase to each homeowner's monthly assessments (dues). Starting in 2017, the new monthly assessment will be $39/month, increasing from $38/month. This increase was approved in consideration of:

• recent water rate increases (see details below);
• keeping pace with incremental increases to the HOA's regular monthly expenses, such as landscaping services and community management services; and, 
• ensuring the HOA maintains a healthy reserve account for future contingencies and common area improvements. 

In January 2016, The City of Tempe changed the water rates. Notably, the new water rates for HOA landscaping have increased 20% per gallon.

Since water bills are a major HOA expense, the board has been working to minimize the financial impact of these rate increase. In particular, the current plan is to initiate a water conservation program based upon a UofA research study; the following is of interest from this study:

"Research by Brown and his UA colleagues demonstrated that certain turf grasses can survive on 20, even 25 percent, less water than optimal - as long as accumulated salts are leached from the soil."

Given the above, the plan is to reduce water consumption by 20-25%. Along with water conservation, our landscape contractor will regularly treat the soil to reduce accumulated salts.

The common area walls and monuments were recently repainted. It has been a few years since the walls and monuments were painted and many areas had cracks and water damage. Below are some pictures from before and after the repainting:

Besides repainting, several other repairs have recently been completed in the common areas. In particular, a portion of the wall along Carver Rd. was recently repaired to address structural damage from tree roots. Several of the sidewalks have also been repaired due to tree root damage.

Over the past couple years, we've been steadily moving towards the web site and email mailing list as the HOA's primary form of communication. This fall, we also started mailing just a postcard, instead of a mailing with several pages. The plan is to continue sending a postcard each fall, but this web site and our email mailing list are now the best ways to receive regular news updates and HOA information (such as the news posting last summer).

The board also recently finalized the meeting schedule for 2017. Homeowners with questions or concerns for the board are welcomed and encouraged to attend board meetings. As usual, there will also be an annual meeting in April.

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):

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.

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 finalized our plans with the City of Tempe, and the project is scheduled for completion in Spring, 2016. Below are the detailed plans we submitted to the city, illustrating what the completed project will look like and the types of plants to be used.

Working with Kinney Management Services, the board has prepared and approved a budget for 2016. Notably, this includes keeping monthly dues at $38/month, and continuing to contribute to reserves. 

The 2016 meeting schedule for the annual meeting and board of directors meetings has been finalized.

The board has started planning and getting bids to patch and repaint the common area walls in the fall of 2016. Along with the large greenbelt xeriscape project, this will be the largest project in 2016.

If you haven't already, be sure to sign-up for our HOA's email mailing list. The plan is to continue sending a fall newsletter with the approved budget via postal mail. However, we've started using the email list for quarterly news updates and other communications. In case you missed it, news updates from the spring and summer of 2015 are still available.

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.

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.

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:

       https://www.dunnedwards.com/colors/archive/color-ark_pro/pecan-grove-estates-ii/pecan-grove-estates-ii

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.

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) :

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:

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!