As many of you may have seen, and mentioned on previous posts, new granite has been added across all of the common areas in the community. This also includes the surrounding water retention areas. This along with the freshly panted flowers and plants has made a major impact on the way this community looks. Going from one of the worst summers last year where a lot of our plants had died, and many of those not having the water they needed due to improper or broken drip lines and irrigation, to having most (on our way to all) of the watering issues resolved and now with the plants and granite, this community has taken a 180 degree turn. In fact, it’s looking better than it has in many years.
In the past 6 or 7 years, this community has been through a number of landscapers.
Why?
To put it lightly, they weren’t good enough. They gave excuses as to why things weren’t getting done, rather than just doing them. We had to walk the property with them, showing how “we want things done” even though they were regular things any landscaper should be doing on a regular basis, but they would say “that’s above and beyond regular.” You’d think we were asking them to make this place look like Disneyland, when all we wanted was to ensure weeds were sprayed, bushes were trimmed, plants were maintained, trash was picked up, the grass was cut and things that needed water, got it.
But excuse after excuse, lack of results seen, can’t follow basic landscaping principles, these can only be accepted so many times before you realize they’re not just excuses but rather things just are not working out with whatever current landscaper at the time; and mind you, some of these were big chain companies, and one said huge company, does, in fact, take care of Disney properties. I’m not naming names, but this same company actually told us that they didn’t have a shovel to help remove weeds or ensure the granite wasn’t sliding down the hills around the parks.
What did we do about them?
After having many of these bigger landscapers not work out, a couple years ago we tried something different; we hired a small, local, family owned landscape company.. and you know what, they were immediately better than any of the bigger “competitors” of theirs. I put that in quotes because there was no comparison. This smaller landscaper was miles above of the ones I’ve seen since being a HOA Board member.
So what happened?
Honestly, I don’t know. Things just started slipping. But there were no excuses given, just started seeing fading results; and they weren’t just seen by me, but by others, by residents and the issues they’ve seen were brought up to the Board, and as much as I liked that landscaper, the Board started to listen. At the time was basically myself, Jason, and Anthony. At certain points that also included, Wayne, Zack or Amy.
Quite a few times we have talked about using any residents with businesses that we could utilize within the community. Pest control, electrical, painting, and landscaping. I know we have a few businesses like that in the community, but they may not be owned by said resident, and that’s not what we want. We want resident owned businesses because a resident that lives in our community would have a vested interest in helping the community. They would, in theory, want to do a better job, because they live here and want the community, the place where they live, to good and run great. That is, after all, what us on the HOA Board do. It is why we wanted to be on the HOA Board. And we don’t get paid for being on the HOA Board!
Who is the new landscaper?
Well, before I answer, I must refer to my last post about the elect results. We had new Board members. Board members that agreed, it was time for a change in landscapers. That Board being, me, of course, I’m still on as President, Brian was voted on and will be Vice President, and Amy, who was filling Zack’s seat after he left just months before the election, was voted on and will be Treasurer. This means that Anthony is longer on the Board. Which is great for the community! While he and I made a great team and contributed our time and ideas to helping this community look and run just that much better, he will now make a great landscaper.
Anthony, along with his wife, Brittany, have started their own landscaping business, A&B Lawn and Landscape. They are our new community landscaper! And no, the HOA Board didn’t just vote to use them as our landscaper because Anthony was also a Board member, we voted for them for several reasons:
For one, as we mentioned, Anthony is a resident. A resident that now has a business owned by a resident. A business that the community can utilize. A business ran by residents that have that vested interest in the comminity.
Anthony and Brittany are both hard workers. They are both Veterans. And they both care about the community. Anthony being on the Board and Brittany helping run and organize many of the Halloween and Easter events that we’ve had over the past few years.
Anthony has past experience as a landscaper, not to mention as a great mechanic.
A&B has competitive rates. In fact, the contract is on par with our previous landscaper.
Plus, they’re on-site, meaning, if there is an issue or emergency, they can get to it quicker than any other landscaper would’ve been able to.
Also, being that they’re on-site and a resident, if they don’t do a great job, they will hear about it. They will hear comments from other residents about how things look. And if things are not looking good.. it’s all on them. And that’s not going to feel good hearing that you’re not doing a good job, especially for Anthony. If you know him like I do, then you know hearing something like that is personal, and it will push him to do even better.
But the number 1 reason I wanted to vote for them, is because I know I don’t have to tell them how to do things. They know what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, what’s needs to be addressed each week regardless of what section of the community they are working in, and I know it will be done right, because Anthony was one of those residents who complained about the previous landscapers. He and Wayne, were the ones they saw things not being done. Wayne would take walks and talk to the landscapers, while Anthony can be seen taking runs around the community.
So I know the community is in good hands with A&B Lawn and Landscape!
Oh, and A&B also offers pool maintenance service and has residents in the community as clients.
One thing the park really needed, for those of us who live or come into the park from the north side off Evans, is.. well.. a way to get into the park! At least, one without having to walk around to the ramp by the ramada. Until now, we had to try to walk down the rock covered slope in hopes that we don’t slide or fall on the way down.
Well, now, we have steps.. BIG.. W I D E.. WOOD.. STEPS!
This has always been one of the goals I’ve wanted to see get accomplished ever since I, Jason, your President, became an HOA Board member. It is actually something I’ve always thought should’ve been there, even before I became a Board member. And I think it makes a nice addition to the park. not to mention, another, safe, entrance into the park.
I am grateful that we have an awesome landscaper, whom not only has taken care of the community better than any of the past few landscapers that we’ve had have done, but can also take on other jobs, such as these steps. Jim, from Poor Daddy’s Landscaping, did a great job getting these installed today. Though, it did take a while for us to find the wood we needed, as apparently supplies are hard to come by currently, especially for railroad ties and woods like it, which is what we needed. But, that was not his fault and it was definitely worth the wait as these steps look and function just as I imagined.
There is still a little more work to be done there though.. adding more granite (rocks), driving rebar in a few more of the timbers, and clean up. But for now, they are safe, secured, and can be used, walked upon, or if you’d like, sit on them and watch others in the park. But please leave room for others to pass by.
The recent storm has once again knocked down a couple more trees on Acoma. The HOA is already on top of these and they should be cleared soon.
Park Erosion
The clean up around the playground area and sandlot is still underway. We had a few supply shortages with the railroad ties that will be placed around the sandlot as well as on the north side just west of the playground they will be used to create layered platforms to make large steps into the park. The erosion holes should be filled with concrete any day now which will prevent those from having any further issues.
Walkway and a Table
The walkway / path into the larger park (main photo) on the west side had flagstone pavers that were very loose and on uneven ground. We have decided to remove the pavers and instead use decomposed granite aka “baseball field dirt.” It doesn’t become muddy like regular dirt and it’s easy to maintain and replenish when needed. The curbing at the bottom needs a bit of work still however.
We also replaced the table in the ramada on the south (smaller) park. The previous table had much rust due to the rubber coating peeling off and the table overall was not too stable.
Landscaping
We are also aware that there are weeds around the community and some trees and bushes that need trimming. These are being addressed, albeit a bit longer than we’d like, due to the storms and our landscaping being shorthanded due to covid.
We had a large tree come down a few days ago during one of the high wind storms. It was located just behind one the of entry way monuments on 175th and Acoma. We have a crew on site today to remove it. It’s a big visual loss for the area and another tree should be replanted there.
Park Erosion
I’m sure it goes without saying that we’ve all seen the taped off section in the large park where we had some erosion issues do to the park flooding during the that large storm where it rained all day and night and few weeks ago. The erosion areas will need to be cleaned up, and it some cases where the river rock is towards the top, will need to be filled with more concrete where trees were previously planted.
There was also a section of the sand that needs to be cleaned out because of this. But the solution to this isn’t just as straight forward as cleaning up what is there, we also need to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Plus, this coincides with other plans we had in the works, oddly enough, to help prevent such erosion issues and to keep the granite/rocks from sliding into the sand, as well as other things.
We’ve had to get many bids for various aspects of the repairs and future proofing and things will start to begin soon. One of the things that will happen is adding railroad ties along the edge of the sand lot to rocks and erosion will not slide into any more. And since a large portion of the sand needs to be replaced, we’re looking into just replacing all of the sand with mulch, which most playgrounds these days have because it’s softer than sand if anyone should fall on it and is required by ADA and is something we’d have to do anyway should we get a new playground.
Since we will be adding railroad ties around the sand, we thought we could use them to create a section of stair like pads to allow for an easy approach into the park on the north side, Evans and 175th. Making an entry way will help those who come from this side of the community as currently they have to try to carefully attempt to walk down the deep slope, which the top is lined with rocks, or make the way around to the 157th side entrance. The west side of the park already has a walkway and the south side’s slope isn’t as steep.
APS has been doing some construction along Acoma for a few weeks now. They should be finished soon. The Board did not receive advanced notice of this work, otherwise our installation of new granite on the common areas that was scheduled just prior to APS starting their work, would have been held off until the APS work was completed.
However, be rest assured that once this work is completed, the granite installation along Acoma will continue and look just as great as it does in the rest of the community.
As stated previously, BrightView, our landscaping vendor, has been actively planting new plants in the common areas and along the streets. We are planting over 400 new plants as well as ensuring existing plants will be getting the water they need and any unused drip lines will be capped off.
Later, in a few weeks, you will notice the granite (rocks) in the common areas also be replenished. Another post will be made at that time.
By now most of you should have received a notice from Brown Community Managemet, Inc., stating that they will be our new management company starting on November 1st. This is true. Greenway Parc 2 and our past management company, Thrive, have agreed to a mutual separation. While they were not with us for very long, they did help lay the foundation to get the community moving in the right direction and the HOA Board wishes them the greatest success.
We have chosen Brown Management to continue where Thrive is leaving off and we only see good things to come with this new management. Rachael Rich, will be our new community manager and even before they have officially started, I know her and the rest of the team at Brown Management have been hard at work getting things setup, working with Thrive to ensure a smooth transition and even looking in to getting bids on things the community still needs to work on.
The Board is also working on getting some much needed attention to the Acoma and 157th entry way monuments, adding granite (rocks) to areas that need it, replanting of flowers, plants and trees and other exciting property enhancements. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available as the Board will always post the latest news and updates here on this website. Also be sure to check back here from notifications about events and meetings. Be sure to sign up on our email list below.
