Landscaping and Irrigation Services As we move into the beginning of summer, we thought it was a good time to talk about the landscaping and irrigation services that the Association provides. Some of you may be familiar with our services, and for others, this memo should help to explain them, so you know what to expect. As part of your monthly maintenance fee, the Association provides lawn and irrigation services. We hire an outside contractor to serve and maintain the common landscaping and lawn areas and the private lawn areas only on your property. Your planting beds, trees, and tree rings remain your responsibility. The goal is to have healthy, weed-free turf that is uniformly mowed and trimmed with a focus on the front yards of the lots. Our contractor will mow and edge your lawn throughout the season usually on a weekly basis, weather permitting. They also apply a coordinated schedule of pre-emergent, fertilizers and other turf treatments. Applications are announced in advance and white flags are placed in the ground to signify that a treatment has occurred. Our contractor is regulated by State laws regarding chemical application and they cannot “spot treat” individual homes or apply an extra or “another round” of chemicals to any individual home. They may only put down “X” lbs. of chemical per “X” square feet per year. A schedule and list of all applications and the material safety data sheets (MSDS) is posted at the Clubhouse. The current contractor does not edge your entire lot with every other mow; they will edge the curb line and patios one week and edge the driveways and walkways the next week. Any mulched areas including tree rings and planting beds are not edged as part of this contract, these areas are mechanically string trimmed. Bagging of grass clippings is also not included in the contract. The contractor is required to remove debris from walkways, sidewalks and driveways and “leave the premises in broom clean condition.” The Association also performs a thorough fall and spring cleanup program to remove leaves and seasonal debris. The spring clean up is the only time that clippings are bagged and removed from the property. Although our contractor takes every precaution to prevent damages during their work, they are not responsible for any damages done by string trimmers or “unforeseen, discharged items from mowers or other tools.” The contractor recommends that your homes have a mulch or rock bed to act as a buffer between the turf and your siding or air conditioner. The irrigation system throughout the property is owned and operated by the Association and is designed to irrigate the lawns, not your garden beds. Homeowners are not permitted to make any adjustments to the irrigation system. We work closely with our contractor to optimize the watering schedule based on weather conditions and application schedules. Therefore, the watering schedule is subject to change and we are not able to provide the residents a specific schedule during the season. Typically, the irrigation system comes on at 1am and cycles through every zone on the timer ending at approximately 8am. To ensure quality service and satisfied residents, we have a system in place that we call The Green Form. When a resident has a service concern or believes that the irrigation system needs to be adjusted, a Green Form is completed and submitted to the Landscape and Irrigation Committee through the Management Office. The LC then reviews the form and takes the appropriate action to address or remedy the concern. Green Forms should be used for almost every concern, however if any section of your lawn is unintentionally missed during the mowing operation, please contact the community manager that same day or as soon as possible. In most situations, if you call or email a landscaping or irrigation issue, you will be asked to come in and fill out a Green Form. To make sure that you are getting correct information, we ask that you address all your questions to the Community Manager, however if you need to ask a question of the contractor’s crew, the men in orange safety vests are the crew supervisors; the men in yellow safety vests are laborers, so please try to find a supervisor to speak to. One topic that is always misunderstood is the grading, drainage, and elevation of your lot and how that affects that quality of your lawn areas. Please note that neither the LC, nor the Association are responsible for drainage or grading concerns on your property, unless damage was caused by one of the Associations contractors. The Public Offering Statement for the Community states that “both existing and required slopes and grades, as well as soil and rock conditions will have an effect on the final conditions of the lot. Purchasers may or may not find these final conditions suitable for their intended uses and enjoyment of the property. Further, the disturbed portion of their lot will be graded and seeded, and a portion of their lot will be left in its undeveloped natural state which may be wooded, a meadow, or a fallow field.” Fundamentally, that means that you chose and purchased your lot “as is” and not only that the conditions may or may not be ideal for sustaining a manicured, green, turf area but that you shouldn’t expect grass in areas that were left natural or are adjacent to tree lines. The Association is also not responsible for any trees on your property including the trees along the curb line adjacent to your property. If you have concerns about a dead or dangerous tree on common property, please submit a Brown Form to the manager. Thank you for taking the time to understand our services and the role of the committee. We are less likely to have misunderstandings or gaps between our expectations when we communicate and the community is informed.