Stonegate

Hello,

As promised, I am starting a topic on the increased sprinkler costs.   This is a significant increase, and we are interested to see if people would still like us to proceed.   We will have another election as I noted in June, but if we find that the majority of the homeowners are no longer interested, we will take the appropriate steps.

Hello,

Thanks to the board for all the hard work.  My only comment is:  if the price increase does not pass, I would be very interested in finding another solution.  We did pass a vote for an increase, so the intent is there to protect the common grounds.  It would be nice to see us looking at things that we have done in the past, such as the pumper truck (correct name?) or ideas brought forth by other neighbors.  It would be sad to see this go completely away.   

With Sincere Regards,

Jennifer Pelletier

Joe,

As I mentioned, I am no longer in support of the sprinkler system!

First, I find it unusal that all the homes surrounding the outlots are no longer supporting a water hook up to their homes.  These homes were in fact the instigators of the sprinkler system.  Now suddenly we require a city water hook up with a significant cost increase.  This smells like a "bait and switch" scheme.  Once the neighborhood is commited and initially expensed, the sprinkler momentum will surely continue.

Secondly, the upfront costs have increased 60 percent, besides the increased yearly dues.  We refer to this as "project creep" in the business environment.  Not only is this an unsatisfactory surprise, we should probably expect even more financial surprises if this project were to continue.  We are inexperienced and potential surprises can always arise.

Thirdly, we have additional expenditures looming on the horizon which must still be budgeted.  The trails require mainatenance to prevent what has occurred with The Fields and their trail neglect.  At this time the septic system appears in financial shape but as we are aware, The Fields representatives are inexperienced manageing a septic system and this could erupt as a future problem.  We need to build a reserve.

However, I am open to landscaping ideas outside of the sprinkler system which will improve our present situation e.g. drought resistent grass, shade trees, etc.

I am available for questions and look forward to the meeting.

Regards,

Ron Ibarra

Ron,

You caught us.   We are really pushing the old bait and switch on everyone and having secret meetings to plot the destruction of the entire neighborhood.   I guess we are caught.  

Further to your other points, we would be happy to entertain other volunteers to tap into the water systems.    We are also asking for others to come up with their own ideas if this does not pass.   Regardless of what you think about the process, if this fails we are back at square one with a beautiful common area that is nothing but dead grass and weeds.    

Your idea on draught resistent grass, more trees and additional landcaping is certainly not going to save much money.   However, you are welcome to get some bids and present a solution.   The last time we explored this option, the costs exceeded 25K and we would still have an area with no water.

We expressed the looming other expenditures in our meeting, and that is exactly why the dues increased to face the possible future expenditures.