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2024 Townhome Landscaping Notice
Published: March 06, 2024
As was shared in our January communication, irrigation failures after development, transition of contractors, and petty theft of hardware, etc. created problems with the townhome landscape. There were two separate issues – one impacting Bates and Hennings where the irrigation was never complete and therefore never worked. Ashton Woods paid to connect the remaining irrigation, and they replaced the respective landscape in 2023. Michael Irving, Tolbert, and Schramm were a separate problem and most of the landscape died – both trees and shrubbery. While the new Townhome Board was aware of this, we wanted to ensure the system was completely operational before re-planting the landscape.
We went back to all potentially liable people/companies, to see if we could ‘offload’ this liability from the townhomes. We have exhausted these resources, and we now plan to look forward to what we can do to best prevent this in the future. Thus, for the remaining three streets, we need to tackle the dead landscape. We are now at that stage, and we have quotes from our landscape company. We have options, but we need your input. We can do 100% of what is needed (back to the developers’ plans for what landscape is to be where) – this includes trees and shrubs on these three streets ($25,000.00). Or., we can do the trees now and come back and complete the shrubs.
It is our goal to upgrade the community and keep us looking fresh and well maintained. From a financial perspective – here is where we are:
- The townhomes have $100K in the operating account.
- We have $50K in a reserve account for future building and maintenance needs.
- We do need to add to the reserve account for future building needs (roofs, capital repairs, etc.).
Likewise, we could do a special assessment and not touch the monies in reserve or the bank.
It is our recommendation that we move forward with the replacement of both trees and shrubs on these three streets, funding the cost from the operating account. We are against any special assessment. We would like to hear from you and get your recommendations. The current landscaper will guarantee the plantings for a year as they maintain both the irrigation system and landscape maintenance.
On a side note, we plan to be refunded approximately $15K from the Master Association for General Liability insurance they should have been paying for us (or our dues to them paid for us) but was incorrectly charged to the townhomes over the last three years.
Please note, we take very seriously our fiduciary responsibility to the townhome owners and will continue to be vigilant to protect your assets and home value.
