News

Spring is finally here and things are starting to recover from our last frost. The landscape committee will be watching very closely to see if some of our plants did not survive the winter and will make sure that any replacements are more frost tolerant. The Texas Mountain Laurels and Tombstone (Lady Banks) roses are in bloom along Twin Peaks and are a pleasant distraction until the lantana and other plants recover from the winter.

The pool was very busy during spring break but along with being busy came a few issues. People without keys were being let into the pool by people inside and there were a few groups that felt they were above the rules for the pool. Please remind everyone in your family that there are rules to be followed while at the pool so everyone there can have a pleasant experience. Just a reminder that if the rules are not followed that your pool key can be turned off for 30 days and you could be fined $100 for an infraction. The pools are a great benefit and enjoyment to a lot of people but abuse of the rules ruins that. If you observe inappropriate behavior please report it to the office with the specific time and day of the occurrence so we can review the security tapes to see if any action is required.

The Easter Egg hunt was another success with over 500 kids this year, and I’d like to extend a job well done to Jocelyn and all the volunteers who participated in this annual event, especially the boy scouts. Something is being added to another annual event in CRCA. The annual yard sale will include the first (of hopefully many) Block Party Food Truck Roundup at Windmill Park (from 11AM to 3PM). Try to stop by after the yard sales to sample some of the eats being offered by these unique vendors. There will be a jumping castle in place for the little ones as well as lots of great food.

Hopefully we have seen the last hard freeze for this winter- at least it wasn’t as bad as two years ago. Even then there were a number of plants and trees that were affected and will require some time to come back. The feather trees were really affected and the mesquites also- dropping a lot of their leaves due to the cold temperatures. The Swan Hill Olive and the Texas Mountain Laurels along Twin Peaks were not affected and neither were the Swan Hill Olives around Windmill Park- congratulations to the landscape committee for choosing them.

With all of the upgrades that have been done at Windmill Park we are seeing more residents using the park as well as organized teams from outside CRCA using the field. I can understand wanting to use the Windmill field with it being so green and well kept but Windmill Park is a private park for CRCA residents with the upkeep paid through our dues. If I had a choice between using the field at Windmill or the fields offered by the Town of Marana I would go to Windmill also, since we use winter grass for year-round green. The town charges $5 to $8 an hour to use their fields with the dead grass in the winter so Windmill is very tempting. CRCA requires that organized groups supply a certificate of insurance to the association because of liability issues for the association. If you have an organized group planning on using Windmill Park please go to the office so we can get the required documents in order. In the past, the BOD has required is that any team using the field have 75% CRCA residents on their team for them to not be charged a use fee. There are costs associated with maintaining Windmill field to the standards the landscape committee and BOD require and they are paid with our dues.

There is an ad in this newsletter for the Easter egg hunt for this year. Easter is earlier this year- the 30^th of March- instead of April and Jocelyn has been busy getting things lined up for an even better event than last year’s. As is always the case we need volunteers to help support this well attended event. Please consider volunteering to help for a couple of hours. It provides an opportunity to meet your neighbors and see the children enjoying the activities- IT IS WELL WORTH THE TIME.

The BOD was able to move forward with a number of projects called for in the Reserve study for CRCA this past meeting. The reserves that the association has accumulated over the years allows us to maintain items within the community that have a useful life span and require replacement or updating on a planned schedule. This keeps the properties owned by CRCA in great condition without having to raise assessments to do so. We were able to update the lighting at the Community Center pool and parking lot last year to energy efficient LED lighting with a savings in electrical usage of around 30%- we approved updating the lighting at the Windmill pool and office at the December meeting to the same type of LED fixtures and expect similar savings. The parking lot at the West end of Windmill Park was also on the list for replacement and will be pulverized and a new lift of asphalt laid with new striping to give it a much needed face lift. A new AC unit for the office, sealing the flat roof at the office, redoing the deteriorated electrical wiring at both pools for lighting, sealing the office parking lot and numerous other projects listed under the reserve study were all approved at the last BOD meeting.

I would like to welcome Karie Westpahl as the newest member to your BOD. She was appointed unanimously to replace Gladys Pope who resigned with one year left in her term. Karie will be a welcome addition to the BOD and as a young mother will bring another opinion to this BOD.

With the holidays behind us I would like to thank all who participated in the caroling at Windmill park and the holiday lighting contest. A lot of work was put into the lighting displays and appreciated by a large number of people. The homeowners living on Victory Court did one better- they placed luminaries all along Victory Court spaced about four feet apart and were observed walking up and down the street with their charcoal lighters relighting the tea lights the wind blew out. Great job and a great idea by those homeowners.

Our landscape contractor- DLC Resources- has closed their Tucson offices and will no longer be doing the maintenance of CRCA’s landscaping. The Landscape committee interviewed three firms and recommended Titan Landscaping which the BOD approved at the last meeting. The quality of our landscape maintenance should not suffer as Titan was formed by employees of the DLC Tucson office and we will have the same crew and manager that were DLC employees here in CRCA. There should be no “learning curve” as these people are already aware of the nuances with our irrigation and landscape needs. As a side note- the Windmill Park grass has never looked better.

Have a safe 2013 and we hope to see you at one of our committee or BOD meetings. This association is only as successful as the people involved in decision making.