Latest News

The Easter Egg hunt was a great success again with over 600 CRCA children attending with parents and grandparents alike. We don’t realize how many families with young children live in Continental Ranch until we have an event like this. It would not have happened without the organization of Paula and the rest of the management staff we have along with the Boy Scouts and all the other volunteers who donate their time to this great activity. Thanks to all who helped and those that attended.

The Community Center remodel is going well and it will be available for use after May 14th. You should notice a marked improvement in the flooring, lighting, countertop and cabinets. The update was sorely needed and we had electrical updates that needed to be done along with the remodel. We will be replacing the tables and chairs as well as they are due for replacement under the Reserve Study.

To all you dog owners tired of being pulled around the community when walking your dog there will be dog classes offered at the Windmill Park baseball diamond starting Saturday May 14 with registration on Saturday7th from 9AM to 11AM. The classes run 7 weeks and cost $75.00 but will be offered to RCA homeowners for 25.00. See the ad in this newsletter and have some fun with the furry member of your family.

Summer is not far off and I’d like to mention the Lego camp coming to the community center this summer and run by Play-well.org if you want to check out their website. We have already received a number of sign ups so don’t let your child miss out by not looking at the flyer in this newsletter. It is a really neat experience from what I can see. It will run 3 hours a day for 5 days so get your kids out of the house and let them create. There are a limited number of scholarships available to those needing financial assistance.

With Windmill pool and splash pad opening the 1st of March everyone should be able to see and enjoy the remodeled bathrooms. They turned out really well and the floor actually drains now so we shouldn’t need the rubber mats from before. It was an extensive job but the contractor did a really nice job and hopefully everyone will appreciate the remodel.

The Easter Egg hunt will be held on March 26th and looks to be even more fun filled than last year. Anyone wishing to help out should contact the office as we could use more volunteers. It is very rewarding to see all the happy kids. The Monday following the Easter Egg hunt will be the start of replacing the irrigation at Windmill Park. The park will be fenced off and closed for use until all the digging and construction is complete. The irrigation system currently in the ground is over 25 years old and we have been very lucky with a system that old not having more major leaks. All the pipe and sprinkler heads will be replaced to give better coverage of the turf with the sprinklers. With the replacement system projected to save us from 1200 to 1400 gallons per cycle.
On March 16th the community center will also be closed for a remodel and should be available for use the end of April. The 12” vinyl tile squares will be replaced with porcelain tile flooring, the kitchen will get new cabinets, the small acoustic tiles on the ceiling (that are continually falling off) will be taken down with new sheet rock installed, the window blinds will be replaced as they were not worth repairing and everything will be repainted. It should make for a nicer community center.

You will see in this newsletter a new policy concerning weeds and lot clean ups. A large number of properties do not take care of weeds or dead plants and the BOD did not feel it was right for neighbors who take care of their properties should suffer for those that do not. What use to take up to two and a half months will now be the second letter giving 10 days to take care of the issues or the Association will do a lot clean and bill the homeowner.

The Association will be hosting a summer camp of sorts. It will be put on by Play Well (www.play-well.org) and “teaches engineering to kids” using Legos and motorized Legos. See the ad in this newsletter for more info. Hopefully we can see this succeed.

Hopefully everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday. The photos with Santa were a hit again with Santa enjoying the time as much as the children did. The holiday lighting contest had very nice entries and the judges enjoyed seeing all the work people had done in putting up their display. The community came forward again by giving to CRCA’s adopt a family program and I’m sure the family had a great Christmas thanks to the generosity of all those who shared their good fortune with them. We can only hope 2016 is a good year for all of us.

We are looking forward to the annual Easter egg hunt which will be Saturday March 26th this year. Planning is already going on to make this a better event than each previous year. If you’d like to help out and volunteer you will be rewarded by all the happy children that attend. Following the Easter egg hunt the Windmill park field and baseball diamond will be fenced of as we will be replacing the irrigation system for the grass. The current system is over 25 years old with some of the valves buried six feet deep. We have been lucky that we haven’t had any major issues with the age of the system.

The BOD is looking at possibly upgrading the community center with new lighting, flooring, paint and fixtures. The current linoleum was installed without leveling the slab underneath and is not in good shape. Repairing the wooden blinds would cost as much as replacing them with new ones and the ceiling tiles are continually falling down.

The Windmill pool bathroom remodel is on schedule and will make a big difference when reopened March 1st.

November brings us cooler temperatures along with a number of changes here in CRCA. The election was held with Bill Dawes, Marilyn Stimpson and Nick Westphal returning for another two years and Bill Cicala serving his first term. It also means that Peggy Bracken chose not to run after serving for six years. We will all miss Peggy’s presence and want to thank her for putting in as much time and effort as she did for those six years. CRCA is a better place because of your involvement Peggy- thank you.

November also means homeowner assessments are due, which supports the operation of the HOA. As I have noted numerous times it is really disturbing to see people ignore paying their HOA dues. While we understand that some people have financial difficulties we try to make every one aware we will accept a payment plan to help those people stay current. If a homeowner’s assessments go unpaid for a full year, it is turned over for collections and is out of our hands. Once it is turned over to collections, it costs $350.00 just for the attorney to start the collections process which the delinquent owner is responsible for. Please, if you are having financial difficulties, contact the office to make arrangements so we do not have to send it to collections.

Santa will be back once again this year, this time at the Windmill Park office on Dec 5^th. We hope you will bring a canned food donation or cash which will go to the food bank in Marana and have pictures taken with Santa. It is usually well attended and the kids seem to really enjoy it- Santa does too!

The splash pad was a great success this past year and was a good investment for the community. Windmill pool has seen a lot more families using the entire facility with the addition of the splash pad. With the pool closing on November 1^st the contractor will start on the remodeling of the Windmill pool restrooms. You should see a lot of improvements when it reopens March 1^st. The condition of those restrooms was deplorable and the Reserve Study only gave us enough money to cover about 1/3rd of the total costs. The BOD was able to plan financially to cover the extra costs with no increase in dues.

Have a great Thanksgiving and a merry Christmas.