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With Windmill pool and splash pad opening the 1st of March everyone should be able to see and enjoy the new Pebble Tec surfacing. The pool plaster did not have the life expectancy of the Pebble Tec so hopefully it will result in a savings over the years. The Easter Egg hunt will be held on March 31st 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.

While it was nice to see the rains come in past month they have an adverse side effect as well.  WEEDS!  Looking around our common areas we took the landscape crew to task for the large number of weeds growing around our community and they went on a weed control mission to eliminate them.  While we use pre-emergent on all of our common areas, the rains allowed the seeds to germinate that had blown in from other areas anyway.  There are a large number of covenants letters going out to homeowners who have not taken care of the weeds on their property.  Please take control of the weeds if you receive a letter so CRCA can appear well maintained.

I have written about this issue before but I am still continually surprised by the large number of children using the play structure at the Windmill Park playground area.  I am also surprised at how many children and families enjoy the turf area that is really looking nice.  It is too bad that there are a few individuals who believe there is a Poop Fairy who will wave their magic wand and the piles left by their dogs will magically disappear.  There is no Poop Fairy and the piles left are being picked up on kid’s shoes.  Not only that, but there are very real health issues with dog feces as well as it being against the law to not scoop your poop. It is not limited to just Windmill Park but throughout CRCA. Please be considerate of your neighbors and don’t wait for the Poop Fairy to appear – scoop your dog’s poop.

I thought it was time to call the attention of homeowners and businesses in CRCA to a portion of your property taxes for which you receive no benefit- what I would call a “taxation without representation” sort of thing. I am referring to the part of your tax bill that reads “CMID”. This CMID tax is assessed by the Cortaro Marana Irrigation District for which you are levied $69 per acre (or percentage of an acre) on your property taxes each year. CMID (aka Cortaro Water Users Association) has been in existence since 1919 and services approximately 70 irrigation customers. Before Continental Ranch was first developed in the mid-80’s, the area was farmland owned by lettuce grower Bud Antle. I am sure that Mr. Antle used the services of CMID to water his fields. I find it quite disturbing that over 90% of CRCA- as well as the businesses at the Arizona Pavilions- are included in the CMID water district for tax purposes and we receive nothing in return other than the privilege of offsetting some costs to the 70 customers who use CMID water for irrigation. Doing a rough calculation CMID receives in excess of $70,000 a year from properties in CRCA and give nothing back to us in return. I have included a map on page 3 of this newsletter showing the boundaries of CMID for taxation purposes. Is there anything we can do to stop paying for something we receive no benefit from? We can petition the Pima County Board of Supervisors to be excluded from this taxing district. If you are interested in lowering your tax bill please contact the office for a petition. This will not happen without a lot of homeowners voicing their opinion.

2017 Annual Meeting Results

Thank you all who attended this year’s CRCA Annual Meeting held at Twin Peaks Elementary on Tuesday, October 24th.The past year’s Board of Directors and the Committee Chairpersons gave their reports for the year and thanked everyone in the community who donates their time to contribute to the success of the community.

The results in order of vote count are as follows:
Bill Cicala 454 votes
Marilyn Stimpson 422 votes
Bill Dawes 420 votes

Congratulations to the 2017-2018 CRCA Board of Directors.
Doug Childress | Bill Cicala | Bill Dawes | Al DiazJohn Lambert | Marilyn Stimpson | Bob Vollbrecht

With the monsoons rains we had mid-August we are seeing a bumper crop of weeds sprouting up in home owner’s yards. It is too bad that they did not take advantage of the pre-emergent spray program we have with our landscape contractor as they will be out killing weeds for a long time or facing a violation letter from our covenants person. It is only $40.00 for an application of spray and eliminates having to kill weeds on your own. I noticed that the hydro seeding along Silverbell Road by the town of Marana is starting to sprout as well and will be adding to the weed issue in CRCA with some of the invasive seeds they sprayed.

Something I addressed a number of times before report is still an ongoing problem for some homeowners. There have been numerous homes flooded by burst water pipes. This is a costly and very disruptive event to happen in your home. A number of these have occurred because of a defective pressure regulating valve that regulates the pressure of the water delivered to your home. Tucson water delivers the water to your home between 76 and 83 psi from its main lines. This pressure is too high for home plumbing (50 to 60 psi is recommended). Two things can happen to the valve- it can fail completely which will result in excessive pressure in the plumbing lines in your home. This can result in extensive water damage to the home as the connections in the lines are not able to handle the added pressure and rupture. The other thing that can happen is low water pressure to your home- shower heads with low pressure, sprinklers not popping up, etc. This can also result in high spikes in pressure when the defective valve is not replaced. Tucson Water recommends that it is a good idea to check those valves as they seem to fail usually after 10 years- sometimes less.

The Community Center pool will be closing after Labor Day weekend with the Windmill Park pool closing the last day of October. The first of November we will be holding our dog day at the pool for the furry members of our families can enjoy a dip in the pool. It was well attended last year and I hope we have an even better turn out this year.

There has been a rash of wildcat dumping at our commercial property owners dumpsters as well as our own. Mattresses, televisions and other bulky items just left outside the dumpsters so the trucks will not pick them up and it results in an added expense of paying someone to load it up and take it to the dump. If you see someone unloading their trash in the dumpsters please get a license number and any identifying information so we can get it to the police and they can issue a citation.