The Grapevine
From The Chair...Activities CommitteeArchitectural Committee
The Green ThumbCommunicationsFYI


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From The Chair...

Tim Durbin

      The summer seems to have gone by very quickly again this year. We are once again only a few weeks away from school starting, so I would caution everyone to take it slow throughout the community and watch for kids and those walking or riding bikes.

The Transition Team is progressing well as we prepare ourselves to take over the reins of the community by January 1, 2002. While that may seem a little distant, there are many issues we as a community have to look at before assuming control. Susan Thomas has been very diligent in gathering information from other communities who have gone through this process, and we hope to learn a great deal from their experiences.

The Facilities Committee has a couple of events planned in the near future, so mark your calendars. A Labor Day Pool Party is scheduled for September 4th, and the Annual Tennis Tournament is planned for the beginning of September.

As we have been communicating for the last several months, the Grapevine is now only available on the Planter's Row website, except for those who have requested a hardcopy. Those who have requested a hardcopy will continue to receive one, and those who have forwarded an e-mail address to the Communications Committee will be reminded when a new issue has been posted on the website. Our goal is that everyone within the community will either get the hardcopy or the reminder, so in your daily conversations with your neighbors, if they have been left out of either, please have them contact Craig Turbolski or Rich Falciatano. The Communications Committee is also diligently working on the Planter's Row Resource Guide, which will be a useful tool for each homeowner. We expect to have the Resource Guides out by the end of August.

Finally, as you may be aware, the Advisory Board currently has an opening for a position, which would continue through December 31, 2001. Any homeowner in good standing and who has lived in the community at least six months is eligible to apply. Please forward your nominations with a brief description of your qualifications and the reason you would like to be considered to Cathy Bell, Wm. Goldsmith Company, PO Box 1827, Greenville, SC 29602.


Activities Committee  


      Darin Scheidly

Not much is happening at the pool except a good time. All new community members are reminded to contact W.M. Goldsmith for details on receiving your 2000-Amenities Pass.

Upcoming Events:

Pool Hours Change:
Make Note of Change!
August 19 - September 17
Saturday 11 am - 7 pm
Sunday 12 pm - 7 pm
Mon-Fri 4 pm - 7 pm
Labor Day (9/4) 9 am - 9 pm


We are also planning a Planters Row Labor Day Party for September 4th. Please contact Darin Scheidly if you would like to help. We had a great time on Memorial Day, let's end the summer with a bang.

Once again, your help is needed with the pool committee. Although the season is almost over, there are still many more activities we could be doing with some help, especially a tennis tournament.




Architectural Committee  


      David Wage
As some of you know, the ACC is in the process of verifying approval records for fences, deck additions, driveway additions, and other items requiring approval. Unfortunately, our records are incomplete for some structures that were built prior to the existence of the ACC. I appreciate the cooperation of those of you who have already responded to our requests. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it is difficult for the ACC to conduct its business without accurate records TRANSITION TEAM

Susan Thomas

Much continued to be learned in July about what is involved in homeowner assumption of Planters Row development responsibilities. Our understanding has been greatly assisted by the cooperation of neighboring homeowner association presidents and representatives of property management firms, including our own, Goldsmith, Inc., and nearby IPM of Hendersonville, Inc.

John Leonard, President of the Neely Farm Homeowner Association, graciously and generously met with me on a Sunday afternoon to share the lessons that Association has learned during and subsequent to its transition in 1999. I also was able to attend a Neely Farm Board Meeting and see it in action. Neely Farm is very ably meeting many common and not-so-common challenges and opportunities in Association management. The meeting additionally afforded me the opportunity to make the acquaintance of another homeowner association president she will consult in the future and to meet Tricia Ostendorf of Goldsmith, Inc., and Jeff Randolph of the Randolph Group, a firm which plays an important role in Planters Row's transition.

Half-Mile Lake on Route 253 off Pleasantburg Drive is another development which has begun to assist in our understanding of what lies before us and how best we can prepare for a successful transition to homeowner management. Nancy McCrory, an entrepreneur in property management at Half-Mile Lake and Montebello properties, has been most insightful and helpful in early conversations with her. A follow-up meeting with Nancy is anticipated in early August.

IPM provided a full-morning seminar on "Banking, Budgeting and Investing for Homeowner Associations" which I was able to attend. The principal staff of IPM, Ken Garren, President; Sharon Olin, Vice President of Operations; and Rob Baer, Accounting Manager, along with First Citizens Bank of Hendersonville, arranged for a morning of presentations exemplifying the basis and benefits of good association management through strategic planning and reserves funds accounting. In August the Transition Team will continue to pull together the information and understanding necessary for developing an exemplary strategic plan for Planters Row members and, with members of the Advisory Board, will have preliminary meetings with Carolina Engineering and Inspection, Inc., of Brevard, NC concerning the Planters Row Reserve Study. The value attained by and for homeowners through these processes is essential to the overall purpose and goals of any competent homeowners association Board of Directors.


The Green Thumb  
(The Green Thumb column is intended to stimulate your interest and provide some help in keeping our properties looking good - and property values high. It only scratches the surface of things to do to keep your landscape areas beautiful. There are of course an endless number of more detailed sources including, publications, local nurseries and neighbors. Please let us know if you have information to share)

      Although we are fortunate enough to have been rained on a few times in the last month, we are not recovered from the drought. These typical summer storms bring a lot of water in a short amount of time. It just runs off, and does not have time to really soak in. So, if you have recently fertilized, there is a good chance the last heavy rain washed most of it off, rather than letting it really get down into the soil. It is important to give your lawn a nice long, slow watering after fertilizing, so that it has a chance to absorb into the soil. That way you get out of your fertilizer what you paid for it, and it keeps that fertilizer out of our streams, rivers and lakes where it promotes algae blooms and other problems.

Moving off the topic of lawns and onto the rest of our landscaping. Now is the time of summer to begin to pinch back your annuals that have slowed down on their flower production. Pinch back just below the flowers, and give them a small amount of high phosphate fertilizer, such as a 10-30-10, around the base of the plant, and water it in well. In just a week or two, the plant will bloom again, with twice the number of flowers. Also, it is a good time to pinch back your fall flowering plants such as mums. They may look a little thin for a while, but will usually give a far more brilliant display of flowers in the fall. If you want to add some new annuals for the rest of the summer, Vincas are a good choice as they can withstand transplanting well in the heat of the summer.

If you have a vegetable garden you are probably starting to enjoy the fruits (or vegetables) of your labor. As your vegetable plants begin to produce, you will want to keep them well watered and fertilized so that your entire crop is uniform and grows to its full size before ripening. If you planted early vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, and peas, they are probably about done for the summer. Usually, our season is long enough to get a second planting in for fall harvest. Start preparing the soil now for your fall plantings with a healthy dose of compost and turning it in. Sow your seeds in late August up to the first part of September. You can also get a head start by germinating your seeds indoors, and transplanting later in the summer. By the end of October you will have a second crop of fresh vegetables that can be pickled or frozen and enjoyed all winter long.


Communications Committee  
      Rich Falciatano

Since the summer is coming to a close and things are starting to slow down within the community we will be publishing the newsletter at less frequent intervals. The schedule for publication for the remainder of this year and the beginning of next year is as follows:

October 2000
December 2000
February 2001

Anyone wanting to submit information to the newsletter should submit their request 2 weeks prior to the newsletter scheduled print month.

We are still in the process of updating the directory and have made great gains in completing this task. We are scheduled to complete this by the end of August if all goes well. All Planter's Row Homeowners will be getting either a call or a knock on the door to verify we have the correct information in our database. We will also be asking for your email address so we can communicate via email with everyone. This will allow us to remind you of upcoming events, newsletter releases, and any other important information that comes our way. Also we will publish this in the Resource Directory so you will be able to contact your neighbor via email. This is optional but I think it will be very beneficial. Many of your neighbors will be verifying this info with you so don't be surprised if you get a call or somebody knocks on your door.

Please support our community and sign up to participate in the 3rd Annual Tennis Tourney. We will be sending out a registration form during the middle of the August, so be on the look out for them. The tourney is scheduled for the beginning of September.

As always the monthly meetings are scheduled for the 4th Tuesday of each month. If you are interested in helping out the Communication Committee please contact me at 297-8843, or by email at falciatano@plantersrow.net.





Community Watch

We would like to welcome three more Block Captains to the Community Watch program:

Block #1 Suzanne Murphy Edmondston Court
Block #3 Ginny Tate Planters Row Drive
Block #4 Kathy & Chuck Halcrow Cade Court

As mentioned in our last newsletter, we also have program coverage in block #'s 8, 9, 12, 14, 25 and 26. Check the Crime Watch map to see if your neighborhood is represented. If not, please get together with your neighbors and elect a Block Captain for your area. You won't want to put this off as we will be having our kickoff meeting soon with the Mauldin city police. Program information will be passed along through the Block Captain network, so don't be left out!

To join the Community Watch team, please contact Craig Turbolski (213-9378 or CraigTurbo@aol.com) or Perky Dean (297-5287 or FLChrist@juno.com).


FYI  
Questions and Answers

If you have a question regarding an issue that affects all of us as homeowners, please submit it to William Goldsmith Co., by the 15th of the month. We will try to have an answer by the following issue.


Swimming Lessons - Upstate Pool Management will be offering swimming lessons this summer season. The sessions are scheduled to begin on Monday, June 5th. Please contact a lifeguard for more details.

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