| From The Chair... | Facilities | Architectural Committee |
| The Green Thumb | Communications | Neighborhood Watch |
| From The Chair... | Facilities | Architectural Committee |
| The Green Thumb | Communications | Neighborhood Watch |
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PROTECT, PRESERVE, ENHANCE
This is the motto of our homeowners association and the credo by which we as members should strive to uphold. The task of running our association is both challenging and rewarding. Challenges come from the association business and the rewards come from building a sense of community and relationships with our neighbors.
Volunteerism is key to a successful HOA and to maintaining our sense of community. The more involvement, the less daunting the task of running the business is for any one person and the more fun we can have with community activities. You will read and hear the "volunteerism" theme throughout this newsletter and whenever we communicate with our residents. It's that important.
Due to a job transfer to Tennessee, we had a board member resign this past month. We would like to thank Mike Massey for all of his efforts this past year. Mike served as our Vice President and was helped select the current pool management and cleaning companies. Mike - we thank you for your effort!
With Mike's departure - we are asking for a volunteer to become a board member. If you are interested, please fill out the candidate sheet attached with this newsletter and return it to Goldsmith. It is most important to keep the Board membership slots filled to have continuity in the business of running our association. The Board members are the leaders of Planters Row who help us PROTECT, PRESERVE and ENHANCE our community through the business of the association.
All of our committees need to have people to call on when there is a need. Examples include distributing this newsletter, our directory and other communications, Neighborhood Watch and social functions that bring us together. We ask you to add your name to the list, call or email a committee or board member and let us know you are out there and want to help. This is how we can ENHANCE our community.
Another way that we ENHANCE our community is to abide by our Covenants and ACC guidelines. All we have to do is follow the rules of our neighborhood and encourage our friends and neighbors to do the same. Be the one to set an example on your street and it will certainly influence your neighbors. Little things like no overnight curbside parking, trash cans hidden from view and boats in the garage not in the back or side yard can really give our community more curb appeal. Curb appeal equates to better property values, which is a goal we all share.
Finally, I want to thank those of you who consistently do volunteer your time to keep our HOA moving forward. All the successes we have experienced up to now are the result of your efforts as committee members and board members.
Lets all get back to basics of our neighborhood and help your association succeed at keeping our motto alive,
PROTECT, PRESERVE and ENHANCE
Fun-In-The-Sun at Planters Row Pool and Tennis Court!
Well school is already in session, summer is about over and we've had a great year at the pool and tennis courts! The decision to purchase the security system at the pool and tennis court entrances and the new cabana perimeter gates is paying off. Since the installation of the system, we've had no vandalism in the cabana area…let's keep our fingers crossed!
New pool furniture arrived in mid-July. We chose new umbrellas and bases for existing tables and 2 additional tables with umbrella and chairs - they look great! The pool water filters were serviced in July. The sand that filters the water was replaced and resolved the problem of murky water in the baby pool. The underwater and deck lights required repair by an electrician. We also purchased 3 new recycle bins for the pool/cabana…thanks for recycling!
A few late season reminders:
Please remember - no glass containers are allowed at the pool, tennis courts, picnic area or playground.
Parents, please accompany small children to the bathrooms, as we continue to get reports of mishaps [of various types]. This results in pulling the lifeguard from the pool for cleanup, not to mention an unpleasant experience for your neighbor who finds it and has to report it. This has happened several times…especially in the men's bathroom. Also, remind your children that no skateboards, scooters, bikes, roller blades, etc. are allowed in the cabana pool area or on the tennis courts. A bike rack is located between the cabana and tennis courts.
LATE SUMMER POOL HOURS! Hours from August 12th through September 2nd are as follows:
Monday - Friday: 4:30PM - 7PMThis fall we'll be evaluating the pool season making plans for 2003 and beyond. While your ideas are fresh - let us know your comments and suggestions on pool and tennis court hours, security system, lifeguards, cleaning company, pool deck capacity and any new idea you'd like to see implemented. Comments can be emailed to Ken or Dawn Gallagher at dkgallagh@aol.com or by calling 987-9720.
Have a splashin' good time!
I don't know about the rest of you, but when I received my last water bill I decided that something in my landscape had to go. The most logical area was my back yard. I had been fighting for months, without an irrigation system, to keep my fescue (festuca arundinacea pronounced fes-tuke-a a-run-di-nace-ee-a) alive and healthy and decided that due to the time of the year that I would continue to grow and maintain my bermudagrass in my front yard and opt for a turf renovation in my back yard instead of the killer water bills. And since fescue is a cool season grass, the proper time of the year for doing a renovation is late summer to early fall.
A renovation refers to any procedure beyond normal maintenance (short of soil modification) required to upgrade an existing turf. A deteriorated turf is often a symptom of some underlying problem (for a lot of us it could just be a drought). Failure to identify and correct the exact problem can often lead to repeated deterioration and the need for additional or seasonal renovation. Some of the major causes of turf deterioration of fescue include:
The first step in turf renovation is the control of undesirable vegetation that may compete with the newly planted grass. Weeds growing in small areas may be controlled by hand weeding or removal using a small hoe, rake or shovel. Hard to control weeds, such as perennial grasses with underground stems or weeds in large areas are best controlled with herbicides. Most selective post-emergence broadleaf herbicides must be sprayed four to six weeks before seeding (NOW). Control of annual grassy weeds, such as crabgrass, with selective post-emergence herbicides should also be completed at least four weeks before seeding.
To control perennial grassy weeds, undesirable turfgrass, annual grasses and broadleaf weeds, spray a nonselective herbicide like glysophate (Roundup). If perennial grassy weeds such as bermudagrass are scattered throughout your fescue, consider killing the entire area and starting again. And remember, when using Roundup, do not disturb the soil or plants before treatment. Young and actively growing weeds are easiest to control, so make sure the soil is moist several days before application.
Next comes the preparation for planting or the pre-planting renovation procedures which are designed to create an environment best suited for the establishment of newly planted grass. First you must reduce the competition from existing grasses and remove unwanted vegetation including thatch. Next apply required nutrients and lime (a soil test will eliminate the guesswork). Lastly, you need to prepare a good seed bed.
Now you are ready to put down your seed, start your water and watch your newly renovated lawn grow in and mature. Light irrigation several times a day is recommended after planting new grass seed. As the grass grows, decrease the frequency of watering while increasing the duration to promote deep rooting. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me during the week at 918-2746. Thank you for reading and lets all keep our neighborhood green and growing!
YARD OF THE MONTH
Congratulations to the July Planter's Row Yards of the Month winners:
Joe and Kathryn Satterfield IIICongratulations to the August Planter's Row Yards of the Month winners:
Dee GoughneourEverybody keep up the great yards and remember our friends at Alexander's Other Door Nursery for providing us with the gift certificates for uor Yard of the Month winners!
Summer is coming to an end, but we are still involved in many outdoor activities, such as enjoying our beautifully renovated swimming pool and working on exterior home improvement projects. Expanding or enclosing the deck, putting up a fence, building a tool shed, doing a major landscape renovation or installing a sprinkler system are some of the improvement projects recently done or underway throughout Planter's Row.
All of these improvements except the sprinkler system require ACC approval. Thank you to those homeowners who exhibited community responsibility and neighborly consideration by taking the time to submit their project to the ACC. To those homeowners who have not done so, we ask that they submit their project for approval even if it has been completed. Improvements that violate the architectural guidelines and have not been approved by the ACC are subject to correction at the homeowner's expense. There is no time limit on enforcing guideline variances that have not been approved.
The purpose of the architectural guidelines is to maintain an attractive and harmonious appearance throughout our community. These guidelines are established in the Declaration of Covenants, etc. for Planter's Row and detailed in the Landscaping and Fence Guidelines pamphlet. Each homeowner at the closing for his/her house agreed to comply with these documents and was given a copy of each.
The summer heat slows things down, including the production of our updated directory. We apologize for the delay in getting it out to all our residents. We are distributing it along with this newsletter so if you are reading this and you don't have a new directory please email me at imjdd@hotmail.com.
Our website at plantersrow.net is still available for online information, classifieds and paid advertising. Please check it out and give us your suggestions. The advertising prices are posted and Planters Row residents can advertise their own business for half price. You can help your HOA raise money by asking the local businesses that you patronize to advertise in the newsletter and website. This newsletter is also on the website and if you want to stop receiving the paper newsletter and just view it online, send us an email at webmaster@plantersrow.net.
We have discussed various community activities such has holding another Bike Safety Fair similar to the one we had several years ago with the cooperation of the Mauldin Police. If any resident is interested in organizing a community activity such as this please contact us. We really need people who will take charge and coordinate specific activities. Some of you may have prior experience living in a community with an active Homeowner's Association and have great ideas of what we can do to promote a real sense of community.
A major task of transitioning from developer-control to homeowner-control of the Planters Row Homeowner Association (PR HOA) is, well, establishing "homeowner control." Doing that requires obtaining homeowner involvement in both the HOA organization, specifically, and the PR community, overall. Homeowner involvement is at historic lows for the PRHOA and has actually crossed a threshold of work-to-member involvement whereby accomplishing the decisionmaking that needs to be performed in order for the community to run smoothly and competently in the near and long-term is becoming difficult to nonexistent.
Transition work-to-date has involved gathering information regarding where the PRHOA needs to go, the kinds of changes it needs to make to accomplish such goals, and making preliminary contacts with local professionals in property management, accounting, law, etc. PRHOA transitioning research used to be about what was needed in the long-term; it's come to be about what isneeded now. At this time it's necessary for community members with backgrounds and/or interests in homeowner association organizing, accounting, contracting, and governing to contact Kent Hendricks or Ken Gallagher for the purposes of taking the PRHOA transition effort from where it's at to where it next needs to go. Let Kent or Ken know your name(s), contact info, and best times for meeting and they, or another Board designee, will contact you in order to identify and address those "next steps" the community needs to take.
One community member with professional audit experience is interested in and available for transition work. The effort needs six to ten members overall. I'm preparing to relocate locally and will soon hand over all transition materials to that volunteer and the Board. Please respond to this request at your earliest convenience so that the necessary work of transition can be picked up without missing a beat. I am hopeful that these months of service to and communication with you will pay off more and more towards a great quality of life being chosen by and put into reliable place for the members of the PRHOA.
As a resident of Planters Row for the past 6 years, I have seen a lot of growth in our community. When we moved here in July of 1996, they had just cut the first road for the Vineyard. Now that phase is completely built. As I rode my bike up Fieldgate Court last week, I saw roads freshly paved that once made great mountain biking trails. And now we have a brand new entrance to Planters Row off of Pruitt Drive for the Autumn Ridge section. The landscaped monument area there looks great.
We are on our way to having 500 homes in our community, making it quite a challenge to keep up with all of the neighborhoods and their block captains. The growing number of residents means that we need more help coordinating the Neighborhood Watch program for it to remain effective.
The bulk of the program's work has been done with the majority of the neighborhoods mapped out and represented. We need two people to split coverage of the community to ensure that blocks remain represented and that new residents are identified, welcomed and made aware of our Neighborhood Watch program. While our Watch Captain assignments are complete now we would like to hear from anyone who is interested in being a Watch Captain should we have an opening. The time needed for any of these jobs is minimal. If you can lend a hand, please call me at 213-9378 or send me an e-mail at craigturbo@worldnet.att.net