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4/8/2022 7 Comments

Landscape Revitalization Project - Unanswered Plan Information

The HOA and Board are planning to send out a Ballot for voting on the Landscape Revitalization Project's  funding.   About 200 residents have seen the CDAC Landscape Revitalization presentation that is driving the request by the Board to take out a $5,260,000 loan. 

The Landscape Revitalization Project is being presented as an “ALL or Nothing” Project that will be completed in 18 months.  The Board will decide next Monday whether to spend the $4000-$10000 on a ballot vote to allow the HOA to take out the 
$5,280,000 loan. .

So far, the CDAC committee has not supplied any of the homeowners with access to the Town Hall CDAC Landscape Revitalization Presentation, only the 4 year old RGA Master Plan that served as an example of plants and materials that could be used.    Missing still is the actual plan for all 7 phases of the landscape revitalization plan.  

The CDAC FAQ’S does not address the following:


  • What specifically will be done in each of the 7 phases?

  • Who will be developing and approving the plans for each of the 7 phases?

  • Who is going to supervise the Landscape Revitalization project?

  • How much of the $5.26 million will be spent for each phase?

  • What happens if the all the bids exceed the $5.26 million?

  • Will these funds be held in the reserves(like the slab leak funds)?

  • Will we stop the project if the timeframe exceeds the 18 month timeframe?

  • Will any of the bidders be willing to bid without escalation clauses in their contracts to cover their material and labor cost increases over the 18 months?

Let your voice be heard, contact your 7 board members at the following email addresses and ask for answers:

Peter Webb pfwebb@telus.net
Terri Swartz terriswartz.dp@gmail.com
Russ Holowachuk  holowachukr@shaw.ca
Bob Mangold lingold7096@sbcglobal.net
Bill Bergstrom billbergstrom.dp@gmail.com
Martin Backstrom backstrom@berkeley.edu
Mark Brown mark@310.net
 
We welcome your comments on the Blog

 

7 Comments
Chere Robertson
4/9/2022 09:10:53 pm

This is ridiculous! I'll be at the Monday meeting. Borrowing for landscaping?
Again ridiculous.

Reply
Terry
4/10/2022 09:08:01 am

Yes Chere. Borrowing for landscaping is ridiculous. Given the lack of detail surrounding this five million dollar proposed debt, perhaps it is simply a round-about way to create a large slush fund for a BOD that has a "spending addiction."

Even worse, absent mortgages to facilitate a sale of our homes we will all become indentured servant's to this insanity.

Reply
Larry Jacobs
4/10/2022 12:50:34 pm

I watched the presentation from my home in Washington , and I thought it was excellent , and explained all our questions, cost ,time , everything we needed, THIS is way over do.

Reply
Robert Scot Clifford
4/11/2022 02:11:05 pm

Borrowing $5,000,000 to alter the landscape must not be our priority. Safety of our homeowners, their families and guests has to take precedence over all other mutual concerns.

I bought a second home at the Desert Princess for three reasons: It was a gorgeous oasis in the desert; it was safe, and it had wonderful amenities. It is is still spectacularly beautiful, and the quality and variety of amenities continue to provide something for everyone. Unfortunately, it is no longer the safe, secure haven I thought it was.

Our HOA office and my neighbors have warned about thefts from cars and homes, thefts of golf carts and more recently a hot prowl burglary in our community. When we find that criminals are brazen enough to burglarize a residence when the homeowner is inside, we know that more trouble is coming Criminals talk, and the word gets around quickly where the goodies are and how easy it is to get them.

If we have to spend more money for anything and impose a long term financial burden on ourselves to finance a project, lets spend that money wisely so that it truly benefits everyone. Let's see to it that it goes toward protecting our valuable possessions, ourselves, our children and our grandchildren from being burglarized, robbed, beaten, raped or murdered.

We need much better security around the perimeter. We need a better system of entry and exit at the gates. We need much more active patrolling night and day. I don't know how much it would cost to keep us safe, but I do know that it is far more important than cutting down our mature trees, uprooting shrubs and turf and replacing them with rocks and succulents.

Making us safe is the only objective I would ever consider worth the burden of a $5,000,000 debt paid for by a significant increase in monthly dues. I hope my wonderful, thoughtful neighbors feel the same.

Reply
Michael Stark link
4/24/2022 05:40:54 pm

This time, can we all agree to take this initiative calmly and not resort to inappropriate comments? Let's wait until we have ALL the facts and details of the plan before we get excited. This is not just a "landscaping" program. The end result is intended to make us less reliant on a very limited source of water, as well as, less grounds keeping costs. For several decades, I have advocated for banning lawns in Southern California. This isn't the midwest or the south where they usually enjoy adequate rainfall. It's the desert. Our landscaping should reflect the region of the country and our very low rate of rainfall. Since the golf courses are a huge source of income and employment in the Valley, we have no choice but to maintain them. However, with the ongoing and worsening drought, we can make a huge impact on our water consumption by eliminating grass around our housing units. Please, let's all think this thing through with the long range results in mind. Yes, it's an expensive proposition, but it's worth taking action now before we really have a critical water supply issue in the near future.

Reply
Kim
4/27/2022 03:02:53 pm

Michael, we have had so many missed opportunities to come clean with the owners and because we failed, cynicism is the result. Owners were told when the Board spent in excess of $1M to update our irrigation system we could expect to save at least 20% in water and corresponding billings. That proved to be so wrong, it soured many owners on accepting Board statements at face value.
Unfortunately, once burned, twice shy is an appropriate rule of thumb we should follow.

Reply
Lindsay
10/23/2022 08:53:18 am

When your mortgage is the same as your HOA fee.
Something seems terribly wrong.

Reply

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