Announcements

May 18, 2015

Dear Blue Anchor Neighbors,

This was meant to be a spring letter, but here it is mid-May and I am just getting it out to you. I hope this letter finds everyone healthy and happy as we head into another beautiful summer in the Cays. This letter will touch on several subjects:

·
The annual budget

·
Landscaping and the epic drought

·
The Cays entrance

The Annual Budget

By now everyone has received their budget package from the CCHOA office. As you can see, there will be no increase in our homeowner’s dues. I was convinced by our treasurer, Jim Besikof, to avoid any further increase in dues. His reasoning is that increases seem to never “roll back” and he is probably correct. However, we have huge water bills due to the amount of grass we have and a number of areas that require re-planting due to age and attrition.

As a result of holding the line on dues, we will not have the funds in our reserves to do the major projects that were planned. Originally, we were planning on replacing several of the grassy areas with drought-tolerant ground cover and plants or rock gardens with succulents. The savings from reduced watering, over time, will defray some of these costs but will not cover the cost of the installations in the same calendar year.

My question to you is the following: would you support a one-time assessment to cover the installation of drought tolerant plantings along Blue Anchor frontage and the medians on Blue Anchor and Spinnaker Way? An estimate would be $300 - $500 per household and would depend on the design approach selected. Please take a moment to look at the entry to Green Turtle and the entry to Kingston Village. One is using grasses, flowering plants and mulch (which need to be renewed yearly). The other is using a combination of rock, ground cover and succulents. We could use either of these approaches or a combination of both.

Landscaping and the Epic Drought

We have been unable to keep the flowers alive at our beloved “anchor” in the entry bed. The landscape department will be replacing about six inches of dirt with fresh soil and creating a new look for that area. Don’t worry, there will be color but it will require less water.

Our annual palm tree trimming is scheduled for May 26-28. If you would like the top of your palm trimmed please call Courtney in the front office or leave a message for Frank as soon as possible. The cost is $35-40, which is a bargain!

As you are all aware, we are in an extreme drought in California. In response to the current restrictions, the City of Coronado informed the CCHOA board that they will stop watering our medians and allow the grass to die. Our entry and the medians are the property of the City of Coronado. This includes the center oval. At this time, we do not know when they intend to turn off the water, but it appears to be the only sensible way to proceed. I believe there is a plan in place to replace the grass in our medians with more drought tolerant plantings in the future and I am going to get more information about this as soon as possible.

The Cays Entrance

On April 7, Coronado City Council approved the appropriation of an additional $205,000 to revise and renovate our entrance. The total cost of the project is $405,000 and includes lowering the curved portion of the entry wall, a new kiosk, revisions to the bike path and extensive new landscaping. This is a significant outlay of capital by the City of Coronado. Our homeowner’s association has funds in
reserve for entry maintenance and upkeep that will be used for new signage and renovation of the back wall to complement the rest of the revised entry. Working in concert with the city, the CCHOA entrance committee has been consulted all along the way. This project has been an excellent collaboration with the Coronado City engineers and Schmidt design. We hope to have renderings available in the office sometime during the summer.

That’s all the news for the moment. As no one else has expressed an interest in being your village director, I will be signing up for next year. Don’t forget to vote as we need to establish a quorum for the annual meeting.

Remember, you can call me at 650-799-0262 or email me at kupka.helen@gmail.com . I will be out of the country from May 19 – June 3, but will respond as soon as I return.

All the best,

Helen Kupka

Director and
Vice President, CCHOA