Dear community,
I just wanted to take a moment to talk about our landscaping. We know that many of you feel the same way that we on the board do; there has been an explosion of weeds, ivy overgrowth, and other issues. Part of this is a result of entering Spring after a particularly wet Winter, and we are working with our landscaper to address the situation (but it may take a bit of time to catch up). We’re also looking at what we can do next year, so we can preemptively tackle the issue of weeds.
For the ivy, we are collecting and assessing bids to either do a deep trimming, or a complete removal. Removing the ivy entirely is very expensive, but even just trimming the ivy is fairly expensive (significantly more expensive than it used to be), so we’ll be assessing the break-even point on removal vs trimming. For those interested, please join the next board meeting.
We’re also looking at other measures to keep down landscaping costs. This past month, the board voted to authorize a major replacement of grass areas around the complex to easier-to-maintain, drought-tolerant plants (similar to the replacement that happened along the North side of Bryant Way several years ago). This can reduce ongoing maintenance costs, and make it easier to keep a high quality bar. Drought-tolerant plants also reduce water costs. We’re utilizing Santa Clara County rebate programs for this work, which will cover an estimated 75% of the costs. We estimate the break-even on savings will be around 5 years, likely less (and we have landscaping funds saved in our reserves that can be used for this project). This project will take a month or so to kick off in earnest, as we await approvals. Note that grass at the playground will remain.
~Chris
