3. Budget item: Landscaping

The comprehensive Landscape Committee report is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6lih99yieczpars/Landscape%20Committee%20Fall%202021%20Report%2010.14.2021.pdf?dl=0

From the report:

Category	2022 Budget	Est. 2023 Budget	Est. 2024 Budget
Plants	$200	$200	$200
Amend Soil	$130	$160	$160
Rock Groupings	$1,513
Brush Hog Cut*	$400	$400	$400
Labor for mulch**	$1,140	$570	$570
Total	$3,893	$1,585	$1,585
Per Lot	$243.31	$99.06	$99.06

*cost may be reduced with lower labor estimate
** cost may be reduce with lower labor estimate or volunteer labor.



From the report:

• The labor estimate is the lowest quote we have received so far.  The committee will attempt to get more quotes before Jan 1, 2022.  The lowest quote will be used.
  
• If eight or more people volunteer to spread mulch, the labor for spreading the mulch can be eliminated. 

  
• If eight or more people do not volunteer before Jan 1, 2022, we will include the labor in the landscaping budget. 

  
• If eight or more people do volunteer, but after the mulch is delivered in the spring, eight or more people are not available to spread the mulch on the agreed upon dates, a special assessment (at most $1140) will be applied (in addition to the dues) to cover the cost of labor. 

  
• There is a total of $536 leftover from the 2020 and 2021 landscape budgets. We would like to add this money to the requested 2022 budget to cover the cost of paying for weeding if there aren’t enough volunteers for weeding. If volunteers sufficiently cover the weeding labor, then the money will be carried over to the 2023 budget.
  

• Lauren Richmond will be sending out an email with detailed information on volunteering.
  

$3,893(243.31/yr/lot)
If labor for mulch is eliminated, then dues would be reduced by $71.25 ($1,140/16).

I so move that the HOA votes on acceptance of the landscape budget.

I second that the HOA votes on acceptance of the landscape budget.

I move that the Trustees conduct a yes/no poll of all homeowners that states “ Do the homeowners approve of spending $1500 to add boulders in front of both rock walls along AP Newcomb”.

I second the motion that the Trustees conduct a yes/no poll of all homeowners that states" Do the homeowners approve of spending $1500 to add boulders in front of both rock walls along AP Newcomb"

Hi Neighbors,

We have heard from a few people who object to placing rock/plant groupings along AP Newcomb as proposed in the Landscape Committee report.  As mentioned in the report, they have a twofold purpose: 1) to deter people from parking on the mulch, and 2) to reduce the need for mulch and weeding.  For visualization purposes, the proposed rock groupings will be approximately the same size as the group of three rocks on the south side of the entrance.

That mulched area along AP Newcomb is a very long expanse and takes considerable effort to keep it looking neat.  There aren’t a lot of great alternatives.  The area has no convenient water nearby so trying to grow anything is very challenging. The committee recommended the rock/plant groupings because it would give the area a groomed appearance with very low maintenance required in the future.  It is not acceptable to just continue to mulch/weed that area as it requires too much maintenance to keep it neat.  

I don’t want to speak for my fellow committee members, but I know we have all put a great deal of time and effort into planning and executing plans.  I understand that we can’t please everyone, but I certainly want to be sure that the majority of our neighbors are pleased with our efforts.

-Louise

There is a motion asking if "the homeowners approve of spending $1500 to add boulders in front of both rock walls along AP Newcomb?"  Please note that the $1500 for the rock groupings includes 11 rock groupings: 7 along AP Newcomb,  and 4 along Abby Rd.  It also includes a delivery fee and a rock placement fee.  If you vote to remove $1500 from the budget, you are voting to reject all of the rock groupings.  A rough estimate for the cost of the rock groupings along Abby Rd is (including delivery and approximate rock placement costs) $600.

Is it possible when the vote is sent out in a couple days to present two budgets? One with the rocks and one without? Let the residents vote for the budget they prefer? I am not saying I am in favor of or against the rocks, but we should have procedure where the residents can chose which budget they prefer....Rick Bridgman

The Kenneys need some clarification on the calculations. The proposal has 11 rock groupings in total. Our understanding is that there will be 3 rocks per grouping (33 rocks). The total tonnage suggested is 16.5 (33,000lbs). Brian mentioned that a 1.5X1.5X1.5 rock weights a little over 500 lbs. That would be 16,500 lbs, or half the tonnage and therefore the cost(not counting delivery and placement). Or are the rocks a max 1.5' high but bigger width and depth to make each a 1,000 lbs?

Hi Pat and John,

Thank you for your question.  We envisioned the rock groupings to be made up of 2-3 rocks per group, with each group having a total volume of rock of about 20 cubic feet.  We assumed an average density of the rocks to be 150 lb/cubic foot.  So each group would have about 1.5 ton of rocks for a total of 16.5 tons for 11 groupings.  We wanted to keep the height less than 1.5 feet, but get the largest spread we could in width and length to minimize the amount of mulch we would need and to make it more difficult to park there.  The rocks would not be placed in a straight line, but rather in natural looking groupings.  For example, for 2 rocks in a grouping you could have 1 rock 1.5’x4’x2’, the second rock could be 1’x2’x4’  which is a total of 20 cubic feet of rock in the group.  By the way, we used this method to estimate the weight of the rocks we bought for the island and front entrance last year and it worked very well.

Thanks, Louise. That is what we thought, but just wanted to make sure. We also want to thank you and the committee for all the work you have done. The neighborhood is looking beautiful because of all of your efforts. We think the idea of the bigger rocks would be a good solution to keep down the weeds, and keep the people from parking in this area.

The landscape committee and associated volunteers have done an excellent job in the landscaping work, which is hard work. As Louise points out, maintaining the mulch area along AP Newcomb is a challenging, never ending endeavor. I understand the idea behind the rock groupings there in terms of decreasing the need for mulch maintenance, but looking at the diagrams it appears that the rock groupings would only cover about 10-15% of the area, which still requires some kind of ground cover for the remaining 85-90% of the area along AP Newcomb. I think sometimes when you have an issue like that it’s better to start with a clean slate and rethink the approach given experiences to date and what the priorities should be for the future to minimize maintenance while achieving reasonable attractiveness. That is why I think we should delete all the rock groupings for now, because when new ideas are proposed, then we can have an integrated plan that encompasses AP Newcomb and the entryway to Abby Rd, and it will look like a cohesive design. We always have the option to do a study of alternatives and then budget for the new plan next year. Other ideas I’m just throwing out now for mulch alternatives along AP Newcomb are crushed shells or limestone over a layer of weed barrier, which would remove the growing medium of mulch for weeds, and would be less susceptible to ruts, and weed killer could be easily sprayed on it as necessary to eliminate any straggler weeds that do find their way in, or a planting of ground cover, like ivy or creeping myrtle that once it takes over would require no maintenance, etc.

One of the earlier landscape groups spoke to landscape companies about alternatives to mulch on the island when were battling weeds. One suggestion was the use of stone or shells around a smaller central mulched area- he suggested using Clorox or common bleach on white hardscape material to naturally deal with weeds twice a summer and that each year would see less weed growth. I was looking at my old file and came upon those notes! Just more for discussion on our Abby Road forum…

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your words of appreciation and your suggestions.  The landscape committee has thoroughly studied many options for the mulched area along AP Newcomb including most of the options you named.  Regarding the rock/plant groupings, the idea is to plant very drought tolerant plants, including ground cover with the hope that eventually the ground cover will spread and cover most of the area.  We did not want to promise this as it is a very challenging area to grow anything.  In fact, we are planning on spending very little on plants themselves.  Instead we will mostly rely on divisions of very drought tolerant plants from the Kenneys and other donors.  That way if (when) there is plant loss, it will not represent significant financial loss to the HOA.  The committee is opposed to using weed killer because it is not an environmentally friendly solution.  We believe we have presented an integrated, aesthetically pleasing, cost effective, environmentally friendly plan for the area.  We have had feedback from some neighbors who are in favor of this plan. I think the fair thing to do now is to put it to a vote.  It is very difficult to please everyone with any one plan.  Let’s see what the majority of our neighbors say and proceed from there.

Respectfully,
The Landscape Committee
Louise, Janet, Deb, Lauren

Hi Pat,

Thank you for your suggestion.  Please see the Landscape Committee reply to Brian for a more thorough response.

-Louise

I know the Landscape committee has spent many hours on this issue and have put forward what they believe is the best solution.  There is no "perfect" solution, but I have confidence that this proposal was made after weighing many other alternatives. We need to vote on this proposal and if it does not get majority support it should  not move forward. I have confidence in the landscape committee and intend to vote to move forward with the budget as originally presented. I am not sure of the "mechanics" of the vote. Logically the vote should provide two budgets and allow the residents to support the option they prefer. Providing two choices  seems preferable than presenting only the rocks budget, because if that gets voted down where to go from there? Rick Bridgman

Yes Rick, the vote will reflect the options you noted.  Greg will be sending the ballot out tomorrow via email.