Castlegate Community

Castlegate,

Thank you for addressing this issue on the forum and for clarifying that we did not spend the extra $. I was at the last meeting and remember they said it would not be an extra fee since they specialized in handling out of control properties like ours. :)

I will give them the benefit of the doubt and when the end of May comes, I have to be honest... from what I have seen thus far, I don't think they will succeed. All of the weeds they "weed whacked" at the NE entrance are growing back fast. The work that was supposedly done on Schnepf- I drove by tonight and see progress- everything in the front of the gate from the SW entrance to Ocotillo, but not the greenbelt area or behind it.

I was told that they also put down a large amount of round-up Saturday to kill the weeds they have already cut. If this is true, then it didn't work. My biggest complaint is that they are not going to be able to contain the problem at this pace. It is supposed to rain.

Can you tell me if Brett is out here to check on their progress?

You said that were going to hold H&N to their word. Well, I think there needs to be accountability from the board and our mgmt co for causing this problem to begin with, especially if there is no follow through from H&N by their 2 month time frame.

I will wait until then to see what happens.

Brett and a few of the board members met with H&N this past Monday morning.  We were told that they put down over 500 gallons of pre/post emergent (so far) after cutting down the weeds.  Hopefully that curbs the problem.  If it doesn't, they better stay on top of the issue and fix it.  They assure us that they have it under control and we will all be happy in the next few months...that is to be seen.  Brett is out here on property keeping tabs on the problem, not every day, but he is out here making sure they are getting this done.  If for no other reason...he is catching hell from all the phone calls he getting so he wants this done just as much as everyone else. 

As far as causing this problem...If you recall, the board held a special meeting at the beginning of December about this.  Landmark was going to charge us over 10k to spray pre emergent to prevent the weeds from comming up, but we simply didn't have the money to do that.  At the special meeting in December, we chose to discontinue landscape service starting in January.  By doing this, the community saved over 50k this year in landscaping.  Better yet, we hired the new company at an even larger savings of over 40k for the year.  So, in the best interest of the community, the board has collectively saved over 90k this year by cutting landscaping and changing companies.  Yes, the common areas look like garbage right now...to say the least.  But by the end of next month, we'll be back to "normal" as far as landscaping goes.  Hopefully within the next 6-12 months, the landscaping will look better than ever.

If anyone would like to speak with me personally about this issue, send me an email at mike@mycastlegatehome.com.  Send me your name and phone number, I'll call you.  And please be sure to attend all of our meetings.  We discuss these kind of issues well in advance and in the open before making decisions.  We do care and take your thoughts and advice into consideration.  Keep in mind, all the board members are home owners too, we care about this comunity, that is why we are on the board.  Why else would we be board members?  We don't get paid to do this, so money is most definately not a motivator.  A good majority of the homeowerns present at the meeting in December agreed with the board and recomended we discontinue the landscaping, so that is a prime example that we (the board) do not arbitrarily just make decisions without input.  The information was posted in the March Newsletter as well.  Be sure to look on "  www.mycastlegatehome.com " for updated information about the community including a montly newsletter.

I hope to see a much larger "regular" crowd at our meetings, I really think this would curb most of our issues...which I believe to be communitcation breakdown.  The board will not make EVERYONE happy, I know this, but if people do not attend the meetings, their voice cannot be heard and their ideas cannot be implemented.

I agree, the progress by the new landscaping company has been a bit slow.  I live on a corner lot and was taking care of the area near my home (pulling weeds ect) until all of the rain a couple months ago brought on a huge amount of growth and I decided it was a waste of my time/losing battle...I would gladly purchase my own weed killer and take care of the weeds near my home if Oasis would waive a months worth of fees for me or reduce the montly fee for my effort...My suggestion is that we should have a sign-up/weekend, or weekday, where homeowners can participate in a clean up of the neighborhood/grafftii, or whatever, and be eligible for a reduction, maybe half--if not all, of a months worth of HOA fees....Hmmm??  I just want the neighborhood to stay clean and save the HOA some money.

I believe the grafitti is already done for free by Pinal county prisoners. 

As far as the weeds in your own yard and keeping up with them, I'd recommend a pre-emergent, there's quite a few on the market and they do work really well if you get a good one.  There was one by Miracle Grow called Weed Prevent, not sure if they still make it or not but it was FABULOUS stuff and not too expensive.  I bought it at Home Depot a few years ago.