Ventana Lakes
Property Owners' Association
President's Report
January 14, 2006
9:30am
I hope each of you have a happy and healthy new year as 2006 gets underway.
My first remark has to do with the algae problem in Lake 8. Cost this past month for algaecide used mainly in Lake 8 was $637.00 . None of the other lakes have developed an algae problem, so why just Lake 8? Home owners on Lake 8 are being asked to consider the fertilizer that runs into the lake from backyards. Some home owners do not believe that fertilizer fosters algae growth. Yet the prior Lakes Maintenance Company and the current one, Water Resources, have told us that fertilizer from grass and shrubs also increases the growth of algae. Residents on all lakes want clean lakes, so they need to look at what goes into the Lake. Adequate algaecide has been added to Lake 8 to kill the algae and the algae growth seems to be less for the time being. The aerators added in May have been adding more oxygen to lake 8 and hopefully has also helped, but oxygen alone won’t correct the problem.
Cathy Carlat, our district’s rep to the City of Peoria, has asked for 1000 signatures on our Beardsley Road petition. She said that residents in the Olive and 101Loop area obtained 1000 signatures and this helped prevent some type of project planned in that area. To date Joe McCord has around 300, so we have a long way to go. It was suggested that Joe contact local boy and girl scout troops to see if any would be willing to walk our community to get signatures. If this can be arranged, Liz will send out notices that these young people will be helping get signatures on our petition which states residents in the community are against widening Beardsley Rd and the building of a bridge over the river. Please try to imagine 18 wheelers using the 101 Loop to Beardsley and through our community 24 hours a day if there is a bridge over the river and a shortened way to the 303 Loop.
Three board members and about 25 residents from VL residents met with the builder from A & B homes on Jan 9. The builder said he was mandated by the City of Peoria to hold the meeting. The builder has changed his plans. Instead of 8 homes and 10 duplex dwellings, he is planning on 14 single family homes. Residents have concerns about drainage and privacy. These were addressed, but residents still have issues with his plan. He commented on the fact that he was trying to be good neighbor and it was apparent that even with his plan to make the small development age restricted and that issues were addressed , VL residents were still unhappy. He stated that could build a high rise commercial building instead or he could sell the lot for $2.6 million and the new owner could build a small strip mall. My belief is that we need to work with the builder as plans move forward. He also would like the small community to become a part of VL or at least have us manage the 14 homes. This issue will be addressed by the Board and our legal counsel.
Mr. Lynch from our attorney’s office is attempting to negotiate with the City of Peoria to reduce our water bill of $88,000 to $10,000. Some of you may not know that the City sent us a $88,000 water bill for a meter that has not been working correctly since 2003. Needless to say, this bill was quite a shock. Even reduced to $10,000 as a settlement is still a huge chunk of money. The Board will be exploring the meter problem with officials from the City on January 20.
The Board has been asked to develop a place on our website to keep residents informed of the planned work on Beardsley and other topics like the A& B homes development. This request is being explored, but it will take time to get information from all those who have been contacted and are involved.
Two of the three candidates, Vada Bowers and Joe McCord, who are running for the one position in this year’s election, met with residents on January 11. They will met with residents again on February 8.
Sad news. We still have a few residents who think playing pranks is cute. Small issue but relates to behavior. As you know, the Manager and the Board have concern about the number of residents who have keys to many areas in VL. Because of this there is no way to know when some things get broken or taken. Liz looked into a card swipe system like one used by motels instead of door keys. A card swipe system would eliminate the need for keys and could be program to allow only certain people into certain areas. The cost for a card swipe system was around $60,000. Since we can’t afford this, the Manager will keep changing locks. An incident happened in the kitchen pantry which demonstrated the need to change locks. George Horton always checks the expiration dates on the pop stored in the pantry before it is sold at events. If there is a can or two, he puts them aside for use by workers for free if they want pop that is flat tasting. At Bingo Monday night, January 9, George found that the few cans he had set aside all had the tabs on the tops opened. Can you imagine the frustration that develops over this petty stuff? Do we need a better key system. YES, but we can’t afford it.
A second incident is related to theft. The YC was arranged for the Forum and Board meeting Friday evening, January 13 and a box of Danish parties was left in the locked refrigerator. At 8 am Saturday morning, the volunteers serving the food at the Forum found that some of the tables and chairs had been moved and that someone had gotten into the kitchen and locked refrigerator and taken the Danish.
Now on the other side we have good news. Chuck Schumm is working on our website and keeping it current. He met with Liz and me and a simple procedure was developed. All news items for our website must be sent to Liz via email. She will review them and forwarded them to Chuck. He does not want any responsibility for editing items for the website.
More good news. Chuck Schumm will assume leadership of the Block Watch. Bob MacDonald held this position for many years and had too many other things on his plate to keep the position. He also was very tired from the phone calls he got in the evenings for things that should have been addressed to the Office Manager. Things such as kids in the pool after 7. Grandparents should be informed of the rules in case they forget. Barking dogs. Thefts were the police needed to be informed, etc etc.
This is for the snow birds who may have escaped the summer heat and did not obtain a 2005 Directory or a Supplement. The Directory cost $1.00. The Supplement is free. Both of these documents will be updated over the next couple of months with addresses and names of new homeowners added along with changes that will be made to parts of the content in the Supplement.
Please remember that the NP pool is designated until October 2006 for children. In addition, no one age 4 or under or anyone in diapers is permitted in the pool area, which means inside the pool gate. Infants in strollers was an issue last week. Although a few weeks old infant can not get out of a stroller, if one stroller is allowed than more grandparents will come with older infants who can possibly wiggle out of a stroller and in a flash be in the pool. Liability is a major issue and accidents do happen as we frequently read about in the paper.
As you picked up the agenda for today, you should have received a copy of the 2005 in Review. I did a summary to show residents just a few of things that were done in 2005. This sheet is just a few of the things done in 2005. Often residents questions what the manager and Board do? There are many more issues handled on a daily basis that fills each day. In addition, often asked is why we need volunteers. Please note that the volunteers did work in excess of $20,000. Unfortunately, this summary does not include hours. Can you begin to imagine how much costs would be added to our budget if we had to pay anywhere form $65 to $95 per hour
I extend a big thank you to all volunteers who willing help do the many tasks around VL. More volunteers are welcome and needed