Landscape Status - Nov 21

Landscape Committee member, Mike Marcella, took digital photos of all missing and dead plants, and bare areas in BW Phase 5 (BW’s center bounded by Little and Deep Harbors)  The photos were annodated and listed by address.  Not to be outdone, I did the same for phase 1. The area bounded by Golden West, Deep Harbor, Seacliff Lane, and Little Harbor. About 25 areas needing work were photographed in each of Phases 1 and 5.  This approach dramatically shows the Board the work that needs to be done, and helps get approval to get the work done. We have volunteers for Phases 4 and 6.

You can help.  Get your areas of BW  on the list,  We need volunteers to photograph Phases 2 and 3.  Maps of each Phase of BW are available.  All you need do is walk your Phase, take photos, and put numbers on the map corresponding to the photos where work is needed.  Phase 2 is in the northwest section of BW bounded by Golden West, Little Harbor, Oceanaire, and the high school fence.  Phase 3 is in the northeast section of BW bounded by Oceanaire, Little Harbor, Aqua Drive, 17th St. and the high school fence.

I plan to get Board approval for the small (and cheap) stuff first…dead and missing plants this is most of the 50 items, then go after the more complex, larger bare areas.  Individual issues phoned in by homeowners to Keystone are handled on a case by case basis in the monthly walk-thrus with Tierra Verde, Keystone, and myself.

Low Water Useage Plants- Sept 1

Water costs each homeowner nearly $14/month of their Association dues.  Much of this goes to watering Beachwalk’s landscaping.  In consideration of the high cost of water, anticipated cost growth, and possible city pressure to reduce water consumption, the Board has temporarily stopped installation of all plants and trees in Beachwalk while we consider alternative low water usage plants and trees.  Two currently unplanted areas of Beachwalk, the strip of land between a home on Shorecliff and the block wall separating Beachwalk from Sandcastle Estates and the former sandbox at pool 3 are being designed for low water materials.  Three designs are being created for each area, low cost, intermediate cost, and somewhat higher cost to see the trade-off between appearance and cost.  Both areas will then have irrigation installed for low water usage plants, and the plants will be installed.  Homeowner reaction to the change of plant materials, and ability of these plants to survive in Beachwalk will be considered as we move forward. Next, we will work to remove grass from median strips and replacement with low water materials.  One median strip will be selected for demonstration. Drip irrigation and high tech irrigation techniques are also being considered.  If the experiment is successful, the near term costs will not be cheap, but in the longer term, we will save on water usage. 

Plant Designs/Cost for former Pool 6 Area between Shorecliff Home and Sandcastle Estate Wall

Plant Designs/Cost for Pool 3 Sandbox Area

Landscape Status - July 20

Thanks to Tierra Verde Landscape for their efforts in meeting the 4th of July deadline for opening the main pool.  TVL had as many as 13 gardeners at the pool for a week including the Saturday before the opening installing landscape. The normal crew in BW is 7 gardeners.  TVL’s bid was half of their nearest competitor for Landscaping the pool and they delivered outstanding quality plants.

We need a Landscape Committee.  Immediate things on the agenda are what to do with the dirt strip between the location of the old Pool 6 and Shorecliff Drive, standardization of  drought-resistant plants to replace aging front hedges, review of zero-water required plants and monthly walk-thrus. Send email to n_Campbell@verizon.net.  Meetings will be in early evenings once a month.

The Board has approved landscaping for the area around the Handicap Ramp at the main pool.  This will reduce the visual impact of the ramp. Virtual photo of what it will look like is shown below.

Landscape Status - June 20

Homeowners Kim Hadj-Hamou, Monte and Barbara Nitzkowski, Alan and Melissa Rogers , Mike McGinnis and Jean Houston have donated Sago palms to the landscaping for the Main Pool.  These palms are worth a couple of hundred dollars each.  Thank you.

Beachwalk has installed 19 weather sensing irrigation controllers to reduce water consumption in Beachwalk. Legally these controllers must be installed as old controllers break down. In order to take advantage of rebates offered by the State, all controllers were purchased and installed. The rebate company reported there are 17.2 acres of landscaping in BW, not including the recently added land occupied by pools 1 and 6. When we submitted the rebate the going rebate was $630 per acre. Beginning March 25th the rebate process changed and then around May 1 they announced that they had run out of money for their fiscal year which ends June 30. Our rebate was submitted before all of these changes. Beachwalk should get all of the rebate money but not until after July 1....$10,836.

The Landscape Chairman was given an allowance of $500/month to do on-the-spot approvals of landscape maintenance without waiting  for Board approval. This should speed up the process of maintaining our landscape.
A study was presented to the Board regarding the costs of replacing old end-of-life hedges with drought resistant plantings.  Costs of various configurations range from $500 for a simple driveway separator to $1500 for a wrap-around style across the front of the unit and along the side fence.

Weather Sensitive Controllers - June 14 Beachwalk has installed 19 weather sensing irrigation controllers to reduce water consumption in Beachwalk. These controllers must be installed as old controllers break down. In order to take advantage of rebates offered by the State, all controllers were recently installed. The rebate company finished measuring the property on Friday, there are 17.2 acres of landscaping in BW, not including the recently added land occupied by pools 1 and 6. When we submitted the rebate the going rate was $630 per acre. Beginning March 25th the rebate process changed and then around May 1 they announced that they had run out of money for their fiscal year which ends June 30. Our rebate was submitted before all of these changes. Beachwalk should get all of the rebate money but not until after July 1....$10,836.

The controllers have not been working properly due to the age and corroded condition of the electrical wiring in Beachwalk. Controllers are fooled to turn off when activated by shorts in the wires. The Toro company, supplier of the controllers, sent out a representative and gave Beachwalk a couple of new controller panels to try. Hopefully this will solve the problem. Once we can determine that this will resolve the problem they will replace the others. Toro promises us that they will work closely with our irrigation tech until all is working properly.