Carillon Forest Quarterly Meeting, Aug. 25
All four board members are present – Gabriel Liberty, Eric Ferreri, Nick Burton, Robert Wade
Lawn care/landscaping changes. We have fired our landscaper and hired a new one, Francis Landscaping of Raleigh. A very large company, highly recommended. More than 60 employees.
Francis is committed to making everything look good. It’s going to take money to look good. Fortunately, we have money to spare and need to figure out precisely what we want to do. Right now, we have about $11,000 surplus. We can potentially use that. Plus, we’re negotiating with DR Horton to fertilize the Albritton field. We hope DR Horton will just pay us the equivalent cost so we can put that towards re-doing that field because we need to put some topsoil and compost down first.
We want to do some revitalization with all the common areas. We need to provide an environment for the grass to go well.
We’re weighing the use of Bermuda grass on the common areas like the Albritton field rather than fescue because it’s heartier, requires less water, and can stand direct sunlight.
A Few Circle resident raised a concern about the berms along the walkway near the cemetery. Poorly designed, he said. They have been a source of crabgrass. This year, pretty much barren. Too steep to mow. He’d like to discuss doing something radical like a non-grass ground cover that’s resistant to growth.
We can ask the new landscaping company for suggestions.
Future ground enhancements:
Entrances are a top priority. They’re the first thing you see. Even before they fell into disrepair, they were very plain. Deer are a threat, however, so we need to figure out how to beautify the entrances using something deer won’t eat. Francis is providing a one-year warranty on plantings like that, so if they plant something and a deer eats it, Francis will replace it.
A resident asked about private lots and the maintenance of them. Many residents have allowed their properties to fall into various states of disrepair. The by-laws mandate that residents water, cut grass regularly and replace dead with live plants. The HOA’s solution is essentially to send letters. There isn’t much we can do aside from issuing fines.
The HOA doesn’t do anything unless there’s a complaint. We’ve only received one complaint all year. We resolved it with an email to the resident, who promptly mowed. The HOA board won’t and can’t be the lawn police, but will respond to complaints.
There does appear to be consensus that quite a lot of homeowners could do more to keep their lawns, shrubs, edging and other landscape features better maintained. We hope that once our common grounds begin looking considerably better – and that should begin soon – folks will follow suit.
ANNUAL MEETING
We’re working on setting a date for the annual meeting. We’ll put out a query to the neighborhood asking to choose between Monday, Nov. 7, Wednesday, Nov. 9, or Thursday, Nov. 10. We’re working on finding a suitable meeting site now.
A resident asked about problems with renters who likely don’t get covenants and know the neighborhood rules. The formal solution is to talk to the homeowners and asking them to pass the info along. The informal way is to knock on the door and have a conversation with the renters.
A resident recently spoke to a couple members of a Durham city road crew who said they’re repairing roads to prepare for doing the top surfacing of Kilgo Drive. The road crew said they want to get the resurfacing done quickly because it takes damage when it doesn’t have the top layer. They said the builder was holding up the process, which is the opposite of what the builder has told us.
A resident has said the benches DR Horton recently installed on Few Circle don’t look particularly nice. We asked DR Horton to replace them but were turned down. Should we invest in new benches ourselves? Would it be better to move them to the playground and not have them at all? We’ll give this more thought.