ANNUAL MEETING

Last night the 2008 annual meeting was held at the Lodge. It was attended by about 60 people. Refreshments and pizza were served as owners arrived and mingled.

When the meeting began, Pam Chandler said she'd cover all the questions which had been submitted and from the floor and would also summarize in writing to all within a few days. There were many recurring items, and I'll try to cover some of the more universal ones and general news, but will save the detail for Pam's letter.


The HOA: Manager Pam Chandler, HOA non-voting rep Donald Abrams, Discovery's Joel Dobson, Steve Yetts, Jack Creveling.

General Information: I believe I got this right. I attempted to record the meeting but my recorder died early on.

end 2007/ end 2008
Owned: 249/277
Occupied: 92/95
Homes: 132/148
New residents: 14

Sales for the past year were lower than projections. Discovery is working on some undisclosed realtor incentives. (Comment: if they'd accelerate/invest in fixing some of the roads and other issues they'd probably enhance the saleability of lots and homes within. Sunken roads around manholes, ref: SO Blvd roundabout, broken curb, etc., pull our overall aesthetic down when compared to other developments of multi-million dollar homes.) Discovery has done away with maintenance personnel - Pam is 'borrowing' from Daniel Porter's people. Draw your own conclusion.

Discovery has installed or completed a system which would allow one gate guard to control the other gate. It's unclear what advantage this has in practicality, but they are also monitoring the traffic flow overnight to see if one guard is all that is necessary. They attempted to bring all "security" in house but that failed. There was no indication they'd try again.

Great confusion over highway 71 plans: there is said to be a plan afoot to lower the crest of a hill, but whether or not it's the east or west gate side remains to be clarified. I took this to mean the west side, and in 2010 there would be a light at the west entrance. Later that became unclear. Perhaps Pam will clarify.

There will be no light at the east entrance in the foreseeable future. As for a turn lane (westbound at east entrance,) I think the issue is they'd have to widen the bridge to allow enough space for a turn lane after the bridge. IMHO - don't hold your breath. Noted: the way the crews mangled and dumped the trees when they 'trimmed' the trees away from power lines across 71. The concrete 'turtles" in mid 71 are TXdot issues and obviously not high at all on their list, if even ON their list.

There seemed to be a consensus that our HOA website needs to be redone and a volunteer has been identified, though unnamed, nor was there a timetable given for this or for solutions to apply to many of the issues raised, for instance, the striping of lanes at east entrance at the bridge, or road fixes.

A discussion was held about speeding through the development. This led to the issue of those who walk in the dark in dark clothing, and on the streets. I note that there are no paths on lower Musket Rim or lower Paraiso or Overlook Pass.

The developer has finished landscaping, i.e.: no more new materials to be added to the project. Their hope is that with careful water conservation and time, what exists can grow in and fill out what might look sparse.

The pool will open possibly before memorial Day but as Pam is officed there will open it for you upon request. The Lodge is available free for owners who wish to host special parties, etc. See Pam.

Signups were offered for committees and social groups.

There is an ongoing issue of design compliance and builder failures/defaults.

LAWN CARE QUESTION

I have been trying to get TruGreen to come by and discuss what I want done. After a few years of trying organics, then moving to over-the-counter chemicals, we are still loaded with weeds. I thought maybe going with professionals would help.

The line of the decade, uttered by the TruGreen rep on the phone, "We don't feel we have to earn your trust."

I found this
which is a series of serious complaints from all over the country. Maybe their customer base is so large that these are isolated instances, or not... there seems to be a thread running through it, which also is implicit in the arrogance of the rep with whom I spoke.

So please, let me ask you this - I've seen the truck locally - if you use TruGreen/Chemlawn, are you receiving good service and effective treatments? If not, or if otherwise, who would you recommend? E me at rwood24@Austin.rr.com Thanks.

ANOTHER SURE SIGN OF SPRING?

From the homes landlocked by Spanish Oaks (Lower Musket Rim).

A SURE SIGN OF SPRING!

Up north they'd say the robin has that honor. Here it's the first SNAKE SIGHTING. And it's just been reported from just over the border of the S.O.-landlocked Preserve, which is at the gate at the end of Overlook Pass (for those westenders.)

There are good ones and bad ones they tell me. As far as I am concerned, I don't even trust HOSES. I CAN promise you that when you spot your snake, it'll blend in really well - amazingly well, unless you are driving forward and backward over it on the road. If you do this, just rest assured that cleanup is crow and vulture job 1.

So tell your kiddies, give your dog a talking to, and watch those thresholds where the slithery reptile will stretch out and pretend like it belongs there. Look before you reach into something, and stay alert.

The same precautions apply to members of congress.

ANNUAL MEETING MISPERCEPTION

I apologize.

I was just told by Pam Chandler that the HOA board can choose to hold their/our annual meeting any time they wish - not forced to do so by the end of the closing year. The confusion on that issue, she told me, was that the FIRST meeting was to be held within the first year - after that - on the HOA's own timetable. My frustrations in posts below were obviously a waste of gas.

Terri and I love Spanish Oaks. We searched the country for several years to find the best city and then within the city, the ideal spot to anchor as our last move. Until now, our moves had been work-dictates. My time in radio took me all over North America. I used to joke that we were sharecroppers, working the antenna farms.

When you consider that we don't play golf, and don't have children, this speaks even more strongly to our belief in Spanish Oaks as a great place, even without the golf and club amenities, even without the wonderful school system in which we are placed!

What brought us to Austin was the exceptional mix of people and the incredible town vibe. What brought us to Spanish Oaks was Daniel Porter's vision of a natural beauty. Mark Moulkers designed and built us the home which fit us so well.

I came to feel that what we needed was better communication, especially so after Discovery Land entered the picture. I was a one-man communications committee until I could no longer receive answers in a timely manner. Along the way, this blog was conceived to sort of serve as a very abbreviated town 'newspaper' though there's all too often no news to share, and only a rare 'reporter.' News and opinion - that's the idea. Last time I looked there were in the neighborhood of 40,000 hits to date.

By now you've received your official notice of the annual meeting and attached to it, a letter from Donald Abrams, our HOA rep for several years now. This is exactly the kind of communication which I feel - on a more regular basis - would help pull us together from the odds and ends of our busy lives to help create a growing sense of community.

In some ways, the large geography of the project isolates us all into our cul-de-sacs and interests. Better communication can help us all become more familiar with one another and turn us into even more highly satisfied residents who volunteer the best possible testimony for living here.

There's room to grow.

Examples which come to mind:
Gardening club
Gun club
Car club
Flying club
RV club
R/C club
Jogging group
Biking group
Wine club

Have we reached critical mass?

Reading Donald's letter you'd have to admit that a lot has happened in a year - perhaps most notably the opening and operation of the Lodge - a great amenity.

Challenges for the future will include maintenance of our infrastructure, and then - this one is big - a satisfactory hand off from Discovery to our own self-contained independent HOA (reached at some high percentage of build-out/sales.) I write 'satisfactory' because we need assurance that, at the hand-over, many items are covered completely so that we don't inherit issues beyond those unforeseen.

And so once again I apologize for the windbagian call to arms regarding the late annual meeting. I also invite you to become a part of this blog. Email me your thoughts, news, pictures, etc. I do ask that you include your name. If you wish to post comments anonymously, then use the comment feature.