Author: Canyon South 1

Annual Poolside Bingo!

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Saturday, April 13, 3:30-5 p.m.

Join us for the social highlight of the year! Meet your neighbors, including your HOA board of directors. Bring your favorite appetizer to share with one another. Each year brings out super-delicious new items and old favorites. And the bingo, $1 a card, so bring lots of singles. Five games will be played.

BYOB, no glass allowed at pool. Bar area provided outside the pool area. Ice, soft drinks and water provided.

For more information or any questions, please call Brian.

Officers elected after annual meeting

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Newly elected president Michael Pagliaro (standing) speaks at the annual meeting. Others left to right: community manager David Schuknecht, Carl Toland, outgoing president Chuck Mendenhall, Rosanne Kumins and Jeff Welsh.

At the HOA’s annual meeting on March 2, board election results were announced with the three candidates winning the three open seats. Minutes of the prior year’s annual meeting were approved, as was the annual IRS resolution. Homeowners can find the minutes on our website’s password-protected HOA Information page and view the official notice to see the vote tallies. The new board held an organizational meeting with these results:

Michael Pagliaro                    President

Carl Toland                            Vice-President

Gary Manchester                   Treasurer

Linda Seymour                      Secretary

Jeff Welsh                               Director



Annual meeting scheduled for March 2

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Homeowners are invited to attend the HOA’s annual meeting on Saturday, March 2 at 10 a.m. at Demuth Park community center, 3601 E. Mesquite Ave. Note the location has changed from prior years.

Homeowners should check their mail for an envelope containing official voting instructions and a ballot for electing directors. While we have three candidates for three positions, please mail in your ballot whether or not you plan to attend the meeting. Your vote helps meet the required meeting quorum. If a quorum is not achieved, it will be necessary to call a second meeting at additional expense to the Association.

The current board secretary, Michael Pagliaro, is running for a second term on the board. Gary Manchester and Linda Seymour are seeking their first terms. Nominations have closed. The current president, Chuck Mendenhall, and treasurer, Rosanne Kumins, are leaving the board as of the end of the meeting on March 2. Directors Carl Toland and Jeff Welsh remain on the board for another year.

At the meeting, the HOA’s director of elections will tabulate, certify and announce the election results. The current board will report on the HOA’s budget and financial forecast, recap  last year’s events, and look ahead at major programs scheduled for the coming year. The new directors will hold an organizational meeting, electing officers.

Any homeowners who did not receive a ballot or need to replace a spoiled ballot should call our community manager, David Schuknecht at Personalized Property Management, 760-325-9500.

News from January 2019 newsletter

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Be vigilant to help prevent crime

Our community recently had an auto theft and a break-in, both reported to police. Our pool contractor left his pickup unlocked just briefly and returned to find the truck gone. It was recovered but he lost the cash in his wallet. Someone broke a glass slider to enter a condo on Caliente Drive while residents were at dinner, but they apparently returned in time to scare the thief or thieves away. Coincidentally, an electrical problem kept some exterior lights off in the same area that weekend.

Here’s a checklist for securing your home and your vehicles. We have seen garage doors left open overnight. Some garages get hot in the summer, but homeowners can install vents and fans after getting HOA board approval with this form.

Painting and touch-up

The HOA long-term plan for spending reserve funds on maintenance should result in a major repainting of exterior walls and other surfaces within the next couple of years. But if homeowners want to touch up their stucco or trim in the meantime, our landscaping contractor, Ismael, has spare cans of each of the four standard paints and textures we use.

For touching up the metalwork, check any local hardware store for a spray can of Krylon ivory satin finish.

Water pressure too high?

The water pressure coming into our HOA is very high, which is good for irrigation and firefighting, but homeowners often choose to reduce the pressure to guard against water line breaks and costly plumbing problems. Most plumbers can add a pressure reducing valve to your water line (see photo above right).

Coyotes in mating season

Coyotes have been seen in our cul de sacs, and another community on La Verne Way lost a pet to a coyote attack. The males are extra aggressive during mating season, which peaks in late February and early March.

Asphalt maintenance scheduled for Oct. 9-10

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Weather permitting, all the drive lanes and parking areas are scheduled to be slurry sealed beginning at 7 a.m. Monday, October 8, 2018. We will coat all of the Canyon South 1 parking areas and drive lanes in two days and they will reopen on Wednesday, October 10.

Please move your vehicles the evening before work begins and the driveways are blocked. Please notify any guests, contractors, and service or delivery people who may be impacted so alternative arrangements may be made to avoid any problems. Please do not drive or walk in barricaded areas. Sprinkler systems adjacent to work areas must be turned off the day before the work begins.

Walking is permissible when the surface material is dry to the touch. The surface will stay tender in hot weather. To minimize surface scuffing from car and truck tires, make wide, gentle turns and do not turn tires in a stopped position. Thank you for your cooperation and patience.

Canyon South Closure Diagram

Seal Coat Letter from contractor

Pool heating schedule for 2018-19

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Beginning in October the center pool will be heated to 84 degrees for two months. December and January will see the east and west pools heated, then back to the center pool for February and March, finishing with the east and west pools for April and May as needed. Spas at all pools will continue to be heated year-round to 102 degrees.

Annual Meeting 2018: President’s Report

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The annual meeting was held on February 10, 2018. Reports from the Board and good discussion from the residents helped outline events planned for the upcoming months. This newsletter highlights the remarks made at the meeting.

Election Results: The Director of Elections, Carolyn McDonald ably assisted by David Lamski, announced that the necessary quorum had voted. Two board members were elected: Carl Toland and write-in candidate Dennis Turrone.

President’s Remarks: During the past summer, signage was replaced in each cul de sac entrance. These new signs will be augmented, as requested by residents, to include the range of house numbers in each and, where necessary, additional lighting. Two major projects will be scheduled in the coming months. A protective slurry coat will be applied to the asphalt which was installed 4 years ago. The other major project will be preventive work to the flat portions of our roofs. The roofs will be cleaned, patched where necessary, and resprayed with a sun/uv protective coat. This is required every 10 years or so, and it protects the foam from deteriorating. Residents will be advised when the work is scheduled for their area.

Both of these projects are part of our regular maintenance schedule. Funding comes from our Reserve Account. Both projects are major expenditures amounting to approximately $125,000. The Board will continue to manage the Reserve Account to ensure its adequacy and will, of course, notify residents if additional contributions are necessary in the future.

—Chuck Mendenhall

Annual Report 2018: Dog owners’ proposal

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Several months ago the Board was asked by a group of residents to begin a discussion about allowing a designated off-leash exercise area for dogs. At the annual meeting dog owners presented the idea for discussion. They proposed a fenced-in, gated, landscaped area along the back wall behind the west pool. The cost of the project would be borne by interested dog owners and any others who wish to contribute.  No HOA dollars would be committed to the project. Proponents have an estimated budget of $3,000 and they currently have pledges of over $1,000. Supporters of the project stated that over 30% of residents own dogs. Many of them are full-time residents. Dogs suffer, particularly in the summer, because of HOA rules requiring that dogs walk on the hard surfaces (on leash) only.

Questions raised during the meeting related to liability, insurance, nuisance, municipal requirements, and process.  The Board president said that these questions needed to be answered and more discussion would be had. For instance, what hours would it be open, who could access the facility, what about unattended dogs, barking, enforcement procedures, etc? The Board will continue to consider the proposal and accept additional information and comments at future meetings. Ultimately, a vote of residents will be required before the Board would take any action.

Annual Report 2018: Lighting and Security

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We have changed companies and are now working with Grayco Electric to improve our lighting in the complex.
During the year, we added new high intensity lightbulbs in all of the cul de sacs. The board has also approved money for new lights on the olive trees which will be installed in the near future.

We always have your safety in mind. We recommend that you keep doors and gates locked and your front light on in the evenings. If you have any questions or you see any dark areas, please let me know. I can be reached at (203) 461-5617.

—Michael Pagliaro 

Annual Report 2018: Landscaping and Pools

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We’ve learned lessons from having lived with our desertscape for four years. We’ve learned that while saving water, the removal of lawns raises the ambient temperature around our homes and plants. In at least three cases, our landscape contractor Ismael has had to install multiple rings of soaker hoses around suffering citrus trees that had been in the lawn but now have surrounding desertscape. Pyracantha hedges also have suffered until additional water supplies were brought to them.

This past summer was so hot that more shade screens had to be built just to keep plants alive. We are used to shading such as the Sago Palms, but this past summer we had to drape burlap over the Mexican fencepost cacti to protect them on the south and west exposures. Next month, our landscapers will begin an aggressive treatment of all the agave in our complex. The stress of heat has made them more susceptible to boring-type worms and we have lost several this past year.  We will use both liquid and granular poisons to control these pests.

During the ungodly hot part of the summer, Ismael and an expanded crew spread ten tons of fresh decomposed granite on the thin spots over the entire desertscape area. If you’ve been near the east pool recently, you probably noticed that the landscaping has been updated. New bougainvillea and lantana were planted as well as a new pyracantha hedge around the pool to hide the pool equipment. Some cobblestone mulch was installed along with annual geraniums.

Pools and Spas:

We got a break this year from pool and spa tile and plaster renovation, but some of our supporting pool and spa equipment needed replacement. The east spa got a new filter, new pump and new heater this past summer. The center spa also got a new pump for a total cost of almost $7,000. The main entry handrails of all pools and spas have been covered with blue insulating sleeves. No longer do we have to drape a towel over the rail or risk burning our hands.

The center pool is, for February and March, being heated to the standard temperature of 84 degrees. All spas are always programmed at 101 degrees.

—Carl Toland