Pinery HOA May 2002 Newsletter

The
Pinery
Pedal &

It's BACK!…

The Pinery Pedal and Picnic is back
this year.! It is sure to be a great
time for you, your family, and your
neighbors so…

Spread the word and mark your
calendar for Saturday, August 17th.

Changes are in the works so look for
detailed information and registration
forms in the July Homeowner.

As always, we are looking for volunteers to help with the planning and activities on the day of the event. If you can help out, please call the PHA office at:
303-841-8572.

We look forward to seeing you there...it will be a great day!

PHA General Meeting
May 15th, 7:30 PM
Pinery Fire Station—Meeting Room
Hillcrest Way & North Pinery Parkway
-AGENDA-
Douglas County Open Space Presentation
Learn about “Our” Open Spaces
Hiking Trails, Cycling, etc?
Pinery Area Vandalism Update
Complimentary Child Care Provided

Many thanks to Beverly Spooner, for taking over the task of keeping Pinery residents up to date! Bev is now maintaining the Community Information signs at both Pinery entrances. Thanks again, Bev. We appreciate your community spirit!

Congratulations to Cathy Brondos, on her new appointment as Principal of Ponderosa High School. The Pinery welcomes you and wishes you much success in your new position!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who braved the elements to help with our Annual Spring Community Cleanup! The difference to the entries, Parkway and Lake areas is wonderful. It’s residents like you who make The Pinery the greatest place to call home!

Our Ponderosa Pine trees along the Pinery Parkway have been looking pretty stressed lately, and it has not gone unnoticed by the Board of Directors. They contracted with Denver Tree Specialists to deep root feed, water, and spray for pine beetles all trees along the Pinery Parkway, and our parks.

Hey kids! It’s time to begin practicing your fishing skills for July 13^th, the date of the next Annual Pinery Kids Fishing Derby. Ask your parents to call Doug Ravenholdt, the Lake Committee Chairman, or the PHA office at 303-841-8572, if they can volunteer to help make this event a wonderful success once again!

The Parker Fire Protection District would like to inform you about an exciting project that is heading your way. The Pinery has been chosen to participate in the pilot project with the District and the Douglas County Department of Open Space and Natural Resources. Other participating agencies include Colorado Division of Wildlife, Colorado State Forest Service, USDA Forest Service, and several other departments and divisions of Douglas County

The Project consists of fuels reduction, forest restoration, and wildlife habitat improvement in county owned Open Space tracts. In a few weeks, you will see areas of Open Space marked for treatment. Treatment prescriptions will include:

The Parker Fire Protection District will be performing a large portion of the treatment operations in The Pinery. They will be conducting this work in conjunction with providing a countywide training opportunity, which will allow mutual aid partners to become familiar with a portion of the District. In addition, this opportunity will strengthen relationships between mutual aid partners who may provide services in the event of an emergency.

Reducing the fuel loads in this area will help to decrease the risk of a wildland fire escalating to catastrophic proportions in a short amount of time. Fire will spread at a slower rate, with reductions in flame lengths, heat intensity, and smoke.

Restoring forested areas to natural and healthy conditions will also reduce the threat of insect disease infestation. Additionally, creating openings in these areas will allow small and large mammals to move more freely throughout the area. Increasing the amount of native grasses will also allow more birds to frequent the area.

Grant funding for this project has been provided by the National Fire Plan, through the Colorado State Forest Service. Grants were awarded on a competitive basis for projects in communities with the urban interface/intermix.

We are looking forward to working with the citizens of this community to complete this extremely important project. More information about this project will be provided when the dates of operations are finalized.

If you have any questions or concerns during the project you may contact Keith Long at 303-841-2608 at the Parker Fire Protection District.

The Bird Sanctuary is at a crossroads—ready for a new focus. This summer we will essentially become part of an experiment for the elimination of noxious knapweed. The wonderful thing about this is that it requires us to do nothing! We can let some bugs do the work for a change! This will allow us to concentrate on maintaining the existing plants while adding more wildflowers and grasses. We would also like to add a path and decorative markers including a “Pinery Bird Sanctuary” sign—to transform the project beyond just being a field.

Anyone with time and/or expertise to donate specifically to these items, please call—and thanks in advance!

The maintenance and seeding will be done on workdays, to be posted on the marquees. Please clip and save the following list of workday supplies, and feel free to arrive on any workday for any length of time that fits your schedule. You need not bring all these supplies—just what you have and can gather together before coming: work gloves, sun screen, snack, water bottle, shovel, trowel, hand-held claw, watering can, pruners, trash bags, rake, top soil to donate, native grass or wildflower seed, divided perennials to plant (please call me regarding these to ensure they are suitable for our area..)

Thank you for your interest and support. I hope to see you this spring! Deb Dieter 303-840-4360

Norma and Larry Miller bought their lot in the Pinery in 1975. Moving day for the Miller family took place in June of 1976; theirs was the first home built on Shavano. When they moved in, there were water and electricity for their new house, but no gas, so their house was - and is - heated by electricity. Not too long after they took possession, they were able to get telephone service with a 2-party line. Norma remembers the hot air balloons taking off and, although she never soared in one, she took her two young children often to watch the launchings.

The PHA wanted a park for the residents. Norma and Larry were among the volunteers who went door to door soliciting donations from other residents to make a baseball field for the park. Larry also worked on installing a sprinkler system there and acquired a backstop for the baseball field. While Norma worked as a volunteer at Northeast Elementary, Larry organized a Pinery-wide road race in 1976, which he managed for about four years. The race was 10 kilometers; the runners numbered about 50 the first year. By 1979, 500 runners were involved, but traffic was heavier on the roads, so Larry began devoting his energies to a relay race from Cherry Creek High School through Douglas County to Colorado Springs.

The first buildings in the Pinery were the townhouses. Norma recalled that the tennis dome at the country club was once a source of contention. The residents were asked if they would prefer a dome over the tennis courts or the swimming pool. The majority favored the pool, but country club management chose the courts. By 1979, more houses and paved roads came into being. Today, in spite of the growth and the traffic along Parker Road, the Millers enjoy their home. Says Norma, "There's no place we'd rather be."

Pinery Covenants limit real estate signage to one small sign per property. Pinery policy is that signs may not be posted off of the property. However, for an open house or garage sale, one directional sign, present for one day only at a nearby intersection, and removed at night, is allowed. Signs not meeting this policy will be removed and brought to the PHA office.

Storage of recreational vehicles on Pinery properties is not allowed. For purposes of loading, unloading, cleaning, etc. RVs, campers, boats and trailers may be present for not more than three (3) days at a Pinery property. When at your residence, the vehicle should be parked on the approved, hard-surfaced driveway.

The following Pinery residents were elected April 9, 2002 to fill open board positions. Dwight Berry, incumbent Chris Buckman, and Joe Narracci. We want to thank all candidates for offering to serve the community in this fashion.

The irrigation season has come early to all of us this year, with the lack of snow and early precipitation requiring most of us to start sprinkling our lawns and landscaping earlier than in most years past. This is probably going to be a dry year and it will require all of our systems capacity to keep up, but we have planned accordingly and do not anticipate any problems in meeting this demand. What we cannot anticipate though is the vandalism that has been occurring in the District boundaries and to the Pinery as a whole. When this type of activity occurs, it can impact all of us.

In order to prevent this from being a problem, we have taken security steps in conjunction with Douglas County, the Pinery Homeowners Association, the Pinery Country Club and developers/homeowners to try and prevent this from happening, but there is no guarantee that this will prevent all vandalism of the District Facilities. As such, we wanted to let all members of the District know of a Colorado Revised Statutes (C.R.S.) provision that allows the District to seek compensation for damages caused because of vandalism to these District Assets, this provision, C.R.S. Section 13-21-107(1) provides that the state or any political subdivision is entitled to recover actual damages not exceeding $3,500 (plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees) from the parents’ of persons less than 18 years of age (who are living with such parents) if such minors willfully or maliciously damage or destroy property belonging to the state or a political subdivision. Please note that the dollar limitation is per minor. If two minors were to cause $10,000 in damage the District could recover up to $7,000, plus fees and costs. While we prefer not to have to use this law to recoup damages associated with vandalism, we will if we have too. Let us hope that we do not have to.

As always, you are cordially invited to attend any of our monthly meetings. These are held monthly, at the District Offices, the second Tuesday of every month, at 7 o’clock in the evenings. If this is not possible, then please stop by the District Office during the week, Monday through Friday, 8-4 daily, or give us a call at (303) 841-2797. Someone is always available to meet with you and discuss your concerns.

The PHA invites the Homeowners’ Associations of the greater Pinery area to submit bits of information for publication in our newsletter. Additional insertions are warmly welcomed!

Cleanup day for Pinery 20 at the entry way will be Saturday, May 11th, starting at 8:00 a.m.
Bring gloves, shovels, rakes, and water to drink.

Attention High Schoolers! - If you need to get your volunteer time in, we would love to have your help.

In March of 2001, the Pinery Homeowners Association secured a very favorable contract with BFI Waste Services for regular trash pickup. Over 60% of our residents in the Pinery, and surrounding Pinery neighborhoods use the service, which picks up on Thursday mornings during normal workweeks*.

Billing: Pickup and PHA membership is the same as pickup alone from others.

Current rates are $42/quarter ($14/month), paid to the PHA, billed prior to each quarter, which includes trash services and membership dues at a price lower than trash pickup from other companies! Call the PHA Office to sign up to sign up at (303) 841-8572.

*Fridays on the weeks of Memorial Day, 4^th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas 2002.

Special Note: Recently many residents received invoices from Waste Management for additional costs incurred for recycling. If you are part of the PHA/BFI Trash Program, these charges do not apply to you!

The annual Large Item Drop Off has been such a successful event; we are doing it again. Annually, we try to plan the event around everyone’s spring clean-up, “honey-do” time and the weekend after the Annual Garage Sale, so that you have a place to get rid of all those once important, now excess, items that the garbage service will not take.

Now is the time to get rid of that “old range” or other appliances/fixtures, (except refrigeration units)—old chairs, sofas, tables, metal items and things you just want to be without.

WHERE: Across Highway 83 from the North Pinery Entry at the entrance to the Water Treatment Facility*. If you know where the RV lot is, this event is adjacent to that facility. For your assistance we will place signs in strategic locations.

WHEN: From 7 AM until the bins are full or 2 PM, whichever comes first. Please note that last year the bins filled before 2, so get there early to ensure your load is accepted.

WHY: The Pinery Homeowners Association contracts with our trash service provider, (BFI), to rent large roll-offs. Your fees do not cover the cost of rental, so the PHA subsidizes this effort as a service to our homeowners.

WHAT WILL BE ACCEPTED: Generally most large items will be accepted, but we do reserve the right to say “NO.” All items must be placed into the dumpsters by the person(s) bringing the item to the drop area. Our volunteers will not handle loading or unloading due to insurance concerns. Nothing may be dumped onto the ground, or outside of any container!

WHAT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED: Refrigeration items, (with or without Freon present), hazardous waste, tires, paints, oils, contractor cleanup materials, garden clippings, trash, etc. We will be providing flyers for the Douglas County Household Chemical Roundup if you have any of these materials and wish to dispose of them.

WHAT DOES IT COST?
PLEASE NOTE THAT All COSTS ARE PER VEHICLE, PER LOAD:

Please note that we will have applications available if you wish to join the PHA and/or our Trash Program.

* In addition to the use of their great facility, the Pinery Water District will be providing free bio solids to Pinery residents during this event. Therefore, now is the time to bring a load of trash and take home a load of fertilizer free of charge. Please thank our friends at the Water District for helping to keep the Pinery clean and green!

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED – Food, Drinks and Entertainment provided!
Please call the PHA to volunteer (303-841-8572).

Douglas County
Household Chemical Roundups
9:00 a.m.—3:00 p.m.
Open to residents of Douglas County

W. R. Grace Facility
8101 West Midway Drive
Littleton (immediately west of High lands Ranch)

A $10.00 per participant fee is requested to help offset costs.
Proof of residency, such as a driver’s license or water bill, is required.
For more information, call: Roundup Hotline 303-846-6249

Parker Country Festival Silver Jubilee
25 Years of Festival Fun
June 7,8,9 - Parker

Get ready to have a good time at the Parker Country Festival in O’Brien Park—a jam-packed weekend with free summer fun for all ages. The Festival will highlight fourteen free, outdoor concerts, mouthwatering food and drinks, thrilling carnival rides and games, a hometown parade, and more than 100 craft and commercial exhibits.

You won’t want to miss this!
Admission is free. Call for additional information:

High Prairie Farms will be hosting a July 4th event complete with a fireworks display. All traffic for the event will be directed to Bayou Gulch to the western arena. Handicap parking will be at Sagewood Middle School. Watch the Community Information Signs at the Pinery entrances for more information as the date draws nearer!

The Castle Rock/Parker chapter of Mothers & More is part of the national nonprofit group for at-home mothers, which advocates wider options for women balancing work and family.

Mothers & More features a variety of activities for you and your family. Our meetings offer child safety tips, women’s health issues, guest speakers, charity events or just someone to talk to. The chapter offers mom’s night out and weekend retreats, couple events, playgroups for the kids, book clubs, dinner club and more.

Meetings are held the second and fourth Thursday of the month in either Castle Rock or Parker. Castle Rock meetings are held at the First United Methodist Church from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. and at Parker they are held at the Jordan Road Fire Station from 7 p.m.-9 p.m.

For more information on the Castle Rock/Parker Chapter of Mothers & More call 303-285-3484 extension 1460 or visit our website at: www.mothersandmore195.org.

	PHA Member Price	Non-Member Price
Car, SUV or Minivan	$ 7.00 each	$25.00 each
Small truck, trailer or Van	$10.00 each	$25.00 each
Large truck, trailer or Van	$15.00 each	$30.00 each

	Homeowner
	Published by The Pinery Homeowners’ Association, Inc. Volume 26; Issue 3