To all the owners in River Bluffs,
The recent effects of a two-month long drought, and the rapid growth of the community have led to the
need to make some decisions regarding the Association’s landscaping service. Over the past couple
years the landscapers have tried to make many homeowners happy by doing what is called an “ala cart”
service such as no mowing ,no pruning, no turf treatments, mow the front but not the back, no edging,
prune these bushes but not these, mow this but not that, etc, etc, etc. This was easier to do early with
fewer owners but as time went by, more and more residents moved into the Association and the
number of the requests grew to the point where they cannot be handled in an accurate and timely
manner without having a major impact on the cost of service. The Association’s responsibility (in
accordance with the Declaration) is to provide basic lawn care, not personalized weekly service. The
events of the last eighteen months have had a devastating impact on material costs, labor costs and
even the availability of labor and allowing this trend to continue would ultimately bankrupt the
Association. Today, there are more than 225 homes in River Bluffs with over 50 in the construction
phase and Element has requests from 57 owners for individual services.
To come to some conclusion on how to handle this issue, and keep control of the Association’s budget;
John Lennon, Burrows Smith, myself and Josh Graham and Kent Berry from Element have decided to go
forward with a new system of doing the lawns. This new practice has also been discussed with the
Resident Advisory Committee. We decided it is better to do it now before the neighborhood gets any
larger. We realize not everyone will be happy with this decision but it is the prudent thing for the
Association to do.
The new system consists of colored tags installed on a pressure treated 2” x 2” stake that is to be
located to the right of the front steps in the bed. There will be 2 colors that are to be used, Red and
Yellow. The Red tag signifies the owner wants “no service” from Element. The Yellow tag will signify “ No
Pruning” and having no tag in your bed signifies you get all the services. This new system will begin on
Monday July 19th. The colored tags and pressure treated stakes are being supplied by the HOA at no cost
to the owner. The owner will have to acquire these from the General Store, sign for them signifying
what service he wants. It will also be up to the owner to install them in the bed to the right of the porch
steps.
Turf treatments are 4 times a year. There are 2 pre-emergent applications, one in the Spring and one in
the Fall. There are 2 fertilizer applications both during the Summer months. I will send out an email blast
a week ahead of when these treatments are to take place. If you do not want turf treatments, it is up to
you to email me at: martin@cepco-nc.com and let me know. I will in turn give the requests to the
applicator who will apply the treatments to everyone but the ones who have requested not to have any.
Pine straw is not included in any of the above-mentioned services. Everyone will still get their pine straw
installed. Beginning the week after July 4th, Element will have their pruning crew in River Bluffs and
approximately 3 weeks later the pine straw crew will start installing the pine straw.
The new system will not prevent 100% of the mistakes by the landscaping crew but will dramatically
reduce the chances of them happening. The River Bluff’s management and the Element Management
and crew are all committed to keeping River Bluffs an association that individuals can brag on and are
proud to call home. Part of this new program includes Element adding two more folks to the crew that
services our neighborhood; and agreeing to hold their pricing for three years.
Sincerely,
Martin Griess