Mabury Messenger. Published by the Mabury Ranch Homeowners Association

Transcription

1 Mabury Messenger November 2017 Published by the Mabury Ranch Homeowners Association Canyon Fire 2 Forces Mabury Ranch Evacuations By Stephanie Lesinski On the morning of Monday, October 9 th the Canyon 2 Fire began burning in Anaheim Hills. In just a few hours intense Santa Ana winds spread the wildfire to North Tustin, Orange Park Acres and threatened homes in Mabury Ranch. Mandatory evacuations ensued. The photo above was taken overlooking the gated Hidden Creek community within Mabury Ranch. The fire burned through Peters Canyon and Santiago Oaks Regional Park and along the Santiago Creek that borders Mabury Ranch. At this writing, the fire had consumed 6,000 acres and destroyed two dozen structures. Ironically on that same date thirty five years ago, a 1982 fire, also fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds, swept out of Gypsum Canyon into the City of Orange, burning more than 16,000 acres, destroying 12 luxury homes and damaging many other structures within a few hours. The fire burned the hill north of Serrano Avenue and destroyed two homes in the Crest de Ville community, less than a mile from our neighborhoods. A couple of Mabury Ranch roofs caught fire but were quickly extinguished by the fire department. Our community was likely spared from further damage because all of the homes built in the Autumn Ridge development (east of the West Greenbelt) have tile roofs. Those living here at that time recall how terrifying it was to see tumble weed fireballs blowing down the streets. Firefighters battling this latest Canyon Fire were most concerned about Santa Ana winds that had been forecasted. According to the National Weather Service, Santa Ana winds are experienced from September through November. These historically strong, warm, dry winds can cause a relatively small brush fire to get out of control quickly. Here are some helpful hints to protect your home during fire season: Move firewood and combustibles 30 feet from the house Clear rain gutters of leaves and debris and remove dead tree branches overhanging your roof Remove dead grass, brush and bushes or 1

2 flammable vegetation from within 30 feet of structures Consider replacing wood shake roofs Additional information can be found at: ons/communications_firesafety President s Message: Mabury Ranch Turns 40! By Dick Hollinger This year some of the earliest Mabury Ranch neighborhoods turned the big 4-O. Homes on Carlsbad, east Crater Lake and the northern section of McKinley were built in 1977, forty years ago. As we know, aging homes require more care pipes leak, roofs give out and landscaping runs its course. I would like to take a moment to thank all of our homeowners that have made the investment to keep their homes looking well maintained. The same goes for our community. Turning 40 is a huge milestone for Mabury Ranch. In the coming years the Mabury Ranch Homeowners Association Board of Directors (MRHOA) will need to make the investment to keep our common areas up to our homeowners standards. In the early years Mabury Ranch was filled with young families and many individuals that were willing to lend their services as designers and planners. Homeowners dues went to the actual construction of the amenities we enjoy today such as our greenbelts, walking trails, entrances and median landscaping. As families moved away, Mabury Ranch has been challenged with attracting the same number of volunteers with marketable skills. As a result, dues from our current homeowners will go toward hiring experienced professionals with the skillset to design more drought-tolerant landscaping to replace our diseased and dying trees and plants and upgrade our failing irrigation system with new, water-saving technologies. This is essential to keep property values high in Mabury Ranch and to protect our community from future droughts and watering restrictions that could threaten our new and improved landscaping. To gain a better understanding of where we ve come, here is a brief history of our community and how it has evolved to become what it is today. As I mentioned, Mabury Ranch was developed in several phases. In the 1970 s, the area east of the greenbelt (where Waterton turns into Yosemite) was an orange grove. Serrano Avenue dead ended at the intersection of Orange Park Blvd and was originally a two-lane road into Mabury Ranch. We were effectively a cul-de-sac. From homes were built west of the west greenbelt (the area bordered by Forest 2

3 avenue and where Bryce and Teton dead end.) In the early 1980 s, the homes east of the west greenbelt (where Waterton turns into Yosemite) were built, again in phases. These homes were built by Standard Pacific with new floor plans and were marketed as Autumn Ridge. For several years there were monument signs designating the Mabury Ranch homes and other monument signs designating Autumn Ridge homes. As years passed the Board decided it was important for one brand identity and rebranded all of the monument signs as Mabury Ranch. Several of your current Board and Committee members got involved with the Association in the early 1980 s to help develop the process for managing the community. Current Board Secretary, Dan Lyding was appointed as Chairman of the Landscape Committee. Now 33 years later, Dan still chairs that committee. Mabury Ranch homeowners who work professionally as architects helped form our Architectural Committee. David Rainville, a landscape architect was one of the ARC founding members and serves on that committee today. The Social Committee was formed with its first activity being the yearend Holiday Lights contest and hayride with a horse drawn wagon taking kids and adults alike to see all of the decorated homes. That event has evolved into our annual Holiday Event with a trolley tour of the holiday lights. In the early days there was an annual summer BBQ in the Yosemite/Waterton loop (now the Hot August Nights Car Show in the West Greenbelt.) Other committees included the Welcome Committee, Garden Committee, Political Action Committee, and Environmental Committee. The Board of Directors was expanded from 5 members to 7, then to 9 and back to 7 members, the current number of directors that serve on the MRHOA Board. In the late 1980 s, Serrano Blvd. was extended over the hill into Anaheim Hills and as part of the expansion it was widened to four lanes with a center median. Maury Ranch homeowner Tom Broz took the lead for Mabury Ranch to negotiate an agreement with the City of Orange to plant the center median with plant materials that not only are attractive, but also absorb some of the traffic noise. Also as part of the Serrano expansion, the wall along Serrano was upgraded to a solid block wall replacing several sections of the wall that were wrought iron. The West Greenbelt, as delivered to us by the developer was the West Dirt and Weed Belt with poor irrigation and erosion issues. The then Board of Directors led the project upgrade so community events could be held in this area. The upgrade included installing an irrigation system, planting grass and trees, and adding the stage. The creek was also upgraded with rocks to slow the flow of water and protect the stream 3

4 banks from erosion. This area was also upgraded with two foot bridges to connect the two sides of the community. With the new West Greenbelt as the place to host community events, the annual election meeting was formerly held there with a Blue Grass band and barbeque complementing the annual meeting. As you can see, back in the early days, the annual meeting was actually a fun event. MRHOA has gone through several management company changes over the years. As the needs of our community evolved, so did the needs for added management company services. For example, our current property manager, Tritz Professional Management Services, is responsible for charting community water usage and managing our vendors a responsibility that used to fall on our committees. I apologize if I left off a piece of history which is important to any homeowner. We would also love to feature early Mabury Ranch photos on our website. If you would like to make an addition to our community history, please forward your information to our Property Manager, Morgan Bombay, Tritz Professional at: Morgan@tpms.net Finally, the growth and development of Mabury Ranch happened because many homeowners in our community got involved with the Committees and Board of Directors to contribute their time, ideas, creativity, and energy to improve our community. It is time for our Committees and Board of Directors to evolve with new homeowners joining these groups to lead our community into the future. You can volunteer by contacting Morgan at the address above. Happy 40 th to our Carlsbad, east Crater Lake and the upper McKinley neighbors! Let s all make a commitment to keep our community looking its best. Like people, some things improve with age. Landscaping Update By Dan Lyding I am pleased to report that the Landscape Committee has two new members - Mel Wulff and Howard Miller. Both gentlemen have experience in construction and project management. Both men bring valuable experience to the committee, and have contributed to irrigation renovations and the updating of our Landscaping Standards which are used for evaluation of performance and bidding for landscape contracting in MRHOA. Projects recently completed, on the verge of groundbreaking, or being considered: 1-Parkway strips (narrow strips of city owned land) on our entry strips and Serrano Ave. 4

5 -Mt. McKinley was planted in August and is filling in nicely. -All strips on McKinley are irrigated by drip irrigation and it is HOA irrigation lines that we control. -Yellowstone (at the time of this writing) has been stalled due to irrigation issues that complicate the installation of drip irrigation. For most of the Yellowstone parkways we have no HOA control of the water it is homeowner water irrigating the side slopes and parkways. We are studying solutions for assuring the homeowners living along Yellowstone will cooperate and water the parkway on the side of their home. -Orange Park and/or Serrano parkway improvements likely are 2018 projects. 2-Corner planters at top of Yellowstone have dead or nearly dead pepper trees. As soon as an approved plan for a more eye catching plant combination is approved, the trees will be removed and these two corners will be the first Serrano corner renovations. Installation likely in December or January. 3- Irrigation problems throughout the community still cost us much lost water and constant repairs for mainline breaks. The water delivery system at age 35+ years shows its age nearly every month. In the years ahead, this will be a significant expense item for updating. We expect the HOA s irrigation budget will be increasing annually. 4-Professional help was sought because our near 40 year old landscaping has areas needing improvement. We have used Don Wilson s services when needed over the past 25 years. Don is a landscape architect from Santa Ana, and owner of Cornerstone Studios. Don s help is important to the Board of Directors to guide, educate, design, and prioritize landscaping decisions throughout our community. 5-Our annual HOA fall tree pruning was completed at the end of September. Please be aware that not every tree is pruned each year. Every 2 or 3 years specific trees are serviced. The mix changes yearly according to growth patterns, safety issues, specific homeowner requests, storm or wind damages, etc. There can be strategic (mostly safety) reasons for annual pruning of some trees. NextDoor Social Media By Cynthia Maher As many homeowners in Mabury Ranch who use it are aware, NextDoor is a social media site for local neighborhood sharing of information, events and opinions. It is not connected to or in any way sponsored by the Mabury Ranch Homeowner s Association (MRHOA). Consistent with our First Amendment right to free speech, any member of MRHOA is free to post on NextDoor or any other 5

6 social media site comments, criticisms, compliments, and opinions as they see fit, including criticisms of the Mabury Board. While we hope that such posts will be respectful and considerate, those of us who chose to serve on your Board of Directors understand the importance of the expression of the views of Mabury homeowners. Please remember that NextDoor is not connected to the Board and that, in addition to social media, the Board needs and welcomes your input directly either in person at our monthly Board meetings or by to our property manager, Tritz Property Management, at Key Dates Annual MRHOA Meeting 7:30 pm Monday, November 20th Anaheim Hills Golf Course, Anaheim Hills, CA Thanksgiving Thursday, November 23rd Holiday Event Tuesday, December 12th Holiday Lights Contest Thursday, December 14th View past & present newsletters and access website links on the official Mabury Ranch website: We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! 6