Landscape Maintenance – Selva Road
Over this last week we have heard comments and concerns regarding the landscape and the management of the Landscape Maintenance Contract. Several homeowners have been very harsh in their criticism of the Landscape Committee and stated that these volunteers do not know what they are doing and the members need to change. This is not fair to these volunteers and totally inaccurate.
I’m not sure that many of you are aware that in February 2012, the responsibility of the landscape committee changed. They no longer have direct supervision of the landscape contractor or budget responsibilities. The following is the Board policy which was adopted February 1, 2012.
Operations Policy for Management of Landscape Contractor
At its meeting of Jan 18, the Niguel Shores Community Association Board of Directors determined that a new format for directing the Landscape contractor and determining landscape expenditures is desirable. Our goal is to simplify and clarify how direction is given to the contractor and how expenditures are managed.
The Niguel Shores Landscape committee will continue its role of identifying landscaping needs in the individual areas, and thru the at large members, the overall needs of the community. Their role will be to bring those needs to the attention of the General Manager, Deborah Baker.
The Facility Manager and General Manager will direct Harvest to make justifiable changes and improvements based on input from the Landscape committee or their own judgment. These two staff members are accountable for monitoring, and if necessary correcting, the performance of Harvest on both overall quality of performance and individual contract requirements, such as trimming, fertilizing, dethatching, etc. Requests for expenditures from the Landscape Committee, staff or Harvest shall be approved as provided in NSCA Rules 1805 and 1806, before being contracted with the appropriate vendor by the staff. The GM and Facility manager will report monthly to the Board on the performance of the contractor and all landscape issues they think need attention.
The reason that this is being addressed now is that last weekend the Harvest landscape crews were working on the maintenance of the Association landscape outside of the community boundary walls on Selva. The Bougainvillea along that wall was intertwined with the creeping fig and due to their age the blooms were sparse. To prolong the life of these plants, Harvest made the correct decision to drastically cut back these plants so that they can grow back full from the base and have more blooms. This was a shock to residents driving up Selva, and I realize that it will take a year or so for them to grow back to the height of the wall, but by this spring/summer the plants will be coming back, providing beautiful blooms for all to enjoy. In addition, now that the area has been cleaned up and we have had an opportunity to evaluate the overall appearance of the wall and landscape, Harvest will be adding some new Bougainvillea to enhance the wall of color.
The Community has been in place for over 30 years and many of the plants have not been maintained properly plus are just getting old. Harvest is cleaning out areas and providing the proper maintenance to plants to prolong their life or to advise Management that it’s time to replace. Change is not always easy to take, but the goal is maintain the landscape to provide a beautiful community for everyone to enjoy.
Deborah Baker, CCAM AMS
General Manager
Niguel Shores Community Association
33654 Niguel Shores Drive
Monarch Beach, CA 92629-4221
Phone # 949-493-0122 ext 11
Fax# 949-831-0116
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