In preparation for the November 2nd HOA meeting at 7:30 pm at the elementary school the Board wanted to share some further information to serve as background for discussion at the meeting.  We look forward to your participation in the meeting and having a respectful discussion about the concerns of the community.

The tree replacement project has been suspended until after the November 2, 2011 board meeting where more information will be provided to homeowners.

This question above is on the mind of many Cortina Residents seeing that some mature trees that were planted right next to community walls have been removed.  Some 150 trees were planted in Cortina that are potentially too close to community walls. As these trees mature, their root systems may reach more than 40 feet with strong roots that may be destructive.  The community has some evidence of the destruction that has begun to manifest on community walls, the board has created a committee to further investigate the wall issues and if they are related to tree roots or not.

Why is the Association doing this now?

Rather than wait until the walls are significantly damaged, the board felt the responsible solution is to deal with the problem proactively.  Some homeowners  have reported there is currently no damage to their walls and some homeowners do have damage to their walls.  Once the board became aware of the impending danger to walls, the board acted at the time with what they thought was in the overall best interest of the community based on the information and research that had been done up to that point.

The board has a responsibility to take a long term view of the community and do its best to seek the opinion of experts to help understand current and future issues.  In this case, the board met  with Certified Arborists and discussed it at open board meetings before making this difficult decision – that decision has now been put on hold until further information can be researched by committee.

Why didn’t the board tell homeowners before the removal started?

Each month the board makes many decisions that affect the community. You may recall the decision to take responsibility for landscaping in the boulevards, granite replacement throughout the entire  community, painting the metal rails on the common area walls, converting from keys to “key fobs” for pool access, re-paint of all the metal roofs in the community, re‐surfacing the pool decking, replacement of thousands of plants and trees and construction of retaining walls and sidewalks, just to mention a few.

The board at the time when the initial decision was made didn’t feel the tree damage remediation decision was any different than the decisions mentioned in the above paragraph.  The decision was made in a regularly scheduled monthly open board meeting.  Once the board discovered that the community wants more information about this decision, the project was halted to provide an opportunity for homeowners questions to be answered before the project continues.  At this point in time the board is waiting to get information that is being gathered by a special committee that is doing research to find the cause of the wall damage.

The replacement of the trees in the boulevards in front of homes will continue for those damaged due to the extreme heat or disease that has killed many Evergreen Elms in the community. However, those will be replaced with Southern Live Oak trees that are more immune to disease.

Thank you for your patience through this process.

-Cortina HOA Board of Directors

(post updated 18-FEB-2012)