December 26, 2011 Comments Off
An announcement from Cortina Elementary…
Season’s Greetings! I hope this message finds you and your family well. The purpose of this message is to alert and communicate to you two significant events happening at Cortina over the next few winter months.
Over the Winter Break we will be upgrading our school fire alarm system. As you may know, the Maintenance and Operations Department have been working vigorously to get the system functionally on-line the past few weeks. At this point, we will be completing a thorough upgrade by adding a new system. Crews will be at the school starting December 27 working during the day, and continuing throughout the week, until the project is completed. You may hear periodic alarms going off or may see strobe lights flashing during that time. Please know that this is part of the replacement and upgrade process. Our new system will ensure the continued safety of the school and the students in the community.
In addition, I am proud to announce the upcoming work being done on the front east part of the school parking lot and drives. This work will start in mid-late January and will consist of adding additional parking spaces, an added deceleration lane for cars, new fencing and sidewalks, additional parent drop-off and pick-up areas and relocating the dumpsters from our school playground. These improvements will increase our student safety, allow for better traffic flow, better clear 188th street during high traffic times and maximize the land area usage on the school site.
During the work time, student safety near construction areas will be a priority. Because of this we will plan carefully and communicate thoroughly to both students and families. We will also keep you updated on future proceedings and developments.
We are excited about these changes and the improvements they will bring to your child’s school. Thank you for bringing your children here to Cortina and your continued support.
Mr. Cort Monroe
Thank you Cortina residents for a wonderful Fall CortinaFest event!! Here are some pictures we collected
See you again in April…dates will be announced soon!
Thank you very much for your support and joining our community together!
From time to time the members of the Cortina HOA Board of Directors have scheduling conflicts. As long as a quorum (4 board members are in attendance as described in the By-laws section 3.9 ) the meeting proceeds as scheduled. Unfortunately, there are times when less than a quorum will be in attendance which results in the regular monthly meetings cancellation or rescheduling. Due to scheduling conflicts for several board members, a quorum will not be available to attend October 25, however, because of the importance of scheduled agenda items including the Tree Replacement and Asset Protection Program we are issuing additional notifications for the meeting change. The regular October meeting has been rescheduled for Wednesday November 2, 2011 at the Cortina Elementary Music Room (7:30 pm – 9:00 pm). We apologize for the need to reschedule and any attendance issues this may create for you. Please make sure your opinions are represented as we do look forward to and welcome your comments.
To allow for the greatest exchange of ideas we are offering floor time request cards which will be available at the door for the November 2 meeting. Please be precise in your floor time statements and limit them to 3 minutes to allow for everyone to have a fair opportunity to share their thoughts. If you have any documents to present; please provide an advanced copy electronically to Renaissance Community Partners at info@cortinahoa.com to assure the documentation is available for everyone to view at the meeting.
As an additional note: Please make sure to mark your calendar for CortinaFest October 2011 Saturday October 29th 11 am until 4 pm. Come enjoy our community and grow friendships. Queen Creek is a great place to be especially this time of the year. Contact Rebecca Atlee if you would like to help out with this event or any other committees.
Again we apologize for any inconvenience or scheduling challenges this may have caused for you. Thank you for your understanding.
Click to view the document mailed to homeowners. Tree Information Mailer
Respectfully,
Cortina HOA Board of Directors
October 10, 2011 Comments Off
We want to thank all of the Cortina residents who have expressed great concern and appreciation for our community. It is an outstanding place to live, raise our families and enjoy the many qualities of life Queen Creek has to offer.
To treat everyone with respect that have voiced concerns in the Cortina tree replacement asset protection program and allow equal voice to all we want to encourage attendance of the monthly Cortina HOA Community November 2 meeting at 7:30 pm at the Cortina Elementary School to come and share in the conversations at that time. To better manage the conversations and show the greatest respect we will hold our comments until all interested homeowners are able to attend and express their individual concerns. Again thank you for your involvement to improve our community both for today and for the many years to come.
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)
The Board of Directors has temporarily suspended the tree damage remediation project. At the next board meeting, November 2 at 7:30 pm at the elementary school, the association’s certified arborist will be there to answer questions from homeowners.
All those who are interested are invited to attend this meeting. This project has been discussed at open session board meetings for quite some time and the board had received multiple presentations from certified arborists before making the decision to proactively prevent further damage.
Please come hear why this is an important decision to protect the long term stability of walls in our community.
(updated 18-FEB-2012)
October 1, 2011 Comments Off
We are excited to announce our Sponsors for CortinaFest this Fall! Please show them your thanks by visiting their establishments, seeking their services and finding them on Facebook!
Thank you to all our sponsors:
480-818-0063 http://www.crandellpestcontrol.com
Power and Rittenhouse Location
Power and Germann - http://facebook.com/ilovecoldstone
Power and Rittenhouse 480-457-8788
Cortina's Favorite Dentist
480-726-2500
This event is FREE for Cortina Residents (food, drink and vendor tables will charge for goods and services they may provide). We have confirmed over 20 vendors! The Queen Creek Fire Dept will make an appearance, our very own Cortina School Band will perform and of course our Kids Costume Parade will ensue!
Remember to BRING TOILET PAPER ROLLS for our TP Drive benefitting House of Refuge! Goal is 1000 rolls, we can do it!
Questions about CortinaFest, contact: Rebecca Atlee at Rebecca.atlee@cox.net
Some 150 trees were planted in Cortina that are potentially going to be destructive to community assets. Sissoo, Mesquite, Pine, Elm, and Sweet Acacia trees were planted by the developer in very restricted areas that don’t allow for proper growth. As these trees have matured, and in certain situations have begun to cause damage to the walls.
Rather than wait until the walls are significantly damaged, requiring potential assessment increases and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair, the board voted in August to pro-actively replace the offending trees before it becomes a major expense. The board is considering replacing the damaging trees with less invasive species of trees which will not damage the walls and still provide beauty and some shade. This project started September 27, 2011 and is currently on hold. 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.
A map of the trees to be removed can be downloaded by clicking on this link (PDF).
Thank you for your patience through this process.
-Cortina HOA Board of Directors
(updated 18-FEB-2012)
August 28, 2011 Comments Off
The mailboxes in the community have recently been cleaned. Because these are community areas that are shared with our neighbors we would like your effort in keeping them clean and free from damage. The mailbox areas should not be treated as community bulletin boards. We invite all homeowners to please help in maintaining the mailbox areas and remove all non-approved flyers when you see them.
Thank you for doing your part to keep our community clean and our mailbox areas uncluttered and free from damage.
August 20, 2011 Comments Off
While you enjoy the summer months and the community pool, please not that the pool key fob is NOT waterproof. Make sure that you take it out of your pockets before enjoying the pool.
Any replacement pool key fob will be a $25 charge to the homeowner.
