The website operated by board member Ed Palmer
www.stcharlesplace.us is back up and running. Among its pages is a list of
the HOA board members with e-mail addresses to reach them.
If you notice something that needs urgent attention, you should contact the association's property manager listed in the right-hand column of this page. Contact board members to express feelings about issues that affect the community on a longer-term scale.
Such as the new sod being installed. You'll notice, especially along Johanna Ave near the pool, large chunks of our sod missing. They have been torn out and will be replaced. You might not have noticed a need for its replacement.
The board accepted a recommendation by Gulf Coast Outdoors, our lawn maintenance vendor, to replace perfectly healthy grass because the original St. Augustine grass was being invaded by more aggressive Bermuda grass.
The board's vote was not unanimous. John McQuiston (your humble blog author) thought that the Bermuda invasion did not justify $9,000 in new sod when the grass we had, whatever kind it was, was healthy and green.
True, there were patches of brown that needed to be addressed. But those areas were just a small part of the sod being torn out and replaced. A question about why laying down new grass seed should be tried first was not answered.
The majority of board members believed that it was important to maintain a uniformity in the lawns of the community.
What do you think? The HOA board is simply a group of homeowners here in St. Charles Place that fellow owners elected to answer such questions.
However, your opinion matters — whether it's the type of grass we have, whether it's how we better secure the pool area from the kids who are breaking through the fence (literally) to use our pool, or whether we should get recycling dumpsters to replace the discontinued curbside recycling — your input is not only welcome, it is needed.
